If you will, open your Bibles and we will mark your Bibles at 1 Timothy.

We will be looking around at some other passages, but we will come back to 1 Timothy and

spend the rest of our time there.

But today we’re going to look, we’re going to study the background and then look at the

first chapter of 1 Timothy, looking at some of the lessons that are there for us and the

way that what Paul told Timothy as a young preacher, how it applies to us today.

Looking at this, we’re first going to study Timothy himself.

First, we’re going to look at his background.

If someone could, please turn to at read and turn to you at 16 versus 133.

At 16 versus 133.

Here we will see the background of Timothy and also Paul choosing him in his mission.

Then he came to Derbe and Lystra and behold a certain disciple was there named Timothy,

the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed but his father was Greek.

He was well spoken of by brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium.

Paul wanted to have him go on with…

and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region where they

all knew that his father was Greek.

So we learned several important things about Timothy here.

First, Paul is meeting him on the second missionary journey.

Paul has already gone on his first.

He is now on this one and he wants extra help.

He wants more servants to be with him.

And then there’s this Timothy.

Now it says there was a certain disciple there.

Timothy was already a follower of Christ by the time we are introduced to him.

Later in our study we will see the fact that Timothy is called the son of Paul in the

faith.

It seems as though Paul had already been with Timothy beforehand, but now Timothy is going

to be a part of this mission.

Behold, there was a certain disciple there named Timotheus, a son of a certain woman,

which was a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Greek.

Timothy grew up in what seems to be a divided house.

His mother was a Jew.

She was an Israelite, one who worshiped God.

She was one who would not have gone had to have gone to the feast since she was a woman,

but she was one who was faithful to God from all that we can see.

While her father, his father was a Greek.

one who followed the heathen religion, one who did not necessarily follow the morals.

He was in a divided house.

However, he had his grandmother as well, Lois and Eunice, his two female ancestors, taught

him and showed him the correct way and he was willing to choose that over the liberties of

the heathen religion that he would also have been influenced by if his father was still

around.

Verse 2, which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra in Iconium.

Again, Timothy is already a Christian.

He couldn’t be well reported of by the brethren if he was not already among the brethren.

Him Paul would have to go with him and took him and circumcised him because of the Jews

which were in those quarters, for they knew all that his father was a Greek.

It’s not only a lesson in what he had to choose when he was a child, there’s also a lesson

in what he had to sacrifice as he was going on this mission, as he was going to go with

Paul.

He was already a Christian, but he is also going to show he is willing to face this

circumcision, something that was not necessary for him as a Christian to be able to reach

more souls.

This comes to us today when we think about, no, this is not something that we need to do

to have people be more receptive to what we teach.

But there are things that we must give up, things that we must be willing to learn to be

able to reach others.

My wife and I are going to be going to do mission work Lord willing afterward.

We’re going to have to learn different cultures.

We’re going to have to go out and say, okay, this is what they do on this day, this is

what they do on that day.

They don’t wear this, they do wear that.

Of course, all of that within God’s law.

And be willing to do what it takes for them to be more receptive to the message we have to

teach.

And that applies to us in our world today.

We want to get to know

people so that we can let them know God’s Word.

We want to know what their comforts are, their discomforts.

We want to become a Jew to the Jew, a Greek to the Greek, as Paul was willing to do.

We see Timothy’s background and we see his decision to follow what was right, even though

he would have had other influences in his life and the fact he was willing to sacrifice to

do what was right.

Now also turn to Acts 17.

which is just a little way away.

Acts 17 verses 14 and 15.

We see something else here.

Then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea, but Silas and

Timotheus abode there still.

And they that conducted brought Paul.

Paul brought him unto Athens, and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus, for to

go to him with all speed, they departed.

Here Timothy and Silas are left, and it would be in Thessalonica.

We can turn to 1 Thessalonians 3, 1 and 2, and to see more insight into what happened

here.

1 Thessalonians 3, 1 and 2.

If someone could read that, please.

During it, thought it good to be left in Athens alone and sent Timothy our brother and

minister of God and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you and

encourage you concerning your faith.

Okay, so with this, we have Jews who have come to Thessalonica and they’ve come to stir up

the pot.

Paul sees it better to go to Athens and to leave Silas and Timothy here to strengthen the

brethren.

This is a situation that is not going to be easy.

There are Jews that are trying to stir the pot of religion because they do not want the

Christian way being taught.

but Timothy is going to stay under pressure there.

He is going to stay under this and be willing to strengthen the brethren in this

situation.

He is one who is willing to sacrifice for the ministry as we saw earlier, and one who is

shown to be able to withstand pressure during this kind of situation.

Now, with this, with his sacrifice, and with the things that he was facing, he would show

ultimately a proven character.

1 Corinthians 417 shows this proven character.

For this cause have I sent unto you to Mothius, who is my beloved Son and faithful in the

Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach

everywhere in every church.

Timothy is going to be sent to the Corinthians.

Now this becomes even more emphatic when we think about the Corinthians.

He is going to have to bring the Corinthians a bunch of rowdy Christians into remembrance

of the things that they were to do, of the things that they were to know.

These were the ones who were so twisted and contorted, they were taking the idea of gifts

from God, miracles that were given to confirm the message, and they were using that to try

to puff themselves up

lift themselves over each other, even claiming that they speak in some unknown tongue,

with all of that being a discussion for a different day.

Timothy would go to them and put them into remembrance.

This is someone who Paul trusts with the word of God, even when it is brought before those

who are twisting it and contorting it.

We can also go to Philippians 2, 19 through 22 and see the same thing.

But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of

good comfort when I know your state.

For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state.

For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” Timothy is one who has

this natural care, one who sees other souls and says, you’re worth something.

You are one who is worth my time and effort because you are of God, because you are His

creation.

I want what’s best for you.

He has this natural care, this natural compassion.

Paul is often said to be the second greatest man to have ever lived.

We can all debate whether or not that is the case.

Whatever it is, Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ.

One who was willing to leave so many things so that he could serve his Lord and then he

suffered in that service.

And when you have the reference, when you have validation from someone like Paul, you’re a

good man.

You are a servant of the Lord.

Timothy is being shown to be someone who is an example for us to follow today.

He trusts him, he trusts to sendly, to sendly short, to shortly send to Mothius unto them.

that they may be of good comfort when I know your state.

He trusts Timothy not only to relay information that is necessary to the brethren, but to

also report it back accurately to Paul.

All of this is reflecting well on Timothy so far.

Then we can turn to 1 Timothy 412.

Let no man despise thy youth.

Timothy, with all that was good about him, he was also a young man, one who

was in the early stages of life.

Now, Paul at this time would have been in his older days.

He already had some years on him as a younger man when he came to Christ, when he turned

to Christ, Acts chapter 8.

But then he continued four years in service to the Lord, dealing not only with age, but

dealing with stressful situations, dealing with long days and long nights with the

brethren.

This is an older man who has faced struggles teaching a young

that is in his youth.

Now moving forward, turn to 1 Timothy 523, and we see another thing about Timothy.

Along with all of his strengths come things that he had to face as well.

1 Timothy 523, drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake, and

thine oft infirmities.

We’re not here to talk about what a little wine is.

We have seen this before.

It is the fact that if this was alcoholic wine, it was something that could have been

medicinal for him, and it doesn’t even have to be that.

can be he simply didn’t want the luxury of grape juice.

The point for us to take right now is the fact that he was dealing with oft-infermities.

He was dealing with struggles, not just being a perfect, healthy young man.

We often think about, he’s just young.

He’s not dealing with physical ailments right now.

He’s able to get up.

He’s able to go jump off a 20-foot cliff and be perfectly fine, get up, and then get back

to work.

Timothy was not one dealing with that kind of blessing at that moment.

He was human just like the rest of us, dealing with often infirmities.

But he had to continue serving his Lord through them.

Our struggles, they can hinder us, they can limit us, but we continue serving God through

them.

We do not just stop because we are facing something, we press forward.

There will be things that we cannot do.

Not all of us can go and do everything, but there is something that every one of us can

do.

He had to face this physical weakness and overcome it.

Also, he had to face some spiritual things in his life as well.

We’ll look at a couple of passages at this point.

Second Timothy, chapter one, verse three.

Second Timothy, one, three.

I thank my God.

Well, turn to 1 Timothy 1-3 rather.

I believe that is a faulty note.

1 Timothy 1-3.

Paul is going to introduce himself.

He is going to show that he is writing to Timothy and then immediately start with his

charge.

As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, that thou

mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine.

Note that the first charge that Timothy receives isn’t,

you need to follow the proper doctrine.

Timothy is one who has proven his character.

He doesn’t seem to be struggling with following the doctrine himself.

What he is seeming to struggle, the thing with which he seems to struggle, is keeping that

charge among the brethren, keeping them on the straight and narrow as well.

Verse 7, this is the kind of people He’s dealing with, desiring to be teachers of the law,

understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm.

He was dealing with those who are trying to twist and contort God’s Word.

Now turn to 2 Timothy, verses 6 and 7.

2 Timothy 1, verses 6 and 7.

Timothy is dealing with this opposition.

Now how does he handle it?

Verse 6 and 7, Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God

which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound

mind.

Through Paul’s writings to Timothy, there seems to be this implication that Timothy was

one who faced fear.

Don’t we all today?

Isn’t there always something that we’re always a little nervous about?

Something that we need to face even though it is not within our comfort zone.

Timothy was facing these false teachers.

He was facing those who wanted to come in and tear apart the beautiful church God had

created.

But he would have to stay faithful to what God was saying, stirring up the gift that was

in him, which was then miraculous gifts from the Holy Spirit, instead of letting those

things subside, letting those things gather dust because of fear, because of those who

would not follow what is proper.

Timothy was going to continue pushing past any fear that was in him.

1 Corinthians 16 verses 10 and 11.

at this point further.

1 Corinthians 16, 10 and 11.

Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear, for he worketh the work

of the Lord, as I also do.

Let no man therefore despise him, but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto

me, for I look for him with the brethren.” This does not mean that Timothy faced more fear

than anyone else, but he does tell the Corinthians, don’t put him in fear.

treat him well.

He is coming to you and he is coming to you to do good service.

Do not go and terrorize him.

Whatever the case, Timothy would have to face his own fears and overcome them.

Again, the Corinthians, as we saw earlier, were those who…

A preacher that, let’s say a preacher just came out of preaching school and came to a

congregation like the Corinthians.

That would be a frightening task at the very outset because the Corinthians were a church

who had so many things going wrong, so many issues, and yet they needed fixed.

Otherwise, this church was not going to be following God the proper way.

Timothy was one who, as we have seen, he had a background that was divided, but he was

willing to stay on the proper path.

He was one who went with Paul on his second missionary journey.

He was willing to sacrifice to follow God’s way.

He was useful in difficult situations.

He had proven character.

He was a young man.

He had this physical weakness, and he had this fear, but he was able to overcome both of

them.

And with all of that, we come to His sincere faith.

2 Timothy 1, 3-3-7.

You cannot face these kind of things without proper motivation behind you, without

something that you truly believe in.

And Timothy certainly did.

If someone could read 2 Timothy 1, 3-3-7, please.

Therefore, I remind you to stir up this gift of God, which is in you through the laying on

of my hands.

For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but the power of love and of a sound mind.

Thank you, brother.

We read six and seven earlier, it starts that context of that starts previous as we just

read.

He has this genuine faith in this genuine faith.

was given by the words that he was taught.

Romans 10, 17, so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

You cannot believe the proper thing and be taught the wrong thing.

He looked at the fact that he had this divided childhood, but he was willing to follow

what was proper.

is, there’s often given the idea that there’s three votes in our lives for what we are

going to do.

There’s God’s vote, there’s the devil’s vote, and there’s what we choose.

We have the deciding vote.

Timothy had both influences in his life, as every single one of us does, in one form or

fashion.

But he was willing to look at the evidence for what was true, look at God’s word that was

before him, and he said, this is what I’m going to follow, because it

has all that I need to believe it to be true because it is reality in and of itself rather

than following what was false.

This genuine faith would have been tested but it was reinforced and he followed what was

proper.

It’s interesting as well, Paul was persuaded

that Timothy had good faith.

What is faith in and of itself?

Hebrews 11, one, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things

not seen.

We have a circle here.

We have the idea that faith comes from evidence.

We look at evidence and we see the proof and we say, okay, I am going to act on it based

on this.

Now here’s what’s interesting.

Paul is then persuaded of the faith in Timothy.

Faith is going to say, is this evidence that I believe, and then faith is going to act on

that evidence.

Otherwise, how could Paul be persuaded this faith was in him?

Faith is both going to believe what is proper, and it is going to do what is proper.

Paul had faith in Timothy’s faith.

In this world that we, in which we live, will this world be able to see the faith that is

in us

and be able to realize, okay, there is something in them.

There is a faith that is in them.

We’re persuaded that there’s something different about them so that they want it as well.

Timothy’s faith was strong enough to act and then Paul to believe in it because he saw the

evidence of his faith.

With all of this, Timothy was one for us to emulate today.

and he is one who faced struggles, he is one that we can relate to him.

Now with all of that, let’s now look at 1st Timothy.

1 Timothy starting in verse one, chapter one, verse one.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus

Christ, which is our hope.

Earlier we discussed the fact that Timothy is often called Paul’s son in the faith.

They have a special relationship, and Paul is going to emphasize that in this.

First he says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Timothy, as we discussed earlier, was facing all of this opposition.

He was facing these struggles.

How does Paul start?

If you are facing a workforce, if you are facing a job that is brand new to you, and you

are receiving encouragement, you’re getting a call, and it’s from someone that you love

and is experienced in the task, isn’t it comforting to know that they are experienced?

What if you have a father and he knows that his son is going into the same work he is?

Perhaps his son is going into preaching.

And that father tells his son, son, I’ve been a preacher for years.

I know what you’re going through.

I know what this is like.

Now we need to be careful saying I understand exactly what you’re going through because

none of us know exactly what someone else is going through at that time.

But there is the fact that we receive encouragement from those that can relate to our

situations.

Paul was one who was experienced, he had credibility, he had authority, he was one who

knew what it was like to face struggles and oppositions.

And that would be encouragement to Timothy.

He has this encouragement in that he is an apostle once sent from Christ, but also he can

trust in Paul’s authority.

He is an apostle once sent of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, by the commandment of God our

Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope.

Hope is an amazing thing.

It is one where there is excitement in what is to come.

There is an anticipation and an expectation.

We think of hope in our modern language, and often we think, well, I hope that my team’s

gonna win.

I hope that the Saints are going to make it to the Super Bowl again.

It’s probably not gonna happen anytime soon.

They lost Drew Brees and Alvin Kamara and all those great guys, and it just fell from

there.

Hope is not thinking, I hope this is going to be the case.

Not in the Bible.

In scripture, hope is similar to faith.

It sees evidence before it and is believing the things that it cannot see yet.

We hope for heaven.

That does not mean, man, I hope I’m going to make it.

I hope that I’m going to have followed God enough.

No, you can trust that you will make it.

Jesus is your hope if you follow His word.

This hope is an anticipation, an expectation even though we cannot see it and we can be

excited because of what is on the other side.

by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope, unto

Timothy, my own son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and Jesus

Christ our Lord.

Timothy is called Paul’s son in the faith.

Now there’s a question we want to ask here.

If Timothy is Paul’s son in the faith,

What is Paul to Timothy?

Is it his father in the faith?

boy, do we have a whole issue here because he is using familial terms to describe those in

the kingdom?

We have a religion today who wants to talk about fathers, who wants to call teachers

fathers.

What does Christ have to say about that?

Well, in Matthew 23, 9, Christ says to call no man your father.

He goes into this discussion of the Pharisees.

And the Pharisees wanted to be known by titles.

They wanted to be known in ways that would lift them up.

They took this term of father and they wanted to use it to elevate themselves.

Now keep that in mind.

This is entirely different from what Timothy is doing here.

Timothy, or what Paul is doing.

Paul is taking this idea of my own son in the faith, this idea of relationship, and using

it to show camaraderie, to show connection.

The world takes relationships and uses it to elevate self.

While when we use relationships the right way, even Jesus Christ was willing to call the

apostles his friends.

He was looking for connection.

Now God is above all.

God…

is sovereign, but he still says he adopts us as children.

He wants that relationship.

This is entirely different from what the Pharisees were doing.

The Pharisees wanted these titles while Paul was showing a relationship.

In our lives today, do we seek elevation?

Do we seek to climb the corporate ladder of religion?

Or do we seek to help others climb and make it their way to heaven?

We must choose how we are going to interact with others, whether the way we interact is

based on what I want for me, how I want my pride to be elevated, or if it’s going to be

based on relationships that God has given us so we can serve Him to the best of our

ability.

Moving forward unto Timothy, my own son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our

Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

We have grace, we have mercy,

and we have peace.

These are three beautiful words that we see throughout Scripture.

Now, what is the idea of grace?

First, let’s start with mercy.

Exodus 34, 5-7, Moses is on top of Mount Sinai.

The children of Israel have been wicked and they have been going against God’s way.

They have built a golden calf.

Moses has interceded for them.

And now he is on top of the mountain and the Lord has pardoned or at least decided not to

destroy the Israelites.

They are still going to face punishment, dire punishment, but they will not be destroyed

because God is merciful.

God describes who he is in Exodus 34, 5 through 7.

says, is merciful, gracious, and long-suffering.

That mercy there was willing to say, you deserve something that I am not going to give to

you.

You deserve this punishment.

You deserve this consequence because of the actions you chose, but you will not receive it

because I have chosen for you not to.

God gives mercy to those who are penitent.

Really, He gives mercy to

all of us every day with every single breath.

Mercy comes not only to the penitent, but it is only fully manifested, only fully enjoyed

by those who choose to follow God’s way.

Because then they receive the next thing.

We have mercy when you don’t receive what you deserve, but then we have grace, where you

receive something you don’t deserve.

Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

He found favor in the Lord’s eyes.

Now Noah, just like any other man, would have sinned.

But because of his relationship, the way he wanted to be faithful to the Lord, God was

willing to show him a way to be saved.

He was willing to show him how to build the ark, to teach him how to build the ark, and

then…

receive rescue from the destruction that was going to come to the world.

This grace comes throughout scripture.

We often hear it described as unmerited favor.

Is grace always unmerited favor?

If we think about Christ,

He has said as a child to have grown in wisdom and in stature and in favor with both God

and man.

That word translated favor there is charis, the same word translated grace here.

Grace is not always unmerited favor.

But in the context of how it applies to us and how it applies to how it is when we receive

things that we don’t deserve blessings we don’t deserve, it is certainly unmerited favor

for us.

There is this grace, this pardon of punishment.

There is mercy, this pardon of punishment.

There is grace, receiving blessings that you don’t deserve.

And then there is peace.

there is no way we can have peace without God’s mercy.

Because without mercy, we receive the punishment that we deserve.

We receive the second death.

We receive hell as our eternity.

But then, not only is there mercy, there’s the grace, which means that we are able to be

with God in eternity once again.

We are able to receive the love of God.

and we are able to receive everlasting life.

John 3, 16, for God so.

love the world, that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should

not perish, mercy, but have everlasting life, grace.

And peace is ultimately going to be when we are at one with God.

If we look at that word peace more closely, it carries the idea in the Greek of harmony,

of tranquility, but also the idea of as being as one, unity.

If we look at our world, we see turmoil in every turn.

We see nation that fights against nation.

These are things that happen throughout time.

It’s not a special sign for what’s happening today.

No matter who wants to say that what’s happening with American and Iran is something from

Revelation.

These are things that have happened throughout time because man has always been divisive.

He has always had a lack of peace because of selfishness.

But God wants reconciliation with his people.

That’s why he gives us mercy.

That’s why he gives us grace.

unto Timothy my own son in the faith.

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

We have these three blessings, but they come only from God.

If you will turn to the book of James and look at chapter one, verse 17.

James one, verse 17.

every good gift and every perfect gift cometh from above and cometh down from the father

of lights in whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning.

Every good gift is from God.

Grace, mercy, and peace, those are from the Lord.

There are things that are enjoyed in this world that are not from God.

Just because someone enjoys alcohol, they think it’s a blessing, does not mean that that

blessing came from God.

In fact, those are things that are intentional circumstances made by man to make impure

substances.

Unless they’re used properly, by and large, how do we see it used?

That is not a gift that is from God because every good gift and every perfect gift is from

above.

Grace, mercy, peace, those things are from God.

they come down from the Father of lights.

Now with that God is the source of good gifts, but He’s also the only source of good

gifts.

If we want grace, mercy, and peace, if we want unity, if we want not to have to face those

things, it can only come when we follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we decide to push Him off from our lives, if we decide that our relationship with Him

is not important, how would we ever receive grace?

mercy, and peace.

We see homes that are torn apart because they do not follow God’s way.

Do they have peace?

When you have…

arguments that are based on the fact that people are not following God’s word.

And when you have children who are not willing to do what is right, you have a home torn

apart out of a lack of peace because they don’t follow God’s way.

And it happens with nations, it happens with the entire world.

But when we follow God’s way, we can have that which is from our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Turning back to 1 Timothy.

As I sought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest

teach some, that they teach no other doctrine.

Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions, rather than

godly edifying which is in faith, so do.” Verses 1 and 2 are powerful, but quickly Paul

gets into the meat of his discussion.

Often with other passages, Paul shows his thankfulness for the brethren, or thankfulness

for things God had done for them.

It’s interesting with the Corinthians, we’ve talked about them already.

When he talks about them, he says, thank God not for you.

He says, I thank God on your behalf.

He shows, even in his very words there, the kind of turmoil they were in.

But he does all of that before he gets into the real meat of his discussion, the practical

application of what he is saying.

With Timothy, he gets right into it.

As I have sought thee to abide still at Ephesus, that thou mightest teach some that they

have no other doctrine.

God’s doctrine is one and no other can be followed if we want to do the Lord’s way.

Now before we go into the idea of no other doctrine, let’s investigate this charge.

He was to charge some that they teach no other doctrine.

Timothy was a minister, a preacher, a teacher.

Now the idea of charge shows that what he was left to do was something that had authority

behind it.

This is the reason why when we have the gathered body of Christ coming together to

worship, coming together as the church, we have the men lead because men are to lift up

holy hands without wrath and doubting and they are to lead the congregation in worship

because teaching in and of itself

has authority behind it, this kind of charge because it says there is something you are

doing that is not right, and there is something that you need to do.

It is being a vessel of what God would have to say, not that there is any authority within

Timothy, not that there is any special power in him, but there is something that he has to

show the brethren.

Now, moving forward, he has to charge some that they teach no other doctrine.

If you will, someone please read Galatians 1, 6, and 7.

Galatians 1, 6, and 7.

This idea comes up in scripture before we get to 1 Timothy.

that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a

different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to

pervert the gospel of Christ.

Okay, so we have two different words here.

We have one that shows the idea of another of the same kind and another of a different

kind.

Any gospel that is outside of God’s is not one of the same kind, but of a different kind.

The Greek word, allos, is the idea of another of the same kind.

You have two things that are of the same category, while heteros is two things of a

different category.

Any gospel that is not the one taught by God, other than the one administered by Christ,

is one of a different kind, one that is of a different category and therefore will not

have the same consequences, will not have the same benefits.

One that while it might seem more pleasurable on this earth, it is one that ultimately is

going to lead to damnation.

Paul will also tell the Galatians that if anyone teach any other doctrine, whether it be

men or angels, let them be accursed and he will say it twice because it is so important.

Knowing the proper doctrine is of utmost importance.

That is Timothy’s job.

It’s not just you need to teach what is right.

It’s that you need to teach that they teach nothing else.

We live in a world.

where liberalism abounds.

Now turn not to the right hand nor to the left.

People can go too far trying to bind rules that God has not made.

People can also go too far trying to loose things God has not loosed.

And both of those things are teaching a doctrine that is not from Christ.

Both of those things are going to lead to damnation and that is why Timothy must charge

some that they teach no other doctrine.

We must ensure that in our lives we aren’t just listening to the preacher.

We are not just listening to the person teaching Bible class.

We are not just listening to the podcast off of the famous Brotherhood Network.

We are looking at God’s Word and we are ensuring that what we follow is from Him first.

Tampering with God’s Word has dire consequences.

Revelation 22, 18 and 19, whether it be binding or loosing.

Moving to verse four, Paul gets into some of what these false doctrines were, some of

these things that they were teaching.

He says, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions.

Rather than godly edifying which is in faith, so do.

We’ll close on this idea.

As Timothy moves forward, he is going to discuss edification.

The church has three main goals.

We have edification in and of itself.

We have benevolence and we have evangelism.

And benevolence really ties in to that evangelism.

And if it’s not evangelism, it’s helping the brethren.

It’s edifying them.

With those things, edification is the building up.

It is constructing something, strengthening.

The brethren are to be strengthened, this godly edifying which is in faith.

It is in belief of what God has said, it is in the system of faith that he has delivered

to us.

If there is anything that is not edifying of the brethren, it is not what Timothy is

supposed to teach.

We have these fables and endless genealogies.

Now, let’s make this connection.

We look at God’s word, and it’s often described as sustenance.

Man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of

God.

Also there is John chapter six where Jesus says, I am the bread of life.

And shows that whoever believes his words, they would receive everlasting life.

The bread, that was what he had to teach.

It was what he had to say.

Now what is it that they want to teach that Timothy has to warn against?

It’s these endless fables and genealogies.

The bread of life, that is sustenance that is going to help you get to heaven.

That is godly edifying.

It is going to help you follow your Lord.

While these fables and endless genealogies,

their fables, these were just stories, these were just legends, especially Jewish ones,

ones that would make us look like we were looking at someone with three heads.

They were weird.

They were not helpful.

They were not edifying.

And then there were these endless genealogies which were not even important for them of

that day because the Jewish religion…

was now no more.

Now there were still people following it, but these genealogies had no more weight in

religious matters, in God’s eyes.

These were spiritual junk food.

God’s word, God’s way.

Things that truly matter for salvation.

They are the bread of life.

They are what we must hear.

While anything else that we follow is spiritually junk food.

It is easy for us to get caught up in debates.

Did Adam have a belly button?

Those things are not going to help anyone.

We do not need endless fables or genealogies or things that minister questions that do not

edify the brethren.

We must make sure that our focus, while we can look at things and investigate different

ideas,

we must ensure that our focus is not on arguing with each other, not on trying to prove

some odd point that has no bearing on salvation, but rather that every single part of what

we are doing is to help the brethren get to heaven, to help strengthen the Church of God.

These endless fables and genealogies, they’re described as ministering questions rather

than godly edifying in faith.

This idea of minister, the word minister is usually used to describe service.

But here it’s the idea of they reach forth, they offer questions.

These endless genealogies, these fables, they offer all kinds of things to explore.

They offer all kinds of ways where we can investigate whatever we want to without actually

looking at God’s word.

Just like pleasurable things in this world that are inherently sin, there are things that

we can investigate that while they are not sinful, they are going to distract us from what

God has to say.

They offer something interesting.

They offer something we can follow, but they do not offer anything that will help us on

our way in serving God.

After that, Paul brings it back to the end of the commandment.

These things, they are not going to be godly edifying, but the things that are godly

edifying do those.

And now what is that?

Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a good heart and of a good conscience and

of faith unfeigned.

Charity, agape, selfless love that is willing to serve and it’s based on three things.

A pure heart, one that is not selfish, not looking for its own pleasures, one that is not

defiled with the immorality of this world, one that is of a good conscience, one that is

striving.

to do what is right, but also to know what is right.

A conscience isn’t good if it thinks it is in the right, but it’s been seared, as will be

seen later in 1 Timothy.

And a faith unfeigned.

A fake faith, imagine that.

Faith is about believing the evidence, of believing the truth.

But in and of itself, an unfeigned faith is a fake belief.

It is an entire corruption of everything God designed in faith in and of itself.

But charity out of a pure heart is true faith.

It is a good conscience.

It is a pure heart.

And that is what we must have if we are going to serve God to the end of the commandment,

to the ultimate goal of what He has.

Thank you for your time.

We will continue our study of 1st Timothy and