Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Timothy chapter 4. First Timothy chapter four, we're
going through the book of First Timothy, and we will pick up
this morning with verse 11. First Timothy four, verse 11,
which says, these things command and teach. These things command and teach. Now, I want to give you a little
recap of some things and point out something concerning
this letter to set up where we are right here. Give me just
a moment here to just tell you a little bit. The Apostle Paul
wrote this letter. He wrote this epistle to a man
named Timothy. Some of these epistles in the
New Testament, some of these New Testament epistles were written
to particular churches or particular brethren in particular regions. Some of the New Testament epistles
are called general epistles, which means they are written
to God's people everywhere. Now this is important. All of
the epistles apply to God's people everywhere. All generations of
time. All scripture is given by the
inspiration of God and is profitable for all of God's people. For
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That's what 2 Timothy 3.16 says. So all of God's Word is written
to God's people and for God's people. But in the moment, in
the reality of this moment in time, God laid it on the heart
of one man to write a letter to, in this particular case,
another man. Alright, look with me at chapter
1, verse 1. It says, Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God, our Savior, and Lord
Jesus Christ, which is our hope. Verse two says, unto Timothy. So Paul wrote this letter to
Timothy, and he stated his purpose for writing the letter immediately. He just said, this is why I'm
writing the letter. Verse two, unto Timothy, my own son in the
faith, Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father in Jesus
Christ our Lord, verse 3, 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. neither give heed to fables and
endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying
which is in faith, so do." Timothy was made to be the pastor of
the church at Ephesus. And I can only imagine that there
were men in that congregation that helped Timothy preach the
Word, just like we have men in this congregation that helped
me preach the Word. And along with that particular congregation,
Timothy traveled. We read in here that Timothy
would travel and go, I'll send Timothy to you. He would travel
to many other places that preached and believed the truth of the
word. And Paul told Timothy, this is your responsibility in
Ephesus or wherever you travel and speak with men about this
responsibility of preaching. Verse 3, He said, You charge
them that they teach no other doctrine. I just want to hammer that point.
No other doctrine. Not this doctrine and then change
it and add one after you finish doing that doctrine. No other
doctrine. It's Christ alone. The Apostle
Paul made that clear in all of his writings. It's Christ alone.
Christ is our hope. Period. Verse 1 says, Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior
and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope. Christ is our hope. It's Christ alone. And he said,
don't give heed to fables. That's lies. Or endless genealogies. It's Christ alone. It's Christ
alone. And what we're looking at this
morning is Paul continuing this instruction to Timothy regarding
preaching. So for that reason, I've titled
this Bible study, If a man is going to preach. If a man is
going to preach. Paul said, Timothy, if a man
is going to preach, Instruct him in this. Instruct him in
this truth. Paul has been saying this throughout
the whole letter. We've been going through 1 Timothy. He's been saying this throughout
the whole letter. He continued in chapter one,
verse six, saying, from which some having swerved
have turned aside unto vain jangling. He said that's all that they
are. Those who have turned aside, they're just vain janglers. And what is vain jangling? Look
at verse seven. Desiring to be teachers of the
law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. They don't know what they're
talking about. And they don't even know, they
can't even affirm the message they're preaching. He said, it's
just vain jangling. He said, Timothy, there's a lot
of foolish false religion out there. Works, law, bondage, false
religion. Verse eight, but we know that
the law is good if a man use it lawfully. That means rightly. We know that the law is good
if a man will use it rightly, meaning, so important. I want the world to hear this.
I want Africa to hear this. We know that the law is good
if a man will use it lawfully, meaning, not as a way of salvation,
but as a way of exposing sin. The law is so good if a man will
use it lawfully, not as a way of salvation, but as a way of
exposing sin. The law doesn't save us. Everybody thinks it does, but
it doesn't. The law does not save us. All that the law does is expose
our sin. It exposes sin to sinners and
Paul said in chapter 1 verse 15, Timothy, Christ came to save
sinners. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. I am chief. It's hard to say you're the chief
of sinners if you think that you have mastered the law. You know, you're now a doctor
of divinity. Hard to think you're the chief
of sinners if you're in that boat, isn't it? He said Christ
came to save sinners, not the self-righteous. Not the self-made
righteous. Sinners. People who, when you
look at them, all you can say is, that's a sinner. And I'm talking about those kind
of people who go stand in front of a mirror. That's a sinner. Chapter 2 verse 1, he said, I
exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and giving of thanks be made for all men. Why all men? Because they're all sinners.
Well, I thought God had an elect people. I thought God chose a
particular elect people. He did, but I don't know who
they are. We don't know who they are. They
asked Spurgeon one time, if you believe only God's elect will
be saved, why don't you just preach to God's elect? He said,
I would if they had a big E on their forehead. But we don't know who they are.
So he said, Timothy, end this thing of preaching and spreading
the gospel. Pray for everybody. Pray for
everybody. Pray that if God would be willing,
he would have mercy on all men. Who is he gonna call out of this
city? whoever the father chose to salvation, whoever the son
redeemed on the cross of Calvary. But I don't know who they are.
What if it's one? What if there's one more out
there? What if there's 53,000 more out there? You say, well, God's not able
to save the whole city. Oh, yes, he is. He may not, but
oh, yes, he is. He can save anybody he wants
to save. Pray that if God would be willing,
he would have compassion and he would have mercy on all men,
as many as he's willing to have mercy on. Preach with compassion. If you're gonna do this, preach
with compassion toward all men. Look at chapter three, verse
one. He said, this is a true saying. If a man desire the office
of a bishop, he desireth a good work. If a man desires to be
a pastor, he desires a good work. But in chapter 4, verse 1, he
said, it must be a work in truth. It must be a message of truth. Verse 1 says, now the Spirit
speaketh expressly that in the latter times, some shall depart
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines
of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared
with a hot iron. And he goes on to say, if we
were to read these next verses, which we just looked at them
together, but what he's saying in these next verses is they're
preaching works and self-righteousness. They're preaching works and self-righteousness. Down in verse seven, he said,
refuse all that. Refuse all that. Verse 10, he
said, salvation's of the Lord. Therefore we both labor and suffer
reproach. We trust in the living God who
is the savior of all men, eternally those who have been given faith
to believe. Up in verse six, he said, if
thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be
a good minister of Jesus Christ. nourished up in the words of
faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained." If you preach
the Word in truth without twisting it, as God has written it in
the Scripture, in the context of the Scripture, without taking
a verse alone and twisting it, you'll be a good minister, he
said. So, now, verse 11, our text, he says, These things command
and teach everything that has been said and everything that's
about to be said. He said, tell the preachers this. Verse 12, let no man despise
thy youth. He is telling Timothy that, and
he is telling Timothy to tell the preachers that, to tell the
brethren that. Let no man despise thy youth. We only have one wisdom, one
word, one authority, and it's Jesus Christ. That's all. We need to realize and learn
that when it comes to this word, the bottom line of every word
of it is Jesus Christ, not my take on it, not my wisdom on
it, not my opinion on it. We need to get my out of here. We need to get me out of here.
It's Jesus Christ alone. Therefore, it doesn't matter
whether an old man is preaching it or a young man is preaching
it. The wisdom, the word, and the authority is exactly the
same. It's exactly the same. It could
be that an older man is more seasoned, if you will, at clearly
setting forth the truth of the gospel. And if a man is going
to preach, he needs the opportunity to preach. I don't care what
you're doing. If you're going to be proficient
at it, you need to do it. You got to do it. But it could
be that an older man is more seasoned at very clearly setting
forth the gospel and, you know, younger man is brand new at preaching
the gospel. Or it could be that a younger
man. has been preaching the gospel for longer, and an older man
is brand new at it, and maybe he is young in that regard. But old, young, seasoned, unseasoned,
and I need to hear this, liberty or no liberty. A man does not need, and this
is just for me, this is for nobody else but me, a man does not need
a stitch of liberty to preach in the power of God's Holy Spirit. Because this thing is not of
man. This is not by man's ability. This is of God. And God can take
one of his own words, not my words, but one of his own words,
and he can do whatever he wants to do with it. If he wants to
take the most stammering, stumbling, you know, send somebody else,
I can't speak. If he wants to take one word
and just, that's his business, and he will do it when he wants
to do it. And you could have the slickest cat in the world
up here, just wowing everybody. dead, just dead. This is of God. If a man's going to preach, he
needs to know that or else he won't ever step foot in the pulpit
again. A man who gets out of the pulpit, who's tried to do
it in truth and in the power and spirit of God, he wants to
slither out of here and crawl up under the building and die
because he knows he didn't do a good job. Really. So if a man's gonna preach, take
that encouragement. It's not of you. It's not of
you. So he said in verse 12, let no
man despise thy youth, but even in your youth, he said, be thou
an example of the believers. If you're gonna preach, if you're
gonna stand up in front of your brethren and speak the word of
God almighty to them, Practice what you preach. Practice what you preach. And this is what that means.
If you're gonna preach the seriousness of these matters, be serious
about it. If you're gonna tell people it's
a life and death matter to them, make it a life and death matter
to you. Don't be one thing in the pulpit
and another thing out of the pulpit. Verse 12 says, let no man despise
thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word, in
conversation. That word means life, walk, life. In charity, that means love.
In spirit, in inner. will desire be in faith, in purity. Now, let me tell you where false religion
goes wrong. I want to tell you where false
religion goes wrong. This whole thing, hopefully we have set
up the fact that Paul is telling Timothy, if a man's going to
preach, you need to preach God's word in truth. It's got to be
the truth. Let me tell you where false religion
goes wrong. This is a verse that men and
women will twist into a false religion just as fast as they
can. This is where men and women go
wrong. And this is the heart of what Paul is saying right
here. He said, you be an example in word, in life, in love, in
spirit, in faith, in purity. Men and women go wrong when they
look to the word of men and not the word of Christ. If you want
to know where a false religion comes from, and I'm going to
tell you this, this is so, so, this is so very so. This first
one is going to set the tone for all the rest. If we can get
a hold of the first one, we'll get a hold of all the rest of
them. Men and women go wrong when they
look to the words of men and not the words of Christ. They
lead people astray or they are led astray when they look to
the words of men and not the words of Christ. We men in this
position can get pretty full of ourselves. I'm telling us the truth. We
men in this position can get pretty full of ourselves and
we can interject our own opinion into things as though it's the
Word of God when it's not. It happens all the time. Paul
said, If it's the Word of Christ alone in the pulpit, make it
the Word of Christ alone out of the pulpit. If we're going to be an example
in Word, it's going to have to be the Word of Jesus Christ.
Somebody's going to believe it. It has to be the Word of Jesus
Christ. Here's where men and women go wrong. It's when they
look to and they find confidence in the life of men and not the
life of Jesus Christ. This is what false religion is
built on. This is what it's built on. Paul said, if our all is in Christ
in the pulpit, if you're going to stand up in a pulpit and say,
Christ is all, Christ is all, all and in all. You're going
to stand up in the pulpit and say, Christ is the end of the
law. Is he or isn't he? Don't be double
tongued. Don't talk out of two sides of
your mouth. If Christ is our all in the pulpit,
Christ is our all out of the pulpit. Here's where men and women go
wrong. It's when they look to the love of man and not the love
of Christ. This is a big one. False religion
is all about our love for God. Think about this. False religion
is all about our love for God, but the truth and the gospel
is all about God's love for us. That's what it's all about. Do we love Him? Absolutely we
do, but only because He first loved us. That's the only reason. I told you before about that
man that right after I got here, I ran into a man and you know,
he knew I was a preacher and we started talking about this
and the conversation didn't go well and he was ready to get
out. And so he just, you know, I was talking, he interrupted
me and kind of like shot this last thing at me. He said, just
tell me this. Do you love Jesus? And I said, I sure do. But my
greater concern is, does He love me? That's my greater concern. Does He love me? I'll tell you where men and women
go wrong. You know, this says right here, in word, in life,
in love, in spirit. This is where men and women go
wrong. It's when they look to the spirit, the inner spirit
and the inner desire of man and not the inner spirit and desire
of Jesus Christ. His will, His way, the desire
of His heart. That's where people go wrong.
And these last two, and I'm done, but these last two are the greatest
errors in all of false religion. All of these are, these are all
great errors, but Where men and women go wrong is they look to
the faith of man and not the faith of Christ. That's where people go wrong.
Man does not have any faith of his own. Man thinks he does.
He thinks he does, and in that he is greatly deceiving himself.
Man doesn't have any love of his own. The only true love that
a man has is the love of God shed abroad in his heart. Man
does not have any life of his own. The only life a man has
is the life of Christ in the man. And man doesn't have any
faith of his own. And if he believes he does, he's
deceiving himself. A long time ago, I was very,
very young, but a long time ago I was watching a morning show
on TV. And a celebrity was on there
and they were interviewing this celebrity. And this woman had
been through a very dark place in life, gotten caught up in
drugs and just messed up and went through probably prison
and rehab and all of that. And so anyway, they were interviewing
her and they asked her, what pulled you through all of that?
And she said, my faith. Now here's what she was saying,
I pulled me through all that. I dug down deep into my core,
the core of my ability, and I found the strength to pull myself through. That woman doesn't have any faith. If she had faith, she would have
said, Jesus Christ pulled me through it. And he gets the credit
for it, and he gets the glory for it. That's what faith says.
That's what faith says. But without faith, a man can't
look to Christ. Without faith, a man can't look
to Christ. Man will look at things like
this and can't see Christ in it, will only see man in it. And in the same way that the
rest of the verse has said, I'll tell you where men and women
go wrong. It's when they look to the purity
of man and not the purity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The great
error of false religion is trying to find sanctification in this
flesh. Purity in this flesh. We are
never going to find it there. That which is flesh is flesh. This flesh is sinful, wicked,
rotten, and ruined. Does a child of God have purity?
Oh yes, he or she does. But the only purity that a child
of God is ever going to have is Christ. It's only going to
be in Christ. He is our purity. He washed our souls in His purifying
blood. A critical thing to understand.
He washed our souls, our eternal souls, the souls that God gave
and the soul that's going to go back to meet the God who gave
it. He washed our souls in his purifying blood. He washed our
souls and robed our souls in his purifying righteousness.
This flesh is going to do nothing but decay until it's six feet
under. We don't look for purity in the
flesh, it's our souls that have been made pure in the spotless
perfection of the Lamb of God. So Paul said, Timothy, if Christ
is our sanctification in the pulpit, Christ is our sanctification
out of the pulpit. Be an example to the believer
of these things. Be an example. And I wanted to,
I didn't intend to this morning, I realized it was too much. I
wanted to finish all this, because it all goes together, but the
Lord will, and next time we'll look at it. He has so much to
say right here, and it's so good. But we'll stop with that. All
right, you're dismissed.