In verse 14 there of 1st Timothy
3 How thou oughtest to behave in verse 15. It says that that
phrase refers back to all that's been said in this chapter Which
we'll talk some more about but but first Where we are and more to the
point really who we are Determines our behavior how we ought to
behave is how we will behave if we are what this passage says
we are. It's called, first of all, the
house of God. When I say it, I mean we are
called the house of God. The whole idea of us coming before
God, we appear this morning before God, Him having promised to meet
with us and commune with us. That communion with Him, that
acceptance with Him, that fellowship with Him, it happens in His house. And so how we ought to behave It looks toward that, if I can
say that right. We need to realize what this
is, what's going on here, in order to give weight to this
phrase, how we ought to behave in the house of God. Now we saw how God feels about
someone not behaving the way they ought to in his house in
Matthew 21-12. You probably know what this is
just by me saying that. Jesus went into the temple of
God and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple
and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats
of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written,
My house shall be called the house of prayer, but you have
made it a den of thieves." You've made it a den of thieves. Now
not only were they buying, selling, they were selling sacrificial
animals to people and they forbade them to bring their own. They
couldn't raise animals for free or very inexpensively and bring
them. Only these ones were approved.
You've got to buy them from us. And that's why he calls them
thieves and not just businessmen. Now the church is not a business
either. were not to do business as the church. But he said, you've made it a
den of thieves for a reason. It wasn't just about the selling
itself. God is jealous over his house.
Why did he drive them out? It's hard for, especially religion
would never see, you know, the gentle Jesus that they preach
that wouldn't hurt a fly, rather than the one that sends people
to hell every day. this way as being angry and Plotting
a whip of cords and driving people out of his house That's what
he did. Why because they weren't behaving
as they ought in his house So we see our text in that And of
course when I say God is jealous over his house. That's not the
building itself. It's not a God's house, his church
is his people, his household. Usually often when the scriptures
use the word house, it's talking about household. If I say, if
I thank God for my house, I'm thanking him for providing me
somewhere to get out of the weather and sleep and eat and all things
that a house provides. But if I thank him for my household,
I'm thanking him for my family. And that's what this word means
often in the scriptures. If you notice in all the things
that are mentioned in this chapter before our text, in 1 Timothy
3, all the things that are mentioned about being blameless and not
disruptive or mean or causing division and things like
that. It amounts to anything that disturbs or harms his family. And that which brings dishonor
on his name. It's his house, but that's what
the emphasis on the word his, it's his house. But also it's
his house, it's his household, it's his family. I'm pretty jealous
over my family too. I'm not gonna allow anything
to harm them if I can help it. Or even disturb them. I don't
even want them upset if I can help it. The Lord's able to make that
happen. So you see how all of those things
pertain to that. It's his name, the money changers
and the sellers of animals were cheating people. The Lord called
them thieves. He still feels the same way about
that or anyone who behaves badly in his house. It's the house
of prayer. It's a house of coming before
him and receiving what we need. You can't spell church without
you, you know. Not about you, it's about him. It's about him. And he, is what
we need. So God's house is not a building.
This is what I call the auditorium. I just call this the auditorium.
That's what it is. It's a place where somebody speaks and people
listen to it. That's an auditorium. The cafeteria
is in there. The house of God exists and can
exist in many different buildings and places. But what makes this
place special, even the building and the grounds, this place,
what makes this special is that this is where the Lord meets
with us. Now, he could meet with us anywhere. We gather together
in his name, but this is where we worship and this is where
we do gather. So it's special in that sense. There's no question
about that. It's where we worship the Lord
by his grace. It's where we learn of him. So
we want it to be nice, we want it to be somewhere we can do
that without distraction, without dishonoring him in any way. Just
like what makes my house special is that's where my family comes
together. We enjoy time together there. We commune together there,
we eat together, we live, we enjoy one another there. If we
move to a different house, then that house would be special.
because it's where my family is. If we met at a church in
a different place, then that place would be special to us,
naturally. But it's not the church. The
last second that the Lord used that burning bush to speak to
Moses, when the Lord ceased To speak from that bush and to use
that and to be there in that place, that was the second that
that ground ceased to be holy. It was just dirt like any other
dirt, but when the Lord's there, the ground you're on now is holy
ground. If they had considered that ground
holy later, we heard that God spoke from that book. Let's put
a fence around this, you know, and gather here and have a festival
every year. This is holy ground. They'd have
been idolaters. Just like with the brazen serpent.
The Lord used that brazen serpent as a picture of Christ. He told
Moses to make that serpent and to lift it up on a pole and tell
the people, look and live. Look away from all of your remedies
and human reasoning about healing yourself of this snake bite and
look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look away from yourself and look
to Him and you'll live. But then years later, they worshiped
that brazen serpent and not the God that made it as a picture
of His Son. And it had to be destroyed. Just
like the Lord had Moses ground up that golden calf and made
them drink it. He put the... So there's nothing special about
this building except that it's where we meet. It's special to
me, isn't it you? I want it to be nice. I want
to make sure that it's not in disrepair. Because it is a special
place in that sense. But there's nothing special about
the front down here where religion says come to the front, you know.
What for? This is not where you come to
be saved. There's no altar here. This is not an altar. There's
nothing holy about the bread and the wine that we drink and
eat at the Lord's table. We use that according to his
will to remember him who is holy. And who gave himself to redeem
us. So this is talking about how we behave toward God and
each other, the household. How thou oughtest to behave thyself
in the household of God. It's just like the law. It's
basically, what is the law? It's how, what to do in relation
to God and what to do in relation to people. Thou shalt have no
other gods before me. And then the, The other part
of the law is toward men. Don't covet, don't lie, don't
steal. But the difference between this,
what he's talking about here, and the law is that this is not done in order to establish
righteousness before God. how you behave has nothing to
do with your righteousness. This is addressed to people whose
only righteousness is Christ, and never will be anything but
Christ. Your behavior, whether you do something or don't do
something, has nothing to do with your righteousness before
God. But it does have something to do with how you ought to behave. Because you love God, whose son
is your righteousness. This is done not to establish
your righteousness, but because he is our righteousness. And
we love him because he first loved us. You're gonna behave
a certain way toward people you love. And you're not gonna behave
a certain way toward people that you love. Now it matters to God
how you treat his people. That's clear from the scripture. You're not to lie to them, this
passage says. First Timothy chapter three,
you're not to lie to them. You're not to intimidate them.
You're not to trouble them. You're not to argue with them.
That's clear here. You're not to divide them. You're
not to slander them. It amazes me when people talk
bad about their wife or their husband. You're the one that
married him, not me. Why would you talk bad about them? And
it shows that you have no class or honor, besides being stupid. But you're not to behave unseemly
toward them. And more importantly even than
that, that you're not to dishonor your Lord through any of these
things. Drunkenness or greed. You have to be greedy of filthy
lucre. You're not to be unfaithful. Or you're not to be a failure
as the authority in your house or wherever God has given you
authority. You're to take that seriously.
All these things are contained in this chapter. And they're
all, these are just the things that are tailored to bishops
and deacons. If you look throughout scripture
with regard to this same subject of how we ought to behave as
believers, as just believers, it becomes a much larger subject.
These are just the ones that pertain specifically to the bishops
and deacons, also to everybody else. It doesn't, it's not different. It's just as a believer, there's
a whole lot more to it. When you're part of a body, everything
that you do and say affects that body. We've got to understand
that. We've got to live that. And that's the thing about this.
It's not just a personal matter between you and me or you and
whoever. The Lord Jesus Christ considers
anything done to his people as being done to him. Don't forget
that not only did he say, I was sick and you visited me. He said
to some, I was sick and you didn't visit me. That's him too. That's you doing it to him. I
was down and you discouraged me. I was hurting and you treated
me like a stranger. Whatever it is, the Lord takes
it personally, good and bad. The church is the body of Christ. He's the head of the church and
we're his body, the fullness of him which filleth all in all. Does that give any weight in
your heart to this thing of how you ought to behave? There's
nothing weightier than that. The chosen, loved, the way you're
behaving toward one of his, you're behaving that way towards someone
that he loves with an everlasting love. The cherished people of God.
And there's more here. The church, think about this
now. Remember all that we've said.
Why is it that big of a deal? Why is it important to especially
behave yourself in the church, in the house of God, among the
people of God, with regard to the people of God? Well, because
they're His. Because He loves them. Because you depend on them whether
you like it or not. You want to be alone in this
world? I don't. That's God's way now. We get
strength and encouragement from one another. But look at what's
next here. It's the pillar and ground of
the truth. Not only is it precious to God,
just because of who we are to him, But it's kind of important because
this is where God's truth is. The truth that comforts and informs
God's church, the gospel. The truth that is the only hope
for the lost. The truth that glorifies God
in this wretched world. What else does? Who else does? the truth of God, the gospel
of our Savior. The word church means a gathering
of citizens called out from their homes into a public assembly. Now this is public in the sense
that we're together and we're not in our homes in a private
place. It's not necessarily public in
the sense that anybody can come in here and do what they want, we very much have the right and
will exercise it if necessary to exclude people if they're
a disruption to the worship. I mean, that's just natural. If you go anywhere and cause
problems, they'll throw you out. Church is no different in that
regard. But listen now, this is the body
of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you read the rest of the definition
in Strong's of what church means, it's clear that in the special
use of this with regard to God's people, called the church, when
it's used that way, that Greek word, it's them wherever they
are, whoever they are. It's not just a local body. It's
the church, the assembly of the saints before God, not necessarily
together in the same place only. But the word assembly is most
important here. In Hebrews 10.25, it says, not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some
is, but exhorting one another and so much the more. Don't miss
this last part. There are a lot of people now,
just like then, that didn't think it was important to gather together
as a church. I can give you some names of
people that just don't think there's much to that. Not that
important, you know, the Lord doesn't do things that way anymore. I don't see that in the scriptures,
do you? But they just don't think it's important. Well, people
didn't then either, and Paul specifically said, Don't be like
them. Don't be like them. In that regard,
do not be like them. But exhorting one another, when
we assemble together, we exhort one another to assemble together,
but also when we assemble together, and that's by the gospel. That's not by voicing opinions
about this or that. That's by the gospel. But listen,
the last part of that, and so much the more, as you see the
day approaching, This is not obsolete, it's just
the opposite of that. This is more vital. Assembling
together and worshiping our Lord and hearing of Him is more and
more vital, so much the more as you see the day approaching. And that word exhorting, by the
way, that doesn't mean everybody stands up and gives a testimony
and all that or has something to say. The word exhorting there,
it means to call to one side. That's what we do here. We're
like gathering together. We want to be with one another,
to call to one side to say, come here, let's worship together.
Huddle up. So much the more now is that
important. It's vital now. Do you see the
day approaching? I kind of do. There's no question
it's approaching. We don't know when, but it's
approaching. The Lord said, I'm coming quickly. You've never
needed to hear from God more than you do now. You've never needed to worship
him as he is so richly worthy than you do now. Those who are
outliers, you know, we all know some people that don't, They
just don't live anywhere where there's a true church. They don't
have a pastor. They're not part of a local church. Don't forsake it. I'm talking
to you. If you hear this, if you see
this, don't forsake it. It doesn't matter what the reason
is. It's time to huddle up. Listen to this preacher. It's
time. It's time to come on in. Where
two or three are gathered in his name, he said, there I am,
where are you? Matthew 16, 18, and I say also
unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock, I will build
my church, my assembly. And the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. God is building his church. I
saw a book one time in a Christian bookstore and it was called How
to Build a Church. I did not buy it. God builds his church. He's told
us what to do. We don't need to read a book
about that. He just said go preach what I've commanded you Preach
it, and whoever will hear you, I'll save them, and who won't,
I'll damn them. Acts 247, praising God, those
who heard the gospel, praising God and having favor with all
the people, and the Lord added to the church daily such as should
be saved. The Lord added to the church. I don't want just people to be
added any other way. I don't want anybody to come
here who hates the gospel just to be sociable or to think they're
doing their duty to God. Now, if you hate the gospel and
you're willing to come listen, come listen. We all hated the
gospel at one time. God saves people who hate the
gospel. That's not what I'm saying. I'm
just saying don't come here and cause a disruption. Be an idiot like I've experienced
that people just come to Just because they thrive on the
drama of being part of a group and doing what they do Acts 20 28 take heed therefore
unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy
Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God and
which he hath purchased with his own blood. Simon, do you love me? Feed my
sheep. Feed my sheep. He purchased us
with his own blood. Ephesians 1.22, God hath put
all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over
all things to the church. Christ is the head of this church,
not a man. That's why we ought to behave
the way we ought to behave. Not because that makes us acceptable
to God. We behave that way because of
who he is, not to make something of ourselves. Ephesians 3.21, unto him be glory
in the church. Where else in this world is there
going to be glory to God? by Christ Jesus throughout all
ages, world without end, amen. I say amen to that too. Amen
to that. As long as this world stands,
as long as we're alive, let's glorify him here in the preaching
of Christ. Ephesians 5.25, husbands love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church. Gave himself for it So let's
talk about this this part of it the pillar and ground of The
truth the support column of the truth in this world To cause
or make to stand To make firm to establish That's what this is we establish
by God's grace, by His design, by preaching the word and not
man's opinion, by declaring the truth of Christ
and Him crucified and not just repeating the approved doctrines
of some church somewhere, some central fellowship of some kind. To declare the truth of God into
establish it here. That's why it was important to
all of us to find a permanent place. There was a place that
we used to meet that was very, very impermanent for a lot of
different reasons. It was good to be able to meet
together. We met in an apartment complex
for a little while. We met in a taekwondo facility
for a little while. It was a blessing. We had some
wonderful... The Lord blessed us in those
places. But it was important to come to a permanent place
of worship and say, Right here, the truth is going to be preached.
And we want everybody to know it, whether they like it or not,
whether they are interested or not. We want people to know the
truth of God is preached here in this place, in this ground.
And when we're long gone, may it be true that right here, the pillar and this is by God's design,
and our sufficiency is of Him. There's no question about that.
We're not reliable. It's not that we are better,
have a better opinion than other men. It's not my opinion. The gospel's not my opinion or
yours. But think about this, in this
wretched world of deception and lies, just outright lies, misrepresentation
of everything, you can't trust anything you hear from anybody. This is where the truth stands.
It is held up. God has established it right
here. If that's not just unbelievable
and incredible to us, then we didn't hear that. I didn't hear
it. If it doesn't just shake me to
my core, you think about that. In this whole world, there are
a few places like this where God has established his truth. What do you have if you don't
have truth? What is true? the truth May God impress upon us what
that is The truth is his son. It's a person and everything
That he said everything that he did everything he is is the
truth He said I'm the truth don't ever forget that the truth is
a person there are a lot of true things But they're irrelevant
The sky is blue, but what does that have to do with saving a
sinner? Nothing. Except that the one who made
it blue can make you holy if he wants to. He can make you righteous in
his sight if he wants to. And here's the thing about it,
you're not getting it anywhere else except in God's church. Only the church by God's grace
knows the truth. Please God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe the truth. I want you
to think about something now that's a little bit hard to express.
I tried to think of the best way to express this, but think
about how unreliable and prone to error we all are. Even when
we think we're telling the truth about something, we probably
missed something or forgot something. Anything that I say, anywhere
but when I'm preaching the gospel, may well be unreliable, whether
deliberately or not deliberately. We lie often without even knowing
that we did. We're sinners. We're prone. We're liars. Let God be true
and every man is a liar. We're liars. Yet God has said that the way
his truth is preserved, held up, made to be steadfast and
reliable and known is in his church by the preaching of the
gospel. Hmm. People love to throw scripture
around in this world, don't they? They love to use the scripture
in order to give credibility to whatever it is else they're
saying that's a bunch of lies. Scripture is often in this world
used in the most absurd and blasphemous ways, selfish ways. But God said, I will give you
pastors after mine own heart. God has chosen a few men in this
world and given them the truth, given them the business of carefully
and with prayer and devotion and study, receiving and delivering
a message from the Lord himself, from his word. And we're very
careful about it. The Lord uses means, I'm careful
about that. I don't wanna say anything, and
I don't believe I ever have from the pulpit that was a lie, that
misrepresented God, who He is, what a sinner is, and how He
saves sinners by the blood of His Son. But what I'm trying
to impress upon us is what a miracle that is. Is it possible that I've never
lied from the pulpit? It's necessary, and so God just
does it. He accomplishes it. And in his church, where the
gospel is preached, the truth is known, received by his grace,
lived doers of the truth and not hearers only, by those whom
he has chosen and blessed, and what they know is a who. We reject
all systematic theologies and doctrinal divinities and things
like that, church creeds and all of that, we reject all of
that. Why would you need man to tell you what we're supposed
to believe God said when we have what God said? It may take us
a lifetime to just scratch the surface, but where else are you
gonna hear what God said? On a plaque on the wall somewhere? In a book, in a pamphlet? This
is our confession of faith. The word ground there, the pillar
and ground of the truth, that has more to do with being unmovable. Not only is the truth established
in the church by God, We establish it by preaching it we establish
it in this world by his grace by preaching the gospel But it's unshakable he said the
gates of hell will not prevail against it The church because it's the ground
of the truth. It's firm and steadfast and unmovable. The truth of God is eternal.
It's not subjective. There's no my truth or your truth. There's just the truth. The truth
sets sinners free because it is by the declaration of the
truth of Christ that God gives life to dead sinners and gives
them faith in the one who died. for them and rose again. Listen
to 2 Thessalonians 2.13. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit, the setting apart of you from this world by the
Spirit of God. You're mine. You're mine. Sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth faith in Christ belief of the what
the truth Where unto he called you by our
gospel That's the truth the gospel that we preach To the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ therefore brethren stand
fast Stand fast. There's the word
ground, the ground of the truth. Where would we go? To whom should
we go? Christ has the words of eternal
life. You can't believe a lie if you
wanted to now, could you? Could you? If you're truly his,
if you've truly believed on Christ, how can you listen to somebody
lie about him? You're not going to. No way. This is the ground of the truth. The word, listen to the rest
of this. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions
which you have been taught, whether by word or by our epistle, whether
it was preached to you or you read it in the scriptures. Stand fast and hold the traditions. What does that word tradition
mean? We have our ideas about the way that that's used in our
society now, but listen, the word traditions here in the original
Greek means that which has been delivered, the substance of the
truth. That's what you hold fast. You
stand fast and you hold that. That's why this is the ground
of the truth because that's what the Lord does in his church and
with his church. He causes them to stand fast
and to hold the substance of the truth, which has been delivered unto
you. That's the church. Christ himself being that truth
means that God has made his church a very special, a very vital
and beneficial place for his people. This is the pillar and
ground of Christ, the truth. It's necessary to assemble in
his name. to meet with Him and to hear
and rejoice in His truth. Not only are you not gonna hear
the truth anywhere else, and you know as well as I do, us
being what we are, it doesn't take a whole lot of time not
hearing the truth for it to affect you. Your perspective becomes
not good on things. you start worrying, you start
thinking about things and circumstances and problems and trials. And
without the encouragement, without the joy of hearing how that Christ
brings the storm and calms the storm. He does that for his glory. He does that to make us huddle
around him, to huddle under him. He does it for our good. It's real comforting to me to
know that the state of this country is somehow for my good. It's a vital thing. There's nothing
in this world more vital If there is, you tell me what it is. Do not forsake it. That's what
Paul said. Don't forsake that. Don't neglect
that. Of course, when I say that, I
mean him. Don't neglect. Don't forsake
your own mercy. Don't forsake your own comfort
and peace and rest. What happens here today is what
the Lord ordained If he brings it to pass here that the That
the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ is set forth As it is in the
Word of God May that always be so God make me faithful to the
gospel May Christ be glorified in every sentence. I speak I
If that does happen, everything that you need to live
in this world will be done. What do you need? Strength. You need assurance. You need
comfort. The Lord said, comfort my people.
If I haven't done that, I've failed. Christ is the only comfort that
there is. What do you need to live in this
world? Do you need to be rich in temporal
things or rich toward God? How are we going to be rich toward
God? We need to hear from him, don't
we? We need to worship him. And not that much else is necessary
in this world. And the more we realize that, perhaps the more we'll prioritize
that and thank God for the privilege to gather in his name and worship
him.