First Timothy chapter six. We've already looked at the first
two verses here. We will look at verses three
through five today, but let's begin reading in verse one. It says, let as many servants
as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor,
that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And
they that have believing masters, let them not despise them because
they are brethren, but rather do them service because they
are faithful and beloved partakers of the benefit. These things
teach and exhort. If any man teach otherwise and
consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he
is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and stripes
of words, Whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute
of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness, from such
withdraw thyself. Now this is a very straightforward
text to teach. We don't even need to look at
it with bifocals like we always talk about doing, meaning we
don't have to look at the physical application of this and the spiritual
application of this. The physical application of this
is the spiritual application of this. So we're just gonna
read down through this and see what it's saying, all right?
Verse three. If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to
wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
to the doctrine which is according to godliness." If any man teach
otherwise, and consent not to the wholesome words of Jesus
Christ, the doctrine which is according to godliness. Verse
4 says, He is proud. And do you have a center margin
in your Bible that tells you what that word proud means? It
means a fool. If any man teach otherwise and
consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he
is a fool. Verse 4 says, knowing nothing. I think all the time about people
who come in and hear the message of the Word, and that's what
we preach, and that's what Timothy is talking about. The wholesome
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach this Word. And I think
all the time that people who do not know the Word, and do
not know the true and living God, unbelievers, They have to
hear this and think, what a narrow message you have. What a hard,
how come everybody can't just do their own thing and come together
in the end? Why can't we all just get along?
Why can't everybody just get along? It's because the wholesome
words of the Lord Jesus Christ say it's not a possibility. It's
not a possibility. There is one truth. There is
one thing to teach. There's one thing to preach.
And if it is not what God has written in the pages of this
book, he said, we don't know anything. And we are fools. He said, if a man does not know
and teach and preach the wholesome words of Christ and the doctrine
which is according to godliness, he's a fool and he knows nothing. And God's preachers, God's men
who do preach the truth, they don't stand up in pride thinking,
well, I've got it and you don't. God has it. And nobody has it
outside of God giving it to them in mercy. If we preach God's
word, it's great mercy to us. It's great kindness to us that
he would do that for us. So verse four says, he is proud,
knowing nothing, but doting about questions and stripes of words,
whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings. It's so important to have scriptures
like this and for us to hear things like this because I want
this congregation, my desire is for this congregation to have
the peaceful unity of Christ. That simple. The simplicity of
Christ. and not have all the trouble
that comes from men, wicked men. They bring in so many divisions
and troubles and heresies. And you will find people like
this word is describing all the time. They're very easy to spot,
proud. You know, they want to show you
everything they know, everything that all the doctrine they know.
But it says they're knowing nothing of the word of God. And they're
always taken up with questions, and not good questions, not questions
like, how can a sinner be just with God? Or what think ye of Christ? Those
are good questions. That word right there means disputing,
debating questions. That's what it means. Stripes
of words, it's like they're looking for a fight, trying to find a
fence. with nitpicking words. All that
comes from that is envy, he said. That means ill will. It just
produces ill will. That means jealousy, spite. Verse four says, and strife.
And that means quarreling, wrangling, contention. Verse four says railings. That means slander. It means
speech that injures people, hurts people. It also means blasphemy
against God. Verse four says, evil surmisings,
and that means the wicked, vicious, mischief of the evil one. Wicked men in their pride, in
their arrogance, in the name of doing God's business, they're
really just doing the allowed, and I want to emphasize the word
allowed, business of the adversary. When they go around thinking
that they're doing God's business and we're going to straighten
everybody out and I'm going to show you what all I know and they're wreaking havoc on God's
church and it's all under God's control. Didn't he say there
must be heresies among you? It's all under God's sovereign
control and it's all accomplishing God's will. There's nothing outside
of God's absolute sovereign control and will. Nothing is happening
outside of what God wants to happen. Nothing. It's all in his control. It's
all accomplishing his will. But come the end of it, the man
who does this is going to realize he has brought nothing but condemnation
on himself. You can always spot these people.
They're never content in Christ. That's what I desire for myself
and for this congregation. I want us to be content in Christ. I want us to come in here thinking
about Christ, not about these hair splitting, you know. We
come in thinking about Christ and then we stand up and we talk
about Christ and we all enjoy the thought of Christ and we
all leave this place happy in Christ. And when you find someone who's
not just content in Christ, there's always contention around them.
They're always trying to make some issue out of something that's
not the issue. It's like it's always an argument
over something. Verse five calls it perverse
disputings of men of corrupt minds. It's corrupt disputing
of corrupt men with corrupt minds. In verse five, he said, they
are destitute of the truth. Destitute means without totally,
completely empty of the truth. People say, well, now there's
some truth mixed in there, not according to God. Even what truth they declare,
it'll be empty of God's spirit, it will be empty of God's blessing,
it will be empty of God's Christ, it'll be empty. So verse three,
if any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words,
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which
is according to godliness, he is proud knowing nothing but
doting about questions and stripes of words, whereof cometh envy,
strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of
corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that
gain is godliness. And that does mean financial
gain. Paul goes on to talk about that
here in this chapter. If you look at verse 10, he said, The love of money is the root
of all evil. So this is talking about financial
gain. But it's any game. It's any game. These these wicked false. Men see gain as being godliness,
the gain of congregation members. How many y'all running down there? I used to love Tom Harding's
answer to that. People would say, how big is
your church? He'd say, oh, it's about 35 by 70. The gain of baptisms. How many
did you baptize last year? The apostle Paul said, I can't
remember. I can't remember if I baptized anybody in that church,
maybe one, I don't know. The gain of respect from others. People want to be here because
they want the respect of others. That's what the flesh wants.
The gain of what they believe is their own wisdom. Let me stand
here and I'll give you my wisdom. Wicked men associate godliness
with gain, health, wealth, happiness. You want to be in good standing
with God and have God's favor? Well then you need to be rich
and you need to have and you need to give it all to me. Aren't you so glad our Lord said
things like, despise not the day of small things. Aren't you
so glad? Fear not little flock. It is
your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Little
flock. Except the Lord had left a very
small remnant, we all would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Broad is the way that leads to destruction. The way everybody's going. Straight
and narrow is the way that leads to life. And Jesus Christ said,
few there be that find it. The apostle said, Lord, are there
not many people that are going to be saved? It's going to be a number no
man can number, but it's not going to be the broad way of
the world at any given moment in time. We need to reassess
our view of numbers. We need to reassess our view
of what godliness really is. Because he said back in verse
five, if you look at chapter six, verse five here, those who
are of that way, they are not of God. He said, withdraw yourself
from them. From such, withdraw thyself. Evil communications corrupt good
manners. Withdraw yourself from people
like that. And I want to point out that
it doesn't necessarily mean in the worldly sense of living.
You're going to work with religious Pharisee unbelievers. You're
going to have school associations, neighborly acquaintances. You're
not going to be able to withdraw yourself completely from a worldly
point of view. Our Lord prayed in John 17, Father,
I don't ask to take them out of the world, I ask to keep them
from it. And that's by way of religious
association. Don't be unequally yoked in many
ways, he said, but especially religiously with unbelievers. And I wanna make a statement
here. Don't try to have fellowship
by way of trying to find common ground. This is a common thing
that people try to do. Don't try to have fellowship
by way of trying to find common ground with the unbelieving false
doctrine of the world. Come away from it. Just come
away from it. You're going to be the one to
suffer in the end. God's sheep, you know, we think we're going
to influence them. It's normally not that way. Rarely
is it that way. Verse three, if any man teach
otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words
of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine, which is according
to godliness, withdraw yourself from that person. Don't listen
to that person. Don't sit under the teaching
of that person. Don't be influenced by that person. I cannot tell
you how many people have said to me, I go over to this place,
this assembly, this church, and no, they don't teach exactly
according to the Bible. But I, you know, there's some
good in it and I try to just get the good out and this and
that. No. No, withdraw. Don't listen to
it. Don't be influenced by it. Withdraw
from it and join yourself to those who do teach and preach
and believe and hold to and cling to the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ alone and to the doctrine, which is according to godliness.
Now, last week, we saw that God's name is Jesus Christ. And God's doctrine is Jesus Christ. And this week we see that it
is the doctrine which is according to godliness. What is that exactly? What is the message, the teaching,
the preaching of godliness, according to godliness? Turn back to chapter
three, 1 Timothy chapter three. Verse 16 says, and without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. This is what Paul was talking
about in chapter six. If any man wants to teach or
preach or get hung up on anything other than this message right
here, this message of godliness right here, this is the only
thing to preach right here. If it's anything other than this,
it's not of God. Verse six, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. Here it is. God was manifest
in the flesh. This is the doctrine of God.
This is the message of God. God was manifest in the flesh. God came down. God took upon himself the likeness
of human flesh. God, Emmanuel, entered this world
as a man. Jesus Christ, the man. God made himself to be a newborn
child who grew into a man. Now you talk about a mystery.
Explain that. God made himself to be a newborn
child who grew into a man. The eternal God who created all
things and knows all things and ordered and predestinated all
things was made flesh and dwelt among us. And this is what Luke
2 verse 52 says. It says he increased, he grew. in wisdom and stature and in
favor with God and man. I don't understand that. I do
not understand that. That is a great mystery of godliness. That's what that is. That's a
mystery of godliness. Verse 16, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh
justified in the Spirit. Jesus Christ, the Almighty God,
who manifests Himself on this earth as a common man, He walked
through life on this earth without sin. He lived before God and
man perfectly. Everything he did was righteous
before God. Everything he did was justified
before the law. Not even Pilate could find any
fault with him. Aren't you so glad Pilate was
forced to say that? I find no fault with this man. All of God's people cry amen. Everything he did was well done,
well pleasing to God the Father. Verse 16, great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels. At his birth, they
announced him. I love to, and I'm not gonna
take the time, I gotta stop here, but I just love thinking about the
angels announcing his birth. Those angels have been with him
since he created them. And they know that the culmination
of existence is in the fact that God became a man to redeem his
fallen people who, when they were made, the angels said, they
look just like God. They're in the image of God. And here he comes and it's been
prophesied and announced and preached and here he comes and
they came and the command was given, go! Here we are. Glory to God in
the highest. Peace just stepped on your planet. Don't you love the thought of
that? They saw him in his temptation
in the wilderness as he was tempted for God's people. Everything
God's people could be tempted with, our Lord was tempted with,
without sin. They watched him totally without
sin. Forty days without food, they ministered to him. Oh, they
loved him. They saw Him at His suffering
in the Garden of Gethsemane as the sin of His peoples being
transferred into Him. Can you imagine the horror of
witnessing that? They saw His suffering on the
cross as He suffered the penalty for that sin that was pressed
into Him. They saw Him being laid down
in the grave of death as He paid the price for that sin. The wages
of sin is death. They saw his resurrection from
that death as he arose in victory for his people over that sin. And they saw his ascension back
to glory where he sits right now on his throne. Verse 16 says,
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God
was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels,
preached unto the Gentiles. It pleased the Lord for His person
and His work to be preached. preached to the Jews, preached
to the Gentiles, preached to this entire world, going to all
the world, preached the gospel, preached for remission of sins,
preached for salvation in His blood, preached for the only
hope of eternal life. Through that message, the message
of Jesus Christ, the person and the work and the glory of Jesus
Christ, By the power of God's Spirit, verse 16 says, he is
believed on in the world. Believed on even though not seen. Seen of angels, believed on by
God's people. Our dear brother down in Florida,
he was just called home to glory. I was sitting at a DB football
game Friday night thinking about him. And I sincerely asked myself,
I had one of those moments, and you know the moment I'm talking
about. I had one of those moments where I sincerely asked myself,
do I really believe that his soul has ascended up to glory
to live forever with Christ our God? And I answered myself, yes, I do. Yes, I do. You really, you're
a grown, minimally educated man. You really believe that He ascended up to glory
with God Almighty and He's there right now in a sinless, spotless
body. Yes, I do. I believe. By the power of God's Spirit,
I believe that as Christ was received up into glory, Burt
Dunbar was received up into glory. With him, in him, real soon every
one of his people will be received up into glory as it was for Christ,
our God, our Savior, our Lord, our King. As it was for him,
that's exactly how it's going to be for us. That is the mystery
of godliness. That is the doctrine which is
according to godliness. And my hope and my prayer for
all of us is that we will never teach, preach, or consent to
any other words than those wholesome words of God, our Lord Jesus
Christ. That's our prayer. Lord, teach
us, keep us right here, Christ's sake. Amen. All right, you're
dismissed.