Okay, let's turn back to 1 Timothy
chapter 1. The heading of this book says, The First Epistle of Paul the
Apostle to Timothy. It's a letter of instruction
and encouragement from Paul to Timothy. And it's also to every
single believer in Christ. I want to begin by looking at
a few facts about Timothy, okay? Timothy's mother was a Jew and
his father was a Greek, a Gentile, which is saying that his mother
was a believer and his father was an unbeliever. And that's
why when he was a child, he was not circumcised. His father was
a Greek and they didn't do that. We're going to see that in just
one second. Now turn over to 2 Timothy 1. Paul is saying here to Timothy,
look at verse 5. When I call to remembrance the
unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother
Lois, and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee
also." Alright, so his mother's name was Eunice and his grandmother's
name was Lois. One of these days we're going
to meet those ladies because they were believers. And they taught him the Scripture
from an early age. They trained up a child in the
way he should go. I couldn't help but think about
the class that we're about to start for our little ones. First
thing we're going to teach them is God is holy. So he had the blessing of having
a family of believers. He had a mother and a grandmother
who were believers. Alright, now turn with me over
to Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16, now this is
where Paul met Timothy. Verse 1 says, Acts 16 verse 1,
Then came he, then came Paul to Derbe and Lystra, and behold,
a certain disciple was there named Timotheus, the son of a
certain woman, Eunice, which was a Jewess and believed, but
his father was a Greek. Timothy, which was well reported
of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium, him would
Paul have to go forth with him, and took and circumcised him,
because of the Jews which were in those quarters, for they knew
all that his father was a Greek." Alright, so Paul knew that the
Jews would not hear Timothy because they all knew that his father
was a Greek. And it would be a hindrance,
so he went and had him circumcised. All things to all men, right?
But Paul made it a point to show that circumcision had nothing
to do with salvation. And here's why. We're not going
to turn over there, but Paul refused to have Titus circumcised. What was happening was the false
preachers, they were trying to make an issue of salvation. He
had to be circumcised on the eighth day. That's what the law
says. And Paul wrote in Galatians 2
verse 5, he said, "...to whom we gave place by subjection,
no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue
with you." So Paul said if they're going to make it an issue of
salvation, we're not going to give in to that for one minute. But if it is a hindrance to our
ministry, merely a hindrance to our ministry, let's remove
it. All right? So he had Timothy circumcised.
Well, the Lord made Timothy a preacher, and Paul sent Timothy out to
many of the churches, many of the places, and I can identify
with this man. I went out to many of the places.
I really love him. After I have really looked at
his story, I love Timothy. And he sent him out to many of
the churches, and Paul had a lot of confidence in Timothy. He
had a lot of respect for him, and he had a lot of love for
him. Turn with me over to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 2, look at verse
19. It says, 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. And that word right there means
so dear unto me. I have no man so dear unto me
who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own,
not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof
of him, that as a son with the Father he hath served with me
in the gospel." Now back to our text. Right here
in 1 Timothy, Paul has asked Timothy to stay in Ephesus. Okay? So he was sending him all
over the place. And he asked him to stay in Ephesus,
and Paul now writes a letter to him. And it's for the church there
also. It's for Timothy and for the church. Okay now, verse 1.
1 Timothy 1 verse 1 says, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Now Timothy knows he's an apostle.
He knows he's an apostle. So this letter is meant to be
read to all the believers. And it comes by the authority
and the will and the commandment of God. That's why Paul writes
this. Verse 1 says, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus
Christ, which is our hope. Alright, now the name God our
Savior belongs both to the Father and to the Son. And He's saying,
by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ. Those two are one. But I want
to show you Isaiah 45. Turn over there. Isaiah 45, look at verse 21. God says, Tell ye, and bring
them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And there
is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. There's none beside me. I'm a
just God and I'm a Savior. So that name, God our Savior,
it belongs to both the Father and the Son. All right, now back
in Timothy 1, verse 1 says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by
the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which
is our hope." Our hope. Alright, now turn back a few
pages to Colossians 1. He said, The Lord Jesus Christ,
which is our hope. Now Colossians 1 verse 27 says,
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory
of this mystery. Brother Bob Coffey was talking
about a secret Wednesday night, wasn't he? God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. which is Christ in you." That's
a mystery, isn't it? It's the hope of glory. Christ
in you is the hope of glory. That's what Paul's telling Timothy.
And he says, you go tell it to everybody there in Ephesus. Christ
in you is the hope of glory. Our works is not our hope. Our belief is not our hope. Our morality and our zeal is
not our hope. A plan is not our hope. Well, you know, Jesus has a wonderful
plan for your life. Well, that's not my hope. Certain
facts, they're not our hope. A person is our hope. The Lord
Jesus Christ in us. That's our hope. Second Thessalonian
calls it a good hope. You have a good hope. Hebrew
seven calls it a better hope. First Peter calls it a living
hope. Titus calls it the hope of eternal
life. Christ alone is our hope. That's it. Christ alone. A man
asked my father recently, he's trying to get his mind around
grace, he's trying to get his mind around Calvinism, and that's
where he's going wrong. But he said, are you telling
me that you believe in order for a man to be saved, a man
has got to And I don't care what's coming
next. We're already started on the wrong track. Christ alone is my hope. I don't have to do anything.
If it's left up to me, I don't have any hope. I don't have any
hope. All right, now turn with me to
John 1. Verse 12 says, As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name. It does not say as many as received
a deeper understanding of this doctrine. It didn't say that. I thought I had it. Now I've
got a deeper understanding of it." It doesn't say that. It
does not say, as many as received Calvinism. It doesn't say that. It says, as many as received
Him. Christ alone is our hope. It's the hope of glory, Christ
in us. Well, all right, let's go back
to our text. 1 Timothy 1. Verse 2 says, Paul writes, Unto
Timothy, my own son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from
God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, Timothy was not
related to Paul. He was not his son. He called
him that because of an age difference. Paul was older than Timothy was. Timothy was a young man. He called
him that because he loved him like a son. He really did. He
called him that because Paul was the one that God used to
teach Timothy the Gospel. My own son in the faith. And
he called him that because Timothy was faithful in serving Paul
and serving the church and serving the ministry of the gospel. He
was a good man to have around. Isn't that nice? He was always
about the business of the ministry. So here's what Paul desires for
Timothy in the church there. He says in verse 2, grace. Now this is enjoyable right here. What he's saying is, I pray God's
favor to you. That's what I pray. God's favor
to you. I pray His good will in Christ
Jesus to you. Grace. I pray daily grace for you. You know, I need daily grace. Grace for today. I pray sufficient
grace for every trial that's going to come to you, Timothy.
You're going to have a lot of trials. And I pray God's grace to you.
Sufficient grace. I pray spiritual growth for you. Grace. And then he says, mercy. I pray God's pardon on you. That's what I pray for you. God's
pardon. I pray God's compassion and His tender love on you. Tender
mercy. And then he says in verse 2,
and peace. I pray the peace of God to you.
I pray for contentment to you. Peace. I pray that you might
have peace. I pray rest for your soul. Rest that only comes from God
our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. That's what I pray for
you. Now look at Matthew 11. We know a lot of these, but I
like looking at them with my own two eyes. Matthew 11, look
at verse 28. Our Lord said, Come unto Me,
all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Eternal rest, spiritual rest,
daily rest. Verse 29, Take My yoke upon you,
and learn of Me, For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you'll
find rest unto your souls." You really will. So Paul says, I
pray that for you, Timothy. I pray that for you, and I pray
that for all of you. I really do. I pray that you'll
find rest in Christ our Lord. Alright, now let's go back to
our text, 1 Timothy, verse 3. says, 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. Paul is reminding
Timothy why he asked him to stay in Ephesus. He asked him, look,
Timothy, you need to stay here. And he's reminding him why. It
was because there were many, many, many, many false prophets. And they were preaching to people
salvation by works. Anything other than salvation
totally by grace is salvation by works. I don't care what denomination
it is. Salvation by works. Now turn
over to 2 Peter 2. Verse one says, but there were
false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be
false teachers among you. They're always going to be there
who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying
the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of. The way of truth shall be evil
spoken of. And through covetousness shall
they with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose judgment
now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth
not." It's coming. It's coming. Paul said, charge
them that they teach no other doctrine, only the words that were taught
by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and His apostles. That's it.
Let nothing be called doctrine that is not taken directly from
this Word. Nothing. And men do it all the
time. They do it every day. Now just listen to this, this
is Isaiah chapter 8, verses 19 and 20 say this, And when they shall say unto
you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, And unto wizards
that peep, and that mutter, Should not a people seek unto their
God for the living to the dead? When they say all these crazy
things to you, this is what the next verse says. To the law and
to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it
is because there is no light in them. They'll come up with
everything under the sun. And that's exactly what's going
on right now. They'll come up with everything under the sun.
And if it's not according to this law and this testimony,
then there's no light in them. None whatsoever. Infant baptism. Where is it in the Scripture? Altar calls. Where are they in
the Scripture? Women pastors. You know, I don't
want to be a male chauvinist, but I want to obey God. Where is it in the Scripture?
Well, we know where it is in the Scripture, don't we? It's in 1 Timothy 2. Let's go back to our text. 1
Timothy 1 verse 3 says, 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. Paul said, you tell them, Timothy,
not to listen. Don't give heed to lies, fables. Don't be taken with hypothetical
preaching. Don't be taken with speculation
and theories. Don't listen to a man go on and
on and on about what he thinks the end of time is going to be
like. Pre-millennialism, post-millennialism,
and all the millennialisms. Paul said, tell them not to listen.
Tell them not to give heed to endless genealogies. You know, we attend this church
because we've got an original unbroken line to the original
New Testament church. You know, I'm saved because I
can trace my roots all the way back. Paul said, none of that stuff
glorifies God. Not a bit of it. None of that
stuff benefits the soul of a sinner. Not a bit of it. So He said,
just forget it. Forget it. All that does, it
says in verse 4, is minister questions rather than godly edifying,
which is in faith. It confuses people. It distresses
people. It raises questions and it doesn't
answer them. That's all it does. Verse five
says, now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart
and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned. Now Paul
told Timothy, I asked you to stay in Ephesus because so many
false prophets were preaching salvation by work, salvation
by the law. Okay. That's why I asked you
to stay in Ephesus. And he says the end of the commandment,
What he means by that is the goal of the law. There's a reason
for God's law. In the end of the commandment,
the goal of the law is charity. It's love. It's to cause us to love God
and love each other. That's the whole goal of the
law. And it says out of a pure, sincere
heart, a good conscience and faith unfeigned. That word unfeigned
means united, a united faith. Now turn with me to Matthew 22. And I almost, to give you a mindset
of where we're going to be here for the next few minutes and
then we'll close. I didn't, but I almost titled this message,
We Know That The Law Is Good. Okay? But I didn't. All right, now,
Matthew 22, look at verse 35. Then one of them which was a
lawyer, asked our Lord a question, tempting him and saying, Master,
which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with
all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets. If you want to know what the
goal of the whole Old Testament is, love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart and love thy neighbor as thyself. All right, now go
to Galatians 5. Galatians 5 verse 13 says, Even in this, thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself. That's the commandment of God.
All right. Now our text, verse five, first
Timothy one, verse five says, the end of the commandment is
charity out of a pure heart. and of a
good conscience, and of faith unfeigned, from which some, having
swerved, have turned aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be
teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof
they affirm." He's saying anyone who teaches salvation by law, or salvation by love, has no idea what they're talking
about. That's what he's saying. Because this love is not possible
for a natural man. It's not possible. But it comes from a regenerated
and sanctified pure heart. Man's heart is evil by nature. And the only way this can come
is through a pure heart. And the only way we can have
a pure heart is if the Lord God gives us a regenerated and sanctified
new heart. If He takes out that heart of
stone and He puts in a heart of flesh. That can only be done by the
Spirit of God. Alright, this love, this law
of love can only come from a good or clear conscience. One that is purged from dead
works. Purged from the law. We've got
the law stuck in us and we've got to get it out. One that's purged of sin. Christ
has to put away that sin. Purged of self and purged of
pride. A good conscience. And this can only come from the
faith of God which causes faith in God. So, verse 5, he says, the end
of the commandment is charity, and that's out of a pure heart,
a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. Verse 6 says, from
which some, having swerved, have turned aside unto vain jangling. Now, I just want to read this
because I'm running too long. But 1 Corinthians 13, we know
this. Let me read it to you. 1 Corinthians
13, verse 1 says this, Though I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels, if I have not charity, that means
love, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. That's all I am. If I don't have
love to God, for God, for the Lord Jesus Christ, and if I don't
have Him in me, God is love. If I don't have His love and
love for those whom He begat, I'm just vain jangling. I don't
care what I'm up here saying. Well, verse seven says, desiring
to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they
say nor whereof they affirm. Verse eight says, but we know
that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. We know that
the law is good. We know that, don't we? Sometimes
we have to be reminded of that because we think of the law as
the enemy. We know that the law is good.
The Word of God is called His law. I meditate in that law and
in that precepts, right? It's good. Exodus, Moses, the
ceremonial law, every word in that law is good. There's nothing
wrong with that law. Thou shalt not kill. There's
nothing wrong with that. It's good. The moral law that God
writes on the heart is nothing but good. Nothing. All of God's laws are good. They're good because He's the
author of them. They're good because they contain
nothing but wise counsel. They're good if a man uses them
lawfully. And here's what that means. If
a man uses them for the purpose they were designed for, to cause
us to love God and love each other. But, here's the but. If someone tries to take the
law of God and tries to use it to obtain their own righteousness, If someone takes the law of God
and tries to use it to obtain acceptance with God through the
law. If someone tries to obtain eternal
life through the law, they're using it unlawfully. All it's going to do is condemn
their soul. All right, now I want to close with
this. The lawful use of the law for
an unbeliever and the lawful use of the law for a believer.
Okay? For an unbeliever. The law is
correctly or lawfully used when it brings a knowledge and a conviction
of sin. Does that make sense? When through
God's holy law I see I can't live up to that and I'm a sinner,
that's when it's used lawfully. When I stand before the law convicted, that's when it's used lawfully.
Because here's what the law will do. Now you think about a courtroom. Murder. How does the jury plead? Guilty. The judge says he's guilty
and he's got a life sentence. What's the next thing that happens
to the prisoner right after that? He's standing there with his
lawyer. What do they do after that? The sheriff comes in and they
put handcuffs on him or he's already in handcuffs and he's
going to jail. That's the next thing that happens according
to the law. What the law will do as I stand
before the law convicted is it's going to shut me up to Christ. That's what the law does. It'll
shut a sinner up to Jesus Christ. Paul said, I therefore the prisoner
of Jesus Christ. Happy to be. That's using the
law lawfully. Convicted. Alright, now for a
believer, The law is used correctly or
lawfully when he obeys it because of his love for the Lord
Jesus Christ. And because of the fact that
the Lord Jesus Christ has already kept that law for him. The law
is satisfied. And he loves Christ so much And
the fact that Christ obeyed everything in that law, He desires to be
just like Jesus Christ. And therefore, I want to obey
the law. Not to obtain a righteousness
before God, but out of love for Christ. If a man uses it lawfully, the
law is good. It's a good thing. Alright, now
here's the last Scripture. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians
5, verse 14 says this, For the love of Christ
constraineth us. Because we thus judge that if
one died for all, then we're all dead. And that he died for
all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him which died for them and rose again. That's a believer's
motivation to obey the law. Love, love for Jesus Christ. Love for the fact that he fulfilled
that law. Love for the fact that because
of that law, he died. And he satisfied it, and he rose
again. The law is good. All right, may
the Lord bless this to our hearts. Let's stand together.