of messages from 1 Timothy a
few weeks back. And our first four messages from
this series of messages was expounding, this expounding from the Holy
Word of God, the things concerning Christ our Savior. We have spent
looking closely at a verse here and a verse there. But today
I wish to take a look at a subject seen in a complete section of
verses rather than a single verse. I ask you to read along with
me from verse 1 through verse 11, and may God our teacher be. Verse 1, Paul, an apostle to
Jesus Christ of the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Let me start that over again,
please. Paul, an apostle to Jesus Christ by the commandment of
God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope, unto
Timothy, my son, in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from
God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. You may recall the
Believer's Rule of Life that we spoke of last week. In fact,
hold your place there in Timothy for just a moment and turn back
to the Galatians chapter 6. Let's refresh our memories about
this, shall we? Todd and I would preach this
on this very subject Friday night. And he began by reading verses
15 and 16, where we read, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many
as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy upon
the Israel of God. And then he came back to verse
14 where it talks about this rule. In 16 we read it, we read
that those who walk according to this rule. So in 14 we see
what that rule is. It says, but God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom
the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. This is
what the rule of every believer who believes in the Lord Jesus
Christ walks by. We walk by the rule that God
forbid that we should glory in anything other than Christ. Our Lord is a jealous Lord. He
will not give any of His glory up for anybody else. He will
not share it with another. All glory in heaven and earth
belonging to Him. What have we got that we have
not received? Well, if we received it, if it's
a gift from Him, then what are we doing boasting about it? That's
what the world does. That's what we used to do before
God called us out of that walk of life and shined His light
in our hearts. We walked that very walk, didn't
we? Look at what I did today. I haven't killed anybody. See
how good I am? I haven't done this. I haven't done that. See how
good I am? Children of God, we know who
it is that guides our walk. We know that the very steps we
take in this life are a gift from Him and Him alone. How dare
us? How dare me to boast in something
that my God has given me? All other doctrine, all other teachings that do not
glorify the cross of Jesus are false. They are doctrines of
the world. They are doctrines of men's own
imagination. They are false teachings. Scripture
calls them another gospel, which is no gospel at all. Paul declares that there is a
peace and a mercy to those who walk according to this rule.
He says, God forbid that I should glory in anything other than
what He He who is the God-man. He in what He has done for me.
What He has done for a sinner who deserves His wrath. But instead,
instead I have received His mercy. Do you get that? Does that come to you as it does
to me? Instead of receiving what I deserve,
instead of having to pay the payment for what I am, I have
mercy and peace to Him who is my substitute. What a wonderful grace that is.
I don't know about you, but that hits home for me. I have found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. There are many in this world
today who do not give God all the glory. Those who act upon
their own nature, the nature that they were born with, they
come about saying, Lord, what shall we do? Because they want to mix their
own works with the works of God. Instead of saying salvation is
of the Lord and of the Lord alone, they say salvation is offered.
Here's what God has done. He's gone to the tree, He's paid
the price, He's shed His blood, but none of it's effectual until
you receive it. Come on down the aisle, come
on down here, and we'll pray a little prayer for you and with
you, and we'll guide your way. Or come on up here and climb
into the water, and I'll dump your head under, or come to the
table, or show up on Saturday. All those different things that
people say you got to do. Get circumcised. That's what
the Jews did. If you weren't circumcised, you
weren't saved. They say that salvation is offered
and one must do something to accept this salvation. For instance,
making their decision. Interestingly, I don't know about
you, but that shows me that their decision was the basis for their
salvation, not Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They're making
themselves above the Most High. They're making themselves as
gods. Our Lord says this in Matthew 11, 29, He says, Take My yoke
upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.
Do you realize the Creator of everything that is became a man
and washed the feet of His creation? He got down on His hands and
knees, and He washed their feet. One of them was going to say,
no, no, no, Lord, You can't do that to me. Oh yes, I must. He came to serve us, His people. Why? Because He has loved us
before the world was. We have a little inkling, folks,
of what love is about. We love our children. We love
our husbands. We love our wives. We love our family. In today's world, look how much
we go to protect our children. You know, that's a lot of what's
wrong with this country right now, is we've gone so far in
protecting our children, what we think we're doing good, but
we've done harm to them. You don't believe me? Go talk
to somebody in college right now. We've done harm to these people.
My parents have done harm to me. Oh, let's not let John ride
on the side of the truck, because he's going to fall off and hurt
himself. You know I did. Mom was right. Don't do that.
She was absolutely right. I fell off and got my knee up
real bad. Our Lord loves us so much that
he sends the storm. Does He not send the storm against
us to teach us that we would learn to look to Him? That we
would learn how weak we truly are? We can't even fathom how deep
God loves us. He loves us so much, He gave
Himself for us, knowing what we were. He became sin for us that we
could be righteous in Him and be with Him forever. I say unto you, my brothers and
sisters in faith, grace and mercy and peace from
God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Back in our text in
Timothy chapter 1, Timothy had these very same types of religious
men in his time. They would say things like, you
must walk this way or walk that way. They would bring in fables. In order to know if you're a
child of God, you must act a certain way. Or in other words, faith
in Christ is not enough. Jesus and Him crucified is not
enough. There is much more to God's Word
than Christ, Christ, Christ. I have had this very phrase said
to me just recently. There's more to God's Word than
Christ, Christ, Christ. Sure. There is. But what does it matter? Without
Christ, the rest of it doesn't mean anything, does it? I said this a week or so back.
Godly living does not save anybody. Christ does. Godly living does not build anybody
up. If you begin to look at what
your walk is in this life, and consider the godly living part
of it only, then you're just walking down a path. And there's
no hope in that. Our hope is in Christ. You come
here to this building to hear the hope and the glory of our
Lord and Savior. Because of that world that we
walk in, that valley of the shadow of death, Those temptations that come up
around us every moment of every day. The things of this world
that sparkle and take our mind off of Christ. We come to this
building to hear about our Savior, not about the walk of a righteous
man. Well, wait a minute. Let me back
up. We do come to hear about the
righteous walk of a man, don't we? Not this man, no. Not any of these men or women
here. But this man right here. Our Lord and Savior. Jesus and Him crucified is not
enough to some. Is He enough to you? Paul goes
on in verse 3. to warn Timothy against false
teachers. He says, as I besought thee to
abide still at Ephesus, and 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 the faith, so do. Now the end of the commandment
is charity out of a pure heart and out of a good conscience
and of faith and unfeigned, from which some, having swerved, have
turned aside unto vain jangling." Do you hear what Paul is writing
to Timothy here? Do you hear the warning? God
gives us this very warning throughout Scripture. Beware of wolves dressed
in sheep's clothing. They'll come before you and talk
about this and that, but it always comes back around to what you
should be doing. Well, this guy's not saved. Look
at him. He went to a bar on Saturday night. No saved man would ever go to
a bar. Well, I go to a bar once in a
while because I like a mixed drink every once in a while. I find more righteous people
in a bar sometimes than I do in most churches. I'm not trying to encourage you
to go hang out in a bar. That's not what I'm saying at
all. You know what I'm saying. You know those who are righteous
in themselves, those who I've pointed out to you before who
will say, I don't do that anymore. I don't go to the bar anymore.
See how much better I am than you. These are the kind of men who
would come into a church, men who have swerved and turned
aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding
neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. Henry Manham wrote
this. He says, these false teachers
boasted of having the law on their side, these teachers in
Timothy's time. The Jews were very good about
following the law, they thought. And they boasted about the law
on their side, and they were teachers and guardians of that
law. Interestingly enough, they made more stuff and added more
stuff to that law than was ever in Scriptures. Catholics did the same thing.
You tell me in Scripture where it talks about going into a booth
and talking to a man and telling him your sins and he can resolve
you of those sins. Nobody resolves anybody of sins
but Jesus Christ our Lord. You want to go into a booth?
Then go into a closet somewhere and pray to Him. Paul says the law gives them
no support, but rather it opposes them. For the end and design
and the sum and the substance of the law is the love to God
and love to one another. They used it as a stick to beat
on the people. You're not acting like you should.
Boom! You're out of the church. You're in a bar. Boom! You're
out of the church. Do you know Jehovah's Witnesses
will kick you out if they find you smoking? Don't smoke. I did for 40 years. I'm sure that my body will suffer
the consequences of that. But not smoking is not going
to save your soul. The sum and the substance of
the law is love to God and love to one another. Listen to what
it says in Matthew 22 verses 36-39. Master, which is the great
commandment in the law? That's the apostles asking the
Master, asking the Lord Jesus, asking the Lord Jesus Himself,
what is? What is the great commandment
in the law? And 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. Did you catch that? All those
Ten Commandments that people want to fight and have a big
argument about that should be up down there, that they should
have them posted down there at the county office. Do not do
this. Do not do that. Do not do this.
Every single bit of that hangs on this. Love God with all thy
heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and love thy neighbor
as thyself. Now, is there anybody here that
can say, I do that? I can do that? No. No, there's
not. See, this is the love I was talking
about a few moments ago. We have a small inkling of it. And when we can think about that
little piece that we do see and understand how that makes our
heart feel, can you not feel the love that God has for you
in giving himself for you? Does that not reach right into
the soul and say, Praise the Lord for His love for me. In Galatians 5 verses 13 and 14
it says, For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only
use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but love, serve
one another. For all the law is fulfilled
in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. This love is not possible, Henry
Mahan goes on to write, from a natural man. But it springs
up from a pure heart. One that was regenerated and
sanctified by the Spirit of God. Notice how the glory goes to
God. Not one from a heart of a man who's just changed his
way of life, but one who has been changed, sanctified by the
Spirit of God. From a good or clear conscience.
Purged from dead works, void of ill feelings, vengeance and
pride. A sincere faith. Sincere faith
which is with which a man really believes what he professes. And it will always attend with
good works and love. What do you profess this morning? What do you believe? I believe that Jesus is the Son
of the Living God. I believe that with my whole
heart. I can't tell you why, except
for that I know that He's the one who's done that. He's the
one who's come to John Reeves and given me a heart to believe. In 1 Timothy 1 verse 8 we read,
But we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. Folks,
the moral law is a good law, because God is the author of
it, and it contains good and excellent things. It is good
if a man uses it for the purpose with which it is designed. If
you walk outside the law of God, can you expect Him to bless you? Our Lord says, do not be unequally
yoked. He says, thou shalt not kill.
If you go out and willfully take the life of another man, do you
expect the Lord to bless you for that? Blessings come from our Lord
through the following of the law, because the law is good.
But the law is not what saves us. Again, Christ Jesus is the
one who saved us. He fulfilled that law perfectly.
You and I can't come anywhere near even close to that. We strive
to, we want to, we desire to, But until we walk with our Lord
and Savior in heaven, we must deal with the flesh. And the
flesh is desperately wicked. It is good if a man uses it for
its purpose which it was designed for, but if it be used to obtain
life, or righteousness, or salvation, or any acceptance with God, then
it will only serve to condemn. A lawful use of the law for unbelievers
is for the knowledge of sin. Meaning a correct way for a chosen
sinner, for sinners, to use the law is to show them their need
of a Savior. We can't follow the law. A lawful use for the believer
is to obey it in the hands of Christ from a principle of love
to Him. Because He first loved me, I
love Him. And because I love Him, I strive
to do the best I can in walking in His law. In 2 Corinthians
5, verses 14 and 15, it says, For the love of Christ constraineth
us, because we are thus judged that if one died for all, then
all are dead. We are dead to the law. And that He died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves." Did you
catch that? They should not henceforth live
unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose
again. Our actions have changed, yes. But it's because of our love
for the One who gave Himself for us. We act upon our love
for Him because He first loved us. Verse 9, Knowing this, that
the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and
disobedient, for the ungodly and for the sinners, for unholy
and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers
and manslayers. for whoremongers, for them that
defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars,
for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that
is contrary to sound doctrine." What did we read in verse 3?
but thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine."
No man is righteous in himself. The righteous man here is intended
as the man who believes in Christ with a heart unto righteousness
and who lays hold on Christ's righteousness by faith. in consequence
of which he lives soberly, righteously, and godly, though not without
sin, the law of God does not lie as a weight or a burden around
him." We don't use the law to measure
whether we are in Christ or not. We use the love of God as our
measurement. What is in your heart today?
Is it the love of God or is it the love of your works? He delights in the law of God,
and God's commandments are not grievous to him. Its curse and its penalty do
not lie on him as a punishment to be born. Our Savior has taken
that punishment upon himself, as our substitute, as our scapegoat. The law is not to him as a terrifying
law, bringing him into a bondage or fear. It's not a despised law, forcing
him into a way of life that he detests. The law is enacted for
the ungodly, the evil, the profane, for it is against such persons
and their deeds as an accusing, condemning, and terrifying law.
Let me ask you this. Locks on the doors, are they
made for honest men? I used to live in a place where
nobody locked the doors. That was 40 years ago. It was
in Kansas. It wasn't here in California.
We've always locked the door here. Something about California. I'm not sure what. Think about that. It's the same thing as these
foolish gun laws. We're making all kinds of laws
for the lawful people. I saw something on Facebook here
the other day, a guy standing there with a gun in his hand
and a hood over his head, and he's like, I'm a crook. Go ahead
and make your laws. I don't pay any attention to
them. Do not steal. Do not steal, do
not kill, do not lie, et cetera. These are rules needed by righteous
men, but law is enacted to control and convict ungodly men. The
law lies against anything that is contrary to the doctrine of
Christ. Take notice of it. It condemns. We observe the harmony between
God's law and his gospel. Rightly understand and use what
is contrary to one is contrary to the other. The gospel no more
excuses sin than the law does. What is repugnant to the moral
law of God is also contrary to the gospel of Christ who said,
I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. This is the law of love. He fulfilled
the law for us. Because we can't. I love God's law, folks. I know our sin is ever before
us, and I know it troubles the soul
when we stray, but we do not strive. I'm sorry, we strive not to sin. But we can't. I don't want thoughts going through
my head that shouldn't be there. But they do. This is why the gospel is good
news, is it not? Is it not? If we happily go out and live
our life in sin, then we disregard the love that Christ has for
his people, and we should question our standing in him. If Christ dwelleth in us, then
sin will trouble our hearts. I know it does in mine. That's
why this gospel message, this good news is so sweet to this
man who stands before you, a sinner. This is why I come here as often
as I can to hear the message of my Savior. Because it troubles me. And I have it in me. Amazing grace how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me. Folks, I'm here to tell you this
morning that anything that is opposed to Christ and Him crucified,
anything that man can glory in, especially What he thinks is
godly living needs to be questioned. The law is not made for a righteous
man, but for the lawless, the disobedient, the ungodly, or
any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine. In verse 11,
we read this, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed
God, which was committed to my trust. Turn over to Jeremiah
chapter 9, if you would please, and I'll bring this to a close. Paul is instructing Timothy,
anything that takes our eyes off of Christ, anything that
takes us away from the glorious gospel, of the blessed God. Anything that takes our eyes
off of Him crucified and risen again, give no heed to turn from
such. Beware of those who seek to bring
in such things. I like what Pastor Gene has said
many times. Things that bring in debate are
not the issue. The issue is this, what think
ye of Christ? What is Christ to you in this
day? Look at Jeremiah. Pastor Gene or Clay Curtis? One
of the two. I can't remember. I've got them both mixed up now.
Preached from this this morning. I saw this and I just had to
write it down and add it to today's message. Are you with me in Jeremiah
chapter 9? Look at verses 23 if you would
please. Thus saith the Lord. This is the Gospel that was entrusted
to me to speak before those who God has the blessings of bringing
through these doors. Thus saith the Lord. Thus saith the Creator of all
that is. Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom, Neither let the mighty man glory
in his might." That means don't let the man who's doing all his
nice stuff, all the feeding of the poor, doing this, doing that. Or the one who knows all the
Scriptures. I know every word. I was told that I'm not fit to
be a pastor of this church because I've never read the Bible all
the way through. Thirty-seven years, Pastor Gene
says, neither have I. Let not the wise man, let not
the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. I've supported that church for
thirty-five years. See how glorious I am? But let him that glory, Let him that glorieth glory in
this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord
which exercises lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in
the earth. For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. What is Christ to you this day?
What think ye of Christ? Is He King of your life? Is He Lord of all that is, including
your will? If so, then this closing hymn
will ring ever so much. Stand with me and listen.