Alright, this is the end of that
chapter, but Paul says in verse 18, this charge I commit unto
thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went
before on thee, that thou might war a good warfare, holding faith
and a good conscience, which some, having put away concerning
faith, have made shipwreck, of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander,
whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme."
Now, look again at verse 18. according to the prophecy which
went before on thee, that thou mightest war a good warfare. Now once again we find ourselves
with a text in one of the pastorial epistles written by the Apostle
Paul to his minister in the Gospel. And the purpose of it is to instruct
that minister in the Gospel how to carry out the work of the
ministry of the gospel and the preaching of the ministry, Paul
lets them know, and we understand, has both a pleasant side and
an unpleasant side to the preaching of the ministry. or a positive
and a negative side of the preaching of the Word of God. Now, the
positive side of the ministry is the blessed privilege of the
preaching of the Gospel and of the Word of God. To set before
the people, thus saith the Lord, and to preach the way of salvation
and the Lord Jesus Christ. the great incarnate Redeemer,
who came and took on flesh that He might die and save His people
from their sin, to declare the unipersonality of the great God-man
and His victory over sin and his exaltation again to the right
hand of God. On the other hand, the negative
and the unpleasant side of the ministry is that constant and
everlasting fight against heresies and heretics entering in among
the people of God, to preach among or against the enemies
of the cross, as Paul called them in Philippians 3. and 18,
to preach against those who would pervert the gospel of Christ,
as in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 7, against those grievous
wolves that would enter in not sparing the flock. in Acts chapter
20 and verse 29. And such false teachers who being
covetous would make merchandise of the people as Peter said in
2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 3. Now there will always be those
who will preach another gospel and another Jesus according to
2 Corinthians 11 and verse 4. So that is the negative side
of the preaching of the ministry. Now, in our text and subject
today, let's follow this order in moving closer to the text
that we have taken today. By taking, as it were, sort of
a condensed view of the first chapter, then arriving at our
passage of Scripture. Look back, if you will, very
quickly, just an overview. In verse 1 and in verse 2, we
have Paul's usual greeting and salutation, which was common
with him in the writing of his epistle. In the third verse we
see that he reminds Timothy why he had besought him, why he had
urged him, why he had desired, why he had entreated him, Timothy,
that he might remain there in the city of Ephesus. That was
that he might guard against any strange teaching being brought
in and especially particular ones not to teach any other doctrine
than that which Paul had left with him in preaching to them. In the fourth verse then, not
to give themselves, not to be taken in, not to give ear to
myths and tales and unending genealogy which have no profit. They raise controversy and questions
for which there is no answer and no need. Not to exchange
the stewardship of God by faith in these for faith in these other
things. Then in the fifth verse, he sums
up true religion. There is love or charity. There's a pure heart. There's
a good conscience. There's unfeigned faith or sincere
faith. that makes up the faith of God's
elect. And then in verse 6, some had
turned aside already unto these, missing aim, as it were, driving
off of the mark. They had wandered off course
from the Gospel and the Word of God. and had ended up in what
he calls vain, jangling, empty, useless talk that has no profit
toward the gospel at all. Then look at verse 7. These teachers
that Paul warns against, they desired, they wanted, they wished
to be teachers of the law, and in that they preached up the
law, yet as Paul notes, They did not know what they were talking
about. They were not acquainted with
that which they tried to preach. And they taught the law in what
one called, I thought, an unusual phrase, quote, an un-evangelical
sense, unquote. They taught the law in an un-evangelical
sense. And Paul says the law is good,
and it is to be used lawfully, and when it is, it is good. Adding
that it is not made for a good man or a righteous man, but that
the law of God is laid down for lawless persons of all sorts
and degree. That the law is good when it
is used lawfully and used rightfully and in a proper way. Now there
is nothing that is more detrimental to religion than the law in the
hands of angry men, or ignorant men, I should say. A wide-eyed
legalist. There's nothing more dangerous
than the law in the hand of that person. Not only is the law against
those things that are mentioned in verse 9 and in verse 10, but
in the end of the 10th verse, Any and all thing that is contrary
to sound doctrine is to be avoided. And in verse 11, Paul says, this
is in accord with the gospel that was committed unto him. This view of the law, this use
of the law and all things is in accordance with that blessed
gospel which he was commissioned to preach. Then in verse 12 through
verse 17, the thought, all the thought of his call and commission
to the ministry. The very thought that God in
His sovereign grace had made Paul a minister of the gospel. When before he had been such
an enemy and such a critic, of the gospel. Well, that moves
Paul to give us this grand doxology that we have in verse 12 through
verse 17. Praising God for His mercy and
for His grace in saving him and putting him into the ministry
of the gospel. The long-suffering of God toward
him who had been such an enemy of Christ, of the gospel, and
of the church. For example, he closes it in
verse 17, Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only
wise God, be glory and for honor forever and forever. Amen. Now coming to our text,
in verse 18, through verse 20. After this digression, for it
certainly is and was a digression that Paul made concerning himself
and his ministry in verse 12 through 17, Paul then returns
to the giving of a charge to Timothy. in regard to the work
of the ministry and the exercise thereof. He began this back in
verse 3, as we saw, which is to embolden Timothy, to strengthen
him, make him bold and brave, to withstand any and every deviation
from the gospel that Paul had preached unto them. He had committed
this gospel to Timothy's trust, to be held in trust by Timothy. And to do this, Paul had to establish
his own authority as an apostle by the will of God. If he is
to delegate authority to Timothy, then it requires that his own
authority therefore be validated and established. Now as well
as to invest Timothy with certain authority among the churches
and particularly at Ephesus. So he says in our text, this
charge I commit unto you, son Timothy. And the question now
is, by Paul saying this charge, quote unquote, Does he refer
to what he's already said in verse 3 through verse 11, or
to what he is about to say? To war a good warfare in the
cause of Christ and the gospel, and to hold the faith in a good
conscience. Now, what is a charge? I charge thee, son Timothy. What is the essence of it? And when we begin this investigation,
I think it will then soon become apparent that there is more than
one word translated or rendered charge that comes before us in
our New Testament. For example, it is not the same
word as Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 18, where Paul says
that I may make the gospel without charge, meaning costless. that he might not charge them
anything or that he might not himself receive money for the
preaching of the gospel. And it's not the same word used
in Romans 8 verse 33, who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect. There the word means to criminalize
or to accuse or to charge one with a crime or a sin. And it's not the same word as
in Acts 8 and verse 27 of the Ethiopian eunuch who had the
charge of the treasury of the queen of his country. That just
simply means that he oversaw the distribution of it. He had
the charge of it. So we see that there are several
words that are translated charge in our New Testament. But the
one that Paul uses here under son Timothy actually has the
meaning of a command. We could call it a mandate, perhaps,
of a command. And given by a superior to transmit
a message, Paul lays out a charge here under Timothy. And Timothy
was to give a charge, back in verse 3, to others not to preach
strange things at variance with the gospel and the word of God. But the most interesting thing
that Paul says, I think, in the middle of verse 18, let's look
at it now, that the charge was in accordance, watch, quote,
to the prophecies which went before on thee, unquote. Now the mystery is deepened by
the fact that we are not told anywhere in the scripture when
or where this occurred. We're not given the nature or
the substance of it anywhere else in the scripture of the
prophecies that Paul is talking about here. Notice that Paul
uses the plural word, prophecies, in the plural. This may well
have been when Timothy was set apart for the ministry as seen
in Acts 16, 1 through 3. when he was, and I'll use the
word, quote, ordained, unquote, or consecrated to the work of
the ministry. When Paul took Timothy and would
have him go with him and serve him in the preaching of the Word
of God of Christ, and of the gospel. For example, consider
1 Timothy 4 and verse 14. Just flip there and look at this. Neglect not the gift that is
in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on
of the hands of the presbytery. And in 2 Timothy 1 and verse
6. and I put you in remembrance
that you stir up the gift of God which is in you by the putting
on of my hands." Look at that again, the ministry. the gift
that is in thee by the putting on of my hand. Now before we
move along, consider a couple of related passages along the
way. Dealing with the practice of
the early churches, especially so in the apostolic era. For example, in Acts 13 and verse
3, Paul was ministering in the church down at Antioch. And the Holy Spirit of God made
it very evident that Paul and Barnabas were to be separated
for a special and particular work and ministry, a special
calling. Then in verse 3, they fasted,
they prayed, They laid hands on Barnabas and on Paul, and
they sent them forth in the name and authority of the church to
preach the gospel. Then consider 1 Timothy 5, verse
22. Paul says this to Timothy, "...lay
hands suddenly on no man." Now we might think of that grabbing
one or taking hold of one, but literally it says, lay hands
on no man quickly. Referring, as Calvin said, to
ordination in 1 Timothy 3 and 6. An overseer was not to be
a novice. The word is neophyte, means one
newly planted. It refers to a new convert, one
that's green, a beginner, one recently having come to the faith. In other words, in 1 Timothy
3 and verse 10, let them first be proved before they are installed
in an office in the church. Now Paul says something else
in reference to these prophecies which went before on Timothy. that you by them or in them might
war a good warfare, whether under their influence or whether according
to their precepts, as the guiding principle of his ministry, the
Greek seems to indicate as compassed about on every side by these
prophecies that went before on you. And in verse 19, Paul deals
with what Lange's commentary called, quote, good conscience. Now these are
two necessary prerequisites to a solid experience in the Christian
life and especially even more so in the work of the ministry. Now me thinks that such men as
Calvin, Gill and others are right in saying that the word Faith
here refers not to the personal grace of faith in our heart,
but the body of Christian doctrine, or the doctrine of Christ. The
doctrine of faith, as Gill called it. These Paul joins together
in other places. 1 Timothy 1.5, in 3 and 9, and
also Hebrews 10 and verse 22. I referenced Thomas Goodwin on
our text this week. in 1 Timothy chapter 1, and he
makes the point, and he made it several times, different places,
different subject, different text. In the Scripture he made
the point several times, and that's this, that the Christian
life and the Christian ministry consist in two things. The Christian life can be summed
up under two headings, under two things. and they are as follows. Number one, what Goodwin called
the credenda, meaning the things that are most surely believed
by us. that thing that we believe, what
our faith, the doctrines that we have in connection with Christ. Call it evangelical truth. Such things as the mystery of
the way of salvation according to the purpose and the good pleasure
of God before the world began. Goodman put it this way, quote,
the revelation of God's free grace in Christ and all that
He has done and all that He has made unto us." These things are
our creed. They are what are believed by
us. Now the second thing that Goodman
referred to, he called the agenda, meaning what is to be done, what
is to be practiced, the way of life that is to be lived by those
that are a Christian. A godly life lived in by and
through Jesus Christ. Now the faith is the necessary
body of truth upon which the Christian bases all things in
his life and all of his attitude and all of his motive. Patrick
Fairbain wrote a commentary on the pastoral epistle and he said,
and I'm quoting, a good conscience is faith's necessary handmaid."
That is, it serves faith, it ought to be found nearby. He
who does not live in a good conscience before God, in conjunction with
Christian truth, cannot serve God as he ought to be served. in sincerity and in truth. Now let's make the transition
to our text and our subject that we have taken this morning. In
the middle of verse 19, if you would, and the word which. This look at these words and
refers to some, some which, some which have done a certain thing. And Paul will name some as examples
of what he is warning against in this epistle to Timothy. Now,
the antecedent to the word which refers, an antecedent refers
to a preceding clause or something that has been said, and the antecedent
here is faith and a good conscience, particularly the last, a good
conscience, which Paul exhorts Timothy that he might hold as
a possession. And why? Well, remember, if you
will, a few weeks back, a few Sundays ago, we considered the
subject, the value of a good conscience. We looked at that
in serving God. Now, see what Paul says about
losing a good conscience, or the word he used, thrust away. rejected, cast aside. They that have cast aside are
thrown from them a good conscience. Now let's see that the word which,
which some have thrust away refers to a good conscience. First being
the nearest antecedent to a good conscience, and then in the last
part of the verse it said, with some having put away concerning
faith. So the conscience concerning
faith. We have cited the words of Fairbain,
that a good conscience is faith necessary, hand made. But also it is true what Calvin
wrote, that quote, a bad conscience is the mother of all heresies,
unquote. A bad conscience gives birth
to all manner of heresy and bad doctrine. By the way, that same
word, put away or thrust away, is used again in Acts chapter
13 and verse 46. where Paul tells the Jews concerning
the Word of God, you put it away from you. You having put away
the Word of God from you. It's the same word here in 1
Timothy 1, and verse 19, having put away from you a good conscience. And I made that point to show,
as Gil did, that the Christian faith, that is the Christian
doctrine, is contrary to an evil or a bad conscience. So that none can spiritually
hold to gospel truth whose conscience is evil in the sight of God. Now, Paul gives the result of
those who thrust away a good conscience. They made shipwreck
concerning the faith. Paul uses a metaphor here, shipwreck,
and it conjures up in our mind a very vivid image that we can
see and understand, that of a shipwreck. And this comes from two words. First of all, the word ship,
and then the word to break, to break up, the ship to break up. And the word is used two ways
by two meanings in the Scripture. Number one, it is used of a literal
shipwreck. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11
and verse 25, he said in the course of all those things that
he endured in the preaching of the gospel and of the ministry,
one of them he said, three times was I shipwreck during the course
of his ministry. But secondly, the word is used
metaphorically, and that's how it is in our text this morning. As a figure of speech, the idea
of a literal shipwreck brings to mind some great damage that
puts the ship, the crew, the passengers, and the cargo at
risk and in danger. The result could be, quote, severe,
irrecoverable losses, unquote, from a shipwreck. The destruction,
the loss of life, of property, and of goods. The ship goes down. It is destroyed and sinks to
the bottom or dashed to pieces upon the rocks and is lost forever
and never reaches its port. Now, no doubt, the greatest shipwreck
in all the scripture, I mean literal shipwreck, is that one
that Paul experienced found in Acts chapter 27. He was being
sent to Rome, if you remember, to appear before Caesar and appeal
unto him. And in Acts 27, 14 through 44,
we have a long account of that great storm that the
ship encountered. They encountered a great wind,
a great storm came upon them at the sea. And the ship, in
verse 18 of that chapter, was exceedingly tossed by a tempest,
and all control of the ship was lost. The captain had no control
of it. And they feared that they would
run upon quicksand, or they would run upon the rocks, and so they
began to lighten the load. to throw overboard some of those
goods that might lighten the load and perhaps be the occasion
of the saving of their ship. And everyone would have died
except for the great Providence of God, on Paul's account, as
God said to him, there shall not be a loss of any life upon
the ship at all. A shipwreck, lives lost, goods
lost, debris floating everywhere, and the ship broken or sunk to
the bottom. That's the picture in our mind
of a shipwreck. But Paul's metaphor concerns
spiritual shipwreck, not a literal one. And the cause of it, not
a storm of nature or a wind or such as that, not a wreck at
sea, not the loss of a load of its cargo, whether it be cotton
or whatever other commodities, It might be carrying upon the
ship. Rather, Paul's metaphor concerns
some that became apostates from the faith of the gospel of Christ,
which is shipwreck by another name. Shipwreck is apostasy and
vice versa. And the cause is They put away,
they lost, they thrust from them a good conscience as faith handmade
in the sight of God. We saw that same word in Acts
13 and verse 46, where some put away the Word of God from themselves. And it cannot be said there that
they had once embraced the Word of God in all fullness and then
put it away or thrust it away. For they, verse 45, were filled
with envy. They spoke from the very beginning
against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting
and blaspheming what he said. So in putting away the Word,
it's not that they once had it in their heart, and they thrust
it away. I said all that because I agree
with John Gill. That they're putting away from
them a good conscience does not necessarily imply that they once
had one. Not a conscience purged and settled
and cleansed by the blood of the great sacrifice, but only
what one calls a good conscience in an external show only. And then the mask came off of
them as they put away a good conscience, made shipwreck, became
apostates from the faith. Of course, some make use of this.
as another proof text for falling out of grace. This is one of
their favorite texts that they would pull out to prove that
real faith may be lost and real Christians may fall again under
the condemnation of sin. First, it would have to be proved
that these were true believers in the first place, for it is
admitted that professors can and they do fall away. The question is whether they
were a true believer, because to fall from an empty profession
and to fall away from saving grace are two different things
altogether. One may happen, the other may
not. When such people do not value
the faith that revolves around the Lord Jesus Christ, and do
not value, treasure, and love that doctrine that is the doctrine
of Christ, But it does not influence their lives and their behavior. Their faith then turns into speculation
or something of that sort. They wonder. They undervalue
the truth of God once they have heard it and mulled it over. Then when they undervalue the
truth of God, the next step may be to hold it in open contempt
and to stand against it. And they shake off the conviction
of conscience and they become then what Fairbain called as
an anchorless vessel drifting among the rocks of skepticism,
unquote. And in verse 20, Paul names two
such as he had described who had made shipwrecked of the faith
and he names them Hymenaeus and Alexander. And look what Paul
says of them. I have delivered them unto Satan
so that they may learn not to blaspheme. What does Paul mean
when he says this, writes this unto Timothy? Number one, does
he refer simply to church discipline as it is set out in the scripture,
which is scriptural. It was practiced in the early
church, and it can be summed up under two reasons. There,
two reasons are grounds why one might be excommunicated. One is immorality. And the other
is heresy, that they refuse to give up. But secondly, does Paul
refer to some special apostolic prerogative, which is no longer
active by the way, whereby an apostle could visit judgment
upon an enemy of righteousness, as he called one. As Peter did
in Acts 6. when Ananias and Sapphira fell
down dead at their feet. Or, as Paul did in Acts 13, to
Elymas the sorcerer who withstood him as he preached Christ upon
that island and perverted the right ways of the Lord. Now, it would seem that the apostles
were endowed with a double sort of gifts as their apostolic credentials
as they ministered and as they went among the people. There
were two apostolic credentials, I call them, that they possessed
for that period of time for the exercise of their apostleship. A, to work miracles, of course,
and they did. To heal the sick, they did. Cast out demons, and they did. For the Lord gave them that power. But then B, we find in the scripture
examples of them having power to, or maybe I should say authority,
to visit judgment upon the enemies of righteousness. And this to
put the fear of God in the hearts of others that saw them. Now, we'll close by looking at
the fact that Paul, though he was a faithful minister of Christ
wherever he went, yet Paul was forsaken by some of his closest
associates. which are written up for us in
the Scripture. I'm going to flip to 2 Timothy
chapter 2 and verse 17 and 18 for a moment. He is saying that
they should shun certain things. Verse 17, Their word will eat
as doth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning
the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past
already, and have overthrown the faith of some." Next, let's
look at 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 10. For Demas has forsaken
me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica. Then 2 Timothy 4 and verse 14
and 15. Alexander the coppersmith did
me much evil. The Lord reward him according
to his works, of whom be thou aware also, for he hath greatly
withstood our words. Paul found enemies on one hand,
and he found associates who forsook him on the other hand. The point
is, many have made shipwreck of the faith. We have seen it. Every generation has seen it. Let these things be warnings
unto us. that we hold the faith and a
good conscience, holding faith and a good conscience as we serve
the Lord our God, avoiding shunning all speculation, all myths, and
all vain imaginings that men might bring among us, that we
stand only and entirely upon the Word of our God. That we say, thus saith the Word
of our God. It's amazing today, amazing how
many churches have admitted philosophy and psychology and speculation
and put that in, mixed it all up with the Word of God. Yes, making shipwreck of the
faith.