Let me lead us in prayer before
we read from God's Word. Our Father, we do pray the blessing
of Thy grace upon the reading and our hearing of the Word.
We pray that we may hear in faith and belief. And we pray, Lord,
that we may learn from this text. We pray we might be warned and
we might receive an exhortation and solid admonishment from the
Word of the Lord. We pray that you take it, apply
it to our heart in its truth to us. We pray this in the name
of Christ our Lord. Amen. Alright, 1 Timothy 1, 18-20. We're just kind of breaking in
the middle because Paul is really giving Timothy some great instruction
in this particular letter. But verse 18, this charge, I
commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which
went before on thee. You ever read that before? Which
went before on thee, that thou by them might war a good warfare,
holding faith and a good conscience, which some, having put away concerning
the faith, have made shipwrecked, of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander,
whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme."
Now, this chapter is really full of good exposition and of doctrine. Now, as you know here, in 1 Timothy,
is what we call one of the pastorial epistles, of which they are three,
all written by Paul, and all written to ministers of the gospel
who served under them. Two of these epistles fell into
the hands of young Timothy, and one for Titus. And by these epistles,
They receive direct instruction and exhortation and charges from
Paul, the apostle, as to how they might serve as a minister
of the gospel. And it's noticeable that in 2
Timothy chapter 4 and verse 5, Paul tells the one that he fondly
has called, my son in the faith, do the work of an evangelist
Paul says unto him. For what it is worth, I agree
with John Gill that the office of evangelist was a particular
one in that day, and that it is no more. But Paul, as to these
two men, Titus and Timothy, he had left Titus on the Isle of
Crete. You see that in Titus chapter
1 and verse 5, and he said, The purpose of it was to set in order
the things that were lacking or out of place or not as they
should be, and to ordain elders in every city as I have instructed
you. And in 1 Timothy 1 and 3, we
learn that Paul had left Timothy, also called Timotheus, in Acts
16.1, And in Romans 16, 21, he had left this young man around
and in the city of Ephesus in order that he might contend against
the errors that might arise there, and that he might put down any
strange doctrine that might try to enter in, and avoid them giving
place to tales and unending genealogies, which he said only provide questions
rather than any edification. And he needed to keep a close
eye on the ones who would not rightly divide the law and the
gospel. For there were those young, untrained,
inexperienced teachers that came to Ephesus, as they came to all
places, who thought themselves skillful in the use and the teaching
of the law. And in chapter 1 and verse 7,
he takes up that subject. They wished to be teachers of
the law, and yet they did not have a right understanding of
that which they wished to teach, and so Being ignorant in that
sense, they fell into error. Thus, Timothy was left there. Part of his work and of his ministry
was to dissuade them and deviate them from any error that might
be brought in the sound of their ear. And he was to do this in
accordance with the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
as Paul calls it in verse 11. the glory of God exhibited in
the person and the work of Christ, and then declared or proclaimed
in the gospel. And wouldn't you know it, the
very mention of the gospel by this great apostle leads Paul
to deviate temporarily from his exhortation and instruction and
direction unto young Timothy. First, while the law is for restraining
and exposing wickedness, Paul would have Timothy to understand
that the gospel reveals a saving righteousness. That Christ came
into the world to save sinners and that they cannot be saved
by the law. And yet, the including of the
personal experience of himself. Paul could not speak here of
the Gospel without speaking of the personal experience of himself. Paul makes too much with his
overall instruction to Timothy, and he causes this to mesh into
the overall truth that he is presenting. Let all haughtiness,
Paul said, and all pride as much as is possible, be crucified
and put away. Let ministers account a call
to the ministry as an humbling thing, that it has nothing to
do with their goodness or merit or their talent. It is simply
the calling of God Almighty. Thus, in verse 11, having mentioned
the glory of God that is in the gospel, He says something interesting
and personal. He said, which was committed
unto me. This glorious gospel of God,
this glorious gospel of Christ and of salvation was literally
committed to me. You might find in some places
where he says that it is entrusted unto me. That this glorious gospel
has been entrusted unto me." A.T. Robertson, in his word,
Pictures in the New Testament, renders the words this way, quote,
with which I have been entrusted, unquote. In other words, he refers
to the gospel. Now this is exceedingly important
to Paul, and thus to us. Paul's claim to having received
in trust the gospel of Christ. which he says in Galatians 1,
verses 11 and 12, that the gospel that he preached was not after
men. He did not receive it from men,
not even from the other apostles, nor did he receive it in the
seminary. He received the gospel by direct
revelation from the Savior, even Jesus Christ. And he declares
that very clearly in Galatians 1 verse 11 and 12. Now Paul is
not reluctant to speak and to use the possessive word, my gospel. He does so in Romans chapter
2 and verse 16. Again in 2 Timothy chapter 2
and verse 8. Then here, In verse 12 and following
of 1 Timothy, he expresses his profound thanksgiving to Christ
for putting Him in the ministry of the Gospel, for empowering
Him, for counting Him faithful to preach the Word of the Gospel. And in verse 13, this is all
the more amazing when he realized what he had been in his days
in Judaism. He calls himself a former blasphemer,
a persecutor and injurious." Now the last word here, injurious,
is descriptive of behavior and is variously rendered in the
Scripture as insolent, as a violent persecutor of others. The word
carries the idea of exercising violence And Paul certainly did
that toward the saints in Christendom. It means to abuse. It means that
he was an insulter. He was a maltreater of those
that profess the Lord and the Gospel. And the only other time
the word is used is in Romans 1, verse 30, where it is rendered
despiteful. Paul also tells the Galatians
something about the behavior of the saints of God. And I'm
going to turn there to Galatians 1. And verse 13 and 14 I would
like to read for our consideration. Paul was not a gentle man before
his conversion. He was not disinterested in religion. It was not that he was all religious
at all before he was called into the ministry of the gospel. Because
he said in Galatians 1, 13 and 14, you have heard of my conversation
or of my conduct or my manner of life in time past in the Jews'
religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God
and wasted it and profited in the Jews' religion among many
mine equals in mine being more exceedingly zealous of the tradition
of my father. In spite of his violent past
and his violent behavior toward the Christian religion, the Christian
faith, gospel, and the Lord Himself, God bestowed a mercy upon Paul
in spite of the fact that he had been a great hater and a
great persecutor of the church. He had acted, he said, ignorantly
and in unbelief. And in 1 Timothy 1 and 14, God's
grace, he said, was excessively abundant toward me, and that
through the Lord Jesus Christ. Then in verse 15 is one of the
great verses of the New Testament as pertains unto the Gospel where
Paul says this concerning It is a faithful saint and worthy
of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners of whom I am chief. That's one of the great verses
declaring the gospel of our Lord. Notice Paul's words just for
a moment in the end of the 15th verse of the chapter that we
have read. When it comes to sinners, Paul
says, I am chief." How humble was Paul. I don't think this
is false pride or false modesty at all. He says, when it comes
to saving sinners, I was the chief. The word actually means,
I think, the first or the foremost. I was the first. In other words,
the worst. I was the foremost. Paul is certainly
not in this particular place. putting on some kind of false
humility to impress men or to pretend modesty. For he freely,
openly grants himself to have been the very chief of sinners. Not only that, but he's willing
to call himself the least of all saints in Ephesians 3 and
verse 8. Then again, to call himself the
least of all of the apostles. in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and
verse 9. But still back in verse 16, in
spite of his having been such an invertebrate enemy of God
and a violent persecutor of the saints, even though he was so
great a sinner and hated it so much, this Christian movement,
yet he obtained mercy. Mercy from Almighty God. Not only that, but look what
he said. He considers himself a pattern of the long-suffering
of God. There is a pattern here of God
being long-suffering. In regard to others that God
would save after him, Paul considers himself the specimen sinner,
is how someone put it. God had chosen such a vile sinner. such an enemy to be a vessel
of mercy and a preacher of the gospel. The most violent opposer
of Christianity is made the foremost presenter and defender of the
gospel. He that persecuted it the worst
became he that defended it to his life. In him and to him there
was such a degree of the mercy of God and such longsuffering
had been shown, as that others after may know the longsuffering
of God." Now, in that text there is a doxology, as we call it,
in 1 Timothy 1 and verse 17, and I call your attention there.
Now, unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,
the honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. It is as if Paul,
speaking of the gospel and God's mercy and calling him unto be
a preacher, is caught up in some sort of a rapturous ecstasy. The wonder of God's grace, both
toward himself and in the gospel of salvation, seems for a time
to grasp and overwhelm the Apostle. He extols God as the King Eternal
or the King of the Ages. Immortal, absolutely immune from
the loss of life or of being. Invisible, since He exists in
His nature as a pure and indivisible Spirit. and being the only wise
God, having all wisdom, knowing all things and how to work out
all things, knowing the beginning from the end and vice versa. And Paul concludes this particular
doxology with, unto this great God be glory and honor forever
and forever. He is worthy, Paul said. And he extols Him as the great
and eternal, the undying, the perfect God. Then, in verse 18,
after that short digression that he made to consider his own calling
in the gospel, in verse 12 to verse 17, concerning his calling
ministry, he now returns to the charge and the instruction that
he's giving unto Timothy. He says in verse 18, this charge
I commit unto you." I don't think that it's restricted to what
he is about to say and hasn't said yet, but including all that
he has said beginning back in the third verse. Now, he uses
the word charge. I charge thee. Here is an interesting,
as well as a very diverse word used in many ways that we find
it in the Old Testament Scripture. For example, having many meanings,
or several meanings. In Matthew 4 and verse 6, He
shall give His angels charge concerning thee. Satan talking
unto our Lord. In Acts 7 and verse 60, Lord,
lay not this sin to their charge, is how Stephen prayed in the
hour of his death. Here it means to appoint or to
establish. Again in Acts chapter 8 and verse
27, we read of a man who had charge of her treasury. That is Candace Queen of Ethiopia. Here the word means upon, into,
about, over, and such like. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 18. that
I may make the gospel of Christ without charge." Here, it means
expense or cost. That I might make or preach the
gospel without expense or without cost or without money. 2 Timothy
4 and verse 16, it may be laid up to their charge, imputed,
accounted, reasons are numbered against them. Now, the word in
1 Timothy 1 And verse 18 is one meaning to command or to declare,
to give charge, because the word is used in a military sense of
a command that is given and is to be followed. It would be,
in the military metaphor, a charge to the troops, and they were
to follow that out. Fits well, however, with the
last part of the verse. Paul said, war a good warfare. So I charge thee, I give thee
command, as a soldier in the army of the great king, war a
good warfare. Like in 2 Timothy, chapter 2
and verse 3, he says to him, endure hardness, that is, suffer
or endure ill things as a soldier in the service of Christ our
Lord. For ah yes, the Christian, and
especially the Christian minister, is certainly in a spiritual warfare,
and that all of their day. Then Paul tells Timothy something
that causes our attention to quicken and our focus to sharpen. And it's in the middle of verse
18. He mentions that the charge and
Timothy's exercise of his duty are to be in accord with the
prophecies that went before on him. That is, on Timothy. Now, Marshall's interlinear Greek-English
New Testament has it this way. I thought it would be an interesting
quote. according to the preceding prophecies respecting you." Now
that perks up our ears and we want to find out about it. We
don't have any account of any such a thing given to us anywhere
in the Scripture. But two things do see evident
in this place. Number one, we have no record
of this actually. anywhere else in the Scripture
as to tell us exactly how and when it occurred. In Acts 16,
1 through 3, is the account of Paul taking Timothy as a minister
with him on his tour. There we read that he was the
son of a Greek father and the son of a Jewish mother that believed
and that taught the Scripture to him from a youth. The young
Timothy had a good reputation among the brethren in his area
that Paul desired, Paul wished, and Paul did take Timothy to
join him on his preaching circuit that he might travel with him.
And for the sake of the Jews, you remember, he had Timothy
circumcised. Act 16 is an account of Timothy
being taken under the wing of Paul. I am sure, are we not,
that Timothy knew what Paul was referring to. He had to know. Timothy had to know what Paul
referred to. When Paul says unto him, prophecies
which went before own him, Timothy had to know. But then we want
to know when, where, and how it occurred. Was it in Acts 16? Was it at a later time? We don't
know. So let's put some more Scripture
with this one concerning Timothy. 1 Timothy 4 and verses 1 through
4. I'm sorry, verse 14. 1 Timothy
4 and 14. Listen to what Paul says to Timothy. Neglect not the gift that is
in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on
of the hands of the presbytery." Now look at that again. That
confirms a little what we've already read. The hands were
laid on, a gift was conveyed unto him, and prophecy was given
by the laying on of hands. Well, let's go to 2 Timothy chapter
1, and here this time read verse 6. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse
6. Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance,
that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting
on of my hands." And there was some special, special work done
in the life of young Timothy. While none today should claim
the authority to lay their hands upon one, and actually impart
some power or the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands, because
most of them are nothing more than religious quacks. On the
other hand, the apostles were granted the ability to do things
like this during the apostolic era. As for example, they were
granted the gift to lay their hands on and have people receive
the Holy Spirit of God in the early echelons of Christianity. Two examples only I will use
to confirm this fact. Number one, Peter and John in
Acts chapter 8 and verse 17. Remember the Samaritans received
the Word of God, and when they heard in Jerusalem Peter and
John went down, and they lay their hands upon them, and they
received the Holy Spirit of God. A second example is Paul in Acts
19 and verse 6. He ran across some dispersed
disciples of John the Baptist. He asked them what they knew,
and he said, we just know the baptism of John. That's all that
we know. And there Paul laid his hands
upon them, and they receive the Holy Spirit of God. Just two
examples of the apostles being able to do that, and any that
try that today, I just look upon them as a quack and a heretic.
Let's go back to 1 Timothy chapter 1. More of the exhortation unto
Timothy. This time he says, to war a good
warfare. I can see the point of some who
think that the reference to the warfare of a minister, and especially
in the days of Timothy, of Paul, and of the others. And Timothy
would be encouraged as he fought this warfare by the remembrance
of the manifest approval of God upon his ministry. Those prophecies,
whatever they were, how interesting they might be, were uttered over
him. The supernatural manifestation
that must have been made over Timothy as a minister. Having the testimony of God in
a powerful and a magnetic way. Having the testimony of God Let
him be a brave soldier of the cross and let him courageously
confront and withstand the heretics in his day who came against the
gospel and wished to corrupt it. Of course, Paul is not here
encouraging Timothy to take up the literal weapons or physical
warfare or swords and staves and sticks and knives and slingshots
and such because 2 Corinthians 10, and verse 4, the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal. They are spiritual. Our weapons
are not carnal. They're not guns and knives and
sticks and staves. Timothy, therefore, must fight
the good fight of faith according to verse 12 of our text today. Now coming to verse 19, holding
faith and a good conscience. Now the question is whether by
faith the apostle here is making reference to the doctrine of
faith or to the grace of faith that dwells in individuals. Whether
the personal faith by which we believe or whether body of Christian
doctrine or truth. I read Calvin and Gill, they
seem to prefer that it refers to the body of Christian truth,
the doctrine of Christ. Then too, we ought to remember
that Paul is not only addressing Timothy as a private Christian,
but also as a minister of the gospel. And he speaks to him
in that capacity as a minister of the gospel. Now we best tread
a true and easy course in the next part of our text for looking
ahead after exhorting Timothy to hold to the faith and a good
conscience in matters of the Christian religion. He tells
him then that some have put away a good conscience and have made
shipwreck. Whole facts. War a good war. have a good conscience and hold
to the faith, because there are some who have put away those
and have made shipwreck." Now, conscience is a most important
thing in religion. For as one put it, a good conscience
in religion is a necessary handmade. Another said that a bad conscience
is the mother of all heresies that enter the church. I grant
that the conscience can be bullied, it can be bribed into a false
peace, but it is far less likely in the presence of truth to be
able to hide under that bushel. The reason we slow down here
and become more deliberate is that here is another proof text
grasped and used by the Arminian to contend for the doctrine of
falling out of grace, the loss of grace and salvation. They
contend that Paul is here describing some who once were in grace and
who fell totally out and lost that grace. Now, the Greek seems
to follow this order. Make shipwreck concerning the
faith. They did. they have made shipwreck
concerning the faith. Gil said, we do not dispute that
one can fall away, that one who has made a profession of Christ
and Christianity might never be a real and true believer,
and that they can and do fall away. Legion are they who have
gone back and walked no more with Christ. John 6 and verse
67. But as 1 John 2.19, they went
out from us because they were not of us. Had they been of us,
they no doubt would have continued with us. Now the word shipwreck. This word is used in the literal
sense by Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 and 25. Thrice, he said, I
suffered shipwreck, which are not recorded in the book of Acts
that tells us of his suffering. But the word is used in a figurative
or a metaphorical sense now in 1 Timothy 1.19. Not that they were on a literal
ship out in a literal ocean, dashed to pieces on the rocks
and broken by the stormy winds and tossed by the turbulent waves
until they were wrecked. But Paul uses the image which
creates in our mind immediately a picture For such a metaphor
is apt to paint in our mind a picture of a ship whose captain has lost
all control, a ship that is tossed and turned and has failed to
safely enter into the port and is lost. As a spiritual shipwreck,
they were carried off course by the winds of false doctrine,
the rudder of conscience. had become an ineffective guide,
and there was mutiny on the high sea against the gospel of our
Christ. Pirates boarded then and plundered
the truth, as it were, in the Lord Jesus Christ." But in the
verse we notice that the putting away and the shipwreck are synonymous. They have put away the faith,
committing shipwreck, one and the same. in putting it away,
literally thrusting away the doctrine of Christ, they made
shipwreck of the faith. Their ship lost power. They were
driven off course and had no control. When conscience was
corrupted, then as Patrick Fairbain put it, a deprivation of the
conscience is a virtual abandoning of the struggle. Coming to verse
20, and we see Paul does something bold and daring. He exposes by
name two that were examples of what he said. He said, of such
are Hymenaeus and Alexander. You notice that Paul is not shy
to name such as are enemies of the gospel. He points them out
and calls them by name. Now these same two names come
before us again in the second epistle of Timothy. though some
have wondered whether they are literally one and the same person. But in turning to 2 Timothy chapter
2 and verse 17 through verse 18, he speaks of some, and 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 overthrow the faith of some. 2 Timothy again, chapter 4, this
time verse 14 and 15, of Paul, of the gospel, and of
Christianity. Now, there are two things to
be learned from such text as we have looked at. Number one,
the things of which they are reckoned by Paul to be guilty
of. What was their sin that they
were guilty of? Well, he calls it blasphemy in
1 Timothy 1 and 20, speaking gangrous words, poisonous words,
in 2 Timothy 2 and 17, who taught that the resurrection was already
over. 2 Timothy 2 and 18. And in the
same verse, overturn the faith of some. Of doing Paul much evil. Of opposing his teaching. Timothy
was to beware of these men. When they came, or if they came,
Timothy was to mark them. and remember what Paul says about
them. Now, there's one final thing
to consider, 1 Timothy 1, verse 20, where Paul says of Hymenaeus
and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan. It is true that some
see in this the apostolical authority of the apostle to deliver men
like this to Satan for judgment and even for destruction. And
yet, let us remember that Paul tells the church at Corinth the
exact same thing. 1 Corinthians 5.5, he says, when
you are gathered, my spirit there with such a one, to deliver such
a one unto Satan. That is, put them out of the
visible church, put them out of the church and back in the
world. There are examples of apostolical
judgment in the Scripture, Peter against Ananias and Sapphira
in Acts 5, and Paul against Elymas the sorcerer in Acts chapter
13. But this is just one of several
places that speak of excommunication which are clearly taught in the
New Testament. Now this shows us that there
will always be some who trouble the church. There will always
be those who will be falling into error of one sort or another. And there will be some who will
fall completely away from their profession and attendance at
the gospel. And these are like beacons in
the night that Paul has raised as a warning to Timothy and to
all others as well. Let us take note of that. Mark these men Timothy, Paul
said unto him, beware of them. They've done me much evil. They
have overturned the faith. They're deniers of the resurrection. They're blasphemers. So beware
when they come around. Make sure of that. Thus, Paul
would equip Timothy to be a good and sound minister of the gospel
of Christ, his Lord and our Lord. Let us bow together, please,
for a word of final prayer.