When you're dealing with the
scriptures, going through them like we are, you see and deal
with things that you don't even think about. And that's what's
so good about going through the scriptures the way we do. And
these verses that I read today deals with correcting people
and caring for people. Correcting and caring. And it's
You know, when you got to put yourself in the position that
these people were when the scriptures were written, and the condition
of people's lives in the days that the scriptures was written.
Now they'll always apply, but there's some things that they
wouldn't apply to now. But let's look at that very first
verse. You know, when Paul told Timothy
to take heed to his doctrine, that he'll save himself from
error and trials and burdens, and that he had not only saved
those who hurt him, that they would be saved through the grace
of God. But then he says, he goes on
now and he's exhorting Timothy, telling Timothy things to do.
And the first thing he says, do not rebuke not an elder, but
entreat him as a father, and the younger men as brethren.
Now, one thing a person doesn't do, shouldn't do, especially
if they have the love of God and the love of Christ in them,
is to sharply or harshly rebuke an elder. And an elder is not
just somebody that's been in the faith a while, but an elder
in the congregation, a preacher, anybody should not ever, ever
rebuke anybody harshly, especially an elder, an older believer.
You know, and Paul, he encourages kindness and gentleness and correcting
people's faults. And Timothy was a young man and
while older believers, older believers shouldn't be spared or allowed to indulge in error
or allowed to indulge in sin because of their age, because
of their age. And if you have to reprove them,
have to deal with them, you got to deal with them like you would
your parent. Nobody would get in their parent's face and start
berating them and berailing them and speaking harshly and cruelly
to them. No, no, if you're going to deal
with your mother or your father, you deal with them kindly, gently,
and recognize their age. And so he says, and now, you
know, I'm an elder. I'm an elder in the faith. And that's why a lot of preachers,
they call them, you know, Scott Richardson had his, as an elder
in the phone book. Some have pastors. I don't understand
why anybody wanna be called a reverend. I don't understand that at all.
But anyway, I have certainly been rebuked and been rebuked
pretty harshly by some very young men. There's a couple of young
men that have done it, thought that they felt the liberty to
put me in my place a time or two. And I've got, you know,
and what do you do? You take it. What do you do? You take it. And God will deal
with them in their time. But I do know this, that he says
that, entreat him, you know, rebuke not, entreat him as a
father. That means, to treating with comforting words. That's
what it means, use comforting words. And to be entreated, this
is a kind approach, a gentler approach, and make an earnest
appeal out to them out of respect that you have for them. And one
thing I know that believers do, they have a love and respect
for one another, especially for their older brethren and older
sisters. And then, you know, and then
he says, entreat the younger man, if you have to rebuke a
younger man, rebuke him, now listen to this now, as a brother,
as a brother. Now me and my brothers get along
good when we're together. And I pray for him and I'm concerned
about him. But here's the thing about it.
When we're dealing with one another, we're dealing, especially men,
younger men, and Timothy was a young man. And what he said
was, when you're dealing with a brother, when you're dealing
with somebody to rebuke them, remember that they're your brother.
You treat them like they're your brother. How you would be kind
to your brother. You wouldn't mistreat your brother. And that's why, and our Lord
Jesus Christ called us brethren. He called us brethren. And if
He calls us brethren, and He says in the Scriptures calls
us brethren, then the younger men, you treat them like you
would a brother. And here's the thing about it,
spiritual relationships are stronger and more precious to
us than our earthly relationships are. Because we actually spend
more time together than we do with our natural family. We really
do. Most of us do. And I tell you,
we're not dealing with strangers. We're not dealing with enemies.
We're dealing with brothers. Brothers. In Christ. And I tell you what, if they
make an offense, I thought of this today, and I looked it up.
When a younger man offends you, and you've got to deal with him,
Don't worry about their age, you know, the relationship, but
listen to this. Charity, 1 Peter 4, 8 says this,
charity covers a multitude of sins. Sins, a multitude, not
just a sin, a multitude of sins. If you got the love of God and
the love of Christ in you, you see your brother, your sister,
and you know what they are, you know their flesh, you know they're
weak, you know they're frail. They know that they've got an
old fallen nature with them, and instead of finding fault
and trying to always rebuke one another, we ought to also, if
we have to say anything, say it in a very kind, gracious,
tender, comforting way. And that's what he's telling
us to do here. And then when you have to rebuke an older woman,
God forbid that we'd ever have to do that. But if you ever had
to rebuke an older woman, remember this. She's like your mother. She's like your mother. How would
you treat your mother? You wouldn't be mean and cruel
and harsh to your mother. She raised you. She taught you.
She cooked meals for you. She took care of you. And that's
what he's saying, said, you know, if you have to, you treat the
older women, if you do, as mothers. And you know why the Scriptures
tell us to treat them as mothers? Because the Scriptures tells
us about the mothers of Israel. Who's the mothers of Israel?
They was the older women in the congregation of Israel. They
was called the mothers of Israel because they would teach and
instruct the younger women. And they was the mothers and
they had the greatest respect. I believe when they made the
exodus and coming out across the Red Sea, I believe that they
let the older people and the frail people and infirm people
kind of go in the front and people went with them and got them through
there. I believe that. And so then not
only do you treat the older women as mothers if you have to rebuke
them. And the younger as sisters. And then look what he said with
all purity. With all purity. You got to realize
that you're dealing with younger women and you deal with them
like you would a sister. A sister, and they are sisters,
sisters in Christ. That's greater relationship than
an earthly sister, I think. And if you're gonna deal with
them, you got to do that very privately. One thing about all
these things, you don't never do this stuff public. You don't
never bring anybody to ridicule and shame in a public place.
Should never be done. A preacher should never ridicule
and shame people in front of a congregation. And I tell you,
you do what you do and you do it privately to preserve their
purity, their honesty before the congregation. And I tell
you what, this is a, you know, all of us, all of us have families.
And you know, and here's the thing about it. We're very private
about our own lives, our own homes, and how our relationships
are with our fathers, our mothers, our brothers, our sisters, and
all this. We protect and preserve their
character and their reputation. We don't want to belittle them
in any way. We don't want to make them look bad in anybody's
eyes. We don't want to do that. Don't want to do that. And we
certainly don't want to offend anyone at all. And we don't want
to point out people's failures. Deal with them tenderly and privately,
and especially our spiritual family. You know, this is one thing that you'd
always find out about a legalist. and people that's really into
reform doctrine. The first thing they want to
know when they find out that you're a preacher or a pastor
at church or anything, how do you discipline the church? How
do you discipline the church? Well, I'm disciplining you right
now. You know, I've been here 44 years
in March. I started in May, March of 1979. I said, Green, you could have
stuck me in the ground and I'd have sprouted. We was pretty
bad shape. But anyway, to make a long story
short, in all of those years, in all of those years, no one
has ever, ever been brought before the church, ever been disciplined in any
way. If it can't be done through the
Word of God, like we're dealing with right now, if it can't be
done through the Word of God, me rebuking you or getting you
off privately is not going to do you any good. And that's why
you say, you see, if you got an offense or someone's offended
you, here's the thing you do. You go to them. And graciously
and tenderly and lovingly and forgivingly ask them to forgive
you or get things and treat them like a brother or like a sister.
You wouldn't mistreat a sister. You know, I know unbelievers
do this. I've never understood it. I've
known brothers that go for years, wouldn't talk to one another
and held grudges against one another. And there's sisters
and family members that hold grudges and won't have nothing
to do with one another. I don't understand that. I don't
understand that. I can understand the world doing
that. But believers cannot hold grudges. Believers cannot get
upset with somebody and stay upset with them all the time. I remember I was coming back
from some place one time And one of the men in the church
was with me. And he said something, and being
me and being young, I popped off and scalded him pretty hot. You know, when the steam comes
out of the thing, it'll... And then, you know, when I got
back, I never thought nothing else about it. And I started
noticing that he was acting different toward me. It's like Jacob said,
Laban acts different toward me now. But anyway, I found out
that I really offended him and I offended him publicly. I offended
him in front of people. And so right back there in that
foyer with a bunch of people standing around, I said, I'm
sorry that I offended you and I really truly am sorry. I bowled
over and you got scalded. And please forgive me." Things
went back just like that. You know, and that's what we're
talking about. And this is, this love, and this
is what we're talking about. You know, we are dealing with
brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. You know, our Lord
Jesus said, you know, in this life, in this life you'll have multitude of mothers, a multitude,
more houses than you can live in. You have all these people,
all these houses, and all these mothers, and all these fathers.
And I've got lots of mothers, and lots of fathers, lots of
brothers, and lots of sisters, and have wonderful relationships
with them. And that's because of Christ,
and the grace of Christ. Now look what it says, it goes
on down here, it says in verse three, Paul says, honor widows
that are widow indeed. Now back in these days, when
you was a widow, you know, they didn't have social security,
they didn't have anything like that. They didn't have, and honor
widows that are widows indeed. And here's what he's talking
about. He didn't say honor in the same sense that honor means
to respect, but Paul doesn't mean to honor them as a mean
of expression of respect. For all believers are being respected,
but he means be honored and held in high esteem, held in high
regard. And what he's talking about is,
is that if she's a widow indeed, that what you do is they're allowed
to be brought into the church. That's what they call the deacons
for. First deacons, that was ordained
deacons in the book of Acts, was ordained to take care of
the cares of the church, the heirs, the widows, and see that
they were taken care of. And that's what he's saying here.
He said, this means that you take these people, this special
care, And the maintenance of them, you take care and you maintain
them, you support them, and you support them out of the church,
and you take care of their needs. And if rulers are taken under
the protection of the church, under the support of the church,
care of the church, And but it's got to be established that they're
completely without any support whatsoever, that they're widows
indeed, and they got no children, they got no family, they got
nobody to provide for. And that was pretty common back
in those days. And then look what he says, he
said in verse four. But if any widow, he makes a
distinction now, if any widow have children or nephews, Let
them learn first to show piety, and that word piety in the margin
says kindness, and to requit or take care of their parents,
for that's good and acceptable in the sight of God. Oh my. And that's what he means here.
Now if you have a woman's husband's dead, and they have children,
have grandchildren, and have people in their families to take
care of them, The thing is, is that they must be made to understand
that that's their responsibility. It's not the church's responsibility
to take care of them. If they're willing and don't
have any kind of support, it's the responsibility of the congregation
to take care of them indeed. That's what he's talking about
in these days. And then, if they've got children,
if they've got anybody in their family, You let the family take
care of them. You let the family take care
of them, not the church. You let the family take care
of them. That's their first responsibility. You know, and that's good. You know, your parents raised
you, so when your parents get older, you need to take care
of them. They took care of you all your
life. When they get older, you take care of them. And what a
blessed privilege it is to take care of your parents, if you
can at all, and see that, take them into your home, wherever
you need to do, and let them take care of their mother. And
now look what it says in verse five. Now she that is a widow
indeed, like back up there, the widow that is indeed, and desolate.
I mean, she ain't got nothing. She is desolate. She trusts in
God. She ain't got nobody else. She
trusts in God. She's like, you remember Anna
that was been a widow for, oh my goodness, 60 years or something
like that over in the Book of Luke. She was in the temple. She had been a widow for four
square years. She's maybe 100 years old, but
she'd been a widow for years. And she was in the temple. And
if she's a widow indeed, She that is a winner indeed and desolate,
she trusts in God. And she continues in prayers
night and day. That means she prays all the
time, trusting God, looking to God. And what he's saying here
is if a woman's husband is dead and has children or grandchildren,
they're the one that's supposed to take care of them and take
care of them. But oh, that woman who, is a
widow indeed, she has to be taken care of by the church. Now look
in verse five, and let's go down through there and look in verse
six now. But that she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she
liveth. Now if a woman is really alone,
has no support, fixed her hope in Christ and the gospel, you
take care of her. But then she says here now, but
she that liveth in pleasure, if she's a widow, She's a widow,
but she's not trusting God. She's not trusting Christ. She's
not praying. She's not looking to God. She's
not to be taken into the church. Oh, why? Because she's self-indulgent. She's looking for pleasure. She's
indifferent. She's living a careless life. She's living as if God doesn't
exist. And let me tell you something.
If somebody lives like an unbeliever, it's a pretty good indication
that they're an unbeliever. When you say that, I mean, you
know, If a person lives like an unbeliever, what would make
you think they are a believer? What would make you think they
are? And that's what it is. And so if she's an unbeliever,
she has no responsibility the church has to her. And I'll tell
you, do you know, and look what he says there in verse seven.
And these things give in charge that they may be blameless. Now
what this is saying is it's the preacher or the pastor, it's
his responsibility to tell people these things that's going on
and to teach these things, instruct these things so that people will
be blameless, the church will be blameless when it's brought
into these situations. And then look in verse eight.
I've heard this quoted so many times It used to be quoted quite
a bit. But if any provide not for his
own, his own family, and especially for those of his own house, those
of his kindred, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than
an infidel. Now that makes it pretty plain.
If a fellow's lazy, careless, won't work, Won't provide for
his family. Won't provide for his wife. Won't
provide for his children. Won't provide for people in his
family. And that's what he calls his
own house is people that's in his family. The scripture says
here he's denied the faith already. He's denied it. How could God
give us charge? God gave a man charge. The first
thing that ever happened in the Bible after God created man and
woman, He married them. He married him. The first marriage
was in the Garden of Eden, and God made that marriage. He said,
let a man leave his father and his mother, and let him cleave
unto his wife. And I tell you, Adam, he was
given a charge, you tend the garden here in this Garden of
Eden, you tend this garden. And when we get into eternity
in that new heaven and earth, we're gonna do things. We're
not gonna sit around, twiddle our thumbs. And that's not gonna
happen. But here's what I'm telling you,
that if a man is lazy and careless and unconcerned for his family,
and for Christ and the glory of Christ, if he will not provide
for his family through laziness, indifference, or carelessness,
or whatever reason, The scripture says, you ain't got any faith.
You're denying the very faith that you say you claim. Does
Christ care for us? Does Christ provide for us? Did
God provide for us? And that's what he's saying here.
Not only is he denied the faith, but he goes even farther, saying
not only that, but he's worse than an infidel, somebody that
don't even believe at all. That's pretty strong language,
ain't it? Pretty strong language. Huh? I'll tell you what. My mother-in-law, bless her heart,
I'm going to tell you a story about her. You know, for years
and years, I wore real, real long hair and had a beard and what they called a hippie back
in them days. Herman and Ethel hated it. Oh,
they just, you know, they was old-timers. And boy, Ethel would
just talk about it and talk about it and talk about it. And one
day, years later, she was talking about it, and we were sitting
around, and she was saying, boy, Donnie used to be this and that
and that. And I finally, I said, now Ethel,
can I ask you something? She said, yeah. Did I take care
of Mary? Yes, you did. Did I provide for
my children? Yes, you did. Did I provide them
a home? Yes, yes, yes. So what in the
world was wrong? And she never mentioned it ever
again. I provided them a home, provided them food on the table,
clothes on their back. Together, together, you know,
and you know, Ethel never said, she said, I never said, I never
said, but that's, you know, because no matter what goes on on the
outside, it's what's in the heart. And I tell you, a man wants to
take care of his family, wants to, wants to do that. And I tell
you what, it's one of the greatest privileges that God gives us
if He gives us a good wife, a loving wife, a tender wife, a wife that
takes care of our home. If He gives us one of them, I
tell you what, it's what a blessing, what a privilege it is to take
care of. If you've got children, that's respectful. Got children
that's well behaved. What a blessing, what a privilege
it is to take care of them. Oh my, all right. And then in
verse nine and 10, let not a widow be taken into the number under
three score years old, having been the wife of one man. Now
that widow, that means that you don't, if she's 60 years old
or younger, Don't even consider the church taking care of her.
Don't even, because she's young enough to still work and take
care of herself. And then it goes on to say, well
reported of her good works, if she have brought up children,
if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints'
feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently
followed every good work. If a woman under 60, they're
still young, And in good health, they should be able to support
themselves. And then it says, having been the wife of one man.
Now that may be divorce, may be the sense of death, but I
know this, that most women at that age would get remarried
if they could. And this should be encouraged
for them too. And the women over 60 who you bring into the church,
and full support of the church ought to be dedicated believers
and proven their dedication by faith and good works and longevity. You know, I want you to look
with me over in Acts chapter 16, talking about a woman taking
people into the church. You know, there's been, I think it's, yeah, chapter 16,
verse 15. You know, those who have entertained strangers and
brought strangers into their home. You know, if a husband
or someone brings a lot of strangers. Everybody, you know, in our home
and in your home, if somebody comes and they're a stranger
to you, they may be a believer, but they're a stranger to you
and you take them into your home. And you feed them good and you
take good care of them. And that's what it means, take
care of them, take them into your home. And then it says that
she's washed Satan's feet. Let me tell you about washing
feet. You remember Mary washed the
Lord's feet with her tears, with her tears. She washed the Lord's
feet with her tears. You know why it talks about washing
feet here? Because everybody walked everywhere
they went back then. They didn't have cars, and everybody
wore sandals, and if they had sandals, or else they went barefoot. So their feet would get dirty.
And so when people would come into their home, the first thing
they would do is to refresh them. Not only the first thing they
would do, if you go in the Old Testament and find it, the first
thing they'd do is put on a meal. They'd put on a meal. They'd
start a meal. And the second thing they would
do was they would get water and sit down and wash the dirt and
the dust off of those people's feet to refresh them. That's
what it meant to wash their feet because they had been traveling,
their feet were dirty, their feet was dusty. And that's why
our Lord says, Simon, he didn't give me no water to wash my feet
when I come in here. But that's what he's talking
about, washing the feet. And that means being a real servant. You know, our Lord Jesus washed
his disciples' feet. So this is something that they
needed to be refreshed, and that's what they would do. And then
it goes on to say, well, I told you, Acts 16, 15. Now look what,
this is Lydia. Now look what she said here now.
When she was baptized and her household, she besought us, Peter
and Silas and the brethren that was with us, if you have judged
me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay there
for a while. And she constrained us, she constrained
us. And you remember when our Lord
Jesus was on the Emmaus road? And you know, He was walking
with those men, and when they got to their house, got to where
they lived, Our Lord Jesus is going to keep on walking. And
they said, Oh no, no, no, no, stop, stop, stop. Come in here
and abide with us. And the first thing they did
was fix Him a meal. But they brought Him into their
house. To them, He was a stranger. He was an absolute stranger.
They talked with Him, and they thought He was a stranger. You
know when they found out He was the Lord? when he broke the bread
and prayed. So I'll tell you that these things,
that's what I mean. These things don't mean a lot
to us now, but you put yourself back in those days and you'll
see what was happening. And I'll tell you what, and then
it says, if she has relieved the afflicted, that means that
if people were sick, and weary, and sick and things. She'd go
in to help them, and people go to sit with them, and people
go to help them while they're having troubles, and has diligently
followed every good work. They have made it a purpose to
do things for somebody else. And now look what it says, but
the younger widows, younger widows, don't take the younger widows
in, don't be too hasty, don't be too quick. You refuse them,
why? Because they become restless,
for they have begun to wax wanton against Christ. They get to get
restless, and they get to looking around, they get roving eyes,
and their desires grow strong, and they marry again, and it
says here that they marry outside the faith. They'll marry, and
that's why he says, they having damnation because they cast off
their first faith. These, you know, people, if a
believer goes off here and marries someone outside the faith, a
young widow goes out and marries somebody outside the faith, they
have really, really got themselves in trouble, really got themselves
into trouble. And look what he goes on to say
here now. And then having damnation or condemnation. Condemnation,
why? because they cast out the first
faith. They've had faith in Christ,
they believed in Christ and was trusting Christ, and they become
restless. And they'll marry again outside
the faith. And oh my, and you know how discouraging
that is and difficult for those that supported them, prayed for
them, huh? Oh my. And they deny their pledge
to Christ. Bruce Crabtree, I'm gonna tell
you this, bless his heart, he told me, he said, I'll never
ever marry another person, never. Never gonna marry another person.
You know why? Too many he married split up. He said, I'm not gonna be a party
of people that get married and then they split up, go their
separate ways. Not gonna be a part of that ever
again. I've been blessed. When I tie a knot, it stays pretty
tight. First people I married, oh my
goodness, been here 47 years, so 46 and a half years ago, I
married a couple, and they're still married, and they work
together every day. So I'm very thankful that they've
been married all this time. You all been married all this
time. You all been married a long time. And that's the only ones I've
married here. Been married a long time. And
I'm thankful, I'm thankful. And you know what makes the difference?
Christ and the gospel. That's what makes the difference.
And that's what they say here. She went away from Christ. They went away from Christ. They
left their love for Christ. And look what it says here now.
In verse 13, and I'm done. And you know what they'll do?
They'll learn to be idle. They'll sit around doing nothing.
You know, wondering about. They'll go from this house to
that house. They'll say, oh, come over and see me. Have some
coffee with me. Come over and do this. And next thing you know,
they go from house to house. And they're idle. And then when
they get together, and all these women get together going from
house to house, they start tattling. Start telling tales. And they
become busybodies. You know what a busybody is?
That's busy in somebody else's body. Busy in somebody else's
business. And that's what it means. Busy
in somebody else's business. And listen to this, speaking
things which they ought not. Talking about things they ought
not talk about. And I tell you what, when the hands are out
of the tongues, let me tell you something. I heard about two
ugly sisters the other day. Two really ugly sisters. And
you know who they are? The first sister is named Rumor.
Did you hear this? Did you hear? The first sister
is Rumor. And this is the ugliest one of
all. The second sister is Gossip. That's two of the ugliest sisters
you'll ever be around. Rumor. Did you hear? And Gossip. Gossip. Well, anybody here want the church
to support them? Well, I tell you, ain't you grateful
that we don't have to take people in, but I mean, you know, we
love to take care and meet people's needs when they have them. We
enjoy doing it. The Lord bless you. Our Father,
our God in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank
you for allowing us to meet here tonight, to worship you, to learn
from your word. I know that these things don't
apply to us in these days, but Lord Jesus is still true
and we still should love and care for one another, relieve
the afflicted, pray for one another, help one another, and we see
people that's in a need, try by the grace of God and the love
of Christ to meet that need. God bless these dear saints,
encourage them and uphold them, and do it for our Lord Jesus'
sake. Amen. Amen. He's the Savior of the
world. Jesus, my Jesus, He's the Savior
of my soul. He's the Savior of my soul. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, He's the
Savior of my soul. He's the Savior of my soul. Good night. God bless.