You would open your Bibles with
me to the book of 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6. Make a couple of announcements
as you're turning there. Remember, we're more willing
to have a dinner to honor our high school graduates next Sunday. It's been a long time since we've
had one of those. I'm really looking forward to
it. We have Bibles down here for all three of them. And let
me remind you, I'm not going to give them to them. Everybody
signs them. So if you haven't signed it, do so today. So we
can, Lord willing, may we give that to them next week. Then
the beginning June the 14th, 15th and 16th, we'll have Vacation
Bible School. We're looking forward to that.
One last announcement. I don't know how many of you
have heard about this, but Brother Walter Groover has been a missionary
to the Yucatan, Mexico for 57 years, longer than I've been
alive. Been a lot of water under the
bridge for him in that time. And Thursday morning, our Lord
finally called Walter off the field. Called him home about
10 o'clock in the morning. I wouldn't begin to try to sum
up Brother Walter's ministry. There's too many stories, too
many ways the Lord has blessed that area. But I'm going to tell
you one story. This is one of my favorite stories
about Brother Walter. Walter took his family down there,
had little, little children. One of them was an infant. And
they went there to Yucatan and lived in just a hut, just a very
difficult, very difficult conditions. And they were all so, so sick.
Betty told me I didn't know how to clean things and to, you know,
be able to prepare the food. They were so sick. All of them
were so sick. And they had been invited over
to someone's home and they went While they were there, Walter
got sick and he went out into a cornfield. Just he's so sick. Just imagine all the gastrointestinal
things. That's what was going on with
Walter. He said, I was so sick, so miserable. He said, I looked
up like the Lord was just standing right there. And he said, Lord,
if I made a mistake, my family is so sick. I've done this to
my family. Should I just take him home?
And should I, what should I do? And Walter said, the Lord didn't
answer. So I stayed. That's Walter. And the Lord blessed
that ministry greatly. I couldn't count how many churches
have been established, the pastors that have been raised up. And
Walter, last time I was with him, told him, he said, I don't
do much preaching anymore. He said, I'm just like the old
lion. He said, just all it takes to keep the wolves away, just
that old lion being there. I feel confident that the Lord
has raised up pastors there, that that work is going to continue
with those men, those pastors that are there. They're just
so, so, so solid. And so as the Lord brings them
to your mind, let's continue to pray for them. The children
all came down, and I'm sure Betty, you know, in a bittersweet time,
enjoyed that, having all of her kids there. And it is at this
point her intention to stay. Let's remember them and those
dear brethren in prayer. All right, 1 Timothy 6, which
is two verses. These two verses will be our
text this morning. Oh, Timothy, keep that which
is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings and
oppositions of science, falsely so called, which some professing
have aired concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen. Let's stand together as Jonathan
leads us in singing our call to worship. I was lost in sin and shame Could
my sinful soul be spared? Only in the substitute Sent by
God my sin to bear Jesus Christ is all my plea When He died,
He died for me. Then I heard the gospel cry,
Look to Christ, the Lamb who died. He will cleanse and sanctify. By His blood He justifies, Jesus
Christ is all my plea. When He died, He died for me. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? Whom on earth beside Thee, Lord? Christ is all in all to me. now and for eternity. Jesus Christ is all my plea. When He died, He died for me. When we're in that ransom throng, everlasting song. And we see Him face to face. Round His throne we'll take our
place. Christ will still be all my plea. ? When He died, He died for me
? Turn with me, if you would, to
page 509. Page 509, the sands of time are
sinking. The sands of time are sinking,
the dawn of heaven breaks, the summer morn I've sighed for,
A fair sweet morn awakes. Dark, dark hath been the midnight,
but day-spring is at hand. and glory, glory dwelleth in
Emmanuel's land. O Christ, he is the fount The
deep sweet well of love, the streams on earth I've tasted,
more deep I'll drink above. There to an ocean fold us, His
mercy doth expand, And glory, glory dwelleth In Emmanuel's
land. and my beloved's mine. He brings a poor, vile sinner
into his house of wine. I stand upon his merit, I know
no other stand, Not in where glory dwelleth, In Emmanuel's
land. The bright eyes not are gone,
But her dear bridegroom's face I will not glaze at glory But
on my King of Grace Not at the crown He giveth but on his pierced
hand. The Lamb is all the glory of
Emmanuel's land. If you would please open your
Bibles to Psalm 47. Psalm 47. O clap your hands, all ye people.
Shout unto God with the voice of triumph. For the Lord Most
High is terrible. He is a great king over all the
earth. He shall subdue the people under us and the nations under
our feet. He shall choose our inheritance
for us. The excellency of Jacob whom he loved. God has gone up
with a shout. The Lord with the sound of a
trumpet. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises unto
our King. Sing praises. For God is the
King of all the earth. Sing praises with understanding.
God reigneth over the heathen. God sitteth upon the throne of
His holiness. The princes of the people are
gathered together, even the people of God of Abraham. For the shields
of the earth belong unto God. He is greatly exalted. Let's bow in prayer. Our great
God, Holy Heavenly Father, thankful that you brought us to this place
this morning. Thankful for your, you being
sovereign over all things, being in control of everything in this
earth. Thank you for the lesson this
morning. Pray that you increase what days we have Continue to
show us that there's nothing in us that's all of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Increase our faith in Him as
we go about each day. Cause us to know that you're
in control and to be comforted by that. Father, we pray that
you'd be with Frank as he comes in just a little bit to say an
open scripture to us. Give him a clear recall of the
studies he's prepared. Speak. through him to us this
morning, which he laid on his heart. Teach us all the scriptures. Continue to give us a desire
to be here to hear and feed on Christ. Continue to have this
place be here for years to come where we can come and worship
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Take the gospel not away from
us. Keep it here for years, Father. Think of those that are going
through difficult times, trials and troubles, procedures, medical
issues and bodily things. Father, we ask it for everyone
that's going through those things that you be with them. Pray for
the group or family this time. Comfort them. Give them peace. At this time, it's difficult,
I'm sure, but you can comfort them. in comfort at this time. Father again we pray for a true
time of worship here. Let the work in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ be exalted. Let his name be praised in this
place as well. Sincerely ask and pray in his
name for his glory. Whate'er my God ordains is right,
wholly His will abided. I will be still, whate'er he
doth, and follow where he guided. He is my God, though dark my
road, He holds me that I shall not fall, Wherefore to Him I
leave it all, Wherefore to Him I leave it all. What e'er my God ordains is right,
Though now this cup in drinking May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it all unshrinking. My God is true each morn anew,
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart, And pain and sorrow
shall depart, And pain and sorrow shall depart. What e'er my God ordains is right,
here shall my stand be taken. Though sorrow, grief, or death
be mine, yet I am not forsaken. My Father's care is round me
there, He holds me that I shall not fall, And so to Him I leave
it all, And so to Him I leave it all. Beautiful words, beautifully
sung. Did Kara write that? Oh, that was outstanding, thank
you. All right, let's open our Bibles
now again, if you would, to 1 Timothy 6. I titled the message, Resisting
the Oppositions of Science. Let's read our text again. verse
20 of 1 Timothy chapter six. Oh, Timothy, keep that which
is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings and
oppositions of science falsely so-called, which some professing
have aired concerning the faith. Grace be with thee, amen. Now,
when I read that verse, we talked about science. The thing that
automatically came to our minds, I would imagine, is the scientific
study of the earth. We think about scientists in
white coats who are studying all kinds of microscopic things
or planets or something. They're researching all kinds
of new developments in a lab that's filled with beakers and
microscopes and very expensive equipment. But that's not what
Paul is actually talking about here. I'll get to that in just
a minute. You know, there's nothing wrong with science, you know,
coming up with new developments and different ways of understanding
things in God's creation. You know, our lives would not
be nearly as pleasant if we could not use scientific developments
that have been developed since the time of our Lord, of his
earthly ministry. You know, if all those earthly
developments were bad and we could not use them for religious
reasons, Our lives would not be nearly as pleasant as they
are now. You know, there actually used
to be people who thought it was wrong to wear these newfangled
cotton clothes. They thought that. That's wrong. They thought it was morally,
religiously wrong not to wear clothes made of wool because
cotton was a new thing. And I'm thankful for it, aren't
you, for cotton? And for Cool Max and all these,
you know, polyester, these things make our clothes much more comfortable.
Life is much better, you know. The fabric that we put on our
bodies has got absolutely nothing to do with holiness or righteousness. There was a day they burned people
at the stake. I mean, religious people burned
people at the stake for thinking that the sun was the center of
the universe, not thinking the earth was the center of the universe.
And if you thought the earth was round, not flat, they'd burn
you at the stake. And that kind of scientific discovery
is good. And that kind of understanding
of God's creation has got absolutely nothing to do with righteousness
or with salvation. New medicines that people have
invented are good for people. I know we're worried about the,
you know, the side effects of some of them, the chemo treatments. I mean, they heal people. Side
effects ain't pretty, are they? They're just not, but we're thankful
for that advancement, you know? We worried, you know, they study
this thing, you know, long enough to know all the long-term side
effects. We worry about those things, but generally speaking,
that scientific discovery is good for us. Antibiotics have
absolutely changed the world. There was a, I don't remember
his name, but I remember reading about this preacher, he, pricked
his finger on a rose bush. He had roses, he was working
on a rose bush. And he pricked his finger on a rose bush and
he died from it. It got infected and he died.
That never happens today because of antibiotics. It's a good thing.
Vaccines have changed the world. Millions of people would die
in a smallpox epidemic. Not anymore. When was the last
time anybody here saw a tuberculosis hospital? They used to be all
over the place. Now you see them on the stories
of the abandoned, right? They don't have that anymore
because of vaccines, and they're good. And those things, they're
good for us, and they have absolutely nothing to do with religion. A Venn diagram, those two circles
never meet, never. They don't have anything to do
with each other. And I know that the Lord is absolutely able to
heal us from any disease, to keep us from getting any disease.
Of course he's able to do that. But he hasn't promised to do
that in every case. Many of us are sick. You contribute
to that, right? The Lord's able, but he's just
not been pleased to keep you from that. Our God is a God of
means. The God of Scripture is a God
of means. So use the means that God has
given you in every instant. And those means, in any individual
case, could be scientific in nature. I'll give you a good
example. I went up to Lexington, and I got an epidural shot in
my back. They were taking x-ray. I mean,
it was very complicated, but they gave me this shot to help
with pain in my back. I was talking to the nurses.
They told me they do 20 to 25 of these a day, a day. I mean, man. And I just wondered,
what did some poor farmer do? 100 years ago, he got this injury. How did he cope? What did he
do? I'll tell you what he did. He suffered or he starved to
death. That's what he did. There was no means like there is today. And one of the nurses that made
this comment asked this question. I wonder this constantly. How
did somebody ever come up with the first idea? I'm going to
stick a needle right up next to your spine and not injure
you, not paralyze you, and shoot this medicine in the air and
help you with pain. Who first came up with that idea?
How did that happen? I'll tell you how it happened.
God put it in the mind of somebody to do it. That's exactly how
that happened. And I'm thankful. I'm thankful.
That's the means that God, Gary, you're thankful for, aren't you
thankful for that? Use the means that God's given
you. And here is the best example that I'm so thankful for that
shows us God is a God of means. God is a God of me. He has a
will. He has a purpose that shall be done, but he's, he's a God
of means to carry it out. And the means is the preaching
of Christ. Now before God created anything,
Almighty God chose a people. He's gonna save them. Chose a
people of Adam's fallen race. He's gonna save those people
are God's elect. And those people shall be saved. We know that,
don't we? But you know what? God's not
gonna save one of them by preaching Christ. Not one, because he's
a God of means. It is pleased God by the foolishness,
what the men call, men, man, natural man calls the foolishness
of the preaching of Christ. That's how God is determined.
That's how he's pleased to save his people. So if you are lost
and you would be saved, I tell you avail yourself to the means
that God uses to save his people. Avail yourself, make it your
business to be in the place where God saves his people through
the preaching of Christ. If you can find a man daring
to preach Christ only. You can find a man who just dares
to preach the gospel and not use any other means to try to
trick people and trap people and to draw a crowd. If you can
find a man who dares to preach Christ, make it your business
to hear him. Because that's the way that God,
that's the means God uses to reveal Christ to the hearts of
his people and to save them. So God is a God of means. There's
nothing wrong with scientific discovery. What we think about
science, that's not what Paul's talking about here at all, the
oppositions of science. The word science that Paul uses
here means knowledge. It means general intelligence,
general understanding that men have. It also means this. It means the general knowledge
of Christian religion. I want to quote this exactly. that belongs to the more advanced.
It's the knowledge, religious knowledge that belongs to the
real smart people. That's what the word means. It also means
moral wisdom, moral wisdom that's seen in right living. So the
science here, the oppositions of science that Paul is talking
about is man's religious knowledge, religious knowledge that comes
from the natural mind, from the natural understanding, from natural
logic of trying to figure things out. It's not God given understanding. It's not God given knowledge
by the revelation of Christ, by God, the Holy Spirit, through
the word of God. This science that Paul is talking
about is only believing what can be understood with a natural
mind. It's trying to figure God out,
figure out what God is like, figure out how God saves sinners,
figure out how it is that God does things with the natural
mind. And there's a problem right off
the bat with that. It can't be done. God cannot
be understood. Jan and I were talking about
this at some point yesterday. God didn't give an account of
his matters to any of us. It wouldn't matter if he did.
We couldn't understand it. Not with these natural minds
we couldn't. This science that Paul is talking about is only
believing what makes sense to the depraved mind that we're
all born with. And there's a problem with that. Human understanding,
spiritually speaking, is always wrong. Always. If we try to deduce
what it is that God is doing, and we try to deduce what it
is, how it is God's saving sinners, and how it is that God's working
with His people, if we try to deduce that with a natural mind,
we are always, 100% of the time, wrong. Always. Trying to figure out God, believing
about God, only what we can understand with the natural mind cause us
to what Paul calls here, error concerning the faith. It causes
an error in faith. Just trying to figure out how
it is God saves sinners with our natural mind will cause us
to have an error in whom we trust. Our natural mind will always
tell us to trust ourselves, to trust the arm of the flesh, It'll
never cause us to trust Christ alone. So it causes us to err
concerning faith in Christ. And probably until I became the
pastor here, I did not realize the extent to which the church
is constantly under attack, constantly being just opposed, as the word Paul
used, opposed, by this science, man's knowledge, it opposes the
souls of men and women. I'm going to give you a few examples.
Evolution, where men say that man, human beings developed from
an amoeba that developed into a frog, that developed into a
snake, that developed into a badger, that developed into an ape, that
developed into a man over the course of millions and millions
of years. That's science. man's knowledge, man's knowledge
that opposes the word of God. The theory of evolution is the
best logic man has to come up with to oppose the creator. That's
the best logic that they can come up with. And I tell you
why the natural, I mean, it's an utter foolish thing. I mean,
anybody can see through that if they want to. But here's why
human beings, human logic, the human mind likes to hear and
teach the theory of evolution. It's because it makes man independent.
If man somehow, ununderstandably developed from a frog to a man,
well, that just happened randomly. And that makes man independent
from God. God Almighty formed Adam out
of the dust. and then took Eve from Adam's
rib and he made her, and God created everything else here,
then you and I are squatters on his land. We are dependent
on him. We're dependent on him for life,
for food, for air to breathe, for water to drink, for a place
to live. We are dependent on God, and if we would be saved,
we better beg him for mercy. That's why man likes the theory
of evolution. If the theory of evolution is true, we're independent
from God. Here's another one. This is in
opposition of man's knowledge, man's free will. You don't find
man's free will anywhere in the scripture. This is something
that's been made up from the mind of some fallen man. Man's
free will says that it's up to the creature to decide whether
or not that we will be saved. It's up to us. Now that is science
that opposes the Word of God. It's man's knowledge that opposes
the sovereignty of God. And the natural man, natural
human mind, just loves the idea of man's free will. Because if
that's true, then fallen man is not dependent on God to do
all the saving. I have to do some of it myself.
See, if God has to do all the saving, if salvation comes by
the will of God, not the will of man, that man is dependent
on God and the only way you and I will ever be saved is by begging
God for mercy. And man don't like that. We don't
like to be the beggar. So man chooses to believe this idea
of man's free will. Now I don't deny you have a will.
You have a will. I have a will. We have a will,
but it's not free. It's not free. You know, you
decided what to wear this morning. You decided when you came in
here, the chairs are all put back out the way they used to
be. And everybody, their seat was all in kind of a different
place. You decided where to sit today. And human beings be what
they are. That's where you're gonna sit
Wednesday. That's where you're gonna sit next Sunday. That's where you sit till we
move chairs again, right? But you decided to do that. You decided
whether or not to come here this morning. You decided to do that.
You have a will. But your will's not free. Our
will is captive by our nature. And here's an example I can think
of. You and I cannot choose to go live under the ocean because
we can't breathe water. It's our nature. We have to have
air. We're constrained. Our will is constrained by our
nature. We can only do what our nature
allows us to do. So you and I are dependent on
God. We don't have a will spiritually
that's free to choose to believe Christ. So you and I, we're just
incapable of doing that. A spiritually dead man is incapable
of doing one thing spiritually, just like a physically dead man
is incapable of doing anything physically. You and I are spiritually
incapable of doing anything to give ourselves life and to please
God. So if we would be saved, God
must do all the saving. It's gotta be by His will, not
our will. It's gotta be by His doing, not our doing. We're dependent
on God to choose us. We're dependent on God to do
all the saving for us and in us, aren't we? Then here's another
one. Man's knowledge has come up with
this. That Christ died for everyone. Christ died for every son of
Adam to give everybody a chance to be saved. Now that's man's
knowledge, man's science. that opposes the word of God.
Man's idea that Christ had to die. He has to. He owes it to
me to die for everybody, to give everybody a chance. It just wouldn't
be fair if God didn't give me a chance. He had to die for me
because it wouldn't be fair. That makes God the beggar and
man the ruler. That makes man's will, man's
decision preeminent in salvation. And I'll tell you what that does.
It trods underfoot the Son of God by making the blood of Christ
alone not enough to atone for sin. People say, well, Christ
had to die for everybody. It wouldn't be fair if Christ
died only for God's elect. That can't be right. That's unfair.
That makes God a debtor to the creature instead of us being
a debtor to God. That makes God, if Christ did
die for everybody, this is man's knowledge that opposes the word
of God. If Christ had to die for every son of Adam, that means
that God is obligated to do something for us. We sinned against God,
but still somehow in man's knowledge, we still make God obligated to
do something for us, even though we're the ones sinning against
him, instead of making us obligated to bow at his feet and beg for
mercy. Then here's another one, man's idea, man's knowledge.
This is the man's logic, his knowledge, the way he would come
up for sinners to be saved. You have to accept Jesus as your
personal savior in order to be saved. Christ died for everybody,
and if you don't decide to accept him as your personal savior,
then Christ shed his blood for you in vain, and you've wasted
the blood of God. Now that's man's knowledge that opposes
the word of God. That idea, that knowledge, that
logic of man makes the death of Christ absolutely meaningless. You think the father would slaughter
his son in a meaningless fashion? If Christ died for a person in
hell, just like he died for a person in heaven, what does the death
of Christ have to do with anything? Not one thing, does it? Not one
thing. That means that the one who is in charge of salvation
is you. And according to the word of God, you better hope
that's not true. You better hope that that's not true. If man's
decision is what makes all the difference between being lost
and saved, between hell and heaven, if man's decision is what makes
the difference, then God's grace, the grace of God to sinners,
and the death of Christ for his people are absolutely meaningless. And you and I had better get
used to begging men to do something instead of saying what the scripture
says and commanding sinners to come to Christ. commanding sinners
to believe Him. Then here's another one. Man's
idea that you have to let Jesus into your heart in order to be
saved. That's man's knowledge. That's the best man to come up
with and that opposes the Word of God. Because again, this puts
man in charge of salvation. That idea that you have to let
Jesus rule in your heart. That makes the work of the Holy
Spirit and the new birth null and void. And that makes what
Scripture teaches, that you and I are dead in sin. That makes the teaching of Scripture
that our flesh is dead. What makes that wrong? That means
that the flesh can get some spiritual life and some spiritual life.
Now if that's true, then we gotta beg men to accept Jesus because
their flesh, in their flesh, without the work of the Holy
Spirit giving them life, If they can somehow decide to let Jesus
rule, I guess in a democracy kind of way, if that's true,
we've got to throw this whole Bible out. That's not the God,
the sovereign God, who's King of Kings and Lord of Lords, this
book declares. Then there's this. This is man's
knowledge, science, man's knowledge, his spiritual knowledge, knowledge
of Christianity. You have to live a moral life.
You have to be a good person in order for God to save you.
That opposes the word of God, doesn't it? The word of God clearly
says many times over and over and over again, God saves sinners.
No, you don't have to be a good person in order for God to save
you. Get a hold of your seat. You can't be a good person in
order for God to save you. You've got to be a sinner. You
got to serve for God sends you to hell for God's sake. That's exactly right. And this
idea that you got to live a moral life in order to keep your salvation.
That's man's knowledge that opposes the word of God. If that were
true, that means you, Christ could save you, but then you
could lose it because you know, you didn't act well enough. That
means Christ alone is not enough, doesn't it? That means the power
of God alone is not enough. That whole idea makes the work
of the creature, the work that establishes righteousness, that
establishes and keeps salvation. Again, that idea makes the, there's
a pattern here, you see it? This man's knowledge, the way
man thinks up to be saved, makes the Lord Jesus Christ completely
unnecessary in salvation. Completely unnecessary. If I
can establish my own righteousness by how I live, why did Christ
come? It opposes the word of God, you
see that? Now I have to say this, Believers absolutely should live
a moral life. Don't take what I just said and
say, well, I'm just gonna go out here and, you know, live like hell.
No, believers absolutely should live a moral life. Not in order
to make ourselves righteous. No, sir. Because Christ already
has made us righteous. Because the God, the Holy Spirit
has already given us a new nature. Don't you go out there and live
a moral life, trying to make God happy with you so God will
bless you. That's being a mercenary. God's people are his children.
who serve him as his sons and his daughters. You go out there
and live a righteous life. Be you holy as your heavenly
father is holy because Christ has already made God happy with
you. You're not trying to make God
happy with you. Christ already did that for his people. We're
accepted in the beloved. See that? Believers are to live
a moral life because our savior has made us righteous because
he has given us a new nature. And so that, the gospel of our
Lord be not blasphemed. Don't you let the gospel of our
Savior be blasphemed because of the way you conduct yourself
down there at work. Don't do that. Just don't do that. Now,
that's just a few examples of this knowledge of spiritual matters. And any of them, you see, I could
have named so many more of them. All those things cause people
to err concerning faith because they make us trust the wrong
person. They make us trust ourselves instead of the Savior. Now that's
a long introduction in it. But I had to show you all those
examples. So we see how this knowledge of man just opposes
the word of God. And it'll make us err in this
matter of faith and make us miss eternal life altogether. Now
that's a long introduction. I have three short points. It's
kind of the opposite. Normally I have a short introduction,
longer body. This will be three short points. How can I resist? the oppositions
of science, the oppositions of man's fallen logic, because the
church and every believer is constantly being opposed by constantly
under attack from it. Let me give you three ways. Number
one, we resist the opposite oppositions of science by keeping that which
has been committed to you. Verse 20 in our text. Oh, Timothy,
keep that. which is committed to thy trust. That word keep has is a rich
in meaning. It means to guard. It means to
watch someone lest you let them escape. You guard this, Gary,
like a guard down there at the prison. Don't you let them prisoners
escape. You guard this gospel that God's committed to you.
And don't you let it escape. Don't you let it slip through
your fingers. Is it like a sieve? You guard it. This word also
means to guard a person or guard a thing so that they remain safe. You guard them like a bodyguard
guarding the president. It means to guard, to protect
yourself and others, protect them. This word is used again
in Matthew chapter 19. Remember that rich young ruler,
he came to the Lord and he said, all these things have I kept
for my youth up. Same word Paul uses here. Now,
this is what we know about that young, that poor man, poor, rich,
young ruler. He was serious about keeping
that law, wasn't he? And outwardly, I bet he's right.
I bet he kept it. I bet outwardly he did. He was
very, very serious about that, wasn't he? Well, you and I need
to be just as serious about keeping the gospel and guarding it for
us and for others. You see how important this is
to Paul? How much he cares about Timothy? He says, oh, Timothy,
oh, Timothy, keep this. And I tell you, oh, Wayne, keep
this. Oh, Matt, keep this. Oh, Luke,
keep this. Keep this. Guard it. Guard this
gospel. Oh, God's blessed us. God's blessed
you. Don't you let it escape. Don't
you let it escape from you and you guard over it. You keep it
safe here in this place. Don't leave it. Don't leave it.
Be determined, determined not to get pulled off this gospel
onto a tangent. Don't be like Peter walking on
the water, start looking at the waves. You keep looking at the master
and go to him. Well, how do I keep that which
is being committed? How do I keep it? Well, you keep
it very simply. by trusting all of your salvation
to Christ alone. And just refusing, refusing to
trust in anything that you do. Just look across the page or
2 Timothy 1 verse 12. Paul says, for which cause I
also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed
for I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he, that
he is able to keep. Same word, he is able to keep
that which I've committed to him against that day. I keep
myself by committing everything to Christ, by committing all
my salvation to him. That's how I keep myself. Keep
yourself by trusting all of your salvation to Christ because you
know you can't keep yourself, but you know he can. Jude verse
24, now unto him, not unto you and me, unto him, that is able
to keep. Same word. Unto him that is able
to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise
God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, dominion, and power both now
and ever. Always trusting him to keep you
forever. Amen. That's how we keep what's
been committed to us. We keep ourselves by trusting
everything to Christ. Number two, we resist the oppositions
of science by avoiding profane and vain babblings. Verse 20
says, Timothy, you avoid, avoiding profane and vain babblings and
oppositions of science, falsely so-called, this knowledge is
falsely called knowledge. Profane and vain babblings, what
are they? Those are spiritual matters that
men talk about, that are about men, not about Christ. That's a vain and profane babbling. They're meaningless, empty words. That's what the phrase Paul uses
there. It means meaningless, empty words. You know why they're empty? They're
empty of life. They're empty of mercy, they're
empty of grace, they're empty of righteousness, because they're
words about what man can do, not what Christ has done. They're
words about what man can do, not about who Christ is. That
makes them meaningless, empty words. These profane, vain babblings
is preaching. It's wrapped up in Christian
religion preaching that's about anything other than Christ. It
makes them profane. They're words that cause division. These profane babblings, they're
words that cause division because they're always about men and
never about Christ. You know, believers can have
different opinions over matters about the flesh, over matters
about the world. We can have differences of opinions
about that, but we can't have differing opinions about the
Savior. about Christ. We just can't.
You know why we can't? He is the truth. There's no other
truth. There's no other interpretation.
There's no other foundation. There's no other hope of salvation
other than our Lord Jesus Christ. We're united in him. In him we're
one. Profane and vain babblings are
always things that appeal to the flesh, never to the spirit. People take things that appeal
to the flesh and they wrap them up in religion. or they draw
a crowd. But that's just man's knowledge
that opposes the word of God. And I tell you, ask God to show
you the difference. Sometimes it might not be easy
to see because they're wrapping it in religion. They're wrapping
it in scripture. I know they twist and they rest
the scriptures, but they're wrapping it in scripture. Ask God to show
you the difference. And just avoid, as much as you
can, as much as God will enable you to do it, avoid planting
your flag and dying on a hill. of profane and vain babblings
because they kill the soul. Well, how can I avoid getting
caught up in that, Joan? Profane and vain babblings. Well,
again, it's very simple. It's by refusing to listen to
any other gospel. Just refuse it. Constantly refuse
it. I won't get caught up in vain
babblings, profane babblings. If I refuse to even discuss with
How there are things that I can do to make me better than somebody
else. How that I can do things that make me more saved or more
savable or more holy or more righteous than somebody else.
I avoid vain babblings just by refusing to enter into that conversation. Because those words are meaningless. They're empty. There's nothing
I can do to make myself better than you. There's nothing I can
do to make myself better than the harlot I turn street corner.
Not one thing. I just refuse to enter into that
kind of conversation because entering into that makes me less
dependent on Christ and less dependent on God's grace. And
it puts me under the obligation to the whole law of God. I avoid
these vain, profane babblings by listening to preaching and
having conversations with others that always leaves me in the
dust and always glorifies the Savior. that makes me dependent
on him. Just listen to that kind of preaching
and that kind of preaching only. And you avoid these profane and
vain babblings. Avoid profane and vain babblings
just by refusing to take your eyes off Christ. You know, these
things that they're religious sounding words, they wrap them
up in scripture, I grant you. But they're not nice, religious
sounding platitudes. They're profane. The word means
unholy. Somebody can talk about the scripture
in a way that's unholy, it's profane. Avoid them, just refuse
to go anywhere near them. These profane words, profane
biblings, they are as profane, as unholy as a house of ill repute
or a heroin den. Now, how far would you go to
avoid those things? I mean, you know they could kill you. How
far would you go to avoid those things? If there was a house
of ill repute, and you knew it, on the street, Matt, would you
even go on that street? You wouldn't, would you? You
wouldn't want to see me here. You've been near that place.
Not only would you not go on that block, you would go on that
section of town, would you? Same thing with the heroin deal.
They're in there killing people. Not only would you not even go
in that building, you wouldn't be on the block, would you? Treat another gospel that appeals
to your flesh, that makes you better than somebody else the
exact same way. Don't even go on the block. Just
don't even go on the block. Don't enter the building. Listen,
poison cannot kill you if you don't drink it. If it's going to kill you, if
you drink it, why have it in the house? Just don't even have an ounce.
Just avoid it. That's how you oppose. You stay away. You resist
these oppositions of man's knowledge. And here's the third thing. This
is so important. We resist the opposition of science
by clinging to God's grace. Verse 21, which some professing
have erred. When they profess these things,
when they claim to believe these things, that makes them err concerning
the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen. So be it. See, this is the one
and only way that we can resist the oppositions of man's way
of man's religious knowledge. It's by God's grace. It's by
God's grace. You know, we don't have the word
grace in our name. Accidentally, hurricane road,
grace, church, This is what we preach. And you know why we preach
it? It's what we need. Oh, I need
grace. You need grace. Our community,
those who would come here, they need grace. They need God's grace. That's the only way we can resist
is by God's grace because salvation from its beginning to its ending
is all of grace. I need God to choose me in electing
grace. I need that. Because I'll never
choose Him unless He chose me first. I need, I desperately,
I need Christ to die for me in redeeming grace. Because I can't
be redeemed. The price for my sin can't be
paid any other way unless the Son of God dies as my substitute.
I need that redeeming grace. I need that loving grace. The grace of God. that could
cause the Holy God to love a sinner like me. Oh, I need that because
I cannot be lovable. I cannot be. I need how I need
God, the Holy Spirit, to call me to Christ in irresistible
grace. I need that because I won't come
any other way. I need God, the Holy Spirit, to give me eternal
life in regenerating grace, to cause me to be born again, or
I'm gonna stay dead unless God has grace that gives me life. And I need, oh, I need God to
keep me by preserving grace. I don't need God to save me and
pick me up and wash me and dress me in the righteousness of Christ
and set me down and say, okay, now you're wrong. I'll go the
wrong way. I need God. I'll be like Peter. Oh, the Lord just take his hand
off me for a second. I'm sinking like a rock. I need
God's preserving grace. Salvation is all of grace. Now
that's what we needed. That's what we need. And you
resist the oppositions of science, the oppositions of man's understanding
of religion by just refusing to preach anything, to listen
to any kind of preaching that puts any of the responsibility
of any of salvation upon the creature. I'm only going to listen
to preaching. By God's grace, I'm only going
to let you hear preaching from my mouth or anybody else's that
puts all the responsibility on the Savior. If salvation is of
grace, then the Apostle Paul says no more works. Then let's
be done with works and cling to God's grace. That'll help
us, cause us to resist these oppositions of science. Let's
just refuse any kind of thing. It's going to have to constantly
be put down because this flesh is going to constantly be pushing
it at us. Our flesh and everybody else's flesh. Just refuse anything
that makes us think we can contribute anything to salvation and makes
us better than our brethren or better than sinners out there. Being better, thinking you've
done something, better than somebody else. All that is, is a subtle
denial of how much we need God's grace. It really is. And let's
pray. Here's how we can resist the
opposition of Zion. Let's pray. The Lord keeps us
low. Makes us people who are low and
down out. Just down and out. People who
need God's grace. Those are the people that receive
them. Oh, Lord, bless that to you. Let's bow together. Our
Father, we thank you for this time that you've given to us
to look into your word, hear more of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to see him, to worship him. Father, I pray that this morning
you would grant faith into the hearts of your people, faith
in Christ, that you would cause us to resist these man's religious
knowledge that opposes our souls, that opposes the word of God,
that we would believe on and cling to and rest in Christ,
in Christ alone. Father, how we thank you for
your grace, for your mercy to your people. We freely admit
how gracious, how abundantly gracious you have been to this
people. Father, we pray you continue
to be gracious, continue to to show, to magnify yourself in
showing grace to your people here. Continue to keep us and
watch over us. Don't let us stray. For it's
in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, for his glory,
we pray, amen. All right, Jonathan, you can
lead us in a song. If you would, stand and turn
with me to page 495. Page 495, Unsearchable Riches. O the unsearchable riches of
Christ, wealth that can never be told. Riches exhaustless of mercy and
grace Precious, more precious than gold Precious, more precious
Wealth that can never be told Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ Precious, more precious than gold. O the unsearchable riches of
Christ, who shall their greatness declare? Jewels whose luster our lives
may adorn, pearls that the forest may wear. Precious, more precious, wealth
that can never be told. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ, precious, more precious than gold. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ, freely, how freely they flow. Making the souls of the
faithful and true Happy wherever they go Precious, more precious
Wealth that can never be told O the unsearchable riches of
Christ, precious, o'er precious than gold! O the unsearchable riches of
Christ, who would not gladly endure Trials, afflictions, and
crosses on earth Riches like these to secure Precious, oh
precious Wealth that can never be told Oh, the unsearchable
riches of Christ, precious, more precious than gold.