1 Timothy chapter 1. I want to
begin reading in verse 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ
which is our hope. Unto Timothy, my own son in the
faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, in Jesus
Christ our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still
at this, when I went unto Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some
that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and
endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying
which is in faith, so do. Now the end of the commandment
is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and
of faith unfinged, from which some, having swerved, have turned
aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding
neither what they say nor what they affirm. But we know that
the law is good if a man use it lawfully. Knowing this, that
the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless, for
disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and
profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for
manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves
with mankind, for men-stealers and liars and perjured persons,
and if there be any other thing, that is contrary to sound doctrine,
according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was
committed to my trust. And I thank Jesus Christ, our
Lord, who hath enabled me, for he counted me faithful, putting
me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor
and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly
and unbelieving. And the grace of the Lord was
exceeding, abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ
Jesus. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am cheap. Howbeit for this cause
I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth
all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter
believe on him, to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and
ever. Amen. This charge I commit unto
thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecy which went before
on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare, hold in faith
a good conscience, which some, having put away concerning faith,
have made shipwrecked. of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander,
whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme." Paul had left this city. He tells
us this there in this passage. You find this also in the book
of Acts, chapters 18 and 19 and 20. And he had left Timothy here
in this city. Now, this city was one that was
mainly given over to idolatry. It was a dark, dark city, spiritually
speaking. We've all heard of the temple
of the great goddess Diana, one of the greatest temples to any
god that this world has ever known. And death was in this
city. And Paul went here preaching the gospel, and one of the things
that he mentioned while he was preaching was that there were
no gods made with hands. Well, there were men in this
large city that made shrines out of silver and gold for this
temple. One of them's name was Demetrius,
and he was a very powerful and influential man. He stirred this
city up against Paul, the apostle, and against the gospel. And the
whole city came together. And for over two hours, they
had a riot, crying, Great is the Goddess Diana. And Paul and
some of these men escaped this riot. And Paul had talked there
for three months. You find this in Acts chapter
19. And the Lord began to convert some of these people, deliver
them from idolatry, and He separated the church, the disciples, from
the rest of the city in this idolatry. And He taught here
in this city for two years. He was there for two years and
three months. And He tells us in Acts 19 some
of the things that He taught. And the Spirit says it like this,
He taught the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the words
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He taught the things concerning
the kingdom of God. He taught the words of Jesus
Christ. In other words, He preached the
gospel to them. And it was here that He said,
I fought with beasts. Men that were like beasts, very
effigious, that I fought with as I preached the gospel. And
you remember the last time he was here close to this city,
in Acts chapter 20, that he called the pastors of these churches
together and told them what that he had preached. He said, I preached
unto you that which I received, that is the ministry of the gospel
of the grace of God. And he said, that's what I preached
to you. And he gives them this warning. He said, when I leave
you, I know that there's going to be men arise even among you
which is going to preach falsehood. You're going to preach contrary
to the gospel. Of your own self shall men arise
preaching perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves. And he charges them, therefore,
to take heed, he said, and feed the church of God, the same church
which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers." The church which
God has purchased with His own blood. And that's when He gives
them this warning to take heed of themselves. So this city was
a battleground. Good against evil. Jesus Christ
against Satan. The gospel against the darkness
of this world. And here is where Paul left Timothy,
right in the midst of this place. And then he writes back to him
here in verse 3, and he gives him this charge. He says it like
this, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other
doctrine. He uses this word three times,
charge, in this first chapter. He calls it in verse 5, a commandment.
He uses it here in a negative aspect Charge them that they
teach no other doctrine. That was the charge. Timothy,
you make sure that the church is there. That I'm sending you
over. Make sure the pastors teach no
other doctrine than what I preached when I was there. The doctrine
according to the scripture. Then he goes on in verse 4 and
he adds this to it also. Don't preach these foolishness,
these vain, jangling heresies and half-truths. And then in
verse 10, in the last portion of verse 10, he adds to this,
if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.
He charged him not to preach anything that was wrong. Now,
that's the negative aspect of the charge. But there was a positive
aspect to the charge too. Not just what he wasn't to preach,
but what he was to preach. And he tells us that in verse
11. According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which
was committed to my trust. That's the charge. Here's the
charge. Don't you preach anything that's
contrary to the doctrine of the gospel. But you preach the gospel
of the blessed God. That's what he charges. And then
in verse 5, he gives him the aim. Here's the goal of preaching
the gospel. What does the gospel accomplish
when we preach it? Well, in verse 5, now the end
of the commandment. Now that's the very same word
as charge. I don't know why our translators
did this. I love them. I wouldn't have
any other version to read. I study out of other versions.
I don't know why they didn't go ahead and say charge, because
it's the same word. But he said, here is the charge.
Here is the end of what I've charged you to preach. Here's
what it will produce. The end of this commandment,
the end of preaching the glorious gospel of God, here's what it
will produce. Charity. Love. And he'll do it out of a pure
heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfinished. That's what he tells him to preach.
And then verse 18, he reminds him again. He uses the same word.
This charge I commit unto you, son Timothy. He encourages him
here to be faithful to this charge. And he tells him there in verse
6. Look in verse 6. Some have already
turned aside from the gospel, from which some having swerved,
they've swerved from this commandment, this charge, this gospel, and
what have they turned to? Vain jangling. That word vain
jangling, my margin says idle talk. Emptiness. Vainness. I call it hogwashing.
Distinctive hogwashing. That's what they've turned aside
to. Now here in verse 7, look in verse 7, he tells us more
specifically of what they're teaching. He called it vain jangling,
turned aside into vain jangling. Now here in verse 7, look what
he said. Desiring to be teachers of the law, understand neither
what they say, nor whereof they affirm. They're preaching law.
They're trying to teach and preach the law. They don't understand
what the law is. They're trying to teach it, but
they don't know what their teaching is all about. They can't explain
where they're getting it or what it means, but they're trying
to teach the law. What does this law mean? What
does he mean by law? Well, verse 8. I think he gives
us a strong hint here what he's meaning, what law he's talking
about. Look in verse 8. But we know that the law is good
if a man use it lawfully. Now, in the seventh chapter of
Romans, Paul uses this very word to describe the law of Moses,
the moral law. We know, he said, that the law
is good. And there in Romans chapter 7,
he said, the law is holy, it's just, it's good. What is this law then that they
were teaching? They were teaching the moral
law. They were teaching the law of
Moses. Now, Paul never tells us and
we never find out from Timothy exactly what they were saying
about the law. But one thing we know about it,
whatever they were saying about the law, it was contrary to the
blessed gospel of the glory of God. It was contrary to the grace
of God, and therefore, Paul said, make sure that you stop them
from teaching it. Now, what were they saying? We
don't know. But we know from the Scripture some things that
others were saying about the law. And let me give you two
or three things that others were preaching about the law. Some
were mixing the law and tradition together. They were taking the
moral law of Moses and they were adding their tradition with it. Well, you need to wash your hands
now before you eat. And they put that right alongside
thou shalt not covet. And you need to wash your pots
and your pans. And they were putting that right
along with love God with all your heart. I fast twice a week,
and they were putting that right alongside, thou shalt not cut
it. And the Lord Jesus Christ rebuked
them for doing this. He said, by your traditions,
you have made void the law of God. How do they do that? By adding their traditions to
it. That's one thing they may have been saying here. Another thing we read in the
scriptures that people try to teach the moral law is this.
And Paul, Saul of Tarsus got himself in a mess trying to do
this. He tried to teach it and keep it in its purity to be justified
before God. And Paul thought, he actually
thought, that he could keep this law. He is a man that had no
knowledge of sin. I was without the law once without
the knowledge of it. And he said I was seeking life
by this law until the commandment came in
its power and sin revived and I died. Concerning the law, I
was blameless. I was blameless. You know anybody today that seeks
to be justified before God by keeping the law of Moses? Herbert
W. Armstrong that's been dead now
for a few years? Man, he believed that with all
of his heart. You talk to him about justification by faith
in Christ, he'd laugh at you. You talk to him about a new birth,
and he would mock you, pinch yourself, and see if you'd been
born again. That's what he said. So they preached that it is possible
for a man to keep the moral law of God and be saved by doing
it. Maybe they were saying that. Thirdly, they were saying this.
They taught a mixture of the moral law and the ceremonial
law and grace for salvation. They mixed everything up. You've
got to keep the law of Moses. You've got to be circumcised.
And you've got to believe in Christ. And then you'll be saved. Acts 15 and verses 1 through
5. That's what they taught. Maybe
that's what they were saying here. We're not told. But Paul
said it's vain jangling. They're not rightly dividing
the word of truth. And he said, I give you a charge
that you stop them from teaching that. Those who are under your
authority. And make sure they teach nothing but this glorious
gospel of the grace of God. And he said, here's the end of
this gospel to those who believe it. It produces the true love
of God in the heart. Now here in verse 8, He makes
this statement here. And people that tells us that
we're against the law, we're against the moral law and call
us antinomians and without law and all of that. Well, here's
how we feel about the law. Here in verse 8. We know that
the law is good. The law is good. We're not against
the law, are we? We're not against the moral law.
We're not against the Ten Commandment law. It's good. Nothing wrong with it. If a man
use it lawfully, there are some lawful uses of the law. Now, I hope you and I can learn
something from this. Let me give you three lawful uses of the
law. First of all, the law, the moral
law, is used to convince men of sin. By the law is the knowledge
of sin. We know that whatsoever things
the law says, it says to them who are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped and the world become guilty before God. When the law comes to our conscience
and shows us that we sinned against God, that we have coveted, that
we have lusted, that we have stole, that we have not loved
Him, and we fall down before Him guilty in His sight, then
the law has done its work. But that's all it can do. By
the law is the knowledge of sin, but it can't remove the guilt
of sin. That has to be removed another
way. That has to be removed by the blood of the dear and blessed
Son of God. But that's a good use of the
law. I was alive without the law once. I had no knowledge of its spirituality
and how it reached the heart to my motives and my thoughts.
But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. That's a good use of the law.
We need that today, don't we? And secondly, the law is good
when it's used in this way, when it's used to stop the mouths
of graceless professors, legalists, and self-righteous people who
trust in themselves that they're righteous. The law is used to
stop their mouths. Those scribes and the Pharisees
hated grace. They hated redemption by the
blood of Jesus Christ. They were cleaving to the law.
They were trusting the law, they said. And they despised everybody
else. And the Lord told them one day,
He said, Don't think that I will condemn you. There is one who
condemns you, and that's Moses in whom you trust. They were
trusting to be saved by their works, by the works of the law. And the Lord said the very law
that you are trusting in is accursing you and is condemning you and
it will cast you out in the end. Has your life upon this earth
been perfect and complete? If not, you stand condemned of
God. And who condemns us? The law
condemns us. And you're worthy of hell's heat. That Pharisee that stood there
in the temple and prayed, God, I thank you that I'm not like
other men. He was just as bad as everybody
else. And the law that he bragged about
keeping, he bragged that he'd have acceptance with God because
he was keeping it, that's the very law that condemned him. Andrea said in one of her poems
concerning the law, the way of the law is a rigid road, no forgiveness,
a heavy load. And demanding as this path may
be, many travel it That's why the law in its strictness
needs to be preached to graceless professors, because it cuts off
their legalistic hopes of being saved by works. A man can't be
saved by his works. He can't be saved by the law.
And to imagine that he can, he's just deceived himself. To him that worketh, he is working
to be saved. He is working to be justified.
It is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. Debt. Debt. Debt. Debt. I fast twice a week. Debt. I
pay tithes of all that I possess. Debt. I remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy. Debt. I am not like other men. Debt. Debt. Debt. And if we can't
find another who pays those debts freely and graciously, then we'll
be charged by the very law that we trust in. A man can stick
the Ten Commandments in his yard and say, I stand by them. But
we better be careful they don't abide upon us in their judging
and condemning power. Thirdly, here's another use,
and Paul tells us about it here in verses 9 and 10. Here is another
rightful use of the law when its tariffs and its threatenings
are used against the lawless and against the disobedient.
See what he says there in verse 9, knowing this first, the law
is not made for a righteous man, but who is it made for? The lawless,
the disobedient, murderers and covetousness and stealers and
liars and prejudice people and so on. They're under this covenant
and it condemns them. They're under the rule of it
and obligated to keep it. And it's going to curse them.
It's cursing them now because of their open and profane lifestyle. The law is made to threaten the
lawless. There's people in society that
won't be ruled any other way but by threatenings and cursings. Love won't rule them. Kindness
won't rule them. Forgiveness won't rule them.
Obtaining mercy from the courts won't rule them. But this law,
threatening, entering their conscience, pressed home upon their hearts,
sometime that will do it. You will not wonder why our society
is filled with murder. The murder rate is so high. Do we wonder why we have to put
everything under lock and key? Do we wonder why the divorce
rate is so high? Why men are lusting after things
they're forbidden to have? Do we wonder why lawlessness
reigns in almost every aspect of society? It's because this
law, this moral law, is not being pressed upon the conscience of
the ungodly. It's not being pressed in our
homes. It's not being pressed in our schools, our government,
or our churches. This generation is being told
it doesn't matter what they believe. It doesn't matter how they act.
It doesn't matter what they think. That it's nobody's business and
there's little consequences to it all. While all along, this
moral law of God is cursing them and pleading for their immediate
overthrow. They don't know it. And that's
why it needs to be pressed upon them. You wonder sometimes, what some
people, what kind of society some people want to live in. A lawless society is dangerous. That's why Paul said the law
is good and it needs to be pressed upon a lawless society. Are teenagers,
all of this sex outside of marriage? All this shacking up. All of this open and profane
sins. The wrath of God is upon that. The law of God has its usage
if we use it rightly. I love how he goes on to say
this in verse 9. I love this. Look how he says
it. He excludes somebody. He doesn't
exclude the self-righteous. It needs to be preached to them. He doesn't exclude the open and
profane. It needs to be preached to them. They need to know they
are under the law and they are cursed by it. But look who He
does exclude in verse 9. Knowing this, that the law is
not made for a righteous Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
wonderful? Well, who's a righteous man?
That's a good question, isn't it? Not a self-righteous man. It's for him. But who is a truly
righteous man? Well, the Scripture says Abraham
believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness. The Bible says that God has made
Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we, as poor sinners
as we are, might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Of God are you in Christ Jesus
who is made unto us righteousness. Who is a righteous man? He is
a man who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ as He is revealed
in the Scripture And righteousness has been given to him. It's been
put on his account. It's been charged to him. And
when God sees that poor sinner, that poor believing sinner, He
sees him as the righteousness of His Son. He views him as perfect
and not as he really is in himself. That's a righteous man. You say,
Bruce, I never heard of such a thing. I never had either. I went about trying to establish
my own silly righteousness until I heard that God had provided
a righteousness in His Son, that His Son had been perfectly obedient
in the days of His flesh, that He had satisfied all the demands
of this law and left nothing for me to do, to mess up. And He turns to me and He says,
You believe in My Son. I will give you His righteousness." The law is not made for that
man. He is a righteous man. As a righteous man, the law cannot
condemn him. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. The law must look upon him as
being in Christ. And in Christ, there is no condemnation. The law cannot condemn him. You
say, Bruce, well, the law is the knowledge of sin. But he
has not. In him is no sin. And he is in
him. Oh, in his self, in his self,
in yourself, false and full of sin, I am. But in Christ, that's
it, isn't it? In Christ, he has righteousness. In Christ He is justified. In
Christ He glories. And listen to this. He is being
led by the Holy Spirit. If you be led of the Spirit,
then you are not under the law. He does not need to be under
the law as a covenant. And He does not need to be under
the law as a rule of life. He has another rule. The Holy
Ghost leads him. And look what he has here in
his heart. He has the very thing that the
law required him to have all along. What does the law require? Love. Love. He that loveth hath fulfilled
the law. And verse 5, it said, the end
of this gospel, to those who believe it, it produces love. The love of God is shed abroad
in his heart. He's born of love. He that's born of God is born
of love. He that's born of love, he knoweth
God. And he that knoweth not God,
for God is love. What does the covenant say? They
shall all know me. That's the new covenant, isn't
it? They shall all know me. And the
man that's born of love is born of God, and he knows God. This is life eternal that they
might know me. And here's the love of God that's
shed abroad in his heart. Don't stick him under a legal
commandment. Don't stick him under a legal
covenant. He's free. He has everything
the law requires him to have. Love. The law is not made for a righteous
man. And where does this love abide? Well, he tells us that
there in verse 5. Look where this love abides.
In a pure heart. In a pure heart. Where would a man get a pure
heart, do you think? A poor sinner that had a bad
heart? a deceitful heart and desperately
wicked? Can you that are accustomed to
evil do good? Where would you get a pure heart?
It is given to you. I will give them a new heart,
a pure heart, a good heart and an honest heart. And I will put
My Spirit in that heart. The Lord said you don't put new
wine and old bottles, didn't they? It'll bust them. He said,
I'm not going to put my new spirit in your old heart. I'm going to give you a new heart.
And then I'm going to put my spirit in that heart. And that's
what he did here. You've got this love of God shed
abroad in your heart. But what kind of heart is it?
It's a new heart, a pure heart. Some people think Christianity
is nothing but living by some kind of a moral code. Far from it. Far from it. Christianity is a new heart.
Christianity is a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Taking
out the old and putting in the new. And look at this. Not only does believing this
gospel produce charity out of a pure heart and, look what else,
out of a good conscience. That's where pure love abides,
in a good heart, pure heart, and in a good conscience. How do we get a good conscience?
Ain't but one way to get a good conscience, and that's to have
the blood of Christ to If the blood of bulls and goats
sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience? We come to Him and we are guilty,
and He takes away the guilt. He purges away the sin of our
conscience. And our conscience is then said
to be a good conscience. And you know what happens when
a man has got a good conscience? He seeks to keep it good. You left the Spirit of God by
the blood of Christ. Give a man a pure conscience?
I'm not saying that's his absolute rule of life. A conscience can
err. But I'm saying there's no rule
without this good conscience. No matter what else we've got,
if we don't have a good conscience, we can't live for the Lord. We
can't serve Him. And when He purges our conscience,
I'll tell you what you'll do. I'll tell you, you'll be so happy
with a purged conscience that you'll seek to walk before God
without that conscience being defiled anymore. You're so careful. It used to be it didn't matter. You didn't matter what bothered
your conscience as long as it didn't get you in some kind of
trouble. But boy, it's different now, ain't it? You take a man
that's got a clear conscience, that's been purged of good conscience,
let him tell somebody a lie. Let him deliberately lie to one
of the dear brothers or sisters. You know what he'll do? He'll
go back and tell them, I'm sorry I lied to you. I had to call
a dear friend not long ago and say, buddy, I am sorry. I am
sorry. I didn't make any excuses or
anything else. I didn't want that on my conscience before
God, to know I did that young man that way. You let a man set
up an idol, and he becomes aware of it, and I'll tell you what
he'll do to protect his conscience before God. He'll tear that thing
from his heart. He'll do it. A clean, good, I
tell you, that goes a long way in ruling your life, doesn't
it? People want to get the deacons together and the pastor together
and get up a little committee and write a book on how long
your hair can be, what kind of dresses you ladies can wear and
how long the men's hair can be and where you can go and what
you can watch and what you can say and not say. That's not a
rule. It may sound good. And people
may say, boy, I want to join that church because look how
holy they are. How do you know? Well, look what
they say. Look how they look. Yeah, but catch them where you
can't see them. If you could get into their wretched, miserable,
lustful hearts. But boy, let the conscience be
purged. Let the blood of Christ touch
the conscience. Then that man will long to be
in private what he is in public. A clear conscience. A good conscience.
Paul said, Timothy, you preach this gospel. And here's the aim
of it. Here's the goal of preaching
the gospel. Those who believe it, the love
of God will be shed abroad in their heart. They'll be barned
of it. They'll have a pure heart given to them. They'll have a
conscience that's purged. They'll be tender. They'll seek
to walk well-pleasing before God and seek to not bring offense
upon His name. The conscience, the conscience. Lastly, he says this. Here's
something else. Here's where love abides. In a faith unfinged, a sincere
faith. Faith unfinged. A faith that
has the Word of the Gospel for its foundation. Some think we have no rule of
life when we say this legal law is not our rule. Well, what do
you guys have no rule for? Sure, the rule of the Gospel.
The words of our Lord and Savior. The Word of God. And this unfinged faith has for
its foundation the Word of the Gospel. And it has as its object
God and Jesus Christ. And such a faith does what the
moral law of Moses could never do, please God, and purify the
heart. What does the law do? Bring the
knowledge of sin. That's all it can do, brothers
and sisters. You start looking to it as your
rule, and I guarantee you this, you'll be miserable. You bind
yourself to that law as a rule, and you'll be judging others
and condemning others for the very things you'll do yourself.
And you won't please God or anybody else. You'll be miserable in
yourself, and you'll be miserable for everybody else to be around.
But live by faith upon the Son of God, and I'll tell you, you'll
please God that way. And your heart will be made pure.
For my part, I'll take the gospel with the fruits of love and the
fruits of purity and a good conscience and a sincere faith over legal
duties any day of the week. God bless His Word. Let's pray.