Avoid Empty Words That Corrupt

Transcript

GR 1389
12/07/2008
Avoid Empty Words that Corrupt
II Timothy 2:16-19
Gil Rugh


We've been studying II Timothy together, so turn there in your Bibles if you would, II Timothy 2. Paul's concern in writing to Timothy is about the message of Jesus Christ, the message of Christ and the truth of His coming to earth, His going to the cross and suffering and dying and being raised from the dead, being presented in its clarity, in its purity, that there be no alterations, changes, additions, subtractions, that the church of Jesus Christ stand firmly and strongly, boldly, unashamedly for the truth of the good news of Jesus Christ. This letter of Paul began and covered the first major section of the letter, chapter 1 verse 8 through chapter 2 verse 13, challenging Timothy to remain faithful to the gospel in the midst of persecution and opposition. He told him, don't be ashamed, but join with me in suffering for the gospel. These are days of persecution against the church. Paul has been arrested; he is now in a Roman prison awaiting execution. The Roman Emperor has declared Christianity an illegal religion. These are perilous times to be a believer in Jesus Christ and to openly identify with Him.

So in the first major section of the book Paul stressed to Timothy how important it is that he stand openly and firmly for the gospel, even in the face of opposition from outside the church. With chapter 2 verse 14 Paul begins the second major division of the book. This will take us really through most of the rest of the book except for the conclusion of chapter 2 verse 14 through chapter 4 verse 8. Paul again challenges Timothy with his responsibility, the importance of being faithful to the gospel. But now the opponents are not those outside the church, they are those who come from within the church. The church at Ephesus had already been infiltrated by false teachers. And these teachers and their doctrines were corrupting and upsetting the faith of some in the church. This is not a new issue in the church at Ephesus where Timothy is.

Turn back to I Timothy 1. Paul tells us here why he left Timothy at Ephesus. Paul had been at Ephesus ministering, but he had to go over to Macedonia into Greece. So he left Timothy there and we're told why in verse 3. As I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus. Why? So that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. Paul had ministered at Ephesus; he was not able to totally get the men who were teaching false doctrine removed and to rid their influence from the church. So when he leaves he tells Timothy to stay and complete that work of putting an end to this false teaching. Time going by now, we get to the second letter to Timothy. It is an ongoing problem. I think one of the most effective tools of the devil is that he is relentless. He may not win with one great charge against your life, against our ministry, but you know what he does? He wears you down; he wears the church down by the relentless, incessant conflict. False teachers, they just don't go away. The Apostle Paul opposed them, they don't go away; Timothy opposed them, they don't go away. It just is a constant battle. And so Paul is encouraging and challenging Timothy.

This second section began with some commands. We're going to focus on verses 14-19; we've already looked at the opening verses here. There are three commands that this section is built around, verses 14-19. We've looked at two of them, the first one is in verse 14, remind them of these things. It’s a present tense command here. Timothy is to be constantly reminding the church of these great truths, the truths that were summarized so clearly in verses 11-13 on the work of Christ and our response to that work. Keep on reminding them and telling them these truths. Don't become involved in worthless, meaningless debates with false teachers. They drag you in and try to entangle you in debates and discussions that there is no purpose to. They are not open to learn, they are simply trying to win you over, to bring confusion to corrupt the church.

The second command was verse 15, be diligent to present yourselves approved to God. He's the One that ultimately must be pleased with my life, with your life, with the life of our church. And we are to prove, remember. It means to be put to the test and thus be approved as a result of passing the test. God is the One who will do the evaluating of the ministry of our church, of our individual service for Him. We must strive to be approved to Him, be diligent. It means to be zealous, to be eager, and to apply all your effort and energy. To doing what? To be a workman who does not need to be ashamed, one who handles accurately the word of truth. One of the dismaying things is to see how easily the church is turned aside from a zealous persistent concern to handle accurately the word of truth, God's word. We don't need to divide over doctrine, we can be broad enough in our love to have different viewpoints, people who see things differently, teach things differently. Well, we have to be divisive at times if we are going to be approved by God on the basis of how we were as workmen in handling accurately, cutting straight the Word of God, understanding it and implementing it as God gave it. What I think about it, what you think about it is not relevant. We will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be evaluated on the basis of how accurately we handle His Word. That involves not only our doctrine, but our life lived in obedience and conformity to His Word.

When you come to verse 16 we pick up the third command, which is avoid. And after he gives this command and tells them what to avoid, these worthless discussions, he's going to give an example of two men who have departed from faithfulness in handling the Word of God accurately. He'll mention them and their error and say that their influence has been broad. But verse 19 is an encouraging verse. He reminds Timothy that the foundation of the church is secure. In the midst of all the opposition from outside, from inside, the defections from the faith that may come, the church is secure because God has founded it and placed His seal upon it.

Let's pick up with this next command, verse 16. The command is avoid. Another present tense command, it is something Timothy must do. He must be reminding people of the truth and must be diligent, carefully working with the scripture to understand it accurately. And he must avoid worldly and empty chatter. It means to avoid something, to shun it. You go around it, stay away from it. This is something that must be done. And what must be avoided is worldly and empty chatter. Worldly is a good translation of that word, means something profane, something not godly. So it's religious. We're going to see the example of the teachers; they are men talking about the biblical doctrine of the resurrection. When he says worldly we get the idea, we don't talk about worldly things. You understand what he means by worldly in this sense are men who are taking the Word of God and misusing it. It's profane. It has nothing to do with what God intended as He gave this portion of the Word, what God meant about true resurrection, for example. Worldly, profane. It is foreign to what God intended, its empty chatter. That's a good translation, the word empty and the word words—empty words. All it is is talk, worthless talk, and empty talk. It accomplishes nothing. So you see here you have these men who have been recognized as teachers in the church whose Bible teaching is influencing people. Yet the Spirit of God directs all to characterize their teaching as worldly, profane, empty chatter, worthless talk. That's what it is because it's not true to the Word of God. Sometimes we think, well at least they use the Bible, well at least they talk about the Bible. But it may be profane, worthless chatter, empty talk.

Back up to I Timothy 6, Paul used these same words. Verse 20, oh Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding. That's a synonym for the word we have translated avoid in our verse. But the next verse is the same word, avoiding worldly, empty chatter. Same description of it—worldly, empty chatter. Again, he's not talking about conversation; well they were talking about worldly things like making money or ball games or something. No, he's talking about Christian talk, religious talk, Bible talk that is not biblical, that is not involving handling the Word of God accurately. Avoiding worldly and empty chatter, the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge. These are people that claim to have knowledge, claim to know. And some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. And that's where he is going in II Timothy, things haven't changed. Same word will be used—gone astray from the faith, gone astray from the truth.

Go back to I Timothy 1. We've already looked at verses 3-4 where Paul has ordered Timothy to instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines. Look at verse 6, for some men straying from these things, correct teaching and its purposes in verse 5; some men straying from these things have turned aside to fruitless discussions. They want to be teachers of the law but they don't have any idea what they're talking about. It is worthless discussion again, same idea. You see they want to be Bible teachers, but they don't know what they're talking about. So it's fruitless discussion, it accomplishes nothing good.

Come over to I Timothy 4:7 but have nothing to do with worldly fables. That word translated worldly is the same word we have translated worldly in the passage we're looking at in II Timothy. Nothing to do with worldly fables, profane fables fit only for old women. When we studied this we noted the point is Paul puts these teachers teaching in the category of grandma's tales. You know like an old grandmother, and they do it maybe more in the old days before television and everything else came in, would gather her grandchildren around and tell them a story, all made up. It's a fable, make believe. That's the category these religious teachers’ teaching belongs in. They are fit for those kinds of fables and tales told by grandmothers to little children. They don't accomplish anything spiritual.

So come back to II Timothy. It's a pervading problem, to keep God's people alert and aware and to take seriously the issue. The danger of the church at Ephesus, they find reason why it's not so serious. These are good people, they've been part of our church for a while, they've been teachers, we've learned from them, I've learned and benefited from their ministry. They have a good input in my life, on it goes. It's all irrelevant if they don't handle accurately the word of truth. So Timothy is to avoid worldly and empty chatter. Why? Well two reasons. First, its impact upon the teacher and those involved with him. It will lead to further ungodliness. And there's a little bit of sarcasm here, hard for us to pick up. That word will lead, word that means to make progress. It could be used in a good sense as it often is, and a bad sense as it is here. And these are people because of their teaching, they're going to let people know that they've moved on, their understanding, their insight, their knowledge, as Paul referred to it, their arguments are what are falsely called knowledge. They've grown, have insights and understanding that others don't have and that's why they want to teach them. So they're making progress, he says. It will make progress. The problem is it will make progress in becoming more ungodly. A little bit of sarcasm here, they're making progress all right. The trouble is their progress is where you don't want to make progress. They're making progress in ungodliness, they're becoming more ungodly. And there is a stress in here, the way that it's put. We have it; it will lead to further ungodliness. The construction here is to more and more ungodliness. They're going to keep progressing and progressing and progressing, but it's a continual downward spiral. They'll keep progressing more and more in ungodliness because false teaching always leads to corrupt life. The false teaching leads to corrupt life, the more ungodly teaching, the more corrupt life. It's just a bottomless pit. That's what they're progressing in, that's where they are going.

And there is nothing to be gained, nothing to be learned, and nothing to be helped by getting involved with these false teachers in discussions, debates, arguments. Well, maybe you'll win them over. They're not open to be won over; they're not open to be taught. They have one goal—to promote their error. And you cannot give them a listening ear, you cannot get entangled and involved with them because it mires you down in something that's worthless and can only lead the opposite direction we want to go. That's what it does to these false teachers, they are not progressing, they are going down, and they’re becoming more ungodly. And you don't want to follow them.

Furthermore, you have to put an end to it. It's not just what it does to them; those promoting it, but it will spread like gangrene, the first part of verse 17. Their talk will spread like gangrene. That expression, their talk, the word talk, you may have a marginal note, is literally the word, word. And it really stands in contrast to what we had at the end of verse 15 where we're handling accurately the word of truth. Now in contrast to that, verse 17, their word will spread like gangrene. You have the word of truth and then you have their word. What the Word of God actually says and teaches and what these teachers are teaching, and there's a contrast—the word of truth, their word.

It will spread like gangrene. My margin says, or cancer. I guess there are comparisons, but gangrene is not cancer. And this is the Greek word gaggraina, gaggrain, gangrene. We've just carried it over into English. It’s a disease that eats away the flesh. My grandfather got gangrene in one leg and lost his leg, they had to cut the leg off to stop it. Then he got it in the other leg and had the same result. Started out just as a little sore, when it was done he had no legs because it spreads and spreads. If they can't stop it, the only thing to do is remove the limb to prevent the spread. So here the picture of gangrene, it spreads, it eats away at the health of the church. It will spread. Interesting word. The original meaning of that word spread is to pasture, and it's used that way literally. Then it comes to mean that which spreads out, like if you put the sheep out and they pasture and they eat their way through the field, cattle, too. So here, this is the gangrene. You know you just don't have to do anything to have false teaching spread. We often talk about that. It's a relentless task to keep the church on track doctrinally. We will handle accurately the word of truth, but it seems like error comes in and it just spreads. And there is just receptiveness, there is something about error and it spreads like gangrene. It eats away the health and life of the church. Here is a corruption that destroys. Why would I want to allow gangrene? It doesn't matter, it's just a little bit on my foot or on my finger, and I’m not going to bother with it. It ends up a disaster, if you don't bother with it, it will pretty soon destroy you. That's the thing, false doctrine. Believers today, we want to say love and we want to emphasize our love and that gives us unity. And we can have doctrinal diversity as long as we have love. What happened to handling accurately the word of truth? And you know the error will spread like gangrene, it will destroy the church. Well don't you think the truth is as strong as the error? I think it's stronger than the error. Just like a healthy body is stronger than a body weakened by disease. Probably 90% or my body, 95%, 98% is healthy. I knew my grandfather, we lived down the road, I remember his showing me the little sore he had on his foot that he had to watch. His body overall was much healthier, he just had a little disease spot. What happens? You don't take care of it and it will lead up to no good.

That's the point here. The church today, we don't take it seriously. You know, there are different viewpoints. They are good people, I think they love the Lord, they just differ. What does the word of God say? And it's though, well, everybody can have his own view on what the Word of God says. But Almighty God who created language, who created us with the ability to communicate with words tried to talk to us and He garbled it so much that everybody gets a different understanding of what He said. He's not a very good communicator, He sort of failed. He spoke, He had it written down, but He was so unclear and so confused in what He said that everybody just reads it and gets his own idea. What kind of God is that? These are serious issues. What does the Word of God say? We're here talking today. You talk all the time, some more than others, preachers are guilty. But it's based on what? We understand one another. We tell our kids when they start rambling on, you're not making any sense. Do we think God speaks and doesn't make any sense? Do you think He told us in verse 15 that you apply yourself with diligence to be approved by me, showing you're a workman who handles accurately the word of truth, when He communicated in a way nobody could be sure what He said. So everybody's view of accurate is different. I don't doubt that there are thousands of different viewpoints and interpretation, but there is only one correct one. Oh you think you're always right. No, I don't. I think the Word of God is always right. I think when it is approached correctly with the valid rules of interpretation you come to the correct understanding of the Word of God. I think what we read is pretty clear. Avoid worldly and empty chatter. I wonder what that means. Well you think what you think about avoid, I'll think what I want. It will lead to further ungodliness. Well there are probably a lot of things I could say about that, nobody can be sure what that means. It will spread like gangrene. Everybody knows what that is. There aren't many more people denser than I about physiology and matters related to the body and so on, but I know about that. We all know how disease is spread, whether you're talking gangrene or cancer or other diseases. That's just an excuse for people not to have to submit themselves to the clarity of the truth of God's Word. Because if I acknowledge, if I just take it and understand it as I understand language, I'm in trouble because it says all have sinned. What could that mean? I wonder who he means. I wonder if that means me. Well get a dictionary and look up all. We know what it means. I want all these boxes stacked in the corner. You stack four of them and leave the other thirty there. I said all. Oh I thought you meant four. Don't you know what all means? Yet we come to the Bible and it says all have sinned, and we say, I wonder what it means. It means what it says. We're fools because we don't want to have to believe it and be responsible to it.

It will spread like gangrene. If you don't know what I'm talking about Timothy, let me give you some examples. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus. This would be lawsuit material in our day—put it in a letter and mail it around and ruin their reputation. They have already ruined their own reputation. Here are two prominent teachers in the church at Ephesus. They'd have to be selected, their names are given. These aren't the only ones, but among these kinds of people, Hymenaeus and Philetus are two examples that you know well that the church would know well. Philetus, this is the only place he is mentioned in scripture. Mentioned as what? An example of a person guilty of profane worldly chatter that leads to ungodliness and spreads like gangrene. Hymenaeus, that's an unusual name in Greek, not a common name. And yet he's already been named in the previous letter to Timothy, as a man promoting false doctrine.

Back up to I Timothy 1. In I Timothy 1 we read some of the verses that warned about this false teaching and the worthlessness of it. Down in verse 18, Paul has given the command to Timothy regarding the gospel and believing in Christ for eternal life and so on. And it has been entrusted to him; we saw that in our study in II Timothy. It has been deposited with him. So the end of verse 18, fight the good fight. There is only one way to be a follower of Christ, and that is you go into battle. Keeping faith and a good conscience which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. This has happened. You'd think Paul could have kept the church on track. Among these are, here's our man, Hymenaeus. And now he's joined with Alexander. Whom I have handed over to Satan so they will be taught not to blaspheme. Paul says the teaching of Hymenaeus is blasphemy and in effect he's put him under church discipline, out of the church and into the realm of Satan. This is what I Corinthians 5 talks about. So he may learn not to blaspheme. Is Hymenaeus a true believer? I don't know. You know he's put under discipline here and you put believers or professing believers under discipline. So clearly he professed to be a believer. But there has been no change with the passing of time as we get to II Timothy. Now it raises more serious questions, perhaps he's never truly been saved because he continues to persist in his unbiblical teaching. Even after he's been corrected, even after he's been disciplined by the church, he persists. But you know it's not something I have to resolve. I don't know ultimately. We're going to get to this. God knows. What we're responsible to deal with is the false doctrine and the one promoting it, whether it's being promoted by a professing believer or it's being promoted by someone who is not a believer. I don't know because I can't judge the heart. But I can judge what is being taught, I can judge the life that is being lived in light of the Word of God. I'm not the judge, the Word of God is. I can hold it up as a mirror and examine them, put the light of the Word on their teaching. Sometimes we look and say, well first, don't you think we ought to decide whether they're believers? I think they're believers. But they're teaching false doctrine here regarding the resurrection. It doesn't matter whether Hymenaeus is a believer or not as far as Timothy's responsibility, as far as the church's responsibility is. You are to have nothing to do with him or his teaching. But maybe they're believers. Maybe they are, but your responsibility is the same. We as believers sometimes confuse ourselves purposely because we really don't want to have to do what the Bible says. That's why church discipline is so hard. Oh, do we want to sit in judgment against them? Do we want to turn them over to Satan, put them out of the church? Couldn't we just leave that in God's hands? We do leave it in God's hands and He told us what to do. Remember, we are His slaves. Do what I told you. Our lives would be so simple.

We tell our children this. They find reasons not to do what we told them. We say your life would be a lot simpler and a lot more enjoyable if you just did what I told you. Now what I told you was clear. Why didn't you do it? Can you imagine? Here we are adults, children of the living God, He tells us in black and white what to do and we think, I wonder if we should do that, I wonder what God wants us to do. I wonder if they are believers. I don't know. Some it's clearer than others, some are obvious, some are not; some are clearer, others are not. Those who infiltrate the church and look like believers and teach and then they veer off. Sometimes I have a hard time, can I really say that they are not believers. I was so convinced they are. There are people I can think of and see in my mind now that I was as sure about their salvation as my own. And since then they've walked away and by their declaration they don't believe in Jesus Christ and they never did really believe it now that they look back. I go away, I just cannot understand, that's shocking to me. I don't know, God knows. We're getting to that. The point we're emphasizing here is what the church has to do. Hymenaeus and Philetus, they are false teachers; they are teaching that the resurrection has already taken place.

Come back to II Timothy 2. Philetus, Hymenaeus, men who have gone astray from the truth. Look at these, these are men who at one time at least professed to be believers, professed to be committed to the truth of the gospel but now they've missed the mark, they've gone astray. How so? They say the resurrection has already taken place and they upset the faith of some. They've gone astray from the truth. Remember I told you that word gone astray in I Timothy 6:21, they went astray from the faith. Here they went astray from the truth. At the end of verse 15, they were not men handling accurately the word of truth. They've missed the mark on the truth, they are not accurate. What are they doing? Now they're handling the truth, or mishandling the truth. Again, these are men now who have come to a clearer, more biblical understanding of the doctrine of the resurrection. And there is no future bodily resurrection for the believer. But there is a resurrection, it has already occurred and we've already looked at this so we won't go to the passages we did in our previous study. Romans 6, what happens when you believe in Christ? The Spirit of God identifies you with Christ in His death, in His burial and in His resurrection to new life. Haven't we all been resurrected if we're true believers? Yes, we have. We looked in Colossians, we looked in Ephesians, we looked at Galatians, I have been crucified with Christ, and nevertheless I live. So yes, we've died; we've been raised with Christ. Isn't that the foundational issue? The penalty for sin is death; you must place your faith in Christ so you are identified with Him in His death, in His burial and in His resurrection to new life. And everyone who does that is a child of God. Can't we leave these eschatological differences to the Lord to resolve in His time? I mean, really what matters is that you've placed your faith in Christ and been identified with Him in His death and resurrection, isn't it? Let's leave prophecy to the Lord. If this body is raised, fine, I'll look forward to that. If it's not, that's all right. I still belong to the Lord spiritually, I'm His child and I've experienced the resurrection that I have to have to have new life. Pretty soon I'm thinking that makes sense to me. Let's face it, we can all agree on that, why don't we focus on the gospel and what we can agree on in the gospel, that you have to die with Christ and be raised with Christ to have new life. Why do we fight about these things? I read different viewpoints. One of the first things I think, we ought to focus on the majors and be willing to disagree on the minors. And every time they say that I know what one of the minors is going to be—eschatology, because we'll leave the future in God's hands since we haven't experienced the future because only God knows for sure. Even though when God gave the Bible 25% of it was yet prophetic. Why did He give it if he didn't intend me to understand it and know it? So that becomes an excuse.

So here the resurrection is future. And we wonder how someone who denied the resurrection could be accepted in the church, are a teacher in the church and have people following. Very simply, they didn't deny all resurrection; they just said there is one resurrection that matters. And it also fit the thinking of the day. Remember when we studied I Corinthians 15? What did Paul have to say? If the scriptures say that Christ was raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? You know Greek thinking made a sharp distinction between the soul, the immaterial part of a man and the physical part. And for the Greeks, escaping this physical body, a cage that held you down and bound you, that was the goal. Well now we have a Christianity that can fit our culture because you Greeks are looking for deliverance from this body and we can tell you about that. You could die spiritually and have spiritual life and look forward to the time this body is done and now you have spiritual life. So we can minister effectively to our culture and our society. And see what happens when you don't make eschatology your dividing line? What happens? You've destroyed the gospel because Paul said if there is no bodily resurrection of the believer in the future; Jesus Christ was not bodily raised. And if Christ wasn't bodily raised, there is no gospel. And if there is no gospel, you faith is worthless, you're dead in your sins and we are of all people most to be pitied because we've placed our faith for time and eternity in a lie.

So that kind of thinking begins to spread out. In the second century after our New Testament Gnosticism will become a dominant influence in corrupting the church and what did it do? It made a radical, sharp distinction between the physical and the spiritual, played down the importance of the physical, and emphasized the spiritual. And you know we get this in our thinking, and it allows then for certain things. If this physical doesn't matter and there is a total separation between the spiritual me and the physical me, it doesn't matter a lot what I do with the physical me, does it? I mean it's corrupt and worthless and only going to the grave and done with it. It's the spiritual me that matters. Therefore, if I am immoral it doesn't corrupt the spiritual me, it just is part of the body. And pretty soon now the bad doctrine allows for bad conduct. We begin to separate things out that the scripture does not separate.

So their error, they denied a coming resurrection. You'll note what it says, they say, verse 18, the resurrection has already taken place. They don't deny resurrection, they deny future resurrection. So let's agree on what we can agree on. This is what brings Roman Catholics and Protestants together—let's agree on what we can agree on. That's all the unity movement. Let's play down our differences, let's focus on the majors. And somebody is going to have to decide the majors because Protestants and Catholics together don't agree on how you're saved. And that's not a major? Well then something else becomes the major. Maybe its abortion, maybe it's reaching the poor. This is becoming the big thing, we have to help the AIDS people in Africa, and we have to help the poor. I was reading an article yesterday and my heart was broken when I saw those poor diseased people. Christ lifted up His eyes and looked over Jerusalem, not because of its physical poverty. You know being spiritually destitute, that's the tragedy. It's not the people dying of AIDS, its people who are dying without Christ. Because you know there are people dying of old age, they may have lived a long, healthy life and they are going to hell. That's the tragedy. But somehow the church gets confused, loses its way.

But you know what? Those teaching that the resurrection was past, they've had their impact. They've upset the faith of some, the end of verse 18. This teaching has had an impact in the church and now some are confused. And you know how it goes, well maybe it doesn't make a big difference, maybe they have a point here. Pretty soon I can see where they're coming from. And pretty soon I'm where they are. They upset the faith of some. Paul has spent time himself ministering in this church and they are confused on the basic doctrine of bodily resurrection. Timothy has spent time ministering in this church and you put these two godly men so greatly used of God together you have years of ministry in this one church at this point in time. And something as basic as the bodily resurrection of the believer is an issue. You realize the devil is relentless. And you know what? You begin to think, is there any hope? They upset the faith of many. If Paul couldn't get them straight, if Timothy can't get them straight, if people are still being won over to false doctrine, what's the future of this church? What's the future of the work of God and the Word of God in the world?

Verse 19 comes as an encouragement. Nevertheless. This is an encouraging verse for us. We get into battles, we get into conflicts. How many people are we going to lose? What happens if we lose two-thirds, three-quarters of our people? What will we do from there? What will we do with the facilities? How will we carry on the ministry? Is the devil going to win? Nevertheless the firm foundation of God stands. It couldn't be placed any stronger. Nevertheless, in spite of the fact these men persist in their false doctrine, how can Hymenaeus continue to have influence in the church? Well these teachers don't go away. Paul might have succeeded in putting them out of the church, but it didn't change their influence. And then with time he is back and these people always have a reason to like him and listen to him. It just won't stop. So we not only have to deal with unbelieving Jews and godless pagans and the persecution of the Roman Empire. We might be arrested and carried away to execution or imprisonment at any time. Now we have this relentless battle within that's gone on for years. I'm looking for a church where there is peace, love, harmony and it isn't the church in Ephesus. I mean, if Paul couldn't fix it, if Timothy couldn't fix it I'm sure not going to be there. But the battle for truth has to go on. And the victory is sure.

Nevertheless, in spite of the fact the faith of some is upset, in spite of the fact there are false teachers continuing their work, nevertheless the firm foundation of God stands. Firm, that word means solid, firm, it's something immoveable. That foundation is fixed and you'll note it's the firm foundation of God. So when you use that word firm, it is solid, it is fixed, it is permanent. God established it. It stands, the Word stands, the verb in the perfect tense. Perfect tense is used to denote something that is permanent. It refers to something that happened in the past and the results continue on in the present. So we use it to denote something that is permanent and settled and fixed. So it's the foundation of God, its firm, it stands. How else do you say this so repeatedly? False teachers are working away, gangrenous teaching is spreading, and the faith of some is being upset. And the firm foundation of God stands fixed; it hasn't moved a little bit. Not going to topple.

I was watching something on one of these disaster programs, just in time to see it. A building in another country, built five years ago and they have a camera there and it tilted on its foundation all of a sudden. The foundation shifted. And as they have the camera they watch it, and the building, I don't know how many stories it was, tall building, just leaned right over and fell down. That's not going to happen to God's foundation. Why? He established it. What are we talking about here? I take it we're talking about the church, the church at Ephesus.

Back up to I Timothy 3:15, Paul says to Timothy, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. That's what the church is, the pillar and support of the truth. It is founded by God, planted by God. We see that with the seal in a moment. It is His work. We can be attacked from the outside, we can be attacked from the inside, we can have great losses but the fact is the firm foundation of God stands. In fact Paul told the Corinthians there must be divisions among you so that those who are approved may become more evident, may become manifest. What these kinds of conflicts do is sift out people. Are they committed to accurately handling the truth, are they committed to the truth as it is? Are they committed to this man, this person, this teaching? Do my friends, do my personal relationships supersede my commitment to be diligent, to be approved to God as a workman who handles accurately the word of truth? These become sifting things.

Come back to II Timothy 2, the firm foundation of God stands. That's an encouragement. Timothy has to wonder what is going to happen here. Paul is going to be executed, the false teachers keep hammering away, they're gaining ground, and they’ve upset the faith of some in the church. It seems we're going backwards. Timothy, don't get discouraged in this all. The firm foundation of God stands. There will be no movement. It has this seal, this foundation. There is a practice I notice in some of the small towns we've visited, some of the buildings when they built them, they'll have a name on top. Sometimes what the building was when it was built, or a person's name that built it and owned it and why he built it. Like a clothier or something like that, and sometimes the date. In biblical times they would often on the foundation stamp it with a seal of the owner and the purpose. So the picture here is taken. This foundation is firm and immoveable because it has this seal.

And the seal is two-fold, but it's one seal, this seal, singular. But it has two parts to guarantee the security of the building. First the Lord knows those who are His. I mean, how do you tell if they are believers or not? Sometimes I don't, sometimes I can't. But you understand the Lord is not confused. He knows those who are His. But Timothy it looks like people are getting swept away. But those who are His are not. In fact, it is pretty strongly put here because this word to know is in the aorist tense and aorist tense is usually used of the past tense in Greek. That's the normal usage of it. So most Greek commentators translate it the Lord knew those who are His. It is referring to God's sovereign electing work in time past. We've already seen this in Paul's letter to Timothy here in chapter 1 verse 9, in chapter 3 verse 10, God's work on behalf of those that He has chosen. In Amos 3:2 God says to Israel, you only have I known of all the families of the earth. Well God knows every nation on the earth, He is omniscient, but only upon Israel did He place His special favor to choose them to belong to Himself as a nation.

So here the Lord knew those who are His. It is part of His sovereign choice as Paul said; he endured all things for the sake of the chosen, the elect that they may come to the salvation which is in Christ. So God's sovereign work in eternity past and His sovereign knowledge has settled that. The foundation is firm because the sovereign work of God is sure. It doesn't matter. What if we get in a doctrinal battle and two-thirds of our congregation would go, we'd have to say we ought to reconsider. I remember one time in years past we were having a conflict. The Board of Elders sat and discussed, how many people can we lose before we would have to sell the facility because we couldn't afford it. Now we have to decide, if it goes to that point, would we still do this battle? Well the issue is, will the truth be the truth or are numbers more important than truth? We can meet anywhere, but we only have the truth of God. We are the pillar and support of the truth. If we're 50 people we are the pillar and support of the truth. If we're 500 people, we're the pillar and support of the truth. If we're 5000 people............. Our strength is not in our numbers; our strength is in our truth. The Word of God which is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, it's the gospel which is God's power for salvation. We make tremendous compromises so that we can get more numbers as though we were stronger. But when we compromise the Word the devil has succeeded in seriously weakening us and the true eternal effectiveness of our ministry.

So that's the first part of the seal. The second part and everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness. That's something we must do, imperative. Everyone who names the name of the Lord must abstain from wickedness. Now the work of God and His knowledge, we don't see it. But you see the other side of this seal, everyone who names the name of the Lord, who truly belongs to Him, must abstain from wickedness. Note what Paul is saying here. Timothy, you may well be dealing with unregenerate men here, but the test will be what is manifest. They continue to pursue wickedness, false doctrine, opposing the truth of the Word of God, practicing immorality and godless living. That reveals because the seal on that foundation, it's not only the sovereign choice of God, it is on the transformed living of those that God has known. We talk about the salvation including justification and sanctification. The sanctification is the holiness of life. Everyone who names the name of the Lord must abstain from wickedness. Now imperative, that's a requirement, that's a seal. What about those who can give you the gospel, they can tell you the gospel, but they are not abstaining from wickedness. People are open and blatant about this. I have to say there have been a number of them, I can't shake them. They'll sit and look me in the eye and acknowledge they are in immorality and then say I know I know the Lord. You know you know the Lord. How do you know you know the Lord? I know in my heart I know Him. But you are living in immorality, you're practicing wickedness. I know, it's not consistent, but I know I know the Lord. I know I shouldn't but I know He forgives.

You understand it's a two-fold seal. Those that the Lord has known for Himself must abstain from wickedness. This idea, now I'm a child of God and if I sin it's not that big an issue. It is a big issue. I'm not saying Christians don't sin, but a Christian is marked out as one whose life is a pursuit of holiness. You shall be holy for I am holy, says the Lord. That was His instruction to His people Israel in the Old Testament, and it's His instruction for His people in the New Testament as well. Nothing changes. He’s producing His character in our lives.

So there is great comfort here. Timothy doesn't have to sort things out, God has. Timothy just has to stand for truth, deal with those who oppose truth and know that the foundation of the church at Ephesus is sure. And you know what has happened down through the 2000 years of time. The firm foundation God has established, here we are as a church in this city at this point in time 2000 years approximately after the church at Ephesus. God's work goes on, doesn't it? They behead Paul, but they don't put an end to the work of the Lord. False teaching corrupts the church at Ephesus; they don't put an end to the work of the Lord. Trouble and trial and conflict and difficulty, persecution from outside and discord from within may and probably will afflict our church again. But you understand the firm foundation of God stands. It's immoveable. Disappointing, discouraging to take the losses, to have the relationships severed, to have conflict with former friends. Yes. But the firm foundation of God stands. It is sealed by Him and that's our security, that's our confidence. It doesn’t lead us to arrogance but it gives us that humble assurance and security of knowing that God's work is secure.
So the command is avoid the arguments and entanglements with false teachers. It doesn't mean we can't discuss the Word of God that we don't discuss differences we have on the interpretation of a passage, but where people are committed to unbiblical doctrines, I don't want to be involved in the discussion. I've had some discussions that have gone on for a little while, had some lunches where I finally brought them to the end. There is no point in any further discussion. You are not open to learn and I'm not open to change. So there is no point in our discussing anything further. We may meet with people to find out if they are open to the truth; maybe they haven't heard the truth. But I find out they are there to promote their teaching and their doctrine, I'm not going to be part of it. I'm not getting entangled in that discussion. I know what the Word of God says. It is truth, and I'm committed to that. So we avoid entanglement in the worthless arguments of false teachers. It leads them to destruction and it spreads like gangrene. We are not open to it in the church. Anybody is welcome to attend here, we're glad to have them, believer and unbeliever, whatever your belief, whatever your doctrine. Come, sit and hear the truth. But anyone who promotes false doctrine will have to be removed; it's not an option here. We are an intolerant group; we are only open to accurately handling the Word of truth. Why would we allow someone to come and promote that which is contrary to the Word of truth so that it can spread like gangrene and eat away the health and vitality of the church that God has established?

That was going on at Ephesus; it had to be dealt with. Had to be dealt with again. Don't think because we deal with it, it's done with. Paul dealt with it, now Timothy has to deal with it. It's an ongoing issue. But the church is secure. We're not in a hopeless battle; we're not in a losing battle because the true church is secure. We're talking about individual local churches. The true church at Ephesus was secure; the believers in that church, we'll be going there in our next study, are secure. So we keep on in the work God has called us to do.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your truth. How enriched we are to be your children, to be entrusted with the precious treasure of your Word, to have your Spirit who teaches us and instructs us so that we can understand it more clearly, more fully, so that we can implement it and put it into practice and thus abstain from wickedness, the sin which is so destructive and corrupting. Lord, it's good for us to study your Word; it's good for us to study it in quiet times. We are not particularly beaten with persecution from without, torn by dissension and false teaching within. Lord, may our feet be firmly planted and prepared whatever may come, that we have an unshakable commitment to you the God who has established a church which stands firm in these days. Thank you for your grace. In Christ's name, Amen.