Confronting & Correcting Error

Transcript

GR 1391
01/18/2009
Confronting and Correcting Error
2 Timothy 2:23-26
Gil Rugh


We are going to return to our study of 2 Timothy today, 2 Timothy 2. Very early in the history of the church, the church had to deal not only with opposition to the preaching of the message of Jesus Christ and salvation by faith in Him that came from the unbelieving world,  but also from opposition that arose from within the church itself.  In other words the devil, who is opposed to the work of God in every way, shape, and form, attempted to destroy the church by attacking it from without, and then he began to infiltrate the church with counterfeits, those who profess to be believers in Jesus Christ who may have thought themselves to be saved individuals but were not.  These individuals could have gotten into the church in a variety of ways. They could have just made a profession of faith and became part of the church.  With the passing of time they acted like believers; soon some of them became teachers of the Word in the church.  But they had never experienced God's life-changing salvation.  The years have been passing; perhaps some had grown up and spent many years in the church and just been accepted as believers, through the conforming of their lives and agreement to what the church taught, but had never truly placed their faith in Christ as their Savior.

However it happened, these people are in the church and sooner or later issues come up, doctrines that they do not agree with.  They begin to teach things that are not consistent with the Word of God, or begin to practice things that are not consistent with the Word of God.  And what happens is we have conflict now within the church.  This is what Paul is addressing in 2 Timothy 2.  There are individuals in the church at Ephesus where Timothy is that are teaching and practicing things contrary to the Word of God.  And Paul concludes from this that there is a good probability that we have some unbelievers in the church.

Now we have to note, Paul doesn't clearly come out and say directly that these are unregenerate men, lost and without hope in the world.  He'll come to that conclusion, I believe, by the end of the chapter.  The issue for us to resolve is not, are these genuine believers or not? The issue we have to deal with is, are they teaching true to the Word of God?  Is their lifestyle consistent with the Word of God? Ultimately I don't know the condition of their heart, only God does.  We sometimes are fearful of moving forward and doing the right thing because we try to resolve if they are believers or not.  If they are believers maybe we should talk to them.  If they are not believers maybe we should also talk to them, present the Gospel.   Paul deals with them.  Here is what they are teaching and it is wrong; they must be dealt with.  Here is what they are practicing; it is wrong and they must be dealt with.  Whether they are believers or unbelievers, the church has a responsibility to stand for the truth and oppose those who are doing anything contrary to the truth.

In verses 16-18 Paul mentions two men who were teaching doctrines contrary to the Word of God.  They were denying that there was a future bodily resurrection for believers.  Paul says they have to be silenced.  He mentions them by name, verse 17, Hymenaeus and Philetus, and if you don't put a stop to their teaching “it will spread like gangrene.”  It will begin to permeate the church and destroy it.  So the false teaching and the false teachers have to be dealt with.  Are Hymenaeus and Philetus believers or not?  He doesn't say yes or no; he doesn't come down and say they are anathema, cursed to hell, like he does the Judaizers in his letter to the Galatians.  Nor does he say these are just confused brethren; help them along.  What they are teaching is heresy. Whether it is being taught by a believer or an unbeliever, the teaching is heresy and they have to put a stop to it.  These men cannot be allowed to continue to teach their doctrines.

In verse 20 Paul used the metaphor of a large house and in a large wealthy house there would be different kinds of vessels—vessels of honor for honorable use, and then common vessels for dishonorable use.  There are different qualities for different purposes.  The application of this is in the church.  You'll find true believers that belong to God through faith in Christ and are used to honor Him, and you'll find vessels there that have never experienced His salvation and cannot honor Him.

In verse 21 Paul made the point, genuine believers are to cleanse themselves, disassociate themselves from those teaching false doctrine, practicing unbiblical conduct.   “Well if they are believers, we don't want to offend then.”  That's not your call.  Paul is going to deal with them as unbelievers.  We'll see by the evidence they are not believers, because if they had been genuine believers, they would have responded to the truth when they were confronted.  But the ultimate decision on that rests with God who is the ultimate judge.  Our accountability as the church is to deal with the false teaching and those promoting it, and disassociate ourselves from them.

We get discouraged by division and conflict and no one wants to have any in the church.  I don't look forward to conflict any more than you do.  But Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11:19 that “there must be divisions among you in order that those who are approved may become evident.”  These conflicts become tests, and those tests try us and reveal our true character.  In these kinds of conflicts, it's revealed whether a person is committed to Christ, committed to His Word, or not. So they serve a good purpose; they have a purifying result in the church.  These divisions reveal the character of the people and some false teachers that have to be removed.

In verse 21 Paul has told Timothy he has to cleanse himself, disassociate himself from these false teachers and their practices and doctrine.  Now in verse 22 he gives two commands—”flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith and peace with those who call on the name of the Lord.”  Now there you see the indication; those who call on the name of the Lord are true believers.  Paul begins to sort out the evidence that these promoting such false doctrine or practicing unbiblical things are revealing that they are not those who genuinely call upon the name of the Lord and have His salvation.  There are two commands—flee, pursue.  These are present tense commands; this is to be characteristic of us.  We want to stay away from youthful lusts. So it's not only false doctrine like denying the resurrection, but it's unbiblical conduct.  “Flee from youthful lusts,” any conduct or behavior that would hinder our effectiveness for Christ.  “Pursue,” a present imperative command, something that is to characterize our lives.  We pursue those things that are pleasing to God and are the goal of all true believers.

Now in verse 23 Paul gives the third command, “But refuse,” avoid, have nothing to do with certain things.  So we see the pattern.  The church could be infiltrated by false teachers.  We have to be careful to cleanse ourselves, disassociate ourselves from them.  We flee from youthful lusts, any kind of practices that would be contrary to the will of God.  We pursue righteousness in those things that are to characterize God's people, those who call on the name of the Lord.  And now he follows up with a third command, certain things we must refuse, avoid, have nothing to do with.  It is another present tense command.  These are things we are always to be doing; you don't do it once and then you are done with it.  It would be nice if every church would just have to have one conflict, one battle, and then after that there would be no more.  But the general characteristic of our life, our pattern, is we are always fleeing certain things; we are always pursuing other things; we are always avoiding or being careful to have nothing to do with certain other practices.

Verse 23 says “refuse” and as I mentioned, that verb means “to avoid, have nothing to do with something, reject it.”  What you are to reject and refuse is “speculations,” a word that means “controversies, arguments, debates.”  This has been what he has been talking about.  Back up to verse 14, “Remind them of these things, solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words.”  There is the same idea we are talking about, getting involved in worthless arguments which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.  Look at verse 16 and 17, “avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, their talk will spread like gangrene.”  Then he uses Hymenaeus and Philetus who have denied bodily resurrection.  So you see the context when we are talking about worldly and empty chatter, wrangling about words, we're not talking about it's of no value to talk about the football game or golfing or something worldly like that.  No, he's talking about those kinds of issues that come up in the church; these are theological issues; these are false teachers who are claiming to be able to teach the Word of God, and they are trying to promote their doctrine and engage us in worthless arguments and debates.  That word “speculations” or “controversies” in verse 23,  carries the idea of something that is devoid of content.  That's why we have the translation here “speculations.”  It's just men's ideas; they lack true content; they have no truth.  They are characterized as “foolish and ignorant speculations.”

Keep in mind here, the Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Spirit, is going to tell us, verse 24, “the Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome but be kind to all.”  Verse 25, “he must correct those in opposition with gentleness.”   It's just “foolish and ignorant speculation,” verse 23, geared to make controversy.  The word “foolish” you are aware of, it's the Greek word moron.  You recognize it because it's now an English word, right?  We've just carried it over into English.  It means someone who is stupid.  We say to someone, “You are a moron; you are an idiot.”  That may carry a little more connotation than it did.  But it meant “stupid.”  And when you tell someone he is “a moron, an idiot,” you mean he doesn't understand anything about which he is talking.   I may start talking to you about computers and you lean over to the person next to you and say, “He's a moron; he's an idiot.”  Why?  Because I don't know anything about which I'm talking.  I might be going on because I can read about computers, to a point I can even talk about them—gigabytes, megabytes, and mouse bites.  I don't have any idea what I'm talking about.  That's what he's saying these people are; they are morons; they are stupid.  It is stupid speculations, controversies; they have no substance; they are ignorant.  We are to be gentle, kind when dealing with morons, ignorant people and their doctrine.  But understand we don't soften the view of what is going on.   These are people without any instruction; they are ignorant; they are untaught.  Now they don't think so.

Back up to  1Timothy 1.  Remember these issues in the church at Ephesus are not new.  Paul wrote a previous letter, 1Timothy, to Timothy ministering in the church at Ephesus.  This problem was going on and it continues to go on.  In 1Timothy 1:5-6, “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.  For some men straying from these things have turned aside to fruitless discussion.”  Again here we are, fruitless discussion.  It produces nothing; it is speculation, controversy; it is devoid of content.  Verse 7, “wanting to be teachers of the law even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertion.”  These teachers seem to have a grasp of it; they speak with confidence.  They think they can instruct you on the law.  You know the law is the Word of God and there the command is given for us to live out and practice it.  Don't you believe that all the Word of God was given for us and we want to be obedient to it all?  Isn't the Sabbath day, the seventh day, part of the law?  And on we go to show why all these things you should be obeying, why they are necessary.  They are using scripture.  But we talk about them as foolish and ignorant.  You understand these are men who have infiltrated the church and present themselves as teachers by using scripture.  But they are misusing it.  And as Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:7, “they want to be teachers, but they don't know what they're talking about.”  They speak confidently, but they speak confidently in ignorance.  They are stupid in the sense they have no knowledge, no understanding of what they are talking about.

Come back to 2 Timothy.  Now don't get the idea you necessarily recognize them immediately.  They wouldn't be good counterfeits if they were so clearly recognized.  These wanting to teach the law, these denying the resurrection, as we've noted in previous studies, can use the scriptures in convincing ways.  That's their danger; that's why such teaching can spread like gangrene.  If we're not careful, we can think they have a point; we think they're sincere.  I have no reason to think they are not believers; they seem to have done a lot of study on this.  Pretty soon we are drawn into it, and the more we talk with them, the more it seems like they are making sense.  But we should disassociate ourselves from them.

Come back to 2 Timothy 2.  Verse 23, “refuse foolish and ignorant speculations,” [You avoid them; you have nothing to do with them.  Why?]  “knowing that they produce quarrels.”   That's all it does.  These false teachers engage you in fruitless, endless arguments, debates and discussions, and it just leads from one argument to another argument.  Have you ever been in this kind of situation with someone who professes to be a believer, but it was just endless argument after argument after argument?  Next time you are together, you are just further debating and arguing, debating and arguing.  Some of the cults will come to your house; they would come every week forever.  Why?  Because they just want to engage you in endless debate and argument.  That can go on in the church.  We sometimes say, “We want to be open; they are using scripture and we are using scripture; we'll just continue this debate.”  No, we won't.  Truth is truth and we have to draw a line as we'll see in a moment. So we don't get involved because it doesn't produce anything.  We'll try to put the best face on it.  But all it produces is quarrels.  Up in verse 14, “wrangling about words;” verse 16, “it is worldly, empty chatter that only leads to further ungodliness.”

Now verse 24, the Lord's servant, or bond-servant as we have it.  It's the word dulos. “The Lord's slave must not be quarrelsome.”  Remember, the “Lord's slave” is used of Old Testament leaders and men of God, like Moses.  “The Lord's slave must not be quarrelsome.”  He is the one who belongs to the Lord, who is representing the Lord, who is acting on the Lord's behalf.  Paul is primarily focusing on leaders in the church, as you'll see as we move along.  But in a sense it is true of all of us as believers, to one degree or another.  We must not be quarrelsome, any of us, particularly for those involved and responsible for the teaching of the Word, as he is going to say in a moment.

So we're not to be quarrelsome.  As the Lord's slaves who are doing His will on His behalf with His authority, we are not here to get entangled in endless debates.  We're not here to argue and show we can win the argument, win the debate.  No, we're the Lord's bond-servant, the Lord's slave who is acting on the Lord's behalf, with His authority but in complete submission to Him.  We must not be quarrelsome; we must not quarrel.  That doesn't mean we just let error go on because we don't want to quarrel.  “Let’s just sit this out and not cause any quarrels.” That's the way some people think they deal with the church.  No, we've already been told if you don't deal with it, it will spread like gangrene.  So “do not be quarrelsome” doesn’t mean you  don't confront error, but that you don't get mired down in their doctrinal controversies, in what they want to make an issue  As we'll see, you present the truth and that's their opportunity to repent.  If they don't, then you have to disassociate yourself.  But we are ahead of ourselves.

“The Lord's bond-slave must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all.”   Even in conflict, in disagreement, “be kind,” gentle.  Back up to 1 Thessalonians 2.  Here in the context of conflict again, Paul says in verse 7, “But we proved to be gentle” [there is our word]  among you,  as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.”  See the picture of this parenting.  While even in the midst of conflict that Paul had in Thessalonica, he handled it with gentleness and kindness.  You say, “Well sometimes he seemed pretty blunt and direct and harsh.”  There are occasions where it comes out like that.  That's like a parent.  He uses the analogy of a parent here.  I think of my home and my Dad as I'm growing up; there was kindness and gentleness, but there were times when he had to be very firm and harsh.  There is that balance.  We're not out to win battles; we're not looking for the next fight.  But we stand firmly opposed to error and all those who teach error.  I want to do it with gentleness and kindness, but with firmness.  Now we don't come there with arrogance; I know we could win the argument.  No, that's not the point, to win the argument, because we're not going to get engaged in the argument.  We're going to present truth.  We'll see this in a moment.

So we must be “kind to all,” back in 2 Timothy 2:24, gentle to all, “able to teach.”  Here this would be one of the qualifications of an elder in I Timothy 3:2, he must be “able to teach.”  That's why I say things can be applied to all believers, because all believers have to be able to handle the Word and know the Word and so on, be ready to give an answer of the faith that's in them.  But particularly men like Timothy, and others entrusted with leadership in the church and teaching responsibility, are responsible to teach truth.  And not only to teach truth, but to recognize error and oppose it.

Turn over to Titus 1.  Here Paul is further giving the qualifications for men who would serve as elders, leaders in the church.  They must be, verse 9, “holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching.”  They must know and have a grasp of the Word of God so that they will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.  We're not going to become entangled in their endless debates.  We must be able to point out where their error is, like Paul has done with the resurrection in I Corinthians 15.  He didn't just say, “You are wrong;” he points out what the error is.  But he is not willing to become engaged in ongoing debate with those who want to promote the error.  “Here is what the Bible teaches; here's where your teaching is wrong.  I call on you to repent.”  That's the pattern that we follow.

Back in 2 Timothy 2:24. They must be “able to teach.”  Now this is becoming a lost focus in the church in the training of men.  The past week or two I received a couple of very well done brochures for leaders of churches to attend conferences.  These could have been done by some major businesses; they were first class, glossy, in color.  They just engage you, pull you in.  But I couldn't find anything in there in any sessions on teaching the Word of God, the doctrinal foundation for the church. Those things aren't what are being promoted to build a church today.  It's all “how to” things.  But here is what God says the Lord's slave must be: he must be able to teach. He's talking about the teaching of God's truth with clarity.  And he must know the truth well enough to be able to refute those who are in error.

He must be “patient when wronged.”  This is a unique word; in fact, this is the only place in the New Testament this Greek word is used.  It's a compound word.   The first part of it means “to bear” or “endure,” and the last part is “evil.”  I've mentioned the word before; the word “evil” is kockos here.  It’s an ugly word, meaning something that is bad, evil.  And so you bear evil.  In other words, you are patient when being slandered, being opposed.  Now again you don't read into this, “Well, this goes on endlessly.”  No, it can't go on endlessly.  We are to be patient when wronged, when people are saying things about us.  The goal is not to defend my reputation, go to battle over my reputation or to defend myself when people are saying things about me.  That's not the goal; it can't be the goal of the servant.  So we must be patient when evil is being done to us or spoken about us, because the purpose here is to represent the Lord, represent His truth.  Now naturally the devil is the slanderer, the diabolos, the slanderer.  He is constantly bringing accusations against God's people.  He is using his servants to bring accusations against God's people.  Why?  To try to undermine people's confidence in the teachers that God has provided, raise doubts in people's minds.  “Maybe he can't be trusted; maybe he is arrogant; maybe he  thinks he is always right.”  Well, the issue is: “Is this the truth?  It isn’t, “I know you teach the truth, but I don't like the way you do it; I don’t like your attitude when you do it,” as though people could judge the motives of the heart, which Paul says only God can do.  It becomes a way to undermine the confidence, even when you can't find fault with the doctrine.  So we need to be careful of these things. The Lord's servant must be patient when evil is spoken or done to him.

Peter, in I Peter 2:23, says, Christ has left us “an example to follow in His steps, who while being reviled, He did not revile in return.  While suffering He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.”  That's the point.  We follow the pattern of Christ.  We are His slaves.  What did He do when He was reviled?  “He didn't revile in return.”  “I'm just here to present the truth and here to show that you are not teaching the truth.”  “I think you are a bigoted, narrow, arrogant man.”  “Well, rather than fight about your evaluation of me, let's talk about God's truth.  There is a bodily resurrection coming.”  Period.  People want to talk about Paul, that when you see him, he's not much to see and he's weak in his speech. What does that have to do with whether what he teaches about the resurrection is right or not?  So as a slave of the Lord we must be ready to be patient, to endure when wronged.

“With gentleness,” verse 25, “correcting those who are in opposition.”  The word “gentleness” means “humility, courtesy, meekness.”  The word “opposite,” means “roughness, bad tempered, sudden anger, brusqueness.”  This always comes up when we get into a doctrinal battle.  We say, “Well, I don't know if we've been gentle enough.”  Paul was the one who wrote this under the inspiration of the Spirit, who also said concerning the false teachers at Galatia, “They are anathema, cursed to hell.  I wish they would mutilate themselves.”  Paul has just lost a little bit of the gentleness.  But you understand he is writing that under the inspiration of the Spirit, just like he writes this.  We have to be careful we don't create an image in our minds that we can be soft with error.  We do have to be gentle in correcting those who are in opposition, use humility, courtesy.  I was once just like them; you were once just like them.  We were once blind, didn't know where we were going, didn't know truth; the truth we thought we knew, we didn't know.  What am I but a redeemed sinner?  What are you but a redeemed sinner?  I should be arrogant as though I am somebody special?  But the truth of God is the truth.  We use gentleness in correcting them, instructing them.  But they do have to be corrected or instructed.

Now that word “correcting.”  Remember back in verse 23 that word “ignorant?”  We get the word “pedagogue” from it—”teaching, instruction, child training,” those kinds of words.  It means “to instruct or correct;” it goes the whole gamut from just instructing to just correcting.  And it's the flavor of the word, depending on the context. So here the “ignorant” in verse 23 were the “uninstructed;” down in verse 25, “with gentleness correcting,” that's the word without the negative on it.  “With gentleness instructing with a view to correcting those who were in opposition.”  So what do we do?  We present the truth today.  Now, why do we present the truth today?  So they can learn.  But there is a more foundational reason.  Paul, in the rest of verse 25 and verse 26 carries us to the true battle going on, the work that God sovereignly does with His Word and the work that satan does through his servants in opposing God.  We with gentleness are correcting them, instructing them, bringing them “to the knowledge of the truth, if perhaps, [and that gives no indication one way or another]   God may grant them repentance.”  You see what goes on here.  We teach these who are opposing the truth, who are in opposition to the truth of the word of God.  Why?  Because I know my arguments can win the battle? No. That's why I'm against debates. We have had Presidential debates; that's fine.  When it comes to theological matters, I have no time for debates.  I hear, so-and-so is going to debate this man.  So what?  One who does not know the truth, and you are going to show by your arguments that you have superior arguments?  Those debates never end with one of the persons saying, “You won; I lost.  You are right.”  They just go on again and again and again.  We present the truth so that perhaps, maybe, God will intervene in the life of that one in error and give to him repentance, cause him to see his sin, his rebellions against God, his opposition to God, turn from his sin and rebellion, and come to a knowledge of the truth.  That's another way of saying, “Coming to believe in the Gospel.”

Back up to 1Timothy 2.  We're talking about unregenerate men here, ultimately, false teachers who have infiltrated the church, who look like believers, but who are some of the devil's best counterfeits.  Then they begin to teach things that are contrary to the truth and their character is revealed.  Look at verses 3 and 4, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved [What does it mean to be saved?]  and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” that God may grant them repentance.  Repentance is a gift of God; it is part of the package of salvation, which is a gift from God.  Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves,  [That salvation is not of yourselves,]  it is the gift of God, not as a result of works so that no man can boast.”   Repentance is part of the salvation package.  How can you place your faith in Christ as your Savior if you have not changed your mind about your sin, your self-righteousness and your rebellion against God?  You can't.  You must repent.  Acts 17:30,31 says, “God commands all everywhere to repent, for He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”  God commands all everywhere to repent.  Why?  Recognize your sin and guilt before a holy God, your rebellion against Him.  Turn from your sin and place your faith in Him.

Back in 2 Timothy 2:25, “perhaps God may grant them repentance.”  That word “grant” is “give;” “may give them, grant them, repentance.”  Salvation is a sovereign work of God.  I'm trying to argue a person into believing; I can't do that.  I was invited to lunch with a University professor, and he brought his Bible.  He wanted to debate the issue of creation in the opening chapters of Genesis.  He said, “This cannot be literal.”  I said, “Well, we could debate that, probably go on and on and on about that.  But that's not your real problem.  The real problem and the real issue we have is not the opening chapters of Genesis. The real issue is your sin and your refusal to submit yourself to God and His Word.  And until the issue of your sin is dealt with, you will never be able to understand the Word of God.  So let's talk about how are you going to deal with your sin.”  What am I going to do?  Meet with him and have lunch and try to prove to him that the account of creation in the opening chapters of Genesis is true?  We could debate that and go on endlessly and keep debating and arguing, debating and arguing.  All I can do is present the truth, then perhaps, maybe, God in grace will give him repentance.  We lose sight of the seriousness of the issue here.  Without the intervention of God there will be no salvation.  The person is committed to sin and to satan, and that's where we are going.

“God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth,” verse 26,  “and they may come to their senses.”  Literally, out of the snare of the devil.  “Come to their senses,” a word that originally meant “to sober up from being drunk.”  It could be used then of being taken off drugs.  You come to your senses, that's the idea, like a drunk.  You can't do anything with him until he comes to his senses, until he sobers up.  So when God grants them “repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,” they are led by God to faith in Christ.  As 1 Timothy 2:5 says, “there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”  They may come to their senses, out of the snare of the devil, [they had been captured.]   having been held captive by him, the devil, to do the devil's will.”  This is what we are dealing with.  Men who have infiltrated into the church and now begin to promote doctrines that are not true to the Word of God.  They have to be confronted with the truth and maybe God will grant them repentance.

In Acts 5:31 we are told that God granted the Jews repentance.  Acts 11:18, God granted repentance to the Gentiles.  Maybe God will grant repentance so they come to the knowledge of the truth, believe the Gospel, come to their senses.  You see the different words.  “Come to their senses.”  They are stupid; they are ignorant; they are untaught; they don't know anything.  You understand how blind the unregenerate man is, how lost he is in his sin.  He is the captive, having been held captive.  That’s a perfect participle.  You know what the perfect tense does; we've talked about it.  It’s something that happened in the past and continues on into the present; it denotes their permanent condition.  They have been held captive and they continue to be held captive by the devil to do his will.  This is not an argument of the mind; this is not my intelligence against yours, or yours against someone else.  This is the devil and his battle against God.  That's why we don't get drawn down into their arguments because you can't win those arguments.  They just drain you and turn you away and lead you away from truth.

Now we confront them with the truth.  Turn over to Titus 3:9, “But avoid foolish controversy.”  That word “controversy” is the same word we have translated “speculations” in the verses we've been looking at.  “Avoid foolish [and incidentally the word “foolish” is the same basic word “moron” here] stupid controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the law.  They are unprofitable and worthless.”  I thought we were to present the truth to them gently.  Yes.  So does that mean we can't have any discussion?  We can have discussion to present the truth.  But note verse 10, “Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and sinning, being self-condemned.”  These discussions don't go on endlessly.  If we have someone in our church that begins to teach something that is contrary to the Word, we need to sit down with him and say, “I believe that you have turned away from the truth.  What the Word of God teaches on the subject is clear; here is what it says.  What you are teaching is contrary to that.  You must stop and abandon that.”

We've gone through this.  There comes a point where we say, “We're done. You cannot continue; we must disassociate ourselves from you.”  I've had people with whom I was having a doctrinal discussion and do not come to this church, and it happened again recently, ask me, “Could I come to your church?”  I said, “Yes, you could.”  “Could I teach at your church?”  “No, you couldn't, and if you began to promote the doctrines that you teach, you would be required to leave.  You are welcome to come and sit and listen to the truth; you are not welcome to come and promote doctrines contrary to the Word of God.”  That's where we must stand; it becomes a test.  Some of you have lost friends over this; families divide.  There must be divisions among you so that those who are approved may become evident.  That's what happens. So you see it's a battle of satan against our God, those who are held captive by the devil to do his will.  And what is his will?  He always opposes the truth.

One more passage as we close.  Come back to John 8.  When we lose our focus on the real issues here, then we begin to go soft and think, “I think they are coming along.  We don't totally agree, but I think we agree enough.”  Truth is truth, error is error, the line is drawn.  “Well, have you answered all his arguments?”  Probably not.  I always have people bringing me material and saying, “Would you read this?”  “I don't have time to read that.”  “Why?”  “It's not true.”  “Why isn't that true?”  “I can tell you why it's not true; here's why it's not true.  Here is what the Word of God says.”  “But have you read all their arguments?”  “No, I'm not going to mire down in that; I'm not going to become engaged in these worthless controversies.  It's error.”  The best arguments supporting error are not true, right?  It's like what they are saying and teaching is not true, but if you listen to their arguments, they are convincing.  Does that make any sense?  It all depends on what is, is.  Right?

Look at John 8.  Jesus is dealing with the Jews in His day.  They thought they were saved because they were Abraham's children.  Let me tell you, these Jews could use the Old Testament; they were no slouches when it came to the knowledge of the Old Testament.  Verses 39 and 40, “They said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father.’  Jesus said to them, ‘If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham.  But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God.’ “Now you see where the battle is?  Why do they want to kill Christ?  Because of His personality?  No, He told them the truth that His Father had given Him.  Verse 41, “‘You are doing the deed of your father.’  They said, ‘God is our Father.’ “  Verse 42, “Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God and I have not come of my own initiative, but He has sent Me.’ “  Verse 43,  “Why do you not understand what I am saying?  It is because you cannot hear My word.”  You don't understand it.  Why?  You cannot understand.  What's the problem?  Verse 44, “You are of your father the devil.”  You see, the same issue, different metaphor.  Paul said in 2 Timothy that they have been ensnared by the devil and are being held captive by him to do his will.  Here the picture is, satan is your father and you do his will.  “You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.  He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.  Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  See the issue?  The issue is a spiritual battle.  You represent the devil; you are acting on his behalf; you are doing his will.  And there is no truth in him.  You know what antagonizes the unbeliever?  Well, they don't see that we are understanding, we are caring, we are concerned for them.  No, you present the truth.  That's what offends the unbeliever.  You speak the truth.

Verse 47, “He who is of God hears the words of God.  For this reason you do not hear them because you are not of God.”  That's it.  You know what Paul says writing to Timothy?  Here is the issue: “You have men teaching contrary to the truth of God.  You confront them with kindness and gentleness, but if they reject the first and second admonition, you reject them.  You can't let them continue and you can't remain involved with them.  Remember you have nothing to do with them and their teaching.”  “But we've been friends a long time.”  “That's right, and your friendship is now over.”  There is something that supersedes that.  I am not aligned with anyone who teaches error.  That doesn't mean we disagree on every passage, but the doctrines of the Word are clear.  Have you ever read a passage and said, “I would interpret this verse differently but the doctrine is the same.  I don't see it in this verse, I see it over in this verse.”  That's a little different issue.  This is not denying doctrine, like the doctrine of the resurrection, denying a future for Israel.  I can have no involvement with one who denies these doctrines; no one can teach here who does not teach the truth on this.  What the Word of God says, it says, and that's where we stand.

It's a spiritual battle, so our responsibility is simple in this sense: present the truth.  God, it's in your hands.  The truth has been given.  Maybe you will grant them repentance so that they come to the knowledge of the truth.  But what if they are true believers and just confused?  Then God will have to un-confuse them as well; I can't.  If the truth doesn't straighten them out, then I have to disassociate myself.  You say, “Well maybe they were believers.”  Maybe they were; maybe they are.  God will deal with them with His own discipline.  But we cannot continue.  How many churches have gotten in trouble because they think, “Well, they probably are believers, so we don't want to just cut them off.”  That's the road to disaster because we are not doing what the Bible says we ought to do.  We are trying to do what only God can do.  We stay with the truth, and then God uses the truth to transform a life.  I present the truth here. I'm not trying to argue with unbelievers who are sitting here and convince them with the power of my arguments or my personality or whatever.  All I can do is present the truth.  But I pray as I prepare the message through the week, pray before I come up here, “God take the truth and use it in the lives of believers, and then for unbelievers, open their blinded eyes; graciously give them repentance according to Your will.  But above all, help me present the truth clearly so You can use it for Your purposes, that You might be honored.”

Let's pray together.  Thank You, Lord, for our truth.  How amazing that You have entrusted to us, vessels of clay, the eternal Truth of the living God, Your Word, which will never pass away.  Heaven and earth will pass away; Your Word will not pass away.  We have that which is eternal, settled in heaven, entrusted to us, we individual believers and we as the church, the pillar and support of the Truth.  Lord, may we be faithful.  Lord, I pray for any who may sit here, perhaps sit here week after week, give the external appearance of being believers but have never experienced the transformation that only You can bring to a life.  May You grant them repentance today.  We pray in Christ's name, amen.