Corrupt Doctrine Leads to Corrupt Practice

Transcript

GR1753
02/02/2014
Corrupt Doctrine Leads to Corrupt Practice
I Timothy 1:5-11
Gil Rugh

We’re in I Timothy in your Bibles, I Timothy and the first chapter. Paul writing to his beloved friend, Timothy, a man much younger than the apostle Paul who has faithfully served under the apostle Paul’s leadership and with him in the ministry of the Gospel.

As Paul noted in a later chapter we have talked about as we began the letter in I Timothy 3:15 that the church is the household of God and it is the pillar and support of the truth. As such the truth that the church is to stand for, that church is to proclaim is constantly under assault by Satan. He is not opposed to the church meeting. He is opposed to the church being the center of the proclamation of God’s truth. Because if he can turn the church away from proclaiming the truth or corrupt the truth that is to be proclaimed by the church, then where will the message of Christ go forth in the world?

The letters of the Scripture, in fact the entire Scripture, were written in a certain context. The letter to Timothy was written to address certain issues in the church at Ephesus but as the Spirit of God directed Paul in the writing of this letter he was not only directing the message to that local church at that time in history but was intending that this would be an ongoing message for us as the church of Jesus Christ 2000 years later to learn from and benefit from. After some short words of introduction Paul said in verse 3 of chapter 1: “As I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus.” And we looked at this city, the church here established by Paul and he had a three year ministry in Ephesus. He wrote the letter to the Ephesians to this church. Some 30 years later Christ Himself will personally address a letter to this church in Revelation chapter 2. It’s a very important church in the New Testament.

Paul was making his way on to Greece but there were problems in the church at Ephesus that needed to be dealt with so he leaves his most trusted associate Timothy there that he may command certain men, we noted that word instruct in verse 3 is literally the word command. “That you may command 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.” That word administration derives the word dispensation from. It is a compound word, house and Law, house-Law. How God is administering His program in these days and it is a program of faith. It’s by faith directing these comments to the heart of the issue which are those who want to impose the Mosaic Law on believers in the church. The goal of our instruction is love and we were talking about this in our last study. This is foundational, love being produced in the life of the believer. This is the first of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5, “The fruit of the Spirit is love,” and then on to the other virtues produced by the Spirit in the life. This love comes from a pure heart, Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5. “Blessed are the pure in heart,” a heart that has been cleansed from the defilement of sin, amazing thing about God’s work of grace and His salvation. The heart which is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things can be cleansed from all defilement. The heart referring to all that which is at the very center of our being. We still use the word heart in that way. We tell somebody I love you with all my heart. Now you are talking about your inner being not just the physical pump that pumps blood throughout our body but it refers to our inner person, all that we are at the center of our being. Love, true Biblical love comes from a pure heart and a good conscience which is used very closely with a pure heart. A good conscience is a conscience that is consistent with what God would require of us. It is devoid of any offense. A guilty conscience is condemning. You do something wrong, your conscience bothers you. A good conscience as we are talking about here is a conscience consistent with what God requires in His Word. So there is no accusation here.

Now the conscience in and of itself functions on the foundation of the standard with which it is given. It can be defiled. It can be cauterized so we will see later in this letter to Timothy but a believer is to function with a good conscience. That is why Paul could write to the Romans, “Whatever is not of faith is sin.” Sometimes when there are areas in our lives we wonder is this all right for me to do it? Would God want me to do this or not want me to do it? Often when people come to ask me that kind of question you know the answer already. Well, my first question is do you believe this is what God would want you to do? Well, I don’t know that He would want me to do it. Then don’t do it. If you can’t do it out of full conscience and faith, if it is in conflict with the Word of God, don’t do it. If the Word of God does not directly address it but you are uncomfortable doing it, don’t do it. Whatever is not of faith is sin, Paul talking in Romans about the issue that is neither right nor wrong. What food you eat, for example. Jews had certain convictions on food, the Gentiles had others. Foods are not the issue. Let each man be convinced in his own conscience but don’t violate your conscience because if you are doing something you don’t think God wants you to do, then you don’t have a good conscience but true godly love comes from a conscience that is functioning consistently with God’s will which is consistent with a pure heart and a sincere faith and that sincere faith, an un-hypocritical faith, not a faith that is put on but genuine love produced in the heart and life of the believer comes from genuine faith. We just carry this Greek word over into English and we have hypocrite, hypocritical, un-hypocritical and here it’s the un-hypocritical faith.

So this is the kind of inner life condition that God’s love comes from, a pure heart, a pure conscience, a genuine faith. This is what is intended by the faithful ministry of God’s truth. That’s what Paul is encouraging here. You are not to teach strange doctrines. At the end of verse 3, these give rise to mere speculations that God is administering His household in the context of faith and trusting in Him, relying on His truth and living consistent with it.

The goal of our instruction is love. It comes from this condition. Some men which would be the certain men teaching strange doctrines straying from these things. The things that he has just talked about in verse 5. Love coming out of the correct inner condition of your soul. Your faith is a genuine faith. You are functioning with a good conscience, consistent with what God’s revealed will is. Your heart has been cleansed.

Some men straying from these things have turned aside to fruitless discussion and when you turn away from God’s truth and the ministry of that truth with the goal that that truth is to accomplish, love of a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith, you are in a realm of confusion and worthlessness. Some men straying from these things have turned aside to fruitless discussion, empty useless talk. That is all they are doing. They are talking about religious things. They are talking about spiritual things. They are even using the Bible, in this context, the Old Testament Law. We don’t have any idea what they are talking about and it doesn’t accomplish God’s purposes so the improper use of the Word of God – teaching that is not consistent with the Word of God even when you are using the Word of God but you are really misusing it is empty worthless words that does not accomplish God’s purposes and intentions.

So you can see how the devil desires to infiltrate the church, turn it aside to endless discussions about worthless matters. I mean, isn’t the Law, you know, we want to understand the Law. We are going to talk about the Law in a moment but those teaching the Law without understanding its purpose and its correct use are turning the church aside and there is no end to these discussions. They go nowhere because you are off track and all it does is keep the church in confusion and keep the church from growing in the love that God would produce in the life and the consequences of that love.

And he says in verse 7: “Some men 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 assertions.” They speak with confidence. They are bold. They come across with that assurance that has caused some on the church at Ephesus to think, you know, they really seem to know what they are talking about. I mean they don’t seem to have any doubt or they are not just saying, well I’m not sure. They are boldly teaching. Here is what the Law means. Here’s why it’s important to have the Law operating in your life. They are speaking with confidence. They make bold assertions but it doesn’t change the fact they don’t have any idea what they are talking about, and often the case of false teachers. They seem so confident and sure that sometimes we as Christians say well maybe there is something to what they are saying. Maybe we ought to, you know, see if there is something to this. Pretty soon they are off and confused.

There have been times I’ve talked to people and said, “Why do you listen to that stuff? It’s only going to create confusion in your life.” And we need to be very careful in exposing ourselves to error. That’s why I read a paper criticizing our church for its stand and not allowing other teaching. We should be broader than that as Christians. No we shouldn’t. What are we going to do if we know this is what the Word of God says and this is what the Word of God means why would we be open to someone who wants to teach something else? Now we have fruitless discussions that can only confuse God’s people.

So, they want to teach the Law. This gets us in the realm, the particular area of doctrine that is causing a problem and it always is more difficult when people claim to be believers, they claim to be using the Word of God but they are misusing it and it raises a question whether their faith if a genuine faith or a hypocritical faith. And we sometimes can tell – are we dealing with a believer or an unbeliever? How far off track do they get? Well we deal with them on the basis of their profession. They profess to be believers and they are attempting to teach error then they must be dealt with. They must be shut down.

Timothy must command these men, verse 3, “Not to teach strange doctrine.” This will not be tolerated in the church at Ephesus, not allowed. So they want to be teachers of the Law even though they do not understand what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. Wait a minute. Now we’ve got two opposing teachers. We’ve got Paul and his representative Timothy and then we’ve got these other men who are claiming with bold assertion that what they teach about the Law is the correct view. Then Paul asserts here his apostolic authority and he unfolds then the truth and it doesn’t conform to the truth.

It starts out, “But we know that the Law is good if one uses it Lawfully.” And I want to talk about the Law overall. Paul focuses on one particular aspect here and we will move through this but I want to talk about the Law more broadly. Then when we come back to this we will move through it more quickly because we have a framework we are operating from.

The Mosaic Law, you know how often it comes up in the New Testament because of its misuse? Remember back in the early days of the church in Acts chapter 15? They had a conference in Jerusalem where various teachers came together. Paul came and they came to Jerusalem because that’s where the apostles were centered, the original apostles. These were James, John and so on. When Paul comes there is a dispute and the dispute was over some were saying fine, preaching Christ, His death, burial and so on but they also must be taught to keep the Law. So this debate, Paul wrote the letter to the Galatian churches because of the same issue and in other parts of the New Testament we have this issue.

So, let’s just walk through a little bit about the Mosaic Law as a background and framework and then we will see how what Paul says here fits in. We can use that listing we have on the Mosaic Law. The first point is perhaps the most important. It was given to Israel. It was given to Israel. The Law was never given to Gentiles. It was not intended for the Gentiles. It was intended for the nation Israel.

Turn back to the book of Exodus chapter 19. This is important because there are people today that think we need to keep the Law for one reason or another, the Ten Commandments, other parts of the Mosaic Law. Some try to sort out and say, “Well we keep the moral aspect of the Mosaic Law but not the civil and ceremonial parts of the Mosaic Law.” But first understand the Law was given to govern the life and conduct of the nation Israel in all its areas. Exodus chapter 19, this is Moses being given the Law on Mount Sinai and look at verse 6: “These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”

Come over to chapter 31. It is addressed to the sons of Israel, not to anyone else. Over in chapter 31, verse 13: “You shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying ‘you shall surely observe My Sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations.” The Sabbath and the observing of the Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath and there were other feast Sabbaths but particularly the weekly Sabbath, that was for Israel. It was a “sign between Me and you.” Down in verse 16: “So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever.” You see some people talk today about the Christian Sabbath and we have to keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath never was given to Gentiles. It was part of the provision for the nation Israel and it was a sign of God’s relationship with them.

In Ezekiel, turn over to Ezekiel, the prophet. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, remember those large prophetic books around the middle of your Bible after the Psalms, but before you get to Daniel and the smaller books? Ezekiel chapter 20, verse 10: God is speaking here: “So I took them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. I gave them My statutes and informed them of My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he shall live. I also gave them Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. But the house of Israel rebelled against Me.” So you see all of these Laws, the Mosaic Laws and everything and the Sabbath as the day of the week set apart for God was a sign of Israel’s relationship with God.

Turn over to Romans chapter 2. Paul draws a contrast between the Gentiles and the Jews. The Gentiles don’t have the Law. The Jews have the Law. In Romans chapter 2, verse 14: “For when the Gentiles who do not have the Law…” Contrast with the Gentiles with the Jews who do have the Law. Now the Gentiles have the Law of God written on their heart but that is not the Mosaic Law. What he is talking about there is all humans were created in the image of God and that from Adam and as such they have a sense of right and wrong corrupted by sin but even in their sinful practices, that what Romans 1 makes clear. They suppress the truth of God that has been revealed in creation and they practice those things that they know to be wrong. Well, I didn’t know that. They don’t want to have to acknowledge that. So they have something inscribed in their heart but they don’t have the Mosaic Law as such.

Galatians chapter 3 is important to them and we have to move on from this. Galatians chapter 3, even for Israel the Law was temporary so the Law was given to Israel to govern their life and behavior. They were a nation, a theocracy. They lived under God’s rule and so this governed their conduct as a nation. They had governmental laws there and punishments for certain things. If they stole something, how they were to conduct themselves in business things and the ownership of land and these things along with religious activities and so on. But it was only temporary even for Israel. Galatians chapter 3, verse 19: “Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions (and we’ll talk about that later) having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator (Moses, we studies this in Hebrews) until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.” You see, the Law was given until the seed would come, referring to Christ, the promised One. Then you come down to verse 24: “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to Christ.” Our Bibles have inserted the words “to lead us,” you see there in italics. That will cause some to take this verse and say, “well the purpose, we still preach the Law today because that’s what prepares a person to trust Christ.” And some of the reformed camp say, “You can’t have the Gospel preached until you have the Law preached.” It is a misunderstanding of this verse and its context. The Law, verse 19, was given until the seed would come. The law was for Israel. The Law given through Moses to be their tutor, their oversight, their guardian until Christ came. But now that faith has come, the fullness of revelation in Christ, we are no longer under the tutor which was the Law. So the Law, even for Israel, was temporary until the Messiah would come. So the Law was only given to Israel and it was given to Israel for a limited duration. So that says something about the Law right there.

We’re Gentiles. We never were under the Law and even Israel that did live under the Law is no longer under the Law because the Law came to an end with the coming of Christ. So the Law is not in effect today, the Mosaic Law and no part of it as Law. Now there’s some things that are carried over and we have repeated in the New Testament and we have the Law of Christ as we noted. I am not saying there are no commands given to us but the Mosaic Law as Law is done. You can’t break up the Mosaic Law. Remember James said, “If you break one part of the Mosaic Law you’ve broken the whole thing.” You can’t parcel out the Mosaic Law as was later done and divide it into the moral elements and the civil elements and the ceremonial elements and say, “Well we keep the moral elements.” It is all woven together. They can’t just be parceled out. You can see different emphasis in it but it is a woven together unit and it stands. When Israel broke an area of the Law they were guilty of breaking the Law. So first point, the Law was given to Israel.

Second point – the Law could never save a person. It was not a means of salvation. It never was. It was not its intention when it was given. If you are still in the book of Galatians, I should have told you to stay here, Galatians chapter 3, back up to chapter 2, verse 15 first. Paul is talking about “we are Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles,” the original. The Jews were the special people of God, the people that God had chosen for Himself. That set them apart from the Gentile world and God expected them to be separate from the Gentiles and His laws kept them separate. They were to be a different people. “Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus.” The “we” he is talking about is verse 15, “we Jews by nature,” the Law was given to us. Well you know “a man is not justified by works of the Law but through faith in Christ. Even we Jews have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law; since by works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”

What he’s emphasizing to these Galatian believers and the Galatian churches are primarily Gentile but they have been influenced by these Jewish teachers who were trying to get the Gentiles now to submit to the Law. Paul saying, “The law never could save us Jews. Now why would you try to impose it on the Jews for salvation?” I mean, it makes no sense. “Even we Jews have had to turn in faith to Christ for salvation because no one can be saved by trying to keep the Law.” By works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

Chapter 3, verse 11: “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident for (and he quotes from the Old Testament, Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 4) the righteous man shall live by faith.” Verse 21 of Galatians 3: “Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.” But there was no such law. So you could never get righteousness on that basis. Paul puts it very strongly in verse 21 of Galatians 2: “I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” And that would be a blasphemous statement to say Christ died needlessly. But if you are saying salvation comes through the Law you can’t mix the two. It’s either by law or by grace and if it’s by grace then it can’t be by law and works and so if you could be saved by your works and keeping the law then there was no purpose for Christ to come to this earth and die. Another of saying no one is ever going to be saved by keeping the law. Romans 3:20 says the same thing. Stay here for a moment in Galatians.

The third point: The law was not a means of sanctification. We saw it was not that would mean it is not today. The law was given to Israel. It was not a means of salvation, it never was. It was not a means of sanctification. You are in Galatians. Look at verse 1 of chapter 3. Note how he talks - “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” Somebody has come in now, these false teachers and put you under their spell. It’s like you know, you’ve been mesmerized here you know. Your eyes have turned glassy. You’ve come under their spell. You get captivated. “Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. This is the only thing I want to find out from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” How did you get saved? How did the Holy Spirit come into your life? It was when you heard the message of Christ and you believed it. “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” You see the point is, the law was never a means of salvation and it never a means of sanctification. That is not God’s provision for our sanctification. He was stressing in these Gentiles churches; how did you get saved? Now you think you got saved by faith but now the work of sanctification you grow in your new life in Christ and becoming more conformed to Christ is going to buy now imposing the Mosaic Law as a way of life. It’s not a means of sanctification. You see it’s not a way of salvation, it’s not a way of sanctification and it was only given to Israel in the first place and it was only temporary until Christ came. Somebody is off track here, coming into the churches and saying, “You know you really need to keep the law. You don’t understand. First of all let’s be clear, I’m not a Jew. Second, even if I was a Jew the law came to an end with the coming of Christ. And then you understand that the law never was a means of salvation and of course you understand the law was never a means of sanctification so let’s just ummm… Is there any place for imposing the law?

Point four: What did the law do? It revealed sin. We are not saying the law was worthless. The law had a purpose. God gave it. The law reveals sin. Come back to Romans chapter 3. It’s an issue in the book of Romans as it is in the book of Galatians, as it is in Paul’s letter to Timothy. I mean this goes on, this kind of error. That’s why we have to be careful in our handling of the Scripture. These are men even coming in bringing outside kinds of doctrine. They have taken the Scripture themselves and that’s what makes it more difficult and why we have to understand the Scripture because if we are not clear on the details of Scripture well, it sounds good. I think they are sincere. They sure are confident. Well none of that matters. Romans chapter 3, verse 20: “Because by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight,” (declared righteous in His sight). That’s the point we made in point two. It was not a means of salvation. Well the positive side. “For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” The law brought clarity to show sin as sin.

Turn over to chapter 5 of Romans, chapter 5, verse 13: “For until the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed where there is no law.” Verse 20: “The law came is so that the transgression would increase.” Not that it made people sin and they were sinners before the giving of the law. The world had been destroyed in the flood in the days of Noah before the law had ever been given on Mount Sinai. Men were sinners but when there is a law then sin becomes clearer and magnified because people knew sin. They recognized sin but now when you have the law you know, this is sin. You know in parts, I believe in Germany, you can ride on the autobahn and they don’t have a speed limit. Well then you don’t break the law by going 85. It may not be a good idea and an old man like me going 85 is a danger anywhere. It may not be the best thing but you are not breaking a specific law. Not that I wouldn’t go 85 when I was young either, but when you give a law what happens? And the more laws you have the more clear it becomes sin is multiplied. Now you are breaking the law if you do this. You are breaking the law if you do that. So what the giving of the Mosaic Law did was make clear and in that sense it multiplied the transgressions because it showed how many things were sinful and wrong. So that’s what it did, it called sin, sin and so in that sense there was clarity and if you will, an increase, verse 20 of Romans chapter 5. Not that the law caused sin but it revealed sin as sin in a more clear way. The solution was where sin increased grace abounded all the more but the law revealed sin.

One more, chapter 7, verse 7: “What shall I say then? Is the law sin? May it never be.” There is no problem with the law in that sense though because it revealed the magnitude of sin that doesn’t mean the law was sin because the law didn’t cause people to sin. It just revealed how much of their life was guilty of sin. “May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” So you see, the Law brought clarity there. Is coveting wrong? Well yes, it’s wrong. Well how do you know? Well the Bible says you should not covet, thou shalt not covet your neighbors possessions, your neighbors wife and so on. So now there is clarity here. Now I know, coveting is sin and I understand it as sin. So the Law reveals sin. You can go through and we are going to get to some of it in a moment in I Timothy.

A fifth point: the Law was given to restrain sin and this is moving us to where we want to be in Timothy. The Law was given to restrain sin. Just look at Galatians 3, one more verse and then we will come to I Timothy. Galatians 3:19: “Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions.” It was given to show the magnitude of transgression but it was added because of transgressions. Now this was to be a restraint on the conduct of Israel. Now they knew more specifically what God said they should not do, must not do and what they must do and should do. So it was added because of transgressions. That’s why the Law was a tutor for Israel. That one who watched over that child and saw he got to his appointed place and so on. It was that overseer to keep Israel on the track because they knew when they had broken it, God sent the prophets, what? You’ve broken My Law. You are guilty and even in Israel’s rebellion there was a certain preparation done in bringing Israel to the time when their Messiah would come. So the Law was to restrain sin.

Come over to I Timothy and there is one more point I want to add on here now. That will be where we began and that is the Law is good. So in all of this we want to be careful to understand that and that takes us where we moved into this section. Verse 8 of I Timothy 1: “But we know that the Law is good.” So in all of this we want to be clear that we understand that the Law was good. That was Romans 7, nothing wrong with the Law. The Law is good, the Law is holy and the Law is righteous. The problem was Law could tell Israel what they must do and what God required and what they must do, what He forbid but because of sin they did not have any ability to keep it, even the desire to be obedient failed but the Law is good. Well then why wouldn’t we implement it today; because, that’s not God’s purpose for it today. That was His purpose for His people, Israel; to teach them to keep them on track to prepare them. Well, you know, of course the Law is good. “All Scripture is profitable,” because it is God breathed. And so profitable so that we can grow and become everything that God wants us to be as Paul writes to Timothy. So that’s great.

We are not saying that we don’t learn from the Law, we do, like we learn from the sacrifices of the Old Testament. That’s different from saying we ought to practice sacrificing animals today. No, that was for Israel at a time and so it is with the Mosaic Law but that doesn’t mean we learn even as we study Old Testament passages we see the sacrifices we are reminded of sin and the requirement of a sacrifice and we can appreciate Christ as the sacrifice even though we as Gentiles 2000 years after the coming of Christ never did live under the Law, never were a part of the system of offering of animals and so on but we learn from it. I’m not saying we don’t learn from the Law. The Law is profitable, it’s part of the Word of God. The book of Leviticus tells us something about God’s holiness and what He required of His people to live a holy life and we are God’s people now. Peter says we are to be holy for He is holy, quoting from. So we learn from it but specific conduct and so on we are no longer under that Law.

Now he said the law was to restrain sin. That was our fifth point and that’s where he picks up in verse 9. Verse 8 says “But we know that the Law is good, (and we summarized that with our last point) if one uses it lawfully.” That’s why we went through this. You have to use the Law as God intended the Law to be used. He’s not saying that the Ephesian church ought to put the Law into practice. It is just the opposite. But these teachers, well you have to understand, you have to use the Law according to its intention and so he picks out a point here “realizing that fact that law is not made for a righteous person.” So what do teachers in the church in Ephesus doing trying to teach these believers that they ought to keep the law? Righteous people don’t need the Law. The Law is made for the lawless, the rebellious, the ungodly sinners, unholy, profane, for those who kill their fathers and mothers.” That word killed there should probably be strike because there is indication that this was a practice. It seems but we don’t have time to go through the list here but Paul is following the general pattern of the Ten Commandments.

We will pick up with this one on those who would hit their fathers or mothers, spite their fathers or mothers, strike them. The fifth commandment is honor your father and mother. It’s for murderers. The sixth commandment, the next one is Thou shalt not kill. For immoral men and homosexuals, the seventh command is thou shalt not commit adultery. Kidnappers – the eighth command is thou shalt not steal. Liars and perjurers, the ninth command is you shall not bear false witness. So just to select those so if you go back and read the Ten Commandments you will see that he is following the general pattern of the Ten Commandments showing here is what the law is for. So if you’ve become righteous in Christ and now have His Spirit producing His character in your life, the law, just pick out one intention what the law was to do, it was to restrain sin, the fifth point we talked about, it’s for the lawless. I mean, let’s face it. If we were living perfectly righteous lives we wouldn’t need any laws to restrain our conduct. We have laws dealing with those who would steal, those who would murder but the perfect society we wouldn’t need it. It’s for these kinds of people. Verse 10: “Immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers (and then the summary statement) and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching (healthy teaching).” In other words, the law was intended for bad people. It doesn’t have anything to do with the church. It’s not a part of God’s plan for the salvation of people. It’s not a part of God’s plan for our growth, our sanctification and our maturing in Christ. Healthy teaching, sound teaching becomes a key emphasis in Paul’s letter to Timothy here. Sound teaching, healthy teaching, teaching that produces health. God’s plan is that we are trusting Him, take in the truths of His Word in its purity like new born babes as Peter writes, long for the pure, unadulterated milk of God’s Word that you might grow in respect to your salvation. That’s God plan. How did He intend for us to be saved? By hearing the beauty of the message of the truth of salvation provided in His Son and believing it. How does he expect us to grow and mature and live? By taking in His Word and you’ll note that Word is to control our lives. This is not doctrine here and practice here. We sometimes separate them out but we can never separate them as two different things. The doctrine of the Word of God is to shape and conform my life. Remember Paul wrote to the Corinthians in II Corinthians and said, “As we are beholding in the mirror of the Word, the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” That is the process. We take in the Word of God. We trust Him. We desire the Spirit of God to control our lives and guide us in our conduct. Of course our conduct must change. “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature,” a new creation. “The old things have passed away, new things have come.” We are new people living a new life. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. The children of the devil practice sin. The children of God practice righteousness. We are partakers of the divine nature in that sense. This is God’s plan. We don’t impose the Mosaic Law as a way of life. Healthy teaching, verse 11: “According to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.” Or better, the Gospel of the glory of the blessed God. This truth, healthy teaching at the heart of which is the truth of Christ or as we saw in an earlier study today, that’s the foundation, the only foundation that can be laid, Jesus Christ. Everything else is building upon that and healthy teaching is God’s intention to mold and conform our lives and as we believe what God has said and take it in and submit ourselves to that truth and walk in it our lives are changed. That’s the process God has established.

So, error in doctrine will result in error in practice. Paul makes that clear and the corruption in doctrine corrupts the practice of believers and they get off track and this is serious business because God’s church is to be a truth center. It is the pillar and support of the truth. It is the place not only where we teach the truth but where God’s people walk in the truth and not only at church but as the church wherever we are. We are what? People of truth. Truth is seen in our lives. God’s plan is the fruit of the Spirit produced in us which is different in every way from the works of the flesh which is the contrast in Galatians 5. The devil works in a subtle way. Will it be bad to want to keep the law? It can be disastrous because that’s not God’s plan. We don’t come up with Plan B. This is the plan and any other plan will end in futility and fruitlessness. That’s why the truth of God in its purity we desire the unadulterated, the pure milk of the Word of God that we might grow. And it was wise. We’ll just mix error in with the good milk, poison in with the good and it’s nullified and you’ll find Scripture sprinkled in with the worst of teaching and sprinkling in the Scripture doesn’t sanctify the teaching. The error is an antidote to the power of the truth. So Paul is concerned that the church be faithful with the truth and to understand God’s purposes and we want to be sure that we are doing the same.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for the riches of Your Word. Lord it’s so easy to led astray if we take our focus off of Your Word, if we become careless, if we aren’t diligent in the handling of Your truth and then Lord having a desire that the Spirit would take the beauty of Your Word and bring our lives in conformity with the character of the Savior that we love and serve. We pray that this truth will shape us and we will live by it in the days of the week before us. Thank You for the indwelling Spirit Who enables us and produces Your character as we submit to Him. We praise You in Christ’s name. Amen