The Authority of Scripture Being Undermined

Transcript

GRM 1194
09/09/2018
The Authority of Scripture Being Undermined
1 Timothy & 2 Timothy
Gil Rugh

We've been studying the book of Revelation together on Sunday morning, and we'll be getting back to that probably next week. Some people think it has been a long study, and it has. To make up for taking so long in Revelation, we're going to cover two books of the Bible together today, so get ready.

I was rereading a book that I have read a couple of times before, but something stands out I want to share with you. I've referred to it on other occasions and it is sort of a basis for what I want to talk to you about today from the Word. These are the comments of a man who is a church historian and is also involved as a vice president of a theological seminary, an evangelical school. He made some observations that I think are pertinent to us as a church as well. And one of the things he says is “it has become something of a proverb in evangelical circles that most conservative institutions have about 75 years of life in them before they evidence significant changes in theological direction. One might add to that another often repeated observation, that such a change does not occur slowly, by a gradual evolution. Rather such change tends to take place almost overnight. A third comment is that theological institutions always become broader theologically and the clock can never be turned back in a more orthodox direction.”

Interesting because we as a local church, coming up on perhaps getting close to 70+ years, the Lord has blessed in the ministry of this church since it was founded. What he says about theological institutions I think is correct. I thought through a number of seminaries that I have known in my lifetime and have seen the changes that takes place. Then you read the history of others.

Another comment that he quotes from, another writer. “The first generation fights for orthodoxy, the second generation assumes orthodoxy, the third generation abandons orthodoxy.” And, again, something to be concerned about as we move from one generation to another. We had a professor speak here many years ago, he is now with the Lord, he made the comment that every school, every church goes liberal. That's the relentless tide over time.

I was struck also by the comment he made that such a change that occurs within this 75-year span does not occur slowly by a kind of gradual evolution, rather such a change tends to take place almost overnight. And I thought about that and I think it is true. I think what he says has real pertinence for us as a church. Why do those changes seem to happen almost overnight? I was thinking down in Florida where they have sinkholes and all of a sudden a house falls into a big hole in the ground. And it seems just to have happened overnight, literally. But it really hasn't because the erosion has taken place in a way that is not visible. And when it becomes visible, it is with something more catastrophic. And I think that's what can happen to the church if we are not careful.

There is talk in institutions where some seminaries have abandoned their commitment to verbal inspiration of Scripture, some churches have abandoned that. But I think the erosion happens under the surface and it's not clearly observed. I didn't observe something in my own ministry in the time in ministry. Change that takes place from that firm, solid commitment to the truth of the Word of God. It is verbally inspired, every word, it stands as the authority outside of ourselves, the authority to which we must all submit. But subtly and almost imperceptibly changes occur in our thinking and we begin to talk about what we think and how we think about things, what our opinions are. And subtly we reduce the Word of God to just another set of opinions, just another way of thinking.

So instead of coming to grapple with the Scripture and determine what does it say and thus what does it mean, we say here is what I think, here is my opinion. But the reality of it is, it doesn't matter what you think, it doesn't matter what my opinion is. What matters is, what does God say? And when we reduce the Scripture, just to the level of just another opinion, the erosion under the authority of Scripture is taking place. Finally, some day they say, I don't believe it is fully inspired. In practice it has already taken place because our opinions are viewed as authoritative, what we think is authoritative. And we begin to adjust the Scripture according to our opinions while we still claim it is the Word of God. Every opinion, every thought has to be brought into captivity to Christ in submission to His truth.

So, I want to take you to 1 Timothy. What I want to do is simple today, I simply want to go through 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, these two letters of Paul, and highlight some things that are said and make some observations. Paul wrote these two letters to the same man, Timothy, a man younger than Paul who had been saved by God's grace and had joined with Paul in his ministry. They are not written at the same time, 1 Timothy is written probably after Paul's first imprisonment, at the end of the book of Acts, maybe around 62 or 63, even 64 A.D. 2 Timothy is written when Paul has been re-imprisoned in Rome and he is anticipating that he will soon be executed. He said the process that will culminate in his execution has already begun. So, there may be 4-5 years separating these two letters. But what I want to observe as we go through them, the basic premise doesn't change. There is a movement, we're going to talk about this in our Sunday night series that we have been doing, where we begin to make the Bible fit the culture. Another way of undermining its independent authority.

But I just want to walk through what these letters say and we'll read in there, “all Scripture is God-breathed,” it comes out from God. So, it is authoritative, it stands outside of each one of us, it is truth. When my opinions differ from Scripture, I must change my opinions; when my thinking is in conflict with Scripture, I must change my thinking. I must be careful about reducing Scripture to the level of just being another opinion. That's a serious matter.

Paul writes and reminds Timothy why he left him in Ephesus. 1 Timothy 1:3, “I urge you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus.” Ephesus is in Asia Minor, you are aware, you could cross over from there to Greece. Paul had been ministering in the city of Ephesus. He had to leave; he believed the Lord was directing him to Macedonia over in Greece, Macedonia being the northern province of Greece. But there were things that needed to be dealt with and fixed, if you will, in the church at Ephesus. So, the end of verse 3, “I left you at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines.”

This will become a permeating theme of both these letters—the truth must be taught as God's truth. Men are not allowed to add to it, subtract from it, or make alterations in it. So, these strange doctrines, are doctrines that are contrary to what God has taught through His servants like Paul. “Don't pay attention to myths, endless genealogies,” this worthless stuff. He is talking to what is going on in the church at Ephesus. This is not something happening in a worldly center, this is happening in a church, the church at Ephesus. Paul wrote one of our great letters to the church at Ephesus. But you see the problems that come from within.

“The goal of our instruction,” verse 5, “is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, a sincere faith.” The Word of God taught in its purity has an impact on our lives. This is not just truth—yes we hold to it, we adhere to it, yes it is there—and then we live our lives. This is our life, God's character is produced in us, He is a God who is love, and further the Spirit is love. And a heart that has been transformed, the heart that is “deceitful and desperately wicked above all things” as God said through the prophet Jeremiah, has been cleansed by the power of God's salvation.

So it can be a pure heart, we can live with a good conscience, a conscience that is the result of living in obedience to the Word of God with a genuine faith. The problem with the church at Ephesus, there are those who profess a faith but it is not a genuine faith. It is a put-on faith. And some of these teachers present themselves as teachers of truth, but they are just acting a role, they are not preaching the truth, teaching the truth. When you stray from these things, you turn aside to fruitless discussion. We have the eternal Word of God, how tragic is it that the church turns aside to talk about empty, worthless things. And they become the issue and what absorbs God's people.

He goes on to explain the purpose of the Law, the misuse of Old Testament Mosaic Law was an issue there. Come down to verse 15, Paul uses himself as an example in verses 12ff. Paul never got over the fact he was such a hell-deserving, unworthy sinner that God would save him. Here he is at this stage in his life, expressing again how amazing it is. I was so undeserving. That's a sign the Word is working in my life. The more I am in the Word and the more the Word is working in me, it doesn't impress me with how unworthy you are. But it reminds me of how unworthy I am. It doesn't cause me to think, why would He save them. The amazing thing is God saved me. That's where Paul is after these years of faithful ministry. It is not dimmed at all, his unworthiness. And if the Word of God is really working in our lives, that would be true of us. Not that we sit bemoaning, this just magnifies God's grace.

Verse 14, “The grace of our Lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I was the worst of them.” Was Paul the worst sinner that ever lived? In his own mind, what is greatest in his mind, is how undeserving I was, how great was God's grace to save me. So, he is going to write that things have to be corrected, false teachers have to be rebuked, unbiblical conduct has to be corrected. But Paul comes at that from the realization that God's salvation is a transforming salvation that does what you could never do for yourself.

He talks about the mercy of God in bringing salvation and he commands Timothy, and entrust this command, this truth to Timothy. Verse 18, “This command I entrust to you.” We're going to talk about that entrust, I deposit with you. It's going to be emphasized in this first letter; it's going to be emphasized in the second. This truth is like a deposit from God. A deposit is something you put into an account, you deposit one in the bank. You want to know it is there for safekeeping, it will be protected, it will be guarded. You want to know what things they have to assure. That's what a deposit is. He says Timothy, I am depositing this truth that God deposited with me, I am now passing it on to you and with this truth, you'll note the end of verse 18, “you fight the good fight.”

What will permeate both these letters is faithfulness to God and His Word is not a vacation, it's a war, it's a battle. Paul didn't leave Timothy there because everything would be worked out, you just clean up things, it won't be difficult. You continue the fight that I have had to have. It won't be easy to get these things done, it won't be easy to take care of them. The truth deposited with you, Timothy, you have what is necessary now in Christ to fight.

Some haven't, they have abandoned faithfulness to the truth and they make a shipwreck of the faith. The people that reject Christ, their life is a wreck. Where do you go when you have rejected the living God? You said no to the salvation He provided to rescue you, but when believers get off track, they make their life a wreck. Pretty soon you can't tell whether you are a believer or not. When two ships wreck, you don't know whether one was a good ship or one was a bad ship, all you know is you have two wrecked ships. And here you have Hymenaeus and Alexander. Paul didn't hesitate to mention names, we like to be careful, we want to be nice and we should be nice, but there is no tolerance with error. Paul doesn't say they are not believers, he says I'm handing them over to Satan. What they are teaching, what they are proclaiming is false. That makes a shipwreck of their faith. Now God has to deal with them. They can't be allowed to teach in Ephesus in the church, where they are beyond that God will have to deal with.

With this as a background, now I want you to be praying for all men. So, put it in perspective. Believers can become self-righteous, the purpose is not because some people in the church at Ephesus to think more highly of themselves than they ought to think, they have a proper perspective. All people everywhere need God's salvation, so you pray for all people and that includes kings and those in authority. There is not one of the Roman emperors that we would mention of New Testament time that you would hold in high regard or respect. But you honor them, you pray for them.

And God says He desires all men to be saved. He provided a Redeemer for all men. “There is one God,” verse 5, “one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for us all.” That picks up on that first all in verse 1, “First of all that prayers be made on behalf of all men, all who are in authority” because He is the Savior of all men. I don't know who He will save. I'm praying for opportunity for the Gospel to be shared and presented. And this is what I was made a preacher for, Paul says. You know the church gets off track, they want to teach about all these relevant things, all these practical things, get involved in all these things. Paul says I was appointed to be a preacher and apostle and be telling the truth. Your Word is truth.

Then he goes on. You know their problems aren't new. Frances Schaeffer used to say, I think it back in the '80s, “look where the world is and in ten years you will know where the church is going to be.” It's like now look where the world is and you will see where the church is. The church seems absorbed. Look what is going on, the roles of men and women. Look what is going on in the world. The battle over male and female, and of course you don't even know which is which until they tell you, supposedly. Now you are not even supposed to write it on some birth certificates because you won't know whether they are male or female until they get old enough to decide. Lunacy. But God said here, even then more subtle foundational basic ways the church begins to adjust its thinking.

Paul says, “I want the men to provide the leadership for the church, to pray and to teach. I want the woman to fulfill the role that God has given to them.” That wasn't popular evidently in Paul's day, it's not popular today. We begin to adjust. Do you know what every man in this congregation has to be sure of? That he is a godly man, providing spiritual leadership in his home and in the church. Do you know what every woman has to be sure of? That her man does what he should do—no, no. What should I be as a woman? What is the role God has given to me? It is not to be the leader, it is to be support, encouragement, help in so many ways. That's not to diminish the woman, that is to emphasize her equality, she is a spiritual equal.

The world says equality has to mean sameness, that's an attack on Scripture. Now I realize to the extent that men and women in the church do not function in obedience to the Word of God in this area, they are not being godly people. The Spirit of God didn't write this because He wanted to fill in some pages of print or writing as Paul did it, this is God's Word. It goes back to creation. I require My people to manifest My purposes and plans that were established at the creation. The fact the world is going crazy, as we would say, that shouldn't surprise us—they are of their father the devil.

I find Christians get all worked up about what is going on in the world, and this is terrible. It is sinful, I want to make that clear, but the real problem is I see the church functioning like the world. They don't recognize the authority of their husbands, they don't recognize the authority of the men that God has put in, that's sin. Men don't fulfill the responsibility God has given them, they advocate it, that's sin. This is the subtle way the Scripture gets eroded, we just sort of gloss over it—we don't want to get into those, there is no sense making this an issue, there is no sense. . . There is no sense in being concerned to do what the Scripture says. If we don't function as believers, as God created us to function as a man, as a woman, then we are rebelling against Him. We can't claim to be leading a godly life. And that is to our detriment and to the detriment of the church.

First Timothy 3 opens up, let's talk about the leaders and the quality of the leaders that God appoints. And we've been to Acts 20, the Holy Spirit appoints the elders, we recognize who they are. And the qualifications here, they are elders, they are deacons, they are men that provide spiritual leadership and oversight and input for God's people. How easily people just disregard that and think they are being godly.

We don't have time to go to Romans 13, but many of you are aware of that. Look at what is happening in our country, the attitude toward the President, to people in authority. Well the world, they disregard them. We have leaders in our country saying, “he's not my President.” But we know God says He appoints those. Not just this President, the prior President; not just this President but the subsequent. We realize God has established the lines of authority and so we honor those men. Peter will write in his letter, you honor the king, who happened to be Nero at that time who would carry out Peter's execution. You pray for the king, Paul writes here.

We get like the world so we come into the world. God appoints elders and deacons, I don't agree with them, I have a different opinion, I think differently about it. I don't have to obey them anymore. What have we done with the Word of God? God says obey your leaders and submit to them. Well, I choose not to do it. What have we done with the inspiration of Scripture? It is just reduced to an opinion. God appointed those men but I don't agree with them, therefore I don't have to obey them. What have we done with Scripture? I believe in the full inspiration of Scripture, at the same time I don't submit to it because I don't like it.

That's why I say we begin to erode the foundation in these practical areas—the roles of men and women, the leadership that God appoints. And a reminder in 1 Timothy 3:14, “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long.” Paul hoped to return back to Ephesus and he could be there with Timothy and help with the church. “But in case I am delayed, 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.”

We're back to the foundational principle. This is not your church, this is not my church. It is my church, your church in the sense we belong to it, but it's not under our authority. It is God's house. Somebody walked in your front door and started telling you how to conduct your family, you'd say get out of here before I hit you over the head with a frying pan. But we think God's household, I have my opinions, this is how I think about it. Doesn't matter, doesn't matter. There are going to be things the Scripture doesn't say. We're going to have a get-together this afternoon, somebody decided it would be at 3:30, somebody decided we would eat at 5:00, that the concert would start at 6:30. I wasn't in on that, I didn't even know about that until this morning. I think we ought to meet at 2:15, and I'm ready to eat at 4:00. Well that's an opinion, you can have a different opinion. Eat at 4:00, eat at 2:15, eat whenever you want, but we will be serving food here at 5 o'clock. Somebody decided. I respect that, fine. But where the Word of God speaks, there is no room for difference. God made the man the head, the husband the head. We have women who think they are godly and yet they won't listen to their husband, we have people who think they are godly but they disregard what the elders think. We are eroding, digging away the foundations under the authority of Scripture because it is not so important that we do it in these areas. It's not, I have a different opinion. Well, what does God say?

1 Timothy 4, “The Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times some will fall away from the faith.” There is no reason to be confused on this, the Spirit clearly has spoken. Now you note it says some will fall away from the faith, depart from the faith. These are not people, these are not the Hindus or the Muslims out here who have never been part of Christianity, these are people that have claimed to be believers, claimed to be part of the church and they are moving away. As John would write in one of his epistles, “they went out from us because they were not of us.” Here is a departure. And you know what happens? “They pay attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.” We don't take this seriously enough.

When I function in rebellion against God's Word in these practical areas that God has addressed for His family, I'm listening to the devil, to the demons. What did Jesus say to Peter when Peter opposed what Christ has said? Christ said I am going to Jerusalem and I'll be crucified. Peter says, that will never happen to You. What did Jesus say to him? Get behind Me, Satan.

This is a serious matter, we take it lightly. We think there are disagreements. What happens? I know this is the way people function with their families today. Families, their kids are little, I was at a restaurant the other day and this little pint-sized kid, there are four adults and this little kid. Little kid is in control of the whole table—I want this, swings his feet over the side of the chair. Ohhhhhhhhh, don't you like this? Do we think God runs His family that way? Well, I don't like what God said, I don't agree.

You know I haven't had anybody of late talk to me about Korah and his rebellion against Moses. We ought to go back and read it in Numbers 16. Korah thought, and he had an element of truth, he said to Moses and Aaron, you know the whole people, the whole nation is holy, not just you. And that's true, God said you are to be a holy nation. And so I don't think you should make the decisions, and besides I have 250 men of renown, important men and the nation that agree with me. You can go back and read what happened to Korah. And do you know what happened the next day? You had a congregation of grumblers, 14,000 people are going to die. God takes seriously this matter. Just like He says in Romans 13, when you rebel against appointed authority, you rebel against the commandment of God. And the we pride ourselves for being godly. Some will fall away from the faith and they will be teaching other doctrines, they will be encouraging contrary conflict.

1 Timothy 4:6, “In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus.” As one appointed to this ministry of teaching the Word, I want to be a good servant. That's why I am pointing these things out. This is what God wrote. Does no good to say we believe this is the Word of God, “the B-I-B-L-E, yes that's the book for me.” What does that mean if I am not really submitting myself to Him? You are nourished on the words of faith and of sound doctrine, good doctrine, good teaching. You are to have nothing to do with worldly fables, those grandmotherly tales that a grandmother might tell to a little child. This is what he has to say about doctrines of demons, these things that infiltrate the church, they are nothing but fables, Uncle Remus, Alice in Wonderland, or whatever. They have nothing. How did that get into the church? People who believe, they say, that this is the Word of God and yet they are giving their ears to doctrines promoted by demons and worthless fables, myths. Paul will remind Timothy, you have to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness, discipline. Not pleasant, takes time, takes effort. Well, I don't feel like it. You do it because God says to do it.

Verse 10 says “For this we labor and strive because we have fixed our hope on the living God who is the Savior of all men, particularly of believers. Prescribe and teach these things.” You put them into practice. “Don't neglect the spiritual gift with you,” verse 14, “take pains with these things, be in them. Pay attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things as you will ensure salvation for yourself and those who hear you.” When the church gets moved away from that firm commitment to the truth, to living the truth, to implementing the truth, then we undermine the foundation. How are the lost going to know the truth?

He goes on with practical things about our relationship with one another as believers in chapter 5, addresses the matter of elders again in verse 17. And elders are to rule well, when they don't then they have to be dealt with. But they are ruling. People just disregard this as though it is nothing. It doesn't matter to me that God appointed them in authority, I don't agree with them. So therefore, Korah was right, he didn't agree with Moses. So, God could have adjusted to Korah's thinking? I think we undermine, this is what I see happening as the world disregards authority, any kind of lie, any kind of slander, any kind of opinion. Maybe there is some truth there. So pretty soon people don't know what truth is and what is true and what is not. But we know, here it is. Well, I have a different opinion. “There is a way that seems right unto man, the end thereof is the way of death.”

Come down to chapter 6, you get into whom you work for. Slaves, Paul doesn't deal with the issue, he shouldn't be a slave, masters should get rid of their slaves, slaves should strive for freedom. Do you know what? Slaves should strive to be the best slave they could be, masters should be careful to be the master they can be. That's Paul's instruction on that.

Verse 3, you don't agree with this, “If anyone advocates a different doctrine,” different teaching, “does not agree with” healthy words, “sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited, understands nothing.” Next time somebody wants to talk to you about something, their opinion and their ideas, just say, “be quiet, you don't know anything.” We ought to cut those conversations off. People say listen. Well, maybe there is something there. We are like the world around us. I was listening to a news program this week, the person said we just can't write off all these rumors and accusations, there may be some truth out there that we need to find. There is no end to it. I'm not getting into defending, I'm saying God appointed. I know that the President we have is the President God has appointed, I believe the President that preceded him was by God's appointment, and on it goes, and on down the line. When we don't like what someone is doing, we just decide we don't have to listen. If you advocate a different doctrine, different teaching, you don't know anything. Why do we give our ear to so much that is a fable, coming from people who know nothing? Well, they profess to be believers, I think they are sincere and if they are believers they wouldn't be saying . . . All of a sudden, again, the Word is not our final authority so we keep digging away the foundation and then we are amazed when the house finally falls into the hole. It happens overnight. Didn't happen overnight, people in their attitude toward the Word begin to consider the Word just another opinion and we all have our own opinions, we all think differently so that validates it. It does not validate it. The Word of God stands outside of each one of us as the authority over each one of us. We don't want to hear that because it may conflict with my opinion. I have to be ready to submit my opinions, my thoughts to the Scripture.

And that kind of thinking and that kind of action just stirs “constant friction,” verse 5, “between men of depraved mind, deprived of the truth.” Something goes on, when the church gets involved in conflicts and they just keep going, keep going. When I was on vacation, got up in the middle of the night, it's a good time to read the book of Proverbs. And you read through there, godly people don't listen to the gossip and slander and lies, so I have to be careful to be a godly person because it is not only the person who tells the lie that is ungodly, the person who listens to it is being ungodly.

Words of warning that are given down through chapter 6, look at verse 20. “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted,” there is our word entrusted, deposited to you, “avoiding worldly, empty chatter, opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge.” And note the warning here, “which some have professed and gone astray from the faith.” This is serious business. I don't just decide, I don't know that I would take the Word that way, I just don't know that that fits. We're on the road to go astray. Already some have gone astray, Paul says, his lifetime, and he has founded the church at Ephesus. Already some who professed to be believers, and who know whether they are or not. When you make a shipwreck of the faith, all we know is we have a shipwreck on our hands. They profess to be believers, but they are wrecked, just like those who didn't profess to be believers. The danger, remember, “from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, seeking to draw the disciples away after them.” Paul's warning to the elders at the church at Ephesus.

You come to 2 Timothy, Paul again begins by talking about the genuine faith that he has observed and is confident is true in Timothy's life. He tells him in verse 6, “For this reason I remind you kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you.” It's not a rebuke of Timothy, it's like a fire. We have a gas fireplace so you don't have to stir it up, but my parents had a log fireplace. You know how it is, you put the logs in and you have to keep stoking the fire, poking in there to keep it burning up, or you will say the fire is dying down. That's the kind of picture. He is not saying Timothy hasn't been, but you keep at it, you keep stoking that fire. Good reminder to all of us. You know what happens when we have been believers for awhile, we just sort of cool down, that initial burning passion for serving the Lord and being what He wants me to be, whatever the cost. I remember having a professor, he had been the pastor of a large church, now he was teaching some graduate classes. He said to me one day, Gil, I’m just tired of the fight. I don't want to fight anymore, I just want a quiet peace. That's not biblical. You have to stir up the gift, stoke the fire.

“God has not given us,” verse 7, “a spirit of timidity,” that word timidity is cowardice. I don't want to be known as a Christian coward, I don't want that to characterize me. That doesn't come from God. God has given us a spirit of power, love, discipline, self-discipline. “Therefore, do not be ashamed.” We ought to be bolder than we have ever been. This is Paul's last letter, things have gone downhill, humanly speaking. At least when he wrote 1 Timothy he was free. He traveled over into Greece to preach the Word, now he is in chains, he is bound as a prisoner in Rome on a course to execution. Paul doesn’t say, Timothy, you will need to step back, you don't have to go overboard.

What is he saying? Verse 8, commands here, we have been through them. “Join with me in suffering for the Gospel according to the power of God.” When God's power is at work in your life and you are submissive to His Spirit, you are willing to endure. And it is costly. But this is part of God's grace and plan, preparing us for eternity. He talks about the marvelous, finished work of Christ. Verse 12, “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed,” I've committed my life to Christ and serving Him.

“Retain the standard of sound words which you heard from me. Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure which has been deposited with you.” I mean, you see it is a deposit. What we have received as a church is the truth, it has been deposited with us. If we are not faithful with it, what will we pass on to the next generation? You know I think my parents were probably a lot more committed, now I think they just want to sit back, they don't want to get caught up in the issues and the conflict. They don't want to stand for the truth.

It's like swimming upstream, when you stop swimming upstream you are going downstream. I used to go to the ocean sometimes and swim and I got caught in a current one time. Very difficult. The current is going out and I need to get in and the lifeguard is standing in his chair waving, you have to come in. I'm just saying that is easy to say, it's not so easy to do. And we just decide, I would just like to get out of the current altogether so I don't have to work at swimming upstream and I don't want to get carried downstream. Maybe I can just park. No, you can't. God has said we can't. And when I do, I am in rebellion, and when I am in rebellion then I am on a course of further drifting. I have to “retain the standard of sound words,” I have to “guard through the Holy Spirit the treasure entrusted,” deposited, the truth. The church is the pillar and support of the truth. That was in the first letter. We are the household of God, the church of God, the pillar and support of the truth. We say, I don't know. We have to stand for the truth, we ought to be closed to the attacks on the truth, we stand against them. You have some juicy gossip, don't tell it to them, they go to Indian Hills, they don't listen to gossip. What a great testimony that would be.

Come down to 2 Timothy 2. “Therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, deposit these with faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Aren't you glad there is a line of faithful people down through the history of the church, so 2,000 years after Paul wrote this we are here with truth that has been entrusted to us. “Suffer hardship with me.” Paul, would you get over this hardship business, would you get over this not being ashamed, would you get over this suffering? Well, you are an act of service. How do you know you are an act of service? You are still breathing. When God is done with your act of service, He'll promote you to heaven where you will continue to serve without the opposition.

Down in verse 5, “Consider what I say, the Lord will give you understanding. Remember Jesus Christ.” Keep stoking that, I remember the day God saved me. I remember the change in my life, I remember the excitement of that. Remember Him, remember what He did for you. Is that less-wonderful today than it was ten years ago? Fifty years ago? This is why verse 9, “I suffer hardship, even to imprisonment as a criminal.” But the Word of God is not imprisoned. You know serving the Lord can be a lonely life. Charles Spurgeon said I long ago said goodbye to my reputation. You may have to say goodbye to your friends.

Back up to 2 Timothy 1:15, “You were aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me.” Now this is the second letter. Remember when Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy, Timothy was in Asia, Ephesus. Paul wrote a letter to the Ephesians, he wrote a letter to another church in Asia, Colossae. We know something of the seven churches in Asia in Revelation 2-3. Now here all those believers from Asia who had been in Rome at this time chose not to be identified with Paul. They turned away. You can understand that, we get embarrassed, we don't want to say anything that would offend our friends. They didn't want to be identified with Paul. And he didn't hesitate.

Do you think Phygelus and Hermogenes were an exception? They weren't, they were evidently well known in the churches at Asia, their reputation evidently as godly men. You know pressure develops character, pressure produces character, pressure reveals character. Sad. You know it is amazing, sometimes we hold up and you hit the right spot and all of a sudden we fall flat on our face. “All who are in Asia turned away from me.” You note Paul doesn't present a very bright picture. It's not like Timothy, things will get better for you, you can expect brighter days than I had. No, Timothy, I'm calling you to suffer hardship. I want you to know all my friends from Asia, they turned away from me. The trial was too great for them. But now he is telling Timothy, suffer hardship with me. That may be a lonely road, Timothy. You may get in a spot sometime and be in prison like I am and all your friends will have turned away. There was one, Onesimus came to Rome and he sought me out and did everything he could. How encouraging is a friend like that.

But whatever it is, back in 2 Timothy 2:10, “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who were chosen, that they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus.” Verse 14, “Remind them of these things, solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words which is useless to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approve to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of truth. Avoid worldly and empty chatter.” I just can't get over how things spread among believers. Worldly, empty chatter. Pastors. A pastor friend said to me, “I heard.” He's talking to me something he heard about me in the church. I said, “where did you hear that? Well, I don't know that I want to say.” “It's a blatant lie, there is no truth to it. What are you listening to that stuff for?” We listen to it, there might be something that I ought to know, and I would like to know what they are thinking and decide. They could have something. They profess to be believers. Avoid it, you don't listen. “It will spread like gangrene.” Do you know what gangrene is? My grandfather lost both his legs to gangrene, an infection and it goes back many years. In those days they only thing to do was cut off his legs, still sometimes they do in dire situations, we have those kinds of things today. That's the example he uses. Error just takes hold and goes, it is like a cancer in the body. It's like in the church. How does that just go like that? How does it spread like that? The Bible says worldly empty chatter leads to further ungodliness and it spreads like gangrene.

Two other individuals, Hymenaeus and Philetus, “they have gone astray from the truth.” And on it goes. And we are reminded “in a large house there are many kinds of vessels,” verse 20. You better be careful, cut yourself off from those unholy vessels. Just because a person attends Indian Hills or any other church doesn't mean they are a godly person, and ungodly people do great damage. And the damage is magnified when godly people listen to ungodly people and then they get led astray. And now the confusion spreads and spreads and spreads. Why? Because we do not believe the authority of Scripture, we don't function in submission to it.

Chapter 3, “Realize in the last days difficult times will come,” and all this that goes on are the kind of people that people will be. “Lovers of self, lovers of money, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips,” on it goes. “Avoid such men as this.” Why do you hang around with people that tell lies, spread rumors. Avoid such men as this. Well, they profess to be believers. What is your authority? What is my authority? What does the Scripture say? Women, pay attention. A lot of this gets done by women, and that's not me. “They enter households and captivate weak women.” And these weak women spread it on to other women and pretty soon women have a chain going and I heard this and this and this and this. What's new? We believe in the authority of Scripture, we will go to another church that teaches the Scripture, too, because we are godly people. We are godly people when we submit to the Word of God and its authority. Not saying everybody who leaves Indian Hills is ungodly, but I am saying a lot of what goes on in the church is ungodly. There is no excuse for it. I don't know, Lord, it seems reasonable to me. Well when did I tell you do what seems reasonable to you? I told you to do what I tell you. “Avoid such men as this,” avoid these people, don't become one of those women that get weighed down with sins and then they pass on their sins to others. They are always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

“And realize,” verse 12, “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. You,” verse 14, “continue the things you have learned.” And all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable. So down in 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the Word. Reprove, rebuke, exhort.” You do it in season and out of season, when people want to hear it and when they don't want to hear it. “The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,” healthy teaching. But you note, they don't want to go away, they just want to have teachers who teach them what they want to hear. This is part of how the corruption and the undermining goes. They are not just denying the faith, it's underneath the surface where it is not so visible, the hole is being dug. They have teachers that they like better.

What about the authority of the Word? I'm not the final authority, I understand that. It's a fearsome responsibility to stand and say I have to teach you the Word of God, I better have it. I've shared with you, in my ministry I ask myself that if Christ came and sat on the front row, would I be embarrassed by what I taught? Would He have to say to me, where did you get that? That's not what I said. Well, I have opinions about things going on and I wanted to work that in. I don't think I'd want to work that in. It doesn't mean I have perfect interpretation of everything, but we need to be very, very careful. My concern is to be biblical, what says the Scripture.

The time will come when they won't want to hear it, “they will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” That's what they will do. I can't control what they do, “but you be sober, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

Well look what they are doing, look at what so-and-so did. What does that have to do with me? What does that have to do with you? There will come a time, I always thought I would be gone before these days would come. I'm not so sure now. We used to say there were only 60 people when I came, maybe there will be only 60 people when I leave. I may be happy to have 60 people. Will that change anything I am to do? Sometimes when I feel discouraged, disappointed, down, I sit there and say, Gil, what did God call you to do when you came to Lincoln, Nebraska? Teach the Word. What was your goal to do? Teach the Word. What has changed? Well, people won't love me, they won't say how wonderful . . . What is your job? Teach the Word. Well sober up, you big baby. Endure hardship, keep doing what you are to do. Well, I've lost friends. Paul said no one stood with him. Looks like you still have a few people around to befriend you.

All this if we don't say the Scripture, the Scripture. We believe in the verbal inspiration of Scripture. And someday the bottom will fall out and you'll say, what happened? It happened overnight because in our attitude we have lowered the Scripture to the level of our opinions, what we thought instead of submitting ourselves and bringing every thought into captivity to Christ and having the Spirit conform us to the Word. That is not easy. You don't know, I have lost friends. There is one who says I will never leave you nor forsake you, He is the friend you can depend will be there tomorrow, He's the friend who is your Savior. We thank Him for His grace.

Let's pray. Thank You , Lord, for Your grace, the grace that saved us. Lord, the grace that works in our lives every day. Lord, as we grow we are mindful that we are but dust. And Lord how sad it is the imperfections that remain, and Lord, we are mindful that we should grow more and want to become more and more conformed to You. Thank You for trials, thank You for pressure, thank You for the difficulties so that we, Lord, might learn to endure, draw upon the enabling grace and power of the indwelling Spirit. May it be true of us individually and as a church that You have called together in this place to be Your family, Your household in this place. May it be a pillar and support of the truth because we, the individual members, are submitted to the truth, and live in the truth. We pray in Christ's name, amen.