Ben Brinkerhoff - Class 1: Burn the Book

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   This is day one of the 2019 Idlewild Bible School. Our second period teacher is Brother Ben Brinkerhoff. His general topic is unity in Ephesus, the story of the ecclesia in Ephesus. Today's topic is burn the book. Before starting class, our brother Jesus is going to read Acts chapter 18, starting at verse 24, and he's going to conclude in chapter 19 on verse 10.

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   Okay, so Acts 18, verse 24. Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the scripture. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

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   He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wished to cross to Atria, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed.

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   For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scripture that Christ was Jesus. And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples, and he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said, No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.

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   And he said, Into what then were you baptized? They said, Into John's baptism. And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking tongues and prophesying.

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   They were about 12 men in all. And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly of reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of tryingness.

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   And this continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the words of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Good morning. Good morning. They do that here. That's good. Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I bring with me the love of my wife, Alyssa. And I've been asked specifically to bring the love of your brothers and sisters in the Christchurch North Ecclesia.

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   I look out at the people in this room, and I see friends. I see former science school teachers. I see those that taught me at Bible school. I see Auntie Christi over there. I was a little terror, wasn't I? Yeah. Yeah. And it's such a blessing to be with you here this week and to share with you the word of God together.

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   I don't know if you do this for all the visiting speakers, but you guys give lots of hugs, and I think that's wonderful. I've been trying to teach our Ecclesia and Christchurch that we ought to give more hugs. I've been having a good effect. They put me on the door sometimes, or I put myself on the door.

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    Alyssa, she knows that's true, don't you? It's so lovely to be with you and to share with you the story of Ecclesia of Ephesus and to study the topic of unity together.

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    I've rarely been in an Ecclesia or in a Sunday school or a CYC that couldn't use just a little bit more unity. Now, I realize the only thing that combines all those different groups in common is me. I hope I'm not the problem here. I mean, I hope this relates to you a little bit as well, that your Ecclesias and Sunday schools and CYCs and other groups that you're a part of in the truth that they could use a little bit more of the quality of unity.

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    Why is unity so hard, and what do the Scriptures have to say of it? I'll admit that I did not choose this subject by choice. So what happened is there was a very ambitious youth group in Australia, and they were conducting a youth week, and the topic for the week was unity. And they asked if I would go over there and speak on that topic.

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    Now, that's not a topic I would choose because unity seems like such a big topic. And I remember sitting down and thinking to myself, how do I even begin to study the subject of unity? What do I know about it anyways? And it's one of those deals where you just open the Bible and say, well, what does Jeremiah 22 have to say about that?

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    You know what? Honestly, I didn't know where to start. And so what happened was that the theme verse from the conference was from Ephesians in chapter 4. And so I literally, I could do nothing better than to go to that verse, turn over to Ephesians chapter 4, and read it. And this is what I read.

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    Now, good Bible study starts with a question, or so says a mentor of mine. So here's the question that I asked myself. Why did Paul have to write those words to that ecclesia? Why was that the necessary exhortation to the brethren and sisters in Ephesus? And answering that question will be the backbone of our series here this week.

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    However, the purpose of the series is probably more to uncover the root of disunity within our hearts and encourage us to draw closer, humbly, as brethren and sisters together. So together we'll trace the history of the ecclesian Ephesus and focusing on its many conflicts. We'll start in Acts, and then we're going to go out of chronological order, because we'll start in Acts, but we're going to go next to 1 Timothy.

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    Because when Paul wrote to Timothy, he was in Ephesus. And then we're going to go back to Ephesians and study that for the course of three studies. And then we're going to move quickly to 2 Timothy, and then briefly on the epistles to John and to Revelation, all within the course of the last study together.

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    So that's the journey that we're going to travel together. And if you think about it, what's super interesting about this particular ecclesia is, can you think of another ecclesia in Scripture for which we have such an amazing record left of what happened? Think of all the books of the Bible that are either written to the Ephesians, or to someone in Ephesus, or from someone living in Ephesus, why they wrote.

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    It's even mentioned in Revelation. So the longitudinal nature of the information that Scripture affords us about this ecclesia allows us to uncover over time the conflicts and the issues that ecclesia was facing. And then maybe exhortationally see what that might teach us about how we deal with conflict in our own ecclesias. So we pick up the record in Acts 18.

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    So Apollos arrives in Ephesus, and we know three things about him. Right? We know that he was an Alexandrian. Alexander was an ancient center of learning in the Near East.

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    We know that he was eloquent in speaking, and we know he's well-versed in the Scriptures. And I just want you to consider for a moment what importance that people put back then on rhetoric, or the ability to speak well publicly. It was something that was taught to all Roman youth, because public life was really one of presenting and hearing and confronting ideas through the medium, not of print, of course, but of the medium of public speaking.

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    And if Apollos was from Alexandra, and he was noted, and one of the few people in Scripture I might have you know that is noted for being eloquent. Of course, Paul was noted for not being eloquent, isn't he? So we know that he's eloquent, and we know that he knew his Scriptures. And the reason I point that out to you is for this particular reason.

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    He would have been a very difficult man to have an argument with. And so I just want you to consider that in the light of the last thing we know about Apollos, which is that he did not have the truth. Sure, he had a portion of the truth. He had part of it worked out through his study and through the example of John the Baptist.

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    But he didn't have all the truth. And with all those things in mind, I want you to consider now the man Aquila, who upon hearing Apollos speaking in the synagogue of Ephesus, says to himself, he may be smart, he may be incredibly well-spoken, and I may be just a tentmaker, but I'm going to confront him because he has not all the truth.

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    There is some essential part missing. So, I guess that leads us then to what are really the three options we have. What do we do when there is a conflict in the Ecclesia? What are the three options that perhaps Aquila had concerning Apollos? What are the options we have concerning maybe conflicts or issues in our Ecclesia that might arise from such a similar event?

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    How would humble tentmakers, not educated like Apollos, instruct one as eloquent and as learned as Apollos was? Well, I suppose they could avoid confrontation with Apollos and remain perpetually disunited. That was certainly an option that Apollos had, excuse me, that Aquila had concerning Apollos. perhaps they could instead try to unite with Apollos on common ground, such as they both agreed about the baptism of John.

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    And from that perspective, they could rejoice in and share discussion one with another about those things which they agreed with one another about. or they could try to unite on the basis of truth, trying to expound it carefully to win Apollos to Christ and gain a brother in the truth.

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    And as I reflected on it, I just realized that these are almost always our choices. We can choose to be permanently disunited with those around us, finding ourselves in a very small but isolated and safe circle. We can choose unity without truth and be left with very loose ties to many.

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    Or we can choose unity based on truth, risking alienating some in the hopes of gaining a true ecclesia. So really, the options we have, if I could just put a word to each of the various options, are isolation, tolerance, and true fellowship.

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    And the issue before us is that there are such doctrines that require this choice. And what is being presented to us here in Acts is that our understanding of Jesus Christ is one such doctrine. Now, the irony, the true irony of studying unity in Ephesus is of course the fact that there was a complete lack of unity in Ephesus.

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    I guess that makes the subject interesting but also challenging. I discovered this when I opened up the pages of Acts where almost as soon as the ecclesia started, almost at its very beginning, the ecclesia had to deal with separation. Let me show you. See, Paul returns to Ephesus at the start of his third missionary journey, reuniting with Priscilla and Aquila.

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    By now, Apollos had left and he had gone to Corinth. So Paul again went to the synagogue to bring the truth to the Jews. Now, the record is found in Acts 19 and there we read in verses 8 and 9.

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    And he went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers were hardened and believed not but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples,

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    disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. So Paul separated the disciples. So to summarize, while Paul says clearly advocating unity in Ephesians chapter 4 and we all saw that together, you know, one God and one spirit and one baptism and one salvation, one of the first things he does in Ephesus is to separate the believers from the synagogue.

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    God. And as I studied this ecclesia, I found some fascinating truths. Okay? I found exhortations for separation such as Ephesians chapter 5 verse 7 and 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 5. I found exhortations for unity such as in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 3 which we read. I found huge doctrinal controversies such as are identified in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 18.

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    I found ecclesial members disfellowshipped as are identified in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 20. I found ecclesial leaders lusting for power and tearing the ecclesia apart at least the prophecy thereof in Acts chapter 20 verses 29 and 30. I found Jesus saying that he hates the doctrine of some so-called Christians in Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2 verse 6.

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    I found an exhortation to love your brethren unlike we find in any other ecclesia in the New Testament such as we see in 1 John chapter 4.

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    Many times brothers and sisters I just scratched my head and I thought how do I make sense of this? And here's a little secret.

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    I'm not sure I've made sense of it yet. What I want you to know is that there aren't any cheap answers here. This is not a study in which I can turn to a verse point out a principle close the book and rest comfortably that upon application of that single principle that I've identified and can correctly act on this issue.

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    This is complicated. And those of you that I look out on this crowd that have had years of experience in ecclesial life, brethren with years of experience on arranging boards,

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    sisters who have encouraged their brethren in every single one of those issues contemplated on arranging boards, will agree with me, I believe that this issue is complicated. Do you not?

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    So what we're going to do is we're simply going to follow the story without pretense and without prejudgment. We're going to lay out what happened and try to glean exhortation from what actually occurred rather than what we think should have happened because actually experience is a wonderful thing, isn't it? And in this particular ecclesia, we have some.

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    So to be true to the story, we need to begin our study of unity talking about separation because, in fact, I don't desire it, but the story seems to require it.

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    One of the first things we take account of in the record is that Paul was in the synagogue disputing and persuading. Now, the Greek word for disputing is Luke's verb for Paul. I don't know if you're the kind of person that likes to mark things in your Bible or highlight different words or maybe grab a colored pencil, perhaps, and maybe you find the same word used many times but actually sometimes using a different English word and you can highlight them all in so you identify them for what they are.

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    And this might be one word to do that with because this word is found eight times between Acts chapter 17 and Acts chapter 20. And here they are.

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    They're Acts chapter 17 verse 2, reasoned. Acts chapter 17 verse disputed. Acts chapter 18 verse 4, reasoned. Acts chapter 18 verse 9, reasoned. Acts chapter 19 verse 8, disputing. Acts chapter 19 verse 9, disputing. Acts chapter 20 verse 7, preached. Acts chapter 20 verse 9, preaching. and one last one found in Acts chapter 24 in verse 25 reasoned and what Luke I believe in the persistent use of this word is getting across to us is that this was Paul's persistent activity to reason out the doctrines concerning the truth and righteousness so going back to Acts chapter 19 the direct and perhaps inevitable outcome of this insistent preaching reasoning and disputing is tension you see Paul just won't be quiet you can imagine the elders in the synagogue saying yes yes yes we've heard you yes yes why don't you talk about that somewhere else we don't want that argument here we don't want it Paul Paul Paul why don't you take that somewhere else and he wouldn't stop you ever had a brother like that boy they got an issue they got an issue and they will just no matter what you talk about it somehow goes right back to that subject you know all roads lead to Rome with that particular brother that was Paul in relation to reasoning and persuading and disputing the things concerning the kingdom of God and as a result of this some Jews began to speak evil of the way we're told in Acts chapter 19 verses 8 and 9 and Paul went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months disputing and persuading the things concerning

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    the kingdom of God but when divers were hardened and believed not but spake evil of that way before the multitude he departed from them and separated the disciples disputing daily instead in the school of one Tyrannus now some of the Jews began to speak evil of the way now literally this word means to curse and it's the same word where Jesus says that in the Old Testament if you curse your mother and father you could be put to death so it's actually a very strong word that these Jews are using towards Paul when they say that they're cursing him this is not light language this is not muttering this is blatant and flagrant and open so in order to shepherd the ecclesia from this abuse Paul very wisely separated the disciples so what's brought about the separation?

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    well first and obviously Paul's persistence in reasoning disputing and persuading and teaching and secondly the hardening of the Jews to that message and the hostility this aroused amongst the Jews so so what this makes me think about is that I like to think and I think we'd like to think that we are separate from the world today but what really makes you separate?

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    so here's a question I ask myself am I willing to reason to dispute and to persuade and teach regarding the kingdom of God if you don't take these types of actions based on our beliefs then my guess is we're not very separate are we?

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    do I have a faith upon which I'm willing to reason and persuade and if not is that because some might speak evil of the way now I'll confess right I'm sort of one of those guys that I'm I'm sort of weighty in letters but weak in bodily presence you know I don't mind writing it but I find this very difficult to do because when I I find that when when people are critical of me and are judging me and are speaking negatively about me that I take that so personally and it hurts so I just want I just want to get along with everybody does anyone relate with that?

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    I just want to get along with everyone I don't want anyone not to like me and so if I if I have to if I just have to not mention certain things in order to ensure that I get along then my default is to just not mention those things my default is let's just talk about what we have in common but maybe and I have to remind myself of this in light of Paul maybe someone speaking evil of the way is not a sign I've done something wrong maybe it's actually a sign that I've done something right or you've done something right God knows God knows in that instance so the heart of the conflict here though is that the Jews were upset at Paul because of his preaching about the kingdom of God so I want you to consider a simple observation two issues present themselves in Acts 18 and 19 in the first 10 verses do you guys notice what those two issues are?

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    we read them we've talked about them already it's probably dawned on most of you but just to make sure I want to just summarize what are the two issues that have presented themselves right away as this ecclesia is founded in Ephesus the first question is who is Jesus?

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    the second is what is the kingdom of God? you guys notice that? you guys notice that these two issues come up right away in Ephesus the first one who is Jesus? concerning which Apollos and disciples of John were related the second issue is what is the kingdom of God which Paul preached in the synagogues of Ephesus over the first issue scriptural reasoning brought about unity and Apollos and disciples of John came into the ecclesia on the basis of agreeing about who is Jesus that he is the Christ and so scriptural reasoning and persuading and disputing and preaching brought about unity in relation to Apollos and the disciples of John and they joined the ecclesia and there was unity and over the second issue scriptural reasoning and disputing and persuading and teaching failed and it was necessary then for Paul to separate the believers out of the synagogue into the school of Titranus now since Sunday school brothers and sisters since Sunday school you have known what is the gospel you have been able to cite it now some of you for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years my father here has known what the gospel is now for going on 65 years it is the things concerning the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God so what exactly then do the first excuse me the last 5 verses of Acts 18 and the first 10 verses of Acts 19 teach us they teach us that the gospel matters we either reconcile or we separate on the gospel the gospel unifies or it divides but the gospel doesn't change the study Ephesus

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    and Ecclesia there is a study both unity and separation based on one gospel and I struggle with this see I want the gospel only to unify don't you don't you we want the gospel only to unify I want the gospel to bring the whole world together under one king and one ruler and one government I want the gospel to do that and one day it will I struggle with the fact that the same gospel both unifies and it separates and that's plainly what I am taught right there as this Ecclesia is founded and I struggle with it the implications in this age of ecumenic I can't even say the word ecumenic blah blah blah but you know what I mean the idea that doctrine doesn't matter we should all just come together that what separates us doesn't matter it's increasing in this age so can we accept today the message of separation because the gospel doesn't change brothers and sisters it may bring together and it may separate but the gospel doesn't change this caused me to look at our statement of faith you know our statement of faith is based around the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ so given the hostility of Paul's kingdom excuse me of Paul's teaching about the kingdom I thought it was worthwhile to look at the BASF where the kingdom of God takes up twelve clauses and of those twelve clauses I just want to cite to you four clauses if I could so bear with me I'm going to cite you four of the clauses in the BASF regarding the kingdom of God

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    first clause 19 that God will set up a kingdom in the earth which will overthrow all others and change them into the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ clear 21 that the kingdom which he will establish will be the kingdom of Israel restored in the territory of formerly occupied namely the land bequeathed for an everlasting possession to Abraham and his seed the Christ by covenant pretty clear 23 that the governing body of the kingdom so established will be the brethren of Christ of all generations developed by resurrection and change and constituting with Christ as their head the collective seed of Abraham in whom all nations will be blessed and comprising Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in all the age of the like faithfulness 28 that the mission of the kingdom will be to subdue all enemies and finally death itself by opening up the way of life to the nations which they will enter by faith during the thousand years in reality at their close so here's a quick question outside of the Christadelphians or groups derived from the Christadelphians how many denominations share our specific understanding regarding the kingdom of God none that I'm aware of let me let me quote from some sources I found on the web regarding maybe what some other denominations believe about the kingdom of God we can almost become so insular that we forget that other people have different ideas about the kingdom of God this I took from the Catholic catechism the Catholics believe the kingdom of God the kingdom of heaven was inaugurated on earth by Christ this kingdom shown out

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    before men in the world in the works and in the presence of Christ the church is the seed and the beginning of this kingdom its keys are entrusted to Peter that's that's the Catholic definition how about the Protestants how about we we start with the Lutherans generally they speak of three kingdoms kingdom of his power and this God rules all creation with his almighty power to kingdom of his grace this being the church on earth consisting of each one who believes with Christ ruling in the human heart and three the kingdom of glory being above or heaven where all the dead in Christ await the final day okay the Jehovah's witness God's kingdom is said to be an actual government set up by God in heaven they'll rule over the earth after removing all human governments at Armageddon Jesus began ruling as king of God's kingdom in 1914 how about the LDS church the LDS church considers the church itself to be the kingdom of God on the earth however this is limited to a special or ecclesiastical kingdom until the millennium when Christ will also establish a political kingdom of God however Latter-day saints believe this theocratic kingdom will be in fact quasi republican in its organization and I could quote you definitions from the hundreds maybe even thousands of Christian denominations we would not find one which we would share in common there's not a single other denomination which has the truth concerning the kingdom of God for two reasons the apostolic emphasis on the kingdom of God only makes sense when we're mortal creatures resurrected to judgment and finding a reward on the

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    earth and secondly when you believe in the return of Christ to fulfill the promises to the patriarchs and set up again the throne of David in Jerusalem I want you to put aside for a moment the idea of unity I have a question first are we prepared to be separate from the churches are we prepared to separate on our basis in the kingdom of God because unity means nothing unless it also means separation if I ask us to be unified on something then I also have to ask you to be separate from those who do not hold the basis of the unity when I gave this class to young people in Australia they gave me a lot of heat afterwards our young people don't like this message I got a lot of criticism a little bit of anger because everywhere they're taught that this is not the truth behind many calls for unity is some message in some subtext or shape and it's simply that what separates us doesn't matter is that true as uncomfortable as it is to reflect on we have to admit if we look at scripture honestly that God's truth has always been a divider did it not separate Cain from Abel did it not separate Enoch from Lamech did it not separate Noah from the nations did it not separate Abraham from Terah did it not separate Ishmael from Isaac did it not separate Esau from Jacob did it not separate Israel from Egypt did it not separate Israel from the Canaan ites it is always divided why has it divided because in God's eyes brothers sisters the truth matters

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    that's why Jesus said he didn't come to bring peace but a sword you might show me some evidence that God doesn't care for his truth but there's multiple verses that cares to the utmost for example did Paul care when he wrote better

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    even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction? Did Paul care about the truth when he wrote that they all might be damned to believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness? Again, what about when Paul said in 2 Timothy, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts they will heap unto themselves teachers having itching ears.

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    Brothers and sisters, there's not any evidence in the Bible that the truth is not a divider, that the truth does not matter, that God sanctions the idea that his ways are not worth finding out. The problem is when I was young and less knowledgeable of the truth, my natural thought was because I don't understand it, it doesn't matter.

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    That was my go-to thought. I couldn't articulate the thought in just those words, but it's what I did think. If I don't understand it, it doesn't matter.

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    You ever had a thought like that? I guess I've come to learn that I should just open up my Bible and study it. And maybe be humble enough to know that it might matter, even if I don't understand why yet. But you can only come to that conclusion with your scriptures open on your lap.

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    So coming back to Ephesus, we're told that Paul removes the Ecclesia from the synagogue to the school of Tyrannus because the truth mattered. Clearly, Paul must emphasize to the early Ecclesia that the truth mattered because I want you just to pause and consider for a moment what initially those Gentile believers did upon learning the truth.

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    This is just amazing, considering what we have just talked about together. What did the Gentile believers do upon first learning the truth in Ephesus? Consider this in Acts chapter 19, verses 18 to 20. And many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds. Many of them also, which used curious arts, brought their books together and burned them before all men.

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    And they counted the price of them and found 50,000 pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. Now in the ancient world, Ephesus was well known as a famous center for spiritualism, for magical and superstitious arts. So look at the strength of the Gentiles' reaction. Based on the truth, they didn't just forsake their old beliefs.

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    It wasn't just saying, I'm going to forsake my old beliefs and ideas. What they did is they took their old books that taught the things they used to believe and they brought them together and they burned them and they said there's no going back to that. They didn't say to themselves, you know what I'm going to do here, guys?

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    I'm just going to leave the books on the shelf. Because I never know when I'm going to need that love potion. Boy, did I need it at Idlewild. And it didn't work.

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    Thank goodness. They didn't think to themselves, I might need something there one day. There might be something useful there that I might find one day. Let me just leave it there and I'll go back to it if I need it. But you know what? For the most part, I'm just going to use the scriptures now.

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    No, that's not their reaction. When Paul separated the ecclesia from the Jews, the ecclesia separated themselves from their old ways and beliefs and ideas.

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    And they burned books and today's money probably worth four to six million dollars. There's no mixing truth and error here. It wasn't like, gee, you know, let's just find a nice, comfortable, happy medium.

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    Unfortunately, this is not the history of Christianity, is it? Brothers and sisters. You know, when I get back home, in a few short weeks after I get back home, we're doing a public advertised lecture on the Trinity. And I'm preparing for that. And I came across a couple interesting quotes about a man that lived in the era after the apostles had passed away.

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    His name was Justin Martyr. He died in 165 A.D. And there's a couple experts on early Christianity and they've written about Justin. And the second of these quotes has a line which I want us to pay special attention to. First quote is this from a man named Chadwick. Justin was converted. But did not understand this to mean the abandonment of his philosophical inquiries.

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    or even the renunciation of all that he had learned from the philosopher Plato. In fact, the next quote by a man named Weitzman. It's obvious that Justin's Christianity is divided into two halves. One is a philosophic religion which clothes Greek ideas and conceptions in a loose biblical garment. And the second aspect is that of the unreasoned faith of the church in which the words of Jesus sacrament mysticism and church life combine to form an active unity.

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    Where do many issues facing the brotherhood today come from? In my experience in my ecclesia they come from an attempt to combine the philosophies of humanism and the philosophy of science with the truth.

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    One could argue effectively that the reason that Christianity came to dominate the Roman world was the ready acceptance of the learning of the age into its doctrines.

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    From hence we get the idea of the Trinity the idea of the mortal soul and all that derives from those false doctrines. Because in latter generations they weren't willing to burn the books.

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    Let's just combine. And the truth was lost. So what's the main point of today's class? I've been told that it's really good to summarize the classes and I can see that that's true. The idea of today's class is to take you to the founding of the Ecclesia in Ephesus and to show you that right away the gospel has a defining influence on the Ecclesia.

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    it brought about unity and it brought about separation. And to remind you that I don't think the gospel today is different. I would love to give you classes that simply are warm and simply try to embrace and bring together and to ignore the idea that the truth matters and to ignore the idea that scripture teaches us from Ephesus and to pass over the idea that the books were burned and pass over the idea that the Ecclesia had to be separated over the doctrine of the kingdom of God.

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    I would like to tell you those things because that appeals to me. But in this study we're simply going to try to look at what happened. Try to piece together the record and to remind you that in today's time just as in Paul's time the truth matters. So today is an exhortation to hold on to the truth and to separate rather than amalgamate the truth in the world.

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    It's not just an exhortation to you. This is very very much an exhortation to me. And this exhortation isn't merely mine. Because in Paul's instruction to Timothy which we will deal with in our next class while Timothy was living in Ephesus the Ecclesia was starting to bring in ideas from the world. And so Paul would have to write Timothy to say this which we will take up in our next study.

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    Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. Amen.