Daryl Rose - Class 1: 1Ti. 1 - My Own Son in the Faith

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

1. 0:00

   Our overall theme, brothers and sisters, is how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God. Our first class is entitled, Mine Own Son in the Faith. And it is my pleasure to call upon our brother Daryl Rose of the book Road Ecclesia to deliver the first class for the weekend. Brother Daryl.

2. 0:30

   Well, good afternoon, brothers and sisters and young people and friends. It is certainly good for us to be together this day around the word of God and to find in it a source of encouragement and strength in our walk towards God's kingdom in these last days. Now, as our presiding brother announced, we are going to be looking this weekend through a number of studies at the first epistle that Paul wrote to this young man, Timothy.

3. 1:17

   And in this first class, what we're going to be looking at is the trying to give an overall picture to the to the purpose of the letter, the background to the letter. We're going to be looking at when it was written, who this man, Timothy, was and why the apostle Paul had such confidence in him to leave him in charge of the affairs at Ephesus.

4. 1:42

   And then we're going to look at some of the things that are found in that first chapter that we just read. Some of the things that were challenges that Timothy was going to have to be faced with in his work at the ecclesia in Ephesus. Now, before we begin any further, I'd like just to, if we can, well, if, first of all, if you happen to have this chart in your Bible, this handout, that would be might might be helpful to reference.

5. 2:09

   This is a chart of the Acts of the Apostles timeline. If you don't have a copy of it, I'd suggest finding a copy and at some point in time in the future, but we will blow it up in certain sections so that we can actually read it a little clearer. But this is a very helpful kind of timeline for us that we'll reference as we go on.

6. 2:33

   Now, we learn in verse 3 of 1 Timothy chapter 1 that Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus at some point in time, and we'll try to identify when in a minute. The apostle Paul and Timothy had both been together in Ephesus, and now the apostle had left. It says he had gone into Macedonia.

7. 2:56

   I went into Macedonia. And he wanted Timothy to stay there, to abide still at Ephesus, to continue on the work of the apostle Paul, to strengthen this ecclesia in the things of God. And you know, brothers and sisters, we know more about the ecclesia at Ephesus than any other ecclesia or any other Gentile ecclesia in New Testament times.

8. 3:25

   There is more history. We know about 50 years of history with this ecclesia. We can't really say that about any other ecclesia, asides from maybe Jerusalem. We have the record of Paul's work there in the Acts of the Apostles, in the second and third missionary journeys. We have the letter to Ephesus, the Ephesians.

9. 3:48

   We have two letters that were written to Timothy for his work in Ephesus. And we have the letter in the book of Revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ. This spans a period of almost 50 years of work with this ecclesia. Now, Paul had first come to Ephesus on his second missionary journey. And it was right near the end of this journey that the apostle had come there with Silas and Timothy.

10. 4:24

    And Paul only stayed a very short time, as it's recorded for us, in Acts 18, verses 18 to 21. And we won't turn that up for the sake of time, but some of the references will be on the screen. Paul had to continue on, and he wanted to go down to Jerusalem for a feast.

11. 4:40

    But he left behind Priscilla and Aquila to continue on the work. And that's when Apollos came through. And then Apollos continued on to Corinth. And then Paul made his way back to this city again on his third missionary journey. This was a very important city in the Roman world of that day. It was one of the largest cities in Asia Minor of its time.

12. 5:03

    And in 27 AD, Augustus made Ephesus the capital of the Roman Empire in the province of Asia. And so it became the seat of the governor and the major center of commerce. People would be coming and going all the time. We know that it was a city made up of both a Jewish and a Gentile population.

13. 5:29

    And probably Ephesus was most well known for the temple to Artimaeus, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. And this was the city that Paul spent a considerable amount of time working with the brothers and sisters there.

14. 5:49

    As we said, Paul came back there on the third missionary journey, and we learn about his time there in Acts 19. But it's in Acts 20, verse 31, that we learn that he spent three years working with the brothers and sisters in this ecclesia. And it was during that time that Paul would have received word from the Corinthians.

15. 6:11

    Some visitors came from Corinth and the letters to the Corinthians, both of them. And there was probably a couple more that we don't have in our Bibles that were written during this time, during this three-year time in Ephesus. And then the apostle continued on. And he left Ephesus and he continued to pass over the areas of Macedonia and Achaia.

16. 6:30

    That was the end of the third missionary journey when he was collecting the money for the Jerusalem Poor Fund. And then he made his way back to Jerusalem. Timothy went with him. They went back to Jerusalem with that money. And Paul knew that what awaited him there was bonds and that he would be taken away into prison in Rome.

17. 6:52

    But before he made his way back, we also know that he met with the elders of the ecclesia at Ephesus in Miletus. And it was there that he gave them words of warning and words of encouragement because he didn't expect that he would ever see these brethren again that he had spent so much time working with.

18. 7:12

    And we know that his words were that they were to feed the flock of God, to encourage the brothers and sisters, but he also had words of warning for them. Because he says in Acts 20, verse 29 and 30, that after his departing, grievous wolves would enter in among them, not sparing the flock.

19. 7:32

    And of their own selves, men would arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. And that's kind of an idea that comes out, of course, in these letters that were written to Timothy. So the apostle continued on to Jerusalem, where he was arrested. And he was taken off to Rome, and he was placed under house arrest, and that's how the Acts of the Apostles record leaves it, when Paul is under house arrest in Rome.

20. 8:03

    Now, it was from there that the apostle wrote several epistles, as you can see on the chart here, right around the time period of 62, 63 AD, Paul was in prison in Rome, and he wrote the letter to the Ephesians. There's some discrepancy whether or not the letter was specifically just to the brothers and sisters in Ephesus, or whether it was to a larger group of ecclesiastes in the area.

21. 8:28

    We know some of the themes that were there. Paul emphasized the riches of the mercy and the grace of God. He encouraged the brothers and sisters in that letter not to be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. He spoke of them being one in Christ. Both Jew and Gentile were one in Christ.

22. 8:48

    He emphasized the fact that there was one gospel which leads to salvation. And, of course, he encouraged them to walk worthy of the calling to which they had been called.

23. 9:02

    Now, another letter at this time was the letter to the Philippians. And in Philippians 2 and verse 24, you might actually want to leave your hand in 1 Timothy and just come over there because we're going to be back there in a minute.

24. 9:21

    In Philippians 2, verse 24, we read that the apostle fully anticipated to be released from prison and to be able to return to see the Philippian brethren again.

25. 9:36

    He says to them, verse 24, but I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. So Paul anticipated he would be released from prison. We don't actually have a record of it in the scriptures, but it's commonly believed that Paul was released for a time from prison for maybe a period of four to five years before then he was rearrested and sentenced to death.

26. 10:04

    And it's believed that when he was released from prison, Paul actually was able to return to some of the areas that perhaps he didn't anticipate he was going to be able to return to again. He went to Crete, for instance, and he left Titus in charge at Crete. And he would have made his way back to Ephesus.

27. 10:24

    And so although Acts chapter 20 gives the indication he wouldn't be returning, the general sense is that Paul did make his way back there and left Timothy in charge while he continued on into Macedonia. And that this is when the first letter to Timothy was written. In fact, there's a lot of similarities between 1 Timothy and Titus suggesting that they were written around the same time.

28. 10:50

    And then 2 Timothy was written when Paul was just about to be put to death when he was put in prison again. I should mention there's another suggestion as to when 1 Timothy was written. Some have suggested it might have been written during the three-year stay of Paul and that he took a journey to Macedonia that's not recorded for us in the scriptures and left Timothy in charge for that time.

29. 11:15

    That's another possibility. But there seems to be some suggestions within the epistle itself that would suggest that it was written at a later date. Sometime between around 63 AD. Paul actually references in the letter to Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 3 at the end that he anticipated that he would return back to Ephesus again.

30. 11:44

    And you'll find that in 1 Timothy 3 verse 14. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. Whether he made it back or not to Ephesus, we don't know.

31. 12:01

    But Timothy was left in charge during this time. And so the question we have to ask ourselves now is, well, why would Paul leave Timothy in charge? What kind of confidence did the Apostle Paul have in Timothy to leave this young man in charge dealing with these ecclesial situations here in Ephesus? Some pretty challenging situations.

32. 12:24

    I'm going to suggest to you, brothers and sisters, that Timothy was no older than 30 years old when this letter was written. Probably right around the age of 30, but no older. So what does Paul say about Timothy? Well, if you flip back to Philippians chapter 2, there's a wonderful passage there that talks about what Paul thought about this young brother and the truth.

33. 12:52

    That Paul had taken under his wings and referred to him as my own son in the faith. It says there in Philippians 2, and we're going to begin reading at verse 20, and I have up on the screen the New American Standard for a little bit of clarity in the wording here. It says there in Philippians 2, verse 20, about Timothy, that I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.

34. 13:22

    Now imagine that. Imagine all the brothers and sisters, all the young brethren, we should say, that the apostle Paul worked with in the truth and left in various places. There was no one else, Paul said, no one else that he was of more kindred spirit with than this young man, Timothy, who had this genuine faith.

35. 13:44

    The word genuine that's used there means unhypocritical. There was no show about Timothy's faith, about Timothy's faith, we should say. It was absolutely genuine, and he had a genuine concern for the well-being of the brothers and sisters, a similar concern that we know the apostle Paul had, 2 Corinthians 11, 28. That which cometh upon me daily, says Paul, the care of all the ecclesias.

36. 14:13

    And Paul goes on to say about Timothy in this passage, did you know of his proven worth that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving a father? And that idea of the proven worth, or the proof of him, as the King James says, is the idea that Timothy had gone through and experienced trials in his life.

37. 14:40

    He had suffered persecution like the apostle Paul, and he had come through it with flying colors. And here was Timothy, the man that Paul was going to leave in charge. In fact, you go through some of Paul's writings and you'll find many things written about Timothy throughout the letters. Romans 16, he's referred to as my work fellow.

38. 15:02

    1 Corinthians, my beloved son and faithful in the Lord. He worketh the work of the Lord as I also do. 1 Corinthians 16, 10. 2 Corinthians in Hebrews, our brother. 1 Thessalonians 3, verse 2, our brother and minister of God and our fellow laborer in the gospel. And of course, throughout the rest of Timothy, 1 and 2 Timothy, he's referred to as Paul's own son in the faith.

39. 15:31

    There was a very special relationship that the apostle Paul had with this young brother. When this young brother didn't have a fatherly figure in the truth, the indication from Acts 16, when it says that his father was a Greek, the indication there is that his father was not a believer.

40. 15:50

    Timothy didn't have a fatherly figure in the truth, but Paul took him under his wing and became that fatherly figure to him. Timothy had been entrusted by the apostle Paul in three very special missions up until this point. During the second missionary journey, the apostle Paul had to flee from Thessalonica and couldn't go back there because of the persecutions and he sent Timothy back to that city.

41. 16:18

    1 Thessalonians 3, verses 2 and 5 bring this out where he says that Timothy was being sent to strengthen and encourage them in their faith and to find out about their faith. And Timothy was able to come back with wonderful words, comforting words to the apostle Paul to say that the brethren there were strong in their faith despite those persecutions.

42. 16:39

    During that three-year stay of the apostle in Ephesus, when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, he says in chapter 4, verse 17, that Timothy was going to be sent to them to remind them of Paul's ways in Christ Jesus just as I teach everywhere in every ecclesia. Now imagine that, brothers and sisters. Here's Timothy who would have been in his early 20s at this point, being sent into an ecclesial situation like Corinth with the factions and the divisions and all those problems.

43. 17:13

    What confidence the apostle had in this young brother to send him into that kind of ecclesial situation. And then when Paul wrote Philippians in chapter 2, verse 19, he says, I'm sending Timothy to you. Timothy co-authored several of the letters with the apostle Paul. 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Philemon, all were co-authored by Timothy along with Paul.

44. 17:46

    So who was Timothy? How did he learn the truth? Well, we learn that he was brought up in a very spiritual family for the most part. As we already said, his father was a Greek, but his mother and his grandmother are commended by the apostle in 2 Timothy, chapter 1, in verse 5, where it says, reading from the New American Standard, I am mindful, says Paul, of the sincere faith.

45. 18:13

    There's that idea, the genuine faith, unhypocritical faith that is within you, Timothy, that first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that is in you as well. Paul had a wonderful estimation of these two sisters in the truth, Lois and Eunice. Faith dwelt within them. We know where faith comes from.

46. 18:41

    It comes by hearing the word of God. The word of God was dwelling within their hearts and they had this genuine faith which they passed on to their son and grandson, Timothy.

47. 18:56

    And we know that they taught Timothy the scriptures from a young age in that all-familiar passage of 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 15. It says that, Timothy, from a child, you've known the holy scriptures, those scriptures which impart spiritual wisdom that bring salvation that developed faith in Christ Jesus. Timothy had been taught those scriptures from a very young age by his mother and his grandmother and what a lesson that is for us, brothers and sisters, raising children in the truth.

48. 19:33

    And when was Timothy first baptized, we might ask? When did he learn the truth? Well, by the time we're introduced to Timothy in Acts chapter 16 during Paul's second missionary journey, we find that Timothy had already been baptized, learned the truth, and was active in the ecclesia. He was an active young brother.

49. 19:58

    So it must have been before that time. Timothy came from the city of Lystra, which we learn in Acts chapter 16. And before that time, during Paul's first missionary journey in 47 to 49 AD, somewhere in that time frame, the apostle had come to that very region of Galatia and had come to Timothy's hometown.

50. 20:21

    And it was there that the apostle experienced great persecutions. He was stoned. He was dragged out of the city and they thought he was dead. In fact, he wasn't dead. And Paul got right back up and marched right back into the city again. What confidence that inspired in the young man Timothy to see Paul's example.

51. 20:46

    In fact, Paul makes reference of it in 2 Timothy 3 verses 10 to 12, that Timothy had seen these things, the persecutions, the afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, and Lystra. Timothy had been an eyewitness of those things and had encouraged Timothy. And when Paul came back through that region again on the first journey, he went to that city and he told them that through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God and Timothy would have taken those words to heart.

52. 21:19

    And we believe that Timothy would have been baptized somewhere around that time or shortly after. He was probably only about 15 years of age when he was baptized.

53. 21:30

    Meaning that by the time Paul came back there on the second missionary journey he was somewhere around the age of 17 or 18 when Paul took him on that journey.

54. 21:41

    A young brother but active in the truth. In fact, in Acts 16 in the first three verses there when Timothy is introduced to us look what it says about him. Then came Paul back again in the second journey to Derbe and Lystra and behold a certain disciple was there named Timotheus which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.

55. 22:07

    Now imagine that. Timothy wasn't just active in his own city and well known there he was known in the neighboring city as well. So active and enthusiastic was this young brother in the truth. And sometimes we see that don't we brothers and sisters with young brethren in the truth full of energy and life for the things that they've come to know and receive.

56. 22:33

    And that was who Timothy was. You know, it's believed that Galatians the letter to the Galatians was written about this time between the two epistles and if that's true there's a little bit of debate on that but if that's true then we know that the region of Galatia was engulfed in turmoil at this time as well.

57. 22:52

    That wasn't solved until the Jerusalem conference in Acts 15 and the letters that Paul took on that second journey. And if that's true and the ecclesias of Galatia were going through much tribulation and trial within themselves and debate that didn't discourage Timothy.

58. 23:14

    Now it seems that when it says here that him would Paul have to go forth with him Acts 16 verse 3 there's a clue in 1st Timothy 1 that in fact there was a reason Paul took Timothy with him. There were prophecies that had gone before about Timothy. That's what we read here in 1st Timothy chapter 1 and verse 18.

59. 23:43

    This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went on before on thee. And we know that in Antioch there were those that were that or that had the gift of prophecy that were able to foretell the future. It was one of the Holy Spirit gifts. And we read in Acts 11 verse 27 or Acts 13 verse 1 about those that had this gift and perhaps they had spoken to Paul when he had been in that region and prophesied about a young brother fully active in the truth of genuine faith that the apostles should take with him on his journey.

60. 24:28

    So this is who Timothy was. And Paul had every confidence leaving him in Ephesus that Timothy could do this great work of encouraging the brothers and sisters there and carrying on the work carrying the mantle if we will of the work of the apostle Paul. So let's get into the first chapter then.

61. 24:56

    We read there in verse 1 Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ which is our hope. Now that word commandment means the authority Paul was writing with authority the authority that had been passed on to him and given to him by God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

62. 25:20

    Now Timothy didn't need to be reminded of these things. Timothy didn't need to be reminded that Paul was the apostle and that he wrote with the authority of God but there were others there in the ecclesia that might need to know these things. Just before we move on we might also note that there were times when the apostle Paul wrote and he specifically said that he was not speaking by way of commandment.

63. 25:42

    That's in 1 Corinthians 7 and 2 Corinthians 8 so it puts it kind of in contrast to this where he says I am speaking with the authority of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. And it really gets to the heart of the reason why this epistle was written.

64. 26:02

    In this book Letters to Timothy and Titus by Brother Alfred Nichols he has this to say about the purpose of the letter. The object of the epistle is plain enough. It was to warn and exhort Timothy personally and reinforce him with the apostle's own written authority to counteract the undesirable trends in the ecclesia at Ephesus how?

65. 26:24

    By sound organization positive teaching and above all his personal integrity in doctrine and life. And the quote continues thus the letter though addressed to Timothy personally is an open letter in the best sense not one offering criticism to an individual to which the writer wished to give the widest publicity but one the recipients can use publicly for the effective discharge of his duty.

66. 26:53

    Timothy now has written apostolic authority for his delicate and responsible task. So in other words if anyone gave him any trouble about what Timothy was trying to do he could pull out this letter and say look I'm not speaking these things on my own authority these are the words of the apostle Paul who was speaking with the authority of God himself and the Lord Jesus Christ.

67. 27:16

    There was weight in these opening words to this letter. And so verse 2 says that he's writing to Timothy my own son in the faith and he says grace mercy and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Now what's interesting about this greeting it's a standard greeting that the apostle Paul uses throughout his letters and others but this is the first time that the word mercy is added to this greeting and what we've tried to do in this chart is show you in chronological order the letters that were written by the apostle and how he opened them with this greeting and you will notice that from Galatians through Thessalonians Corinthians Romans Ephesians Philippians Colossians Philemon all he says is grace and peace but now once he's been released from prison he adds the term mercy it seems to be a characteristic feature of the later epistles that we find in 1st Timothy 2nd Timothy and Titus and also it's picked up by the apostle John in his second epistle and also Jude will pick it up as well both of which written after this point in time so mercy is added to this list and there might have been an even deeper reason as to why mercy was added in this particular context which we'll come to in a little bit as the word comes up later on in this chapter so there was a mission for the man Timothy Paul says I besought thee verse 3 to abide still at Ephesus and that word besought is the word that we use it's parakaleo to exhort to encourage Timothy Paul was exhorting

68. 28:57

    him Timothy abide still at Ephesus or in other words remain at your post there is this kind of military language that's used throughout the epistle by the apostle and that gets us into the next key word that's used seven times in the epistle and that is to do with the charge that thou mayest charge some that they teach no other doctrine now there's two forms of the word there's the verb paragello which is what's used here in this verse and there's the noun paragellia which is used two times it's 1st Timothy 1 verse 5 the word commandment the end of the commandment that word commandment is the noun form of the word charge so between the two words there's seven times this word is used it's a key word and vines says about this word that it's strictly used of commands received from a superior and transmitted to others so you get this military kind of language commands are being passed down through the ranks if you will so the charge have been passed by God to his son from the Lord Jesus Christ to the apostle Paul from the apostle Paul now to Timothy from Timothy now to the brothers and sisters in this ecclesia and right down to our own day to us as our responsibility to keep the charge of the gospel similar language is found down in verse 18 which we looked at a little bit earlier but you notice there that Paul uses this term that Timothy was to war a good warfare and that's a term that some of us will know is picked up from the Old Testament

69. 30:54

    from Numbers 8 verse 24 about the Levites and the work that they were to do Numbers 8 24 says this is that that belongs unto the Levites from 25 years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service or the margin says to war the warfare of the tabernacle of the congregation here were the Levites in the nation that were responsible for imparting spiritual wisdom to the people the word of God and Paul was saying to Timothy Timothy this is the charge I'm giving to you you are like a Levite in this ecclesia and you need to war the good warfare of the things of the truth well now verse four begins into the challenges that Timothy was going to face there seemed to be a couple of different things closely related one to another and Paul sort of talks about the remedy to these and what we want to try and do is bring out the practical exhortations the practical lessons for us in ecclesial life today these weren't just lessons for them at that point in time but they can have application to us so he says to Timothy the end of verse three Timothy you have a charge charge some that they teach no other doctrine neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith so there was this problem with brethren focusing on these things that the apostle refers to as fables and endless genealogies and in focusing on such things the brothers and sisters were not being edified and encouraged in their faith so what were these

70. 32:44

    things well there's a suggestion that perhaps they might have had a gentile application to them but it seems that they are certainly related to Jewish things and the word is used for fables in Titus 1 14 and it

71. 33:32

    and most likely it's believed that these fables as it related to the Jewish people in the city the Jewish brethren had reference to what's known as the oral law now the oral law was a law that even Jews today some Orthodox Jews still believe in they believe that not only was there the written law that was given to Moses on Mount Sinai but there was also this other law that was given an oral law it wasn't written down but it was passed on from generation to generation by the word of mouth !

72. 34:11

    first century Wikipedia has this to say I want to just get a nice little definition of what the oral law was and it says they are according to rabbinic Judaism the oral Torah or the oral law represents those laws statutes and legal interpretations that were not recorded in the five books of Moses the written Torah but nonetheless are regarded by Orthodox Jews as prescriptive and co-given this holistic Jewish code of conduct encompassed a wide swath of rituals worship practices God man and interpersonal relationships from dietary laws to sabbath and festival observance to martial relations agricultural practices sorry marital relations agricultural practices and civil claims and damages so all kinds of laws all kinds of rituals for all circumstances of life but these were things that were not found written in the word of God and it seems that these are some of the things that the brethren within this city were focusing on these fables as the apostle calls them endless genealogies vines has this to say about the endless genealogies that they have reference to such genealogies as are found in Philo Josephus and the book of Jubilees by which Jews trace their descent from the patriarchs and their families and perhaps also to gnostic genealogies in orders of aeons and spirits amongst the Greeks and other nations mythological stories gathered round the birth and genealogy of their heroes probably Jewish genealogical tales crept into Christian communities so it gives you the sense of the idea of what these genealogies and these fables might have been about but to put it down to simple terms there are things that were not found in the

73. 36:17

    word of God and that's what they were focused on that's what they were discussing and debating and exhorting one another about within the ecclesia and Paul says that wasn't helpful it wasn't edifying to them says

74. 36:33

    because where does faith come from brothers and sisters it comes from the word of God not from fables and endless genealogies it comes from the word of God now the lesson for us is that we have to ask ourselves what encourages us in our ecclesias today and this is more for the brethren when we are given the responsibility to exhort the ecclesia what is the inspiration for those words of exhortation you know it's a very sad thing when you hear a word of exhortation and you don't open your Bible until the very end of the exhortation or not at all that's not helpful the idea here is that our words need to be based first and foremost out of the scriptures let the scriptures be the inspiration for what those words of exhortation should be about and base our words from there rather than basing them from other things because the other things aren't helpful and that seems to be a practical lesson that we can learn here from Timothy when I focus on the word of God because the word of God of course is powerful it develops faith and that gets into the next verse

75. 37:59

    probably one of the key verses in this whole first chapter and maybe the whole epistle where he says the end of the commandment or in other words the goal of our instruction the whole goal of us meeting together and instructing each other out of the word of God coming together such as we do today and this weekend the whole goal is to develop agape love says Paul a love for the things of the truth a love for our God a love for the Lord Jesus Christ and what they have done for us in giving us the hope of salvation a love for the coming kingdom of God a love for God's ways of righteousness this is the kind of love and a love of course for one another that seeks to edify one another as we walk towards the kingdom of God this is the love that Paul says that's the end of our instruction that's the whole goal in ecclesial life to develop this love which comes out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfamed or that genuine faith now we don't have any of these things naturally we don't naturally have a pure !

76. 39:28

    we don't naturally have a good conscience a conscience that's pricked by the evil in the world around us we don't naturally have a genuine faith these are all things that are developed and the scriptures elsewhere tell us they're all developed out of the word of God so the word of God needs to be central to us central in our homes in our ecclesias in our walk of life that we're thinking about these things reading these things meditating upon them each day because you see there were some in the ecclesia here in Ephesus who had lost their way down in verse 19 you'll notice the contrast where Paul says to Timothy you need to hold on to your face you need to have a good conscience because some have put these things away and concerned faith have made shipwreck because they weren't fully grounded in the truth and the word of God wasn't their source of inspiration each day the word of God wasn't working upon their hearts and minds They had lost their direction and their love for the things of the truth of course the apostle had said that we need to be not tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine and by the sight of men and cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive Ephesians 4 14 some of these brethren had and that was unfortunate and verse 6 continues on by saying some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling the term vain jangling means fruitless discussion they were discussing things that just were not producing the fruits of the spirit and encouraging one another this

77. 41:30

    idea they had turned aside the apostle uses it in Hebrews 12 verse 13 13 the same word and uses it for a bone that's out of joint he says make straight paths of your feet so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed and it seems to be closely connected with Proverbs 4 verse 26 and 27 ponder the path of your feet let all thy ways be established and turn !

78. 41:56

    not to the right hand or to the left remove thy foot from evil we need to have a clear goal in our walk in the truth we need to be walking on a straight path firmly grounded in our faith not turning aside not being like a limb that's put out of joint well it continues on verse 7 that some were desiring to be teachers of the law understanding neither what they say nor where they affirm new american standard says this they wanted 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 so you can imagine that here were brethren now standing up trying to be teachers of the law that same word is used for Gamaliel who instructed !

79. 42:54

    Paul they wanted they were trying to teach the ecclesia and the things of the law and all the various aspects of it and yet they missed the whole point of the law they were making these confident assertions about things they didn't understand now can that happen in ecclesial life today can brethren get up and start speaking things seemingly from the word of God expounding the scriptures and yet missing the whole point of those scriptures and teaching what the of Paul says here other doctrines and fables absolutely there are certain quarters in the brotherhood today that are faced with the problem of theistic evolution which is based upon fables and the thinking of man and the wisdom of man and they make confident assertions that the first few books of Genesis we just can't they're just an allegory they're just a story they're not real Adam and Eve were not the first man and woman on the earth sin and death were long in the world before them there's a practical example of how

80. 44:03

    they're making confident assertions of things they do not understand twisting the scriptures to a message that might be more appealing to them but in this particular case this was to do with the law and they didn't understand the purpose of the law and that seems to come out in verse nine knowing this says Paul that the law is not made for a righteous man so what they thought was the law was for the righteous man that if you want to be walking in righteousness in the eyes of God you need to be keeping the law or aspects of it and that was the problem it seems and so Paul goes on to say that the law is good which he speaks about in other places we know these passages well we won't read through them but we know that in Galatians chapter

81. 44:57

    it was the means by which God was instilling certain principles that we needed to understand and that we still need to recognize and understand today before we enter the waters of baptism the principles that we are sinners before God that we have a bias towards sin and that there's nothing that we can do to earn salvation it is the gift of God that he's willing to extend to us freely

82. 45:27

    with our faith faith of course that's put into action but the law as he says in Romans 8 verse 3 was weak through the flesh Galatians 3 11 no man is justified by the law Galatians 3 verse 21 and 22 if there had been a law given that could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the law Paul was at pains to point these things out here were those in the ecclesia that were trying to teach these things and they didn't understand what they were talking about says Paul brother john carter has this to say the operation of the law had the effect of revealing the inward opposition of men to God's will it brought to surface the latent waywardness and willfulness the effect of the law revealed the sinfulness of the nature of man and convinced those under it that there was a law of sin in their members law also showed that sin was opposition to God's will and that man could not therefore by law gain for himself by his own merit the favor of God the operations of law thus brought home to the conscience of men the holiness of God and the wide gulf which separated man from God but when a man recognizes

83. 46:52

    he is ready to turn to the proposed mercy of God revealed in Christ so there are principles here that we all come to recognize now we're going to move very quickly through the last few verses because our time is up Paul now talks about the glorious gospel here's what they were missing they were missing the whole point that God had tried to emphasize !

84. 47:20

    throughout the Old Testament in the Old Covenant that its glory was fading away and so verse 11 of 1st Timothy 1 reading from the ESV it says in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God the gospel of the glory of God's glory that was revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ Hebrews 1 verse 3 it was a fading glory that was associated with the Old Covenant as Paul points out in 2nd Corinthians 3 but the glory of the new covenant exceeded in glory and Paul says do you remember that don't miss the point the law was there for a specific purpose for a specific time but now it's been fulfilled it's been done away with in Christ and now the apostle focuses on his own example if it had been by the law Paul would not have been saved but Paul talks about the good things that we have the great blessings we have in the new covenant and he focuses now upon his own example and the mercy and the grace that he's received from God through his faith I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who's enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me in the ministry who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy there's the word from the beginning of the epistle when he said grace mercy and peace be to you Paul had received the mercy of God a mercy that could not have come through the law because I did it ignorantly !

85. 49:00

    in unbelief and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus and this is a faithful saying says Paul and worthy of all of acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners !

86. 49:47

    the grace and the grace that he has extended to us in the giving of his son if we have faith and belief and put that into practice and so our final verse is verse 17 which we opened in our hymn where Paul says now to the king eternal immortal invisible the only wise God be honor and glory forever and ever amen Paul makes this great crescendo at the end here where he praises and bursts out in praise to God for the wonderful mercy and grace which have been extended towards us here was God the king eternal immortal dwelling in light unapproachable and yet he's extended to us his grace and his mercy Paul a man who once persecuted the ecclesia of God and so brothers and sisters as we go on in our considerations of this epistle let us remember that verse from verse five the end of the commandment the goal of our instruction is to develop this agape love for the things of the truth such as Timothy had out of a pure heart and a good conscience and a genuine faith