BIBLICAL TEACHING

1 TIMOTHY 1:5-11

Last week we embarked on a 15+ week journey through the book of 1 Timothy – a book about Church Organization, Church Discipline and Church Leadership.

We started with the basic investigative procedures – the 5 W’s of who, what, when, where and why

Then we dove head first into the scripture

We saw how Paul addressed his authority and passing that authority onto Timothy, a young man, Paul’s spiritual son who was leading the church at Ephesus.

We also discussed how Paul addressed the false teachers, their false teachings and ended with the challenge to examine our own Systematic Theology and challenged to get rid of any non-Scriptural beliefs, teachers or teachers that publish Bible studies.

Today Paul reminds us of the goal of Biblical Teaching and a correct view of the Law. As we get ready to jump head first into this –

Let Us Pray!

1 Timothy 1:5-11 Goal of Biblical Teaching

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

I. SOUND BIBLICAL TEACHING’S GOAL IS LOVE —vv. 5–7 – The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

Goal of What? What Charge – what command? v3 – command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer!

1. Firm—v. 5 – The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Self-denial – selflessness instead of selfishness – this is love – agape love. It is the only modus operandi for our faith to work out of.

Love and faith not only go hand-n-hand but Paul constantly ties these togethers throughout his writings.

1 Corinthians 13:13 – So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The ultimate goal of sound biblical teaching is not truth its AGAPE love – Truth is message – love is the aim of that message – truth is the target – love is the crosshairs on which we aim at the target

The ultimate goal of sound biblical teaching is love – not philia, not pragma, AGAPE love – Godly love

AGAPE love that is from a pure heart,

AGAPE love that is from a good conscience

AGAPE love that is from a sincere faith

The aim of this verse is love and not truth – why is that especially regarding the false teachers and false doctrines infiltrating the church?

It's about love and not punishment – correction not condemnation

It is not that truth is ignored or forgotten but it is because of AGAPE love that comes from a pure heart, comes from a good conscience and comes from a sincere faith that we preach the truth

Without AGAPE love it does not matter what the message is – even the Gospel message – look at the damage churches like Westboro Baptist, KS has done.

Love from a pure heart has no hidden agendas – no personal gain – never asks “What is in it for me?” Never says, “Someone else can do it,”

Romans 12:9 – Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

Love from a good conscience puts into practice living out the faith – living out their identity in Christ – love from a good conscience their entire life is aligned with God – how they act in the church, how they act with family, how they act with friends, how they conduct business. The moral implications of being an actual Christ-follower brings correction, conviction, and never condemns

Love from a sincere faith lives hypocrisy free – love from a sincere faith does not wear masks, does not play church, does not rely on tradition to tell them what to do but relies on the truth to guide their every action and decision. It is in living a biblical lifestyle centered on the ministry, character and love of Love – the truly believe is HIS WORD – HIS WILL – HIS WAY!

2. Foolishness—vv. 6–7 – Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

Stay away from those who twist the truth to mean what they wish it to.

The false teachers swerved away from AGAPE love being the means, wandered from the TRUTH – became self-focused not God-focused, centered on tradition not on the Word – led discussions they were neither called to engage in nor had any understanding about.

Wandered – slowly and steadily moving away – slow fade –

Casting Crowns 2007 song by this name – it’s a slow fade when black and white turn to gray and thoughts invade and choices made – its a slow fade

God’s Word when it is black and white we cannot go gray – where its not black and white – that’s where conversations happen – but on the black and white – we must stay black and white

God’s Word is the living Word – it is not to be picked apart – not a buffet to pick and choose what we want to follow – its not semantics – where its black and white we obey – Jesus is fully God fully human, died for our sins, where its gray we discuss and try to agree – what type of instrument we use for worship, how we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, where we go on mission trips.

Not only did they wander from the faith but what did they attach themselves to?

Power – control – pride. They were confident about their self assertations, the myths they told, their own genealogies puffing themselves up in importance over the Holy Spirit

They desired the position of Rabbi over follower – look back at the beginning of verse 7 - desiring to be teachers of the law – God directed position God ordained position

What was Paul’s take on being a Pharisee – a teacher of the law?

Philippians 3:5-9 – circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

What does Paul tell Timothy about these people and the law?

II. THE LAW SETS BEFORE US GOD’S MORAL STANDARDS—vv. 8–11 – Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

1. Law—v. 8 – Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully

The law is to remind us of God’s moral standard and to define sin – to define what separates us from God

Galatians 3:21-24 – Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

Romans 7:7-9 – What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.

2. Looseness—v. 9 – understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers

Romans 3:20 – For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Romans 3:23 – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:27-28 – Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

As Paul said above – through the commandments sin became alive in us and we died – so as Christians are we to try and fulfill the 10 commandments? I think that is distorted – we are to live for Christ and follow Him – when we love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength – we honor our father and mother. We don’t covet, we don’t commit adultery, we don’t lie or steal. We don’t have sex outside of marriage, we don’t change our gender or have a relationship with someone of the same gender.

So Paul reminds us of some of the sin issues that separated people from God in Ephesus, in Greece and the Roman Empire, and the world in 2023

3. Living—vv. 10–11 – the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

Sexually immoral – pornos – we get our word - Pornography is a sexually immoral act – a sin – any sex outside of marriage falls into this catagory

homosexuality is a sin – as defined by the OT and restated several times in the NT – is a sin

enslavers – stealers – regardless of what BLM and liberal media states – enslaving was outlawed (not including those who brought war to Israel and lost).

Exodus 21:16 – “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.

Deuteronomy 24:7 – “If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

Human trafficking – as stated here – deserved the death penalty in God’s eyes – please go see Sound of Freedom

Lying – saying false for gain is a sin

Perjury – giving false witness to harm some

Paul followed Commandments 5 -9 in this list

Yes, these are all sins – and all forgivable – but when you make any of the above as well as many more sins Paul did not mention here, a lifestyle – you are not living God’s moral standard – you are living separated from God – you are in fact living in sin

Anything that contradicts sound doctrine – anything that is contrary to the Bible is a sin and it is a sin to teach it – to encourage it – to participate in it.

Paul says – the purpose of the law – it reveals the sins and it reveals the sinners for exactly what they are but then points to what is really at stake – what really should be happening – that is the Gospel of the Glory of our Blessed God – Gospel of that Jesus Christ taught, lived, died for and rose again.

Not genealogies and creative stories to self-boast and gain and grab power

So what is the difference between sound Christian doctrine and false teachings?

1. Apostolic teaching – sound doctrine – sound – hygiaino – hoog ee ah ee no – to be in good health

Good Health – new life for those who accept it – new people who are morally healthy, pure hearts, love with agape love

2. Apostolic Proclamation – Conforms to God’s message – does not contradict God’s word – is not new – begins with repentance of sins, leads to a life serving Christ – guided everyday by the working of the Holy Spirit

3. Apostolic Authority – not self-given – given by Jesus Himself – Paul says not my message but the message I was entrusted with – whose authority? God’s Authority! Again where God lays out black and white – we listen, when God is silent – we can discuss and decide

As we close – let us meditate on scripture and these questions from Paul’s message –

What is your aim? What are your crosshairs made of and centered on?

How do you ensure that your decisions are made from a pure heart and good conscience?

How do you protect yourself from a slow fade – from wandering from the TRUTH?

What do you attach yourself to, power, control and pride or the Holy Spirit?

How does Paul’s view of the law affect your view?

How is this church growing the faith of believers in sound doctrine?

How much time do you devote to studying sound doctrine?

Let Us Pray!