Good morning everyone…It is so good to be here again. I love being here every Sunday. Dismiss kids…welcome online folks. It is such a blessing that you guys allow me to get up here every Sunday and tell you about what I have been reading in Scripture. It is such an encouragement when I hear from you throughout the week telling me how God is working in your lives and how you are interacting with Scriptures. So keep all of that coming...

We have been in a series the last few weeks where we have been looking at guarding against false teaching. We started the series looking at the fact that there is false teaching all around us. Then we moved into the idea of how to recognize that teaching and how to refute that teachings. These last few weeks will be more dedicated to holding to the faithful teaching of Scripture as a standard in your lives. Kind of like holding onto reality in the midst of being bombarded by false thoughts or even false feelings.

There is a movie called Inception from 2010. If you haven’t watched it, its a pretty fun movie. It is about a guy who is a thief named Cobb, and the way that he steals, is by going into peoples dreams and planting thoughts that will lead them to give him what he wants of their own free will. It’s a pretty interesting movie. Anyway, since you can enter people’s dreams, and that Cobb is not the only one that can enter dreams. So, in order to make sure he is not in someone else dream, Cobb explains that everyone has to have what is called a totem. This totem will help make sure that you are in reality and not another dream. This works because you know the totem, and that helps you be able to tell what is true and what is not...

Well, what is interesting about that movie is that everyone has to have their own totem and no one else is allowed to touch their totem, because then they could easily be deceived into something that is not real. Well, the same thing is true for us if you think about it. However, we all share the same “totem”…which is Scripture. You see, we all have the truth that we have to rely on and we have to measure everything that anyone says, including myself, against the truth of Scripture. In Inception whenever they are confused or think they might be in a dream, they pull out their totem and they see if it is real or not…For you, whenever you hear someone else teaching, wether you think they are being deceptive or not, you need to match what is said against Scripture to see what is true or not. You see, sometimes people are just wrong and they are not being deceptive. However, as we have seen there are many who are wrong and they are actively being deceptive. For that reason you much stay vigilant in reading the Word and checking everything that is said or read against what you know to be true…That is what we are talking about today

Holding Fast to Sound Doctrine in a World of Deception

Unfortunately we do live in a world where people are being deceptive every chance they get. Many times they sound so authoritative that we will go with it without checking. You see, we are more likely to believe someone who sounds confident but is lying, than someone who is telling the truth, but is not confident about what they are saying. If I were to get up here and be very unsure if i was telling you the truth or not, then you would have a hard time believing anything I have to say. Well, there are some folks that are online that are influencing the younger generations because we have not shepherded very well in the past. There are some in the younger generations that are unsure about what is true and what is not because they are hearing so much deception online. Just so you know there are 36 social media platforms that have at least 100 million users…then there are countless others with now platforms being created every day, so it’s to hard to keep count. That means that there are that many ways that people can be deceptive. There is the mainstream media that is biased against the Bible and so unless you are firm in the Word of God you will easily being persuaded to follow some form of deceptive content…and much of that informs your worldview more than the Gospel does. Why do I say all of this…because this is what Paul was warning Timothy and Titus about as they were leading various churches.

You see, in the passage we are going to look at today, Paul writes to Timothy again. While he writes this letter to Timothy, Paul is in prison and likely knows he will be murdered very soon. In this letter to Timothy, Paul is instructing him to live out his faith, and teach others to do the same. Paul is also significantly concerned with false teaching invading the church and causing harm both to individuals and to the body of beleivers as a whole. You see, as I have said before, this is not a new problem…this is a problem that has existed since the serpent in the garden. Paul wants Timothy to be prepared to hold up the standard of truth through the teaching of the Gospel, and show that this doctrine, if being lived out, will result in proper living. In this particular letter of 2 Timothy Paul is writing to Timothy as a friend and he is preparing him to continue sharing the Gospel even after Paul is gone. That’s pretty heavy..Paul is bearing his heart to Timothy because he knows what is likely coming, and he wants Timothy to be prepared.

Well, that same message is for us today. You see we live in a culture where we are largely living life alone. You go to work and you are surrounded largely by others who do not share the same belief in God that you do. You come home and spend a few hours with your family prior to going to bed. Your kids go to school and are surrounded by those who are actively teaching things that are anti-Biblical. Not just unBiblical, but anti-Biblical, meaning the things your kids are being taught, unless you are able to send your kids to a Christian school or homeschool, many of the things your kids are being taught, or are seeing, go against the clear teaching of Scripture. When I was in school the big debate was in evolution vs creationism and that was the fight that parents were having with schools…Today the fight is all about LGBT+ topics. Who knows what the next topic will be that parents will be pushing back against, but every generation seems to get further from the truth of Scripture. So, if you are not holding to the truth of Scripture and teaching your kids appropriately then you are going to be able to stand firm against the deceptive teachings of this world.

Now, real quick I want to encourage those of you that are parents…Listen, I have heard for years that you should not “indoctrinate” your kids. You should simply allow them to live their lives and make their own decisions. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard, and Ill tell you that to your face if you want me to. Listen, when my kids were younger I indoctrinated them all day long every day…why? because I was telling them the truth. Why wouldn’t I want my kids to hear the truth from me. You see, I believe 1000% that Scripture is absolutely true, and because of that I want my kids to know Scripture. If I don’t share what I believe to be true, what am I doing to my kids? How can I say I love my kids if I am allowing them to be deceived by the culture around me. Listen, you tell your kids not to play in traffic, although as the teens know that statement didn’t really stop me. But you tell your kids not to play in traffic, why wouldn’t you tell them how to rely on Christ. Playing in traffic has temporal consequences…not trusting in Christ has eternal consequences! So, parents…it is your job to indoctrinate your kids with the truth!

Now, back to Paul and Timothy…Go ahead and open your Bibles up to 2 Timothy so we can look at what Scripture says to us this morning.

2 Timothy 1:13–14 (ESV)

Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

In this passage we see that aul is encouraging Timothy to do two things. Those two things are equally important for you and I to both realize and act on them. So what are these two things that are so important…First of all Paul is telling Timothy to...

Follow the Pattern of Sound Teaching

So this is incredibly important…but what does it mean? Well in order to understand what Paul is saying here…we might need to be a bit nerdy for just a second. You see, I want to open up the meaning of this a little more for you so that you can apply it to your life personally and not just listen to another sermon on Sunday morning…is that fair?

Ok, so first let’s discuss a couple of words that are actually kind of important. You see, words matter, and the Biblical authors choose words very carefully. The problem we have today is that we don’t speak the same language as those original authors and so we have people who have studied and worked hard to translate to the best of their ability. However, sometimes in order to translate for another language the translator has to make a choice as to which word would be best. However, many times there is no English word that is equivalent to what the Greek or Hebrew author wrote. So they do their best through prayer and scholarship. But I want to make sure that you understand the full scope of what Paul is telling Timothy so we are going to have a brief vocabulary lesson. Here we go...

Vocabulary:

OK, so when Paul tells Timothy to Follow…What Paul is actually saying is to Hold Fast, or to Hold Tightly to something. In other words Paul is telling Timothy to never let go of what he is about to say…but what is Timothy supposed to hold onto so tightly? The Pattern…or Standard of Sound Teaching. In other words sound teaching IS the standard by which everything else should be measured.

So with that vocabulary out of the way we can understand a little bit more about what Paul is encouraging Timothy to do. Paul served as an example of Christ mercy towards sinners. So we read that the teacher must teach Scriptural truth. This is the only teaching that promotes spiritual health. On the other hand, some people only want teaching that promoted spiritual illness. We talked about those last week when we looked at teaching that is more about the culture than about the Scripture. There are pastors who will preach what scratches your itching ears, and that is what Paul is warning Timothy to avoid. Now there is something else that is actually pretty important. You see, part of receiving sound teaching is having a heart of faith and love in Christ. That is another way of saying the listener must have a receptive heart to be able to hear and receive the sound teaching that Timothy is following.

So that begs the question this morning…if you are teaching others, which you all are in some way…are you teaching Scriptural truth, or are you teaching cultural opinions? If you are listening, which you all are, are you listening with a receptive heart, or with a closed off heart. Now real quick Im gonna make a couple of people mad this morning. See, I talk to you guys on a regular basis throughout the week and throughout the month…some of you here are avoiding teaching Scriptural truth and that means that by default you are agreeing with whatever culture deems to be “true”. You and I both know that culture has no idea what truth is…Culture is still saying that mass murder of the pre-born is ok. So, clearly that is not the truth that you want to teach. So…Are you teaching Scriptural truth or cultural truth?

Then we have to ask the question, not just about what you are listening to…I mean we have been talking about that alot through this series, but the question you have to ask yourself this morning is, How am I listening? Let me explain what I mean there cause I see some of you are thinking you listen with AirPods or with earbuds. When I ask how you are listening…I don’t mean by what means you are listening…I mean…what is your heart? Some of you here today or listening online need to be honest and acknowledge that when you are listening to Scriptural truth you are listening with a chip on your shoulder. I mean you listen and you think it all sounds great, but there’s no way i can possibly understand what you are actually going through…no one understands your circumstance expect you. Maybe thats you…or maybe you’re listening and you think this is really great stuff but your pride tells you its not for you…Maybe you’re thinking… “Man I really wish my son/daughter/coworker/whoever would hear this…they really need this stuff.” Friend, so do you… Are you listening with a humble heart or a hard heart?

So that’s the first thing that we see in todays passage, but it is definitely not the only thing we see. After we see that we should follow the pattern of sound teaching we see that we

Guard the Good Teaching

Yeah…not only do you have to receive so you can teach, but you also have to obey that teaching within your heart. Ok, so here we need another quick vocab lesson I think…so lets take a look here.

Vocabulary:

So here Paul tells Timothy to guard the good deposit that has been deposited into his heart. This can get a little confusing…well, I did some research this week on this particular phrase. I did this because this is a really easy term to misunderstand. I say that because I misunderstood myself as I was reading this passage. What does it mean to guard something? Well, the easy reading would tell me that Paul is telling Timothy to protect this message to ensure that no false teaching will interfere with the Gospel. Now, that is a powerful reading of this passage, and it is a true statement for sure…we have to be on guard even today to make sure that no false teaching invades God’s church. However, that is not what Paul is actually telling Timothy. No, when Paul uses this term guard…he is telling Timothy to obey these teachings. Yeah, in this instance, guard means to obey. Now let’s go back and read this passage with this understanding.

2 Timothy 1:14 (ESV)

By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, obey the good deposit entrusted to you.

Do you see that? By the power of the H.S. we are called to obey the Gospel that we have learned. That really makes sense doesn’t it? I mean…how can we possibly obey the Scriptures? The only way to obey Scripture is through the power of the Holy Spirit. That is exactly what Paul is saying here. Timothy is not being asked to do this in his own strength, because we all know that will 100% fail…No, Timothy is to guard the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit…oh, and the Holy Spirit…is right there within you. In other words, you have everything you need to guard, or obey the teaching in Scripture…so what gets in the way? Well thats easy…Our pride gets in the way. We decide that we can do it ourselves and we don’t need the H.S. or we don’t want to bother the H.S. or even worse…we don’t actually believe that the Holy Spirit is able to manage the things that you are dealing with.

Now…for some of you here this morning…that is exactly the truth isn’t it? You don’t believe that the Holy Spirit can actually give you the strength to do what you know you need to do…so you keep trying yourself and you keep failing. Maybe what you are struggling with is porn, or gambling, or depression, marital struggles or financial stress…whatever it is, do you believe that God can actually do anything about your stress…or do you need to deal with it yourself? Here…let me say it really plainly for you this morning…Do you believe in the Holy Spirit? If you do…then why would you keep trying to deal with things under your own strength.

Listen, folks…this morning I know that there are some that are struggling with this very concept…I know because you have told me. Do you know what Jesus said when Paul complained about how hard life was, check this out in

2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV)

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Did you see that? His power is made perfect in weakness…Are you willing to be weak this morning so Jesus can work in your life? Are you willing to get out of the way in your own life and allow Jesus to show up and change everything…or can you handle things on your own?

Listen…this morning I want to share with you real quick some amazing

Benefits of Following and Guarding

You see there are some pretty intense things that come as a result to you actually trusting the Lord in your life. Im just gonna run down a couple of things real quick here.

1. Experiencing a deep and intimate relationship with God, the creator of the universe...

2. Finding security and stability in your faith, no matter what circumstances come at you… and finally

3. Witnessing transformation and spiritual growth in your life…

How amazing to think about the fact that 2 years from now, if you simply trust God in everything you do, that your life can be completely changed for the better…Listen, as you focus more on the Lord and on making him Lord of your life, you will see things differently. You will want to do things differently, not because you’re trying to prove anything to anyone, but because God is literally transforming you into the image bearer that he has created you to be…Is it time for you to make a change in your life…If so please reach out to me today and let’s talk about what your next step of faith is.

You will see on your note sheet there are some questions for you to consider if you desire to continue growing in the Lord.

Let’s Pray (pray for wisdom and clarity is holding tight and obeying Scripture)

Questions for growth:

Am I willing to change my behavior to line up more with Scripture?

Am I willing to trust in the Holy Spirit in my life?

Am I willing to humble myself before Christ and admit that I am weak?

What is causing me to say no to any of the above questions?