Approved and Disapproved Workers
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2 Timothy 2:14-26
2 Timothy 2:14-26
Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.
People need to be reminded constantly of the things they already know but are in danger of forgetting or overlooking.
REMEMBRANCE
“Of these things put them in remembrance,” has special reference to the issues of life and death.
WORDS TO NO PROFIT
“Charging then before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit,” makes up most popular preaching. It is no spiritual profit to anyone!
If the cross is not the foundation of all preaching of the gospel, then whatever it is that is being preached is of “no profit.”
SUBVERSION
The “subversion of hearers” is always done with great subtlety.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
I do not personally feel that the part of the Church world which denies the baptism with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking with other tongues, has any scriptural or spiritual validity. Without the Holy Spirit nothing is going to be done for God, as without the Holy Spirit nothing can be done for God! Almost no effort is made to get anyone saved, and baptized with the Holy Spirit.
The religious version is very obvious as it regards the part of the Church world which denies the baptism with the Holy Spirit. It is religious activity without the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is going to make, the cross of Christ the dividing line between the true Church and the apostate church. I believe the Holy Spirit is going to emphasize the Cross today as never before.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
APPROVED UNTO GOD
“Study to show thyself approved unto God,” refers to a workman who has been put to the test.
“To God,” refers to “doing your best to present yourself to God, approved.” The text doesn’t say “approved unto man,” but rather “approved unto God.”
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS
This is generally what happens in religious denominations.
THIS CHRISTIAN LIFE
The Christian life is a matter of reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God.
The Christian life is a “rest” in God (Mat. 11:28-30).
But there is another side to living the Christian life.
Intensity in the living of a Christian life is the total concept of this word translated “study” in our passage.
This means that the living of the Christian life is an urgent matter. One must with intensity of desire will to live the highest type of Christian life. The Christian must do his best to live a life pleasing to His Lord.
THE LORD, MIGHTY IN BATTLE
Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle.
The Lord Jesus Christ is celebrated here as “the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.”
THE WORKMAN
“A workman that needeth not to be ashamed,” carries the idea that if the individual is approved by God, he will not be ashamed.
The Holy Spirit through Paul used the word “workman.”
THE CROSS OF CHRIST
Jesus Christ is the very subject matter of the entirety of the Bible.
All the prophecies of the Old Testament in one way or the other, pertain to either the first or second advents of Christ. The entirety of the Mosaic law, speaks totally and completely of Christ in one way or the other. The heavy weight of evidence in all these prophecies, leans heavily toward the cross of Christ.
Paul used the term “in Christ,” some 170 times.
I do not personally believe that anyone can have a proper understanding of the Word of God, if they try to interpret it outside the cross of Christ. Much of the modern Church seeks to interpret it solely along the lines of Christ, but with not much weight at all attached to the price He paid. To attempt to interpret the Word of God in this fashion, completely belies the very purpose of Christ. To attempt to understand Christ apart from the cross as far as I’m concerned, is scripturally impossible.
For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness,
PROFANE AND VAIN BABBLINGS
‘“But shun profane and vain babblings,” refers to “giving them a wide berth.”
“Vain babblings” in the Greek is “kenophonia,” and means “empty.”
The nature of these “vain babblings” is not that they are merely empty words devoid of the Spirit.
UNGODLINESS
“For they will increase unto more ungodliness,” points directly to the downward slide.
If any preacher is preaching or teaching anything other than the cross of Christ, what they are teaching, is guaranteed to not only increase ungodliness, but increase ungodliness more and more!
It can only “increase unto more ungodliness.”
and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
“Their teachings are as dangerous as blood poisoning to the body.”
SPIRITUAL GANGRENE
It doesn’t take false doctrine very long to eat its way into the spiritual vitals of the soul.
If the cross of Christ is not held up as the foundation of all biblical doctrine, the results will be spiritual destruction!
HYMENAEUS AND PHILETUS
“Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus,” presents the apostle naming names.
men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.
CONCERNING THE TRUTH
“Who concerning the truth have erred,” refers to the two individuals just mentioned.
THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
A great part of the Church world teaches that one receives everything at salvation, meaning that there is no such thing as a subsequent experience of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. There is very little working or operation of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit for all practical purposes is totally and completely ignored as if He doesn’t exist.
There is almost nothing done by the Holy Spirit.
The Bible teaches the subsequent experience of the baptism with the Holy Spirit after conversion.
The book of Acts which is the account of the operation of the Holy Spirit within the early Church, portrays a Church which taught salvation by grace through faith, and then the subsequent experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH
Much of the modern church denies the Rapture of the Church, seemingly not understanding that the Rapture and the Resurrection are one and the same.
The Holy Spirit through the apostle plainly and clearly taught the coming Rapture of the Church (1 Thess. 4:13-18).
A denial of the Rapture is at the same time a denial of the Resurrection.
A denial of the Rapture shows a serious misunderstanding of the Scripture.
A denial of the Rapture, shows that the affections of those who teach and believe such, are rooted in this world.
THE SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER
The doctrine of unconditional eternal security, is an abominable doctrine.
The very nature of the struggle shows that the believer is trusting Christ.
No believer need ever fear losing his salvation as long as he trusts Christ.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Let the believer understand, that one cannot trust Christ and at the same time live a life of sin.
THE CROSS OF CHRIST
The very foundation of the gospel, is the great sacrifice of Christ on the cross of Calvary. The very heartbeat of the gospel is, “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).
Every single doctrine in the Word of God must be built on the premise of the cross of Christ.
The sinner must accept Christ, which refers to what Christ did at the cross and in His resurrection on behalf of lost humanity (Jn. 3:16; Rom. 10:9-10, 13; Eph. 2:8-9; Rev. 22:17).
The cross of Christ made the Holy Spirit abiding in believers possible.
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law” (Gal. 3:13-14).
The cross of Christ made possible the two great foundations of the Christian faith:
Justification by faith.
The abiding of the Holy Spirit within the heart and life of the believer which takes place at regeneration.
The believer is not saved unless he trusts in what Christ did on the cross at our behalf. The Lord instantly justifies the believing sinner, imputing unto him the righteousness of Christ. That’s the only way one can have the righteousness of Christ.
The Holy Spirit makes us Christlike and can only do this, on the premise of our faith in the finished work of Christ. The cross of Christ must ever be the object of faith of the believer.
The affections of those who claim there will be no Rapture are on the things of this world and not on Christ.
Look at the fruit of preaching a crossless Christ.
THE RESURRECTION
“Saying that the resurrection is passed already,” strikes at the very heart of the Christian faith.
What did these false teachers mean by claiming that the resurrection was “past already”?
They were more than likely denying the resurrection of the human body. They were missing the point of the resurrection of Christ altogether. Christ was raised from the dead with a glorified human body. The saints of God will be identical in the resurrection.
They taught that there was no resurrection but that which occurs in the soul when it is recovered from the death of sin. Or it may be that they held that those who had experienced all the resurrection which they ever would, by passing into another state.
Correct views of the resurrection undoubtedly lie at the foundation of a correct belief system as it regards the Christian system.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE RESURRECTION AS GIVEN TO PAUL
The resurrection was definitely taught in the Old Testament.
David, must have had a prophetic glimpse of the everlasting, glorious life which God’s Son, was to bring to light in His resurrection (Acts 2:26; 13:35).
The Old Testament plainly teaches with varying degrees of explicitness the resurrection of the dead.
The Lord then gave to Paul the complete meaning of the resurrection of the body.
It is clear that some in Paul’s day were ridiculing his doctrine of the resurrection.
THE OVERTHROWING OF ONE’S FAITH
The overthrowing of the faith, refers to a complete disavowal of the fundamentals which are required in order to be saved.
Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.”
THE FOUNDATION OF GOD
“Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure,” proclaims the fact that this foundation is secure. The foundation on which men are to build is “Christ and Him crucified.”
having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,
FOUNDATION IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS
The Hebrew verb for foundation is “yasad,” and means “to lay a foundation.”
In the beginning God “laid the foundation of the earth.
“Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
Two Greek words are translated “foundation”: “katabole” and “themelios.”
The Ephesian reference to the Church as “built on the foundation of the apostles in no way suggests that the apostles have replace d Jesus as the unshakable base of our faith (Eph. 2:20).
THE NEW COVENANT
It was to Paul that the meaning of the new covenant was given.
Jesus is the New Covenant, it’s what He did that comprises this new covenant. The “Lord’s supper” epitomizes this great covenant.
Out of Paul’s desperation to walk holy before the Lord came the revelation which we now know as the meaning of the new covenant. Paul was not so much given the new covenant, as its meaning. The New Covenant actually is Christ and what He did.
THIS SEAL
“Having this seal,” refers to two particulars.
1. This “seal” can go all the way back to Cain and Abel (Gen. chpt. 4).
2. This seal refers to the fact, that those who truly know the Lord, will in fact, “depart from iniquity.”
One might say that this “seal” guarantees the “security of the Church.”
DEPART FROM INIQUITY
“Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity,” proclaims the second part of the “seal.”
What Christ did at the cross is the only means by which I can “depart from iniquity.”
Those who truly belong to Him, will definitely “depart from iniquity.”
If followers of Christ, are still wallowing in iniquity, this means they really don’t belong to the Lord.
EASY GRACE?
Some in the Church ridicule grace calling it “easy grace,” or “greasy grace!”
The grace of God is of such power, that it is never proper to refer to grace in such a manner. While it is certainly true that many have misinterpreted grace, that is not the fault of the great doctrine of grace.
“Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”
When most Christians use terms such as “easy grace,” or “greasy grace,” they are actually ridiculing grace and rather opting for “works!” The only way to overcome sin and bring about victory in one’s life, is through grace.
The only way to victory, is by the grace of God.
Grace is simply the means by which the goodness of God is given to undeserving Christians. The cross makes possible the grace of God to be given in unlimited amounts.
For the believer to have a continued flow of grace, the believer must place his faith squarely in the cross of Christ.
When the believer does this, a constant flow of the grace of God comes to the believer on an uninterrupted basis. This is the only manner in which the grace of God can come to the believer in an uninterrupted flow.
If the believer leaves his position of faith totally in the cross of Christ, at that moment he frustrates the grace of God.
“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”