Living Faith
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Handout
Handout
Prologue
Prologue
Paul is writing to Timothy, his child in the faith, to encourage him as he pastors the church in Ephesus. This is the second letter that we have between Timothy and Paul. It is one that was written towards the end of Paul’s life as he looked back at his years of ministry and service to the Lord. It is a charge to Timothy to lead his church well, to defend the truth, and to hold fast to the Gospel that he has been entrusted with.
As we enter into this season of uncertainty at Central Baptist there are a couple things that Scripture shows us we can be certain of.
There will be people who use this opportunity to claim power for themselves and push agendas that are contrary to the Gospel
Satan will desperately try to convince us that we are a perfect church without sin thus making God a liar (1 John 1:10)
Mole hills will be turned into mountains as the enemy tries to divide the church
And there are some things that we as a church need to be ready to do.
We need to pray earnestly for unity and for wisdom that comes from God
We need to walk in humility showing grace to one another and putting the needs of others ahead of our own
We need to walk in repentance desperately seeking the face of God
My encouragement for us as we begin this morning is that the work ahead will be difficult, but we do not labor alone. Christ has gone before us, He is right now stirring the heart of the man who He will call to pastor this church and if we are willing to trust God in this season I pray that he will stir our hearts and that we will become the church that He is preparing for this new pastor to come and lead.
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Difficult Times Will Come
Difficult Times Will Come
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.
Paul tells Timothy that difficult times will come. They are unavoidable. Paul says that these difficult times are brought on because of sinful men.
Look at this list.
Lovers of self
Lovers of money
Boastful
Arrogant
Revilers
Disobedient to Parents
Ungrateful
Unholy
Unloving
Irreconcilable
Malicious Gossips
Without Self-Control
Haters of Good
Treacherous
Reckless
Conceited
Lovers of Pleasure Rather than Lovers of God
They look godly and spiritual but they deny the power of the Gospel
Who is Paul talking about here? Are these the people in the Temple of Artemis? Are these the citizens of Ephesus that rioted and chased Paul out of the city? No. These are people inside the church.
For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
These people have crept into the church of Ephesus unnoticed. They have clothed themselves as holy, god-fearing people, while secretly they prey on the weak and ravage the church. They have the appearance of faith but the evidence of their lives proves the opposite. They are faithless wicked men who want to have power and prestige within the church. They have pillaged their way through the community and now they desire to do so in the church also.
Paul gives Timothy a command in these verses. He says, “Avoid such men as these”. While difficult circumstances are unavoidable, these men are avoidable. Paul tells Timothy not to entertain the deceitful words of these wicked men who so desperately want control in the church. Don’t take them to lunch, don’t entertain their flattering words, don’t give them even an inch, because they will take a mile.
Some questions as we think through this passage.
Have I sinned by participating in these behaviors?
Have I made myself complicit in other people’s sin by entertaining their immorality and saying nothing?
I think it is important to make a distinction. Paul isn’t telling Timothy to withhold grace and forgiveness. He isn’t telling Timothy to hate these people. Paul is telling Timothy to defend his congregation from wolves who would seek to cause people harm. These are unrepentant sinful men, who have rejected the grace of Jesus. They walk in arrogance and are intentionally trying to mislead people from the truth for selfish gain.
Paul makes it clear. When we as Christians entertain these behaviors in the church we empower sinful men to ravage the bride of Christ. “Avoid such men as these.”
The good news for us today is that God will not leave His church defenseless. By the Holy Spirit, through the Living Word of God, God gives us His wisdom and discernment in finding out these wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.
Paul uses Jannes and Jambres, the two sorcerers from Exodus who repeated some of Moses miracles as a comparison for these wicked men in the church of Ephesus. Paul uses language reminiscent of Romans 1 to describe them. These men are depraved, handed over by God in their sin. They oppose the truth. They reject Christ and are rejected themselves. But look again at verse 9. There progress will by halted. Why? The fruit of their lives are evidence against them. Just like Jannes and Jambres who couldn’t keep up with Moses, the wicked men in Ephesus could not hold up compared to the fruit of the Spirit being produced in the authentic followers of Jesus. And as the truth is spoken, their lies become more and more exposed for what they are.
False teachers are revealed by the fruit of their lives and by the truth of Scripture
The Truth About Living Faith
The Truth About Living Faith
What does the Bible say about living faith?
What is faith? Before we can discern authentic faith versus artificial faith we need a definition.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Faith is an assurance and a conviction towards the things that we have hoped for, specifically the truth of the Gospel. That when we put our hope in Christ He makes us into new creations. There is real, genuine heart transformation because of the redeeming work of Christ and the saving grace He lavishes over us by faith. This is the anchor for our souls. It is not by work or creed or anything that we have done. It is the finished work of Christ that has made the way for us to have relationship with God. We are new creations who have received the Holy Spirit to live inside of us to produce fruit consistent with the Gospel. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control. These are things that God produces in us as we live and rest in the transformative work of the Gospel being made more and more in the likeness of the Son, Christ Jesus.
What kind of fruit does your faith produce?
A faith built on man’s wisdom is powerless and demonic
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
A faith built on man’s understanding is stripped of its power. Living faith is proclaimed in the power and wisdom of God, that the God of the universe was born in human flesh, that salvation has been purchased in Jesus’ death on the cross, that Jesus Christ stands as High Priest forever, raised on the third day, that He has ascended to the right hand of the Father, and that He is coming again soon to reclaim His bride. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation for every tribe, peoples, and languages.
Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Did you catch that? We will tell a false faith by its fruit. The seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. A living faith doesn’t lean on its own understanding but trusts in the Lord with all its heart, that acknowledges the Lord in all its ways.
A faith built on nationality is Arrogant and Unrepentant
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
John tells the Pharisees their Abrahamic lineage was not enough to save them. Why? Because their nationality wasn’t evidence of their salvation, their works were the evidence, and what there works revealed was that they were white washed tombs. Pretty on the outside but full of dead man’s bones on the inside. There hope was not in God for salvation but they trusted in their ancestry. They had no need to live moral lives because they were by blood children of Abraham. They didn’t understand that the blood of Jesus that they spilled was the only man’s blood that could save their souls.
A faith that is self-serving is Empty
Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?” Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! “You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.” Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! “Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord. “You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. “Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. “I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”
God physically withheld the fruits of their labors because they were more concerned with building their own houses rather than building the house of God. Our faith is not lived in service to ourselves but as a living sacrifice to God. That is where we find fulfillment and abundant life. Not in the preservation of our comforts and pleasures but in serving the Lord. All else is vanity.
For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
A fruit of living faith is death to self and a commitment to building up the household of Faith, the Body of Christ.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
The fruit of authentic faith is authentic worship. Worship that isn’t the performative acts we do, but a total surrender of ourselves onto the altar of God. It is an emptying out of ourselves so that we can be refilled with Jesus.
A faith built on empty religion is offensive to God
“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.
The fruit of an empty faith is that these people would rather go to temple and do performative, and empty acts of worship and see their nation burn than repent and trust in God. True faith comes to its senses. Like the prodigal son. It reasons together with the Lord and falls on its face in repentance and is washed clean.
For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
The fruit of an authentic faith is a broken and contrite heart.
A living faith is anchored on hearing the living word and doing it
“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “So then, you will know them by their fruits. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
Jesus tells us that the fruit a person produces will be the evidence of their faith. Good trees produce good fruit and bad trees produce bad fruit. He says that the person who is Christian in appearance only has no place with Him in heaven. Their faith is a facade. There is no genuine heart change. There is no relationship to Jesus. It is a faith in performance only. And those who have a living faith have built their lives on hearing and doing the word of God. There is an ecosystem of growth and repentance. The foundation is not on their works or ancestry but on hearing the truth of God’s word carried out by the obedience of God’s word. A living faith stands up in uncertain days. When rains fall and floods come, living faith stands.
What kind of fruit are you producing?
A Hope for Uncertain Days
A Hope for Uncertain Days
Going back to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3. Here is the fruit that Timothy has produced. Timothy wasn’t a hearer of Paul’s words but a doer also.
Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
Here is the evidence of Timothy’s faith. It was expressed in his conduct, his purpose, his faith, his patience, his love, his perseverance, his persecutions, and his sufferings. Timothy and Paul both suffered for their faith. In fact all of us, who have a desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. I take so much hope in that. Because even though it is difficult, when I suffer for Gospel, I am sharing in the sufferings of my precious king Jesus.
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
A fruit of living faith is that the world will hate us. It is a great deception of satan that says we can have the world and Jesus too. That we can have all the comforts and pleasures of the world and keep our souls from hell. To be a friend of God means we will be made enemies to the world, thanks be to God that He has chosen us out of this world. In Christ we are new creations, citizens of a New Kingdom.
Come what may, we have a hope for tomorrow. A faith proved by hearing and doing the word of God.
But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
The Word of God is our guide in uncertain times. It is the truth of God as revealed to us through the prophets and apostles by His Holy Spirit. It is without error. It is without contradiction. These sacred writings give us wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. This is not mans wisdom, this is the wisdom of God. If we are willing to listen, God is speaking to us through His inspired Word, and if we are willing to obey, He is using His inspired Word to reprove, correct, and train us in righteousness for the work that He has prepared for us to partner with Him in doing. He is doing the work. He is preparing us. He is equipping us, if we are willing to listen and obey.
A living Faith is made alive in a living Word
If the truths of Scripture are not true, our faith is dead and pitiful. We have no hope. If Christ is not raised from the dead? If there has been no salvation purchased for us by the blood of the cross?
Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
The first fruits of a living Word is a living faith. Because Christ has been raised, and because Scripture is true, our faith is walking proof of God’s faithfulness to His covenant. We are living testimonies to God’s goodness and grace.
God is calling all of us to listen and obey
Epilogue
Epilogue
Paul understands his race is coming to an end. The church is desperate for a new generation of men and women to stand up for what is true. Paul gives Timothy a charge, a rallying cry to lead this next generation of the church into uncertain times.
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Our defense against false teachers and false gospels is to Preach the Word.
In season and out of season. When these words are popular and when they are offensive. Reprove, rebuke, exhort, all with patience and instruction. Paul says that a time would come when people who desire to have their ears tickled would walk away from sound doctrine and accumulate teachers in accordance to their own desires.
Are my ears ticklish?
In a season of searching for a pastor the temptation for us all is to get our guy in the pulpit. That attitude only causes division. The person that is right for this church is the guy that will teach the truth in season and out of season. Even when it is costly. The preaching of God’s Word is not for our entertainment, it is not to promote our preferences or taste, but for our teaching, reproving, correcting, and training in righteousness so that we can be adequate, equipped for every good work. We listen to the living word of God so that we can be changed, that we might leave this place worshipping and obeying.
I pray that the words I have spoken this morning represent God’s truth well and I pray that these words will not fall on ticklish ears. I feel such a burden behind this pulpit. I am desperate for the Spirit of God to move, for God’s people to be encouraged and unified, for truth to be proclaimed. I read Paul’s words, that He has poured himself out as a drink offering, that he has fought the good fight, that he has finished the course and kept the faith. We just looked at Acts, and all the suffering he endured, the beatings, the imprisonments, being shipwrecked, and all I can think is God, in answering this call to ministry, have I put my family in the cross hairs of the enemy.
I grew up as a pastor’s kid I know what happens in churches. Will my son have to watch while people slander my character? Will my son grow up and leave the faith because of the way people in churches treated his dad? Will my son see the cost of following Christ as too high? These are questions I’ve had to work through as a pastors kid and as a follower of Jesus. Will preaching the truth of God and following in the example of Jesus lead to a cross. Most certainly it will. Not just for me as a pastor but for all who desire to live a life of Godliness. Following Jesus will lead to a cross, but I am confident of this thing, if following Jesus leads me to a cross than the cross will lead me to a resurrection. If I am united with Christ in His death then I will certainly be united with Him in His resurrection. And for that I have hope. That after all this running Paul did in His faith it ended with The Lord, the righteous Judge, awarding Paul a crown of righteousness.
Lord let the fruit of my life be consistent with Your Word.
