WWUTT 578 His Perfect Patience as an Example?

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Every one of us has a different story as to how we came to faith, and some of you probably walked in some pretty dark sins, but every one of us still came to faith the same way.

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Christ saved us by His grace when we understand the text. This is when we understand the text studying

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God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Find all our videos online at www .wutt

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.com, as well as links to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Here's your teacher,

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of 1 Timothy chapter 1, and I'll come back again to verse 12 and read through verse 17.

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The Apostle Paul writing to his servant Timothy says, I thank Him who has given me strength,

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Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointing me to His service, though formerly

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I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our

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Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom

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I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost,

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Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life.

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To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.

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Amen. And then I'll go on here. Verse 18, this charge I entrust you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.

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By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom

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I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. I'll go ahead and include that closing section because we've been mentioning it the other couple of days this week.

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So once again, back to verse 15, where Paul says, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom

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I am the foremost. And that's something that I referred to in a recent sermon as the gospel on one foot.

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What does that mean? Well, there was a saying among rabbis during Jesus' time that they might ask a question of one another and say, say it on one foot.

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And that means, say it quickly. Give me the brief version of that. So if you ask somebody, what's the gospel?

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And they gave you the whole book of Luke, well, that would be the gospel on two feet. But the gospel on one foot, you know, how long can you say something before you topple over?

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So the expression, say it on one foot is, say it quickly before you fall over. So the gospel on one foot would be this, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.

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Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. There's the gospel on one foot.

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And so then as you expand that out into understanding the deep doctrine and theology of that, then you have the gospel on two feet.

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Paul says he is the foremost of sinners. And as I mentioned yesterday, this means that you are more aware of your sin than you could be aware of anybody else's.

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You can't point out anyone else's sin more than you can know your own. So Paul, knowing that he is the foremost, but I receive mercy,

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Paul says in verse 16, for this reason, that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

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Paul talks about this with the Galatians in Galatians chapter one, that by his testimony, there were people that knew of Paul as a man who persecuted

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Christians. And now they had heard that he had been converted to follow

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Jesus Christ when previously he was killing people who were followers of Jesus Christ. And last verse there in Galatians chapter one says, and they praised

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God because of me. So because of this testimony that they had heard about the apostle Paul, they also turned from their sin to worship

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Jesus Christ the Lord. And so in many other cases, you have testimonies of those who had been insolent opponents of God and then they turned from the sin that they were in and began worshiping

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Christ instead. Now, I am a sinner who was desperately in need of a savior and Jesus Christ saved me from my sin by his shed blood on the cross and his resurrection from the grave.

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And because I believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ, I have become a recipient of the grace of God and I have been saved.

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And that is my story as well as any believers story who has been forgiven their sins and given eternal life in Jesus Christ our

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Lord. But I don't have one of those kinds of testimonies that's like, oh man, I was in drugs for so many years and I even killed a guy once and this, that or the other.

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And so you look back at my deep, dark life and you see the person that I am now and you're going, boy, the grace of God totally transformed that guy.

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I don't have one of those stories. Now I've known people with stories like that. I had a friend one time who told me her past and oh my goodness,

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I would never have guessed that she had ever been in that kind of sin in her life based on this story that she told me.

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I think I knew her for several years and didn't even know that chapter of her life. And then she was kind of embarrassed when

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I was shocked at some of the things that she went through. And I said, no, no, no, actually this speaks of the grace of God that is upon your life now when

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I don't even see a shadow of that person anymore because of what Christ has done in your life, taken you from that darkness that you were in and transformed you into his kingdom of light.

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And now you see that in your life. Now, I don't have one of those stories, but I've known people who have that kind of testimony because of the transformation that has happened in their life.

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Somebody else looks at that and gives glory to God because they recognize a transformation that has happened by the power of the

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Holy Spirit. Now if you are a Christian, that kind of miracle has happened in your life, even if you were not walking in that kind of sin, that level of sin in the period or the years in which you did not believe.

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Every one of us were following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, as Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter two.

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When he says to the Ephesians, you were once dead in your trespasses and sins, he doesn't look at a few of them in the church and goes, oh, except for you, you and you, you guys grew up in the church, so you don't count.

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It's not the way that Paul was explaining that. Every single one of us used to be in that sin.

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He mentions that in a similar kind of way in Titus chapter three, where he says, we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

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And Paul is talking to Titus, who's one of his fellow ministers. And there he uses the collective, we, we ourselves, you and I both, we, we once were like this.

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And then verse four, but when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

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Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our savior. So that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

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That's every Christian story. I once was this, and now in Christ, I am this.

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So we sure definitely should not have an attitude of boy, I wish I had one of those, those rebel testimonies like that guy has it.

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No, you don't want that praise God that you didn't have to go through something that serious before God finally struck you with lightning and made you realize the error of your ways.

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There are people who are still feeling the consequences and the ramifications for those sins that they walked into that previous chapter of their life.

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Praise God that that wasn't you, that he saved you at an early enough age before you fell into that kind of, of darkness.

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When in the book of Romans, it says at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

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That's Romans five, six. And my prayer for my children is that God would get a hold of them early before they have to go through something serious and they really have to mess themselves up before the

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Holy Spirit convicts them of their sin and draws them to the truth of the gospel, which my wife and I are raising our children to understand.

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Looking for the fruit in their lives that it's starting to click, you know, it's starting to get into their hearts.

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It's starting to manifest itself outwardly. There's, you know, one or two of our kids that we recognize that in and another couple we're waiting, you know, especially our, our 10 month old, she's not really showing the fruit of righteousness yet anyway.

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So we're, we're, we're raising them in an understanding of the gospel. I'm being very tongue in cheek here. We're raising them in that understanding of the gospel so that they would come to that early.

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But this is our faithfulness as parents to remind them of the gospel truth. And then it's the

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Holy Spirit that is going to work in their lives to bring them to an understanding of that truth.

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My wife and I have no control over that. It's totally going to be the work of the spirit in their hearts as it is again, as it is in every believer.

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You came to faith because the Holy Spirit worked in your heart to believe the message of the gospel that was spoken to you.

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That is the way everybody was saved. Romans 10, 17 faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

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And so we are hearing the word of Christ from the apostle Paul here, as he says of this trustworthy saying, this creed that was shared in the early church at the time that Timothy and Paul were ministers, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save centers of whom

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I am the foremost. But Paul again received mercy so that Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

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And in everybody, in every single person who has come to faith, the patience of Christ is displayed in you so that others might come to believe you were not wiped out in your sin, but God was patient with you to bring you to repentance.

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That's Romans 2, 4. Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

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But then Paul goes on to say verse five, but because of your heart and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when

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God's righteous judgment will be revealed. So it is in this moment now that we have to turn from sin and follow

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Jesus Christ. And the reason why you're still alive for those who are still walking in sin and have not followed

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Christ is because God is patient and kind toward you that you might come to repentance.

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That is, that's the testimony of yours before you came to Christ. God was patient toward you that you might come to repentance.

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And so Paul is saying that here of himself, that Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

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Remember, our understanding is that those who would have faith in Christ have been elected from before the foundation of the world.

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And so it is the church that God has chosen as his instrument to preach the gospel so that those who were to believe in him would hear that message and turn from sin and come to faith in Christ.

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So this is not for us to know whom God has chosen to be saved. Rather, it is for us to obey the command of God to preach the gospel that God would bring about the faith of his elect.

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Paul talks about that in Titus 1 .1, for the sake of the faith of God's elect. That is why we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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So there is not a person that you should withhold the gospel from. Everyone needs to hear the gospel.

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But God, in his perfect time, is going to bring about the faith of those whom he means to save.

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Verse 17, to the king of the ages, again, as we're talking about, is God having predestined from beginning to end all things that are to happen, to the

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God of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.

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Amen. One of my all -time favorite hymns is immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible, hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious, the ancient of days, almighty, victorious, by great name we praise.

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That's Walter Chalmers Smith that wrote that great hymn. And the text of that hymn inspired in part by this verse here in 1

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Timothy 1, 17. I'll read it again. To the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only

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God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Because remember, as Paul is reminding

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Timothy of his testimony here, it is to God that he gives all glory. Verse 14 again, the grace of our

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Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

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All credit goes to God, to Christ, for this faith that Paul has, saving faith, having been rescued from the darkness that he was in and transferred into the kingdom of light of Jesus Christ.

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And so Paul goes on, verse 18, this I in charge, in charge,

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I was going to make my own word up there. This charge I entrust to you,

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Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.

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So coming back again to what we had talked about in the opening section of 1

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Timothy 1, Paul says, I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations, rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

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The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

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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.

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That's the way Paul opened up this letter. Then he goes into talking about how the law is good.

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Then he uses himself as an example as to how God saved him, all glory to Christ.

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And then this charge, I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you.

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So in his next letter, he talks about how hands were laid on Timothy so that he would receive this gift, fan into flame, the gift that was entrusted to you, as he talks about in the next letter, means exercise your gift.

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And that gift likely for Timothy was the gift of teaching. So these are the prophecies that have been made about Timothy, that he would go and he would be a teacher of the word of God to the nations.

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And that by them, by these prophecies, by the gift that you have received, you would wage the good warfare.

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What is that warfare? Well, it is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Consider these words from Ephesians chapter three, beginning in verse seven of this gospel.

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Paul says, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power.

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Again, all glory to God for the salvation that Paul has. He knows he did nothing to earn this salvation.

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It is by the grace of God that he has received it. Verse eight, to me, though, I am the very least of all the saints.

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This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to bring to light for everyone.

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What is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things so that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

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This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our

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Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

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So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

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So here in this charge to the Ephesian church on the declaration of the gospel, it says that the gospel would be made known to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

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That's funny. So we're preaching the gospel, but it's being made known to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

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That's because preaching the gospel is spiritual warfare. In second Timothy chapter two,

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Paul talks about how the unbeliever has been ensnared by the devil to do his will.

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And so when we preach the gospel, it's like we loosen the bonds that are on a person who is enslaved by their sin.

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We just read about that in Titus chapter three, that we were once slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

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So when we are in unbelief, we're ensnared by Satan. And it is in the preaching of the gospel that the

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Holy Spirit loosens those bonds and sets free the heart where previously the heart had no will to seek after God and obey

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God. Now the heart has been freed not only to seek after God, but has been washed clean to obey

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God and offer right sacrifices that would not have been holy sacrifices if the person was trying by their own will in order to please

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God. It is the Holy Spirit that has done this work. So preaching the gospel is spiritual warfare.

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And then Paul goes on. If I had more time, we'd go into this passage too, but you can read it yourself in Ephesians chapter six, talking about putting on the full armor of God.

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It is a spiritual armor. And it is by the spiritual armor, our sword, the weapon that we use being the word of God.

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It is in this that we wage the good warfare, holding fast, holding to the faith.

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I'm back in first Timothy one, 19, holding faith and a good conscience. If we speak falsely, if we, if we go beyond what is written, if we teach a different doctrine, any of these things, we violate our conscience before God.

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And then we feel guilty. You know, like when you, if you were to speak boldly about something that you don't really know a lot about, you might sound convincing in your words, but in your mind, you're thinking,

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I don't really know what it is that I'm talking about. And it's very difficult for you then to remain consistent.

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You would be violating your own conscience, whether you're speaking the truth or not. If you're, if you're just kind of talking off the top of your head, you don't really know much about the subject that you're talking about, then it affects your conscience.

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It affects your ability to be a good witness for the message that it is that you're speaking. So consider how that is with the gospel.

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If you don't know much about the Bible, but then you, you try to proclaim that you are some great teacher of the

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Bible, you're going to violate your conscience somewhere in there. You are going to stumble. And those teachers are eventually exposed as not knowing much about what they claim they know about.

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And Paul says that certain persons by swerving from these, these, what preaching from love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

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And those who have swerved from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith have wandered away into vain discussion.

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So they are revealed not to be the kinds of teachers that they, they wanted to play themselves off as, that they wanted everybody else to receive them as.

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And so by rejecting this, by rejecting faith in a good conscience, some have made shipwreck of their faith, verse 19.

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And then finally, verse 20. And I've mentioned this verse a couple of times this week already, among whom are

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Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I've handed over to Satan, meaning that Paul has put them out of the church.

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We see a reference to this again in first Corinthians five, I have handed them over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

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So the reason that they have been put out of the church for teaching falsely is so they would realize that their false teachings separates them from the body of Christ, that they're no longer part of that fellowship.

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And therefore they would be excluded from the kingdom of God also if they do not repent of this false teaching and are then restored to the body of Christ when they are showed grace by their fellow believers.

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So the reason why Paul had put Hymenaeus and Alexander out of the church is so they would learn.

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They would learn not to blaspheme and hopefully would repent of their false teaching and come back to the soundness of the faith.

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So those false teachers that are out there, it's not too late for them. They can repent of their sin and come back into the true fellowship of the body of Christ grounded on the soundness of the gospel, which they presently do not believe, or if they do believe it, they do not teach it, and so have made shipwreck of their faith.

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But hopefully they right the ship, that they appeal to God for a good conscience and a sincere faith.

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He will purify their hearts and right the ship instead of being tossed to and fro by the shifting winds of doctrine, the metaphor that Paul uses in Ephesians chapter 4.

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So remain steadfast in the faith. Know the true words of Jesus Christ as written down by his apostles.

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And so it is by the teaching of the word of Christ that you have faith and are saved. Praise his name.

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This is When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web, and we thank you for selecting ours.

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But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family. Find a good gospel -teaching,

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Christ -centered church to worship with this weekend, and join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study