Book of 1 Timothy - Ch. 1, vv. 18-19a

Well turn with me of course the first Timothy one to to begin and then we're actually going to jump over to Luke After that, but we do need to refresh our memories because it's been a couple weeks now.

We missed last Sunday due to the weather. Kept us all landlocked in our houses. But well, let me read the passage first. So first Timothy chapter 1. Verse 18 says this charge I commit unto thee son Timothy According to the prophecies which went before on thee that thou by them mightest war a good warfare Holding faith and a good conscience.

Now the very last thought we ended on Excuse me. The last time we were together Was this idea that Paul in the strongest way he could Charges or commands Timothy to fight this good warfare and he actually grounds it.

We'll talk about this more just a minute. But he grounds this commandment in the reality that Timothy himself has been prophesied about. He there there were prophets active in the times of the Apostles as we know and some that weren't Apostles they were they were just prophets of God.

Even.

Philip's daughters were prophetesses who were active and legitimate at that time their prophecies could be verified and things like that so this was ongoing at this particular time and Timothy himself was the Target or the the subject rather of Certain prophecies that have been made about him entering the ministry and being one of Paul's successors in these types of things.

And so Paul grounds all this in that particular reality. But the last thought we ended on was this idea of duty and responsibility that Timothy had. That he had to carry out. This was Paul charging Timothy to fulfill Everything that he was made responsible for.

Now one thing we said last time was that every person is made responsible first for something. Whether they actually live up to it or not. Of course, that's a completely different question. And in a different topic that you could discuss, you know people fulfilling that that which they have been made responsible for.

But does it change the fact that everybody is made responsible for something. It might be on a much Smaller scale than someone like Timothy had but the principle is exactly the same. And so because of what Timothy has been made responsible for here Paul is in the most explicit terms possible.

Making it very clear that he needs to live up to this duty. He needs to live up to his responsibilities. And so Paul, of course being the bearer of a very high office himself. Not just an apostle but also of an evangelist pastor things like this.

He tells Timothy that it's not optional To fail in the responsibilities you've been given you don't get to wake up one day and decide I'm not really feeling up for it anymore. I kind of need some me time.

I need some self-care. I need some mental health check all these kinds of things. He has to put all of the people that he has been Put over he has to put them first before himself. Just like Christ put everyone all of his people before himself just like the Apostles put everyone before themselves.

That's what the pastor is supposed to do. There will be days where someone like Timothy or someone like Pastors today wake up and do not feel like they can bear the burdens of ministry that feel like they can't bear the burdens of Their flock if you will that they're not feeling up for it and the Apostle Paul here is telling Timothy straight on.

Even when days like that occur. It's not an optional thing to bear the the responsibilities that you've been given. He can't fail his people. He can't fail his church. He can't fail his calling. So that's what we ended on last time now we ended right in the middle of it.

So we're now picking it up. And if you would like turn to Luke chapter 17 Because I would like to give you some of the words of Jesus on this particular topic of duty responsibility and living up to it regardless of what kind of barriers the world or Satan himself may try to put in the way to discourage you from moving forward to think that you.

That you might not have the strength to even move forward anymore this principle of Having duty toward God toward your calling toward your responsibilities as a person was taught by Jesus in very unambiguous terms again just straight on with With no beating around the bush and he gives it in a kind of a parable form.

Let's look at it. It's Luke chapter 17 start of verse 7. It says. But which of you having a servant plowing or feeding cattle will say unto him by and by when he is come from the field go and sit down to meet and Will not rather say unto him make ready wherewith I made sup and gird thyself and serve me.

Till I have eaten and drunken and afterward thou shalt eat and drink. Doth he think that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I try not so likewise ye when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say we are Unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do.

Okay, so you got to go back in time a little bit to really see the impactful nature of this parable and The servant master dynamic that Jesus is using to get the point across. So we have to go back in time a little bit put ourselves in that situation.

To really grasp grasp what he's saying here but essentially what he's saying is when a servant of the master comes in the house and Does that which is commanded of him? He doesn't. He doesn't expect to be congratulated.

The master isn't expected to Say, okay, you know, you've done enough. Why don't you take it easy? Why don't you you take a break for a while? Forget your responsibilities for a while. You did a spectacular job here.

And all of these types of things he's using that particular dynamic which everyone understands. No, the servant the slave of course is to live up to the master's commands. He's expected to do so and it's not even really You know to be this Congratulated celebrate a thing when he is an obedient servant.

He's just expected to be obedient. Jesus is using that as a parable to remind us of what our duty is toward God our master. So he gives the parable and then again in that last verse. So likewise you when you shall have done all those things which you are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do and so Jesus could not have used more of a Explicit on-the-nose parable to describe the duty of every Christian of every age Toward God and he uses the analogy of a slave in a master.

Which is very appropriate because as the Apostles make extremely clear throughout the New Testament. That's exactly what all of us are. We are slaves to Christ no longer to Caesar no longer to our own sin no longer to Satan himself as Paul spells out pretty clearly in 2nd Timothy.

But rather we are slaves to the one true King the one true master and the one good master for that matter.

So.

This idea of duty this idea of responsibility. It's not new to Paul. It's not anything that Paul is just kind of pulling out of his personal experience and saying Timothy this is how the ministry should work because it's my.

You know just because I say so or because I feel that this is the way it should work. This is absolutely playing off of all of the principles Jesus himself had already talked about and of course, it's all throughout the Old Testament as well.

It's just put in these particular and very practical terms. By Paul in first Timothy, so Timothy was duty-bound and Paul was commanding him on that basis to stay firm in the faith and wore a noble warfare.

Getting back to 1st Timothy 1 18 now. To war a noble warfare. We broke all of that down the last time we were together. And then of course that very interesting phrase. According to the prophecies which went before on you.

Now that is a really interesting aspect to all of this. God gave Timothy the gifts that he needed to be a leader of the early church and He then articulated that gift through the prophecies of multiple people that were all converging at Timothy's confirmation of being an elder his Ordination if you will when they laid hands on him to become an elder and things like that.

There had been prophecies about Timothy. And what he would do in the ministry alongside the living apostles and all the way until they had passed. Through the rest of his ministry there were prophecies made even prior to his ordination.

Paul talks about this again in chapter 4 we'll get to it eventually. But it says neglect not the gift that is in thee talking to Timothy which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the presbytery and so Timothy was a man that had been prophesied about and Paul is now anchoring his Exhortation or rather his command his instruction is charged as he puts it to Timothy in that reality.

You have been prophesied about you have been spoken about. By prophetic utterances that were from God live up to that don't don't shirk away from your responsibilities. Don't fail your people don't fail God.

Because this is what you've been put here for so the elders laid their hands. Confirming Timothy because God himself through the voice of the prophets revealed Timothy's calling to ministry.

Now.

Kind of like I've already alluded to it. What is the point of these? What's the point of Paul mentioning these prophecies though there? It's already.

At least.

You would think that they're well aware of these things. Timothy would have been well aware of these things. Would have been well aware of the prophecies that have been mentioned about him that have been had been done in his name.

And all of these types of things. So why is Paul bringing it up in this particular context? He's grounding his charge to Timothy in it, but he's also I believe stirring up Timothy. Timothy Was meant to be stirred up by this remembrance by being recalled.

Or That the prophecies being recalled to mind so that he would have the confidence he would have the boldness. He would have the strength that he would need stepping into all of the various roles he was being stirred up and Reminded of these things to give him kind of a unique motivation to remain faithful and to work faithfully.

So to remain faithful in God and his promises. But also to ground his work in that faith as well and for the work itself to be faithful. And so the prophecies concerning him would not only motivate him, but would do what they would ground his Responsibilities his duty toward his people in the moments where he may feel a little bit out of it where he may feel you know.

What it's just not my day. I'm not I'm not up for it today. He would be reminded of these things and that would ground his work. It would ground his responsibilities toward his people it would stir him up and give him what he needed to keep pressing forward.

Even when he wasn't feeling like it because he was duty-bound. Not based upon his emotions, but based upon his people based upon everything that God put before him. Yeah, go ahead Robert say that one more time.

I'm sure we did a few months back. I can't remember at the top of my head exactly how deep we went on it sure.

Yeah.

We did talk about this what we win it we actually skipped into 2nd Timothy and talked about Lois and Eunice and just the The significance behind the name that was most likely given to him by them not necessarily by his presumably pagan dad.

And so yes. All of that certainly ties in right? Well this this kind of goes, you know, this goes back to the emphasis in both Testaments on covenant covenant people as well as down into the Household like so there's the broad covenant of between God and his people at large.

But then it goes down into the into the micro covenants if you will of marriage.

Of.

Parents with their kids of People within their own local church community and things like that. They are bound by covenant one toward another. This is one reason why church membership Is important when the time is right because then you have those covenant commitments between those people.

In that local church, it's not people just kind of floating around having a casual nice spiritual relationship with everyone. They are covenant bound church members. And of course again, the marriage is one of the key kind of examples that we have that pictures the covenant between Christ and his bride the covenant between God and his people and so forth and so to your point Thomas called you Timothy to your point Robert Parents would intentionally give their kids names oftentimes so that every time their name was uttered it was meant to recall to their mind a reminder of their responsibility of their duty and and that kind of plays off of the reality of of covenants as well and So what's amazing about all this is that Paul doesn't put this back on Timothy's radar.

This is very important he doesn't throw this out there he doesn't put it back on Timothy's radar. With the intention of it being counterproductive and here's what I mean by that. There are there are some people today and there have been people for a long time.

In fact Paul even Kind of rhetorically argued with people like this. They would argue that essentially, you know, God is in control. The future is set. He has his decree. So therefore, you know, these prophecies have been seen I'm just going to kind of sit back and watch what God does and let him do the rest that sort of thing so when you you have this fascinating dynamic in the scripture where you have this I Mean we take it for what it is.

It's a it's a compatible relationship between the sovereignty of God and time the sovereignty of God and in men that are Morally culpable that have a will that make decisions and all these things you have both constantly moving together.

Because of that reality Paul is actually able to use prophecies that have been given directly by God, which means they are set they can't be meddled with and Will come to pass but he's not using that as A means to get Timothy kind of just thinking don't worry about it.

Everything's taken care of. He's actually using it as a means as a means to motivate him to do the things he's meant to do. He's using the prophecies that have been made to spur him on To keep going not to sit back and take it easy.

So Again, he's not using this in a counterproductive way at all. What he's doing is he's actually using the revelation to fire up Timothy to do something and to do so with great confidence.

So.

He's using it to spur him on but it also gives him the confidence knowing it is I am in God's hands. I am in God's hands. He has spoken of me. He has spoken of me by name by the mouth of the prophets and I can take that and go do his work to his glory.

So.

That phrase there at the end of verse 18 or kind of right in the middle of it rather according to the prophecies which went before on thee that thou by them mightest war a good warfare and I we kind of looked at this verse out of order because we focused on that warring a good warfare in detail the last time.

We were together that noble warfare. Against the devil against the enemies of God. The way that Timothy is able to do that is by the confidence that comes by knowing that the prophecies That went before about you really really fascinating stuff so now let's look at verse 19 through 20 and.

Again, it starts to get pretty interesting here because the Apostle Paul is gonna fire up Timothy in a different way. Now he's gonna spur him on in a completely different from a completely different angle.

First of all the beginning of verse 19. It says holding faith and a good conscience. So he's still talking directly to Timothy here, let's talk about that for just a moment. You have this kind of duality of faith and conscience in a lot of Paul's writings.

He will talk about both of them together and both of them often. There's there's kind of a running theme and we've actually already seen him do this already in this epistle in verse 5. He says now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned.

And then we'll see this again later on in like chapter 3 or something like that faith in conscience. This is a very important pairing and of course, there's loads of intention behind doing this. Not not to mention the Spirit moving Paul as he is he writes all of these instructions.

But it's a very important pairing because it's one thing to have faith in God and his promises. It's one thing to be a person that believes God is there to perhaps even believe. That what he says is true and that what he says will happen will come about.

And that's a good thing. Of course that that faith is incredibly important, but it's a whole nother thing.

To let that faith.

Guard you from wrongdoing in your personal life to let that faith actually protect you secure you from indulging in whatever sins may so easily beset a particular person and the way that faith can guard you in the way that Everything God gives us as a Christian all of the equipment if you will that God gives us a Christian the way it can guard Us is by informing the conscience, which is the second part of what Paul is talking about here holding faith and a good conscience.

To inform it even to the point of it being blameless not just before man, but even toward God himself at the very end of Acts in Acts 24 near the end of Acts in verse 16 the Apostle Paul says. And Herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense Toward God.

That's a an old way of saying a blameless conscience. To have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. So what this tells us is that God gives us the equipment that we need. Through script the Word of God itself through Scripture through the Spirit living within us.

Through the sanctification process through our faith itself. He gives us what we need to be able to live in such a way that we have a blameless conscience now we all know that we still sin and we We get little just for the sake of argument throw out there the assumption that we will sin every single day.

And that is most likely true for each and every one of us. Perhaps there are some sins done in ignorance. But we most likely every every person out there sins at some point. Throughout the day and maybe an older age as people that is that sanctification process moves on that changes a little bit.

But that dynamic changes a little bit and of course brother rocky believed wholeheartedly that we have the power through grace through faith through the Holy Spirit living within us to live a great many moments.

And perhaps even a great many days without sinning doesn't mean that we will though. And that's important an important note to throw in there, but let's assume for a second that Christians all Christians sin every day.

How is it possible to have a blameless conscience? Well we talk about it so often in this church, and we and we should and It we should for a number of reasons. One of which being that it is exactly what gives the Christian boldness to move on even knowing that he's a sinner.

Even knowing that he still messes up every single day. But for another important reason is because of this right here so that we can move on with a good conscience like Paul is calling Timothy to do so that we can have a blameless conscience even before God and man like the Apostle Paul had and that is what?

The confession of our sin before God going to the Lord Jesus confessing our sins to him when they happen and At that point we know that he is faithful and just to forgive us of those sins in that moment temporally.

We know that there's the out-of-time aspect of our sins being redeemed in Christ. But in the moment we still mess up and for those moments. That is why the Apostle John gave us those instructions at the beginning of his first epistle.

And why that confession of sin is so important because while we can mess up. We can fix it immediately and I say we and you know what I'm talking about. We can fix it immediately by confessing that to Christ so that he will forgive us in that moment thus giving us an undefiled conscience a good conscience a blameless conscience even before God and man as Paul said once more and so the conscience is something that every human is born with and this is where it starts to get really interesting and This will probably use up the rest of our time, but I think it's worth talking about a little bit.

Every human being is born with a conscience. But the important thing to remember is that the conscience is not Automatically capable of righteous judgment on a broad scale, and I'm being specific with my wording here because As we'll find out in a second. We're gonna look at Paul's writings and Romans there is a sense in which every person is born with a metric for righteous judgment or You know a way to determine what's right and wrong between good and evil.

It's just not that it's just not in mature form. Automatically and that's what I mean the conscience is not automatically capable of a mature judgment between good and evil or or Judgment on a broad scale where you can get into the nuances of all kinds of different very tricky situations and be able to Parse all of that out.

That's not an automatic thing that only comes through a deep knowledge of Scripture. That's the only way that human beings and specifically saved believing human beings Can inform their conscience to that particular degree?

And this is why it's not our conscience that defines sin, and this is a very important thing for us to remember. Whether or not you think you feel like what you're doing isn't bad is not what defines whether it's bad or not.

It's it's God's Word that defines it and so if you are you know engaging in a particular action. And you say well, you know I don't feel guilty about this. That doesn't necessarily mean It's not a sin it might be now it may be it's not but it might in the only way that you can know Is by holding it up against the one objective standard we have in existence, and that is God's infallible Word and so our conscience doesn't at any point even at the point of maturity.

Define what sin is that's what God's Word does but after learning What the definition of sin is which the Bible gives us Paul gives it to us in Romans John gives it to us in first John and you see allusions to it throughout all of Scripture and James Defines it as well after we know what the definition of sin is.

Then our conscience recognizes the sin it still doesn't define it. But it recognizes it and it starts firing off at us it starts saying stop doing that our conscience starts bearing witness with our Spirit it starts telling us you don't need to be doing that you don't even need to be thinking about that.

You need to step away you need to back up you need to give yourself some space. Maybe from these people from this action from this thought whatever it may be and if you don't then You know you are willingly at odds with that Scripture informed conscience.

And that's not a good place to be and oftentimes It is that conscience that is what is telling us confess that to the Lord now when we do mess up. So the conscience God put it there to be informed and then to act as kind of a guardian.

Over our hearts over our minds over our thought life to help protect us from engaging in sin in the first place. But if we do still engage in it anyway because our wills are very strong. They're very stiff-necked.

When we war against that conscience anyway. Then it's there still to spur us on to confess the sin that we just committed to the Lord. So turn over to Romans chapter 2 for a second and let me show you.

Kind of how all of this. What all this is grounded in? Where you know where where are some of the teachings on the conscience in? Scripture and one of the the key ones is here in Romans chapter 2. And there are others, but this is one.

That's particularly interesting because Paul gives a snapshot into humanity not just Christians not just. Not just people within our context, but a snapshot into the hearts of the entire human race regardless of faith commitments regardless of anything.

It is something that has been put there by design and we'll see this spelled out at this point. So Romans chapter 2 and take a look at verse 12. The Apostle Paul here says for as many as have sinned without law Shall also perish without law and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.

For not the hearers of the law are just before God. But the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles which have not the law Do by nature the things contained in the law these having not the law are a law unto themselves.

It's a bit of a mouthful, but you can kind of get the sense of what Paul is talking about here. I'll spell it out a little bit more clearly in just a moment. But all of all of this is very important the way he is constructing this argument is very important.

Verse 15 which show the work of the law and here's the key written in their hearts their conscience. There's the key that we're talking about here also bearing witness and their thoughts. And their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.

In the day when when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Now in verse 14 there or excuse me in verse 15 a couple things I want to hone in on specifically and then I'll more broadly address this passage.

But notice he says would show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness. So the conscience here is secondary to the law of God written on their hearts. So it still comes back to the Word of God.

Because we know at least in in part There is an aspect of it that has been put upon their hearts so that they can know between good and evil even from the time of youth even without a Let's just call it Christianized culture around them.

This is why even you know the barbarian tribes of All of human history will be righteously judged for the sins they committed without the excuse of well We didn't have the Ten Commandments. They won't be able to say that because God wrote it on their hearts whether they heard it or not.

They had the moral law of God written on their hearts. So that's the first thing is that the law is written on their hearts. There's the Word of God and then their conscience comes in Secondarily to that but along with it not.

They're inseparable also bearing witness in their in their thoughts and so on and so forth and. So the conscience is a very interesting thing. First of all, it's a it's a proof that there is an objective lawgiver.

This is not this is not a aspect of Evolution this isn't something that Say that again. Well, it's certainly not cultural but it's certainly not a matter of evolutionary processes either the conscience.

It's a proof that there is a lawgiver and that he says here is my law. And that that law was in fact written on the heart so that you don't have the excuse to say well I didn't have the commandments written in stone.

So we have an objective lawgiver the conscience of human beings is proof of that enough but the conscience is also interesting because Once more you are not born with a fully informed fully mature conscience either.

The conscience is something that grows in tandem with a person's sanctification. Now you might be sitting there thinking. Well, only believers can be sanctified and that's exactly right in. Unless you are a Christian you are left with nothing more than the law of God written on your heart.

You're left with nothing more than the condemnation of a perfect moral standard that you cannot live up to that being the moral law of God and. So if you want your conscience to get above and beyond that to move beyond The law that was written on your heart.

You must be a believer. You must bend the knee to Christ. Therefore putting yourself in a position to be just excuse me justified.

Yes.

But sanctified and the conscience grows in tandem with that sanctification. Paul speaks of this in detail in first Corinthians chapter 8. He talks about the weaker brother. He talks about the brother whose conscience won't allow him to eat the meat that was offered to idols.

But other Christians could. What is that? It's a it's a mature. It's a maturing of the conscience. Those weaker brothers weren't at the point yet where their conscience had Grown alongside their sanctification allowing them to take part in the meats offered to idols.

Robert. Yeah, that's certainly true. Through through the maturing of the believer and as Paul well I believe Paul tells us in Hebrews chapter 5 the mature believer able to to Take the the meat and to discern between good and evil.

When you get to that point it is very obvious between where between the conviction of the Spirit and God's Word versus False guilt. Perhaps that the devil could be trying to to pull you in That particular trap that absolutely becomes more and more clear as time goes on and To your point about the final judgment and things like that.

This is why People will not will not be able to appeal to their external actions. In the end they won't be able to appeal to the prophecies or to the healings or to the To the the great sermons they preached or to the things they did in the name of Christ.

None of that will matter because it's like the whitewashed tomb inside. There's there's dead men's bones. And so Jesus says apart from me. I never knew you because he appeals to the heart. He never appeals to the external.

Solely the external flows from the heart, but it is important, but that's not the that's not the appeal. It is it is to the internal so that's certainly true.

But.

So kind of going back to this law written on the heart idea every human being is given this baseline knowledge Of good and evil because the moral law of God the moral law that that's usually summarized in the Ten Commandments.

It's more than just the ten. But if you were to summarize what the moral law of God is it would be that it would be the Ten Commandments and really you Could summarize it further In loving the Lord by God with all your heart soul mind and in strength and loving your neighbor as yourself.

But the Ten Commandments the moral law of God is kind of that baseline knowledge that is written on the hearts of every single human being. This is why Abel knew that he did something wrong when he killed Cain long before Mount Sinai.

And it's really interesting because you can actually track. You can actually track all Ten Commandments in Genesis prior to the law being given on on Mount Sinai now that was of course God's stamp of.

Here is the inauguration of a new covenant and here it is. It's clear as day. It's written on tables of stone and all this kind of stuff, but all ten Commandments are alluded to prior to Moses and prior to the giving of them.

Most of them in Genesis. There's one that's early in Exodus, but prior to Mount Sinai. But this is why Abel knew that him slaying excuse me. This is why Cain knew that slaying Abel was wrong because on his heart he knew thou shalt not murder.

This is why adultery was wrong and punished severely in Genesis because even then on their hearts. They knew thou shalt not commit adultery. Coveting was judged and. And punished by God in Genesis thou shalt not covet.

And you can go on and on the the opening commandments thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make into thee a graven image thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain all three of those Punished in the book of Genesis prior to the law being given at Mount Sinai.

Why. Because it has been written on the hearts of man. It's why Cain knew that his murder of Abel was bad, but once a person becomes a believer. They're expected to be in God's Word enough. To hold a good conscience going back to Timothy now because I know that was a little bit of a rabbit trail to hold a good conscience along with their faith as He says which at the beginning of that particular verse.

Holding faith and a good conscience, and we're totally out of time unfortunately. But we'll just ask the question for now. What does it look like when that is neglected? What does it look like when you don't hold when you're a professing believer and an emphasis on the word professing?

We'll get more into this next week, but when you are a professing believer. What does it look like when it is neglected to hold fast to the faith and to hold a good conscience? And he tells us that in the remaining parts of verse 19 in the verse 20 with these characters Himeneas and Alexander and so we'll talk about them next week and we'll talk about how Paul uses them as another way another angle of spurring Timothy on to be confident to hold the course and To not fail his people his God his church or himself for that matter his calling.

Why he is to live up to the prophecies that have been made about him, so we'll get into that next week Assuming the baby hasn't been born by then it could happen any day now guys. I promise all right.

Y 'all have any last thoughts in our final minute. Yes, ma 'am.

Yeah.

Yeah, and I you know this is.

Somewhat conjecture although. I think you could probably back it up. I haven't thought about it a whole lot. But I would suspect you could back this up, but I don't believe that the Christians conscience can be seared.

I think once a person I think the elect of God are incapable of having their conscience seared because that is an invaluable tool. It's part of the human experience that of course the Spirit himself uses throughout the lifetime of a believer.

So when you get to Romans, and you talk about the searing of the conscience and by the way Paul talks about it in this letter as well in first Timothy. We'll get to that at some point, but when you're talking about the idea of the searing of the conscience being made implacable being made.