Rule #4 Wage the Good Warfare (1 Timothy 1:18-20)

Kootenai Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:04

Good morning, everyone Good to see you all. We're thankful that you're here and thankful that you're here safely this morning considering conditions so Invite you to open your

00:14

Bibles once again to first Timothy Paul's letter to Timothy and there is an outline

00:19

Two -page outline if you don't have one They're right here and you can grab ahold of one of those and follow along as we continue our study in house rules for God's Church last week we looked at verses 12 through 17 and we saw

00:35

Paul's gratitude for his salvation and that he Recognized that he was the recipient of God's powerful effective overwhelming grace in his life, even though as he said he was a blasphemer and a persecutor a persecutor of God's Church the

00:54

Christians But also a blasphemer of God and in saying that with those two words He just captured the entire law and said he fractured violated the whole law, but two times in that same passage he said but I was

01:09

Mercied as we saw and the mention of God's saving grace in his life caused him to break forth in what we call a doxology a

01:20

Statement of glory or a word of glory about God in verse 17 to the king of ages immortal

01:25

Invisible the only God be honor and glory forever and ever a man and This morning.

01:34

We're going to finish off this chapter with verses 18 through 20 what we're calling this morning rule number four wage the good warfare so it's as if Paul moves from the quiet of a chapel and the praising of God and Thanksgiving to God and the glorification of God and says

01:52

Okay time to get back out on the street Back to the world back to the warfare back out there where the action is and that's important for us to do right part of what we do we come apart from the world come here and by the grace of God is to Fellowship together and worship our

02:09

Lord and hear the word taught and preached praise him But then it's back out on the street where most of things take place out there

02:19

So this morning, we're going to see wage the good warfare rule number four in God's household before we do

02:25

Let's commit our time to our Lord and ask his blessing Our father we do thank you that we are also blessed and Recipients of your great grace even being able to gather here

02:40

We know that you have brought each one here today in time space history and your providential working

02:47

You have ordained that we would be here this morning So we just thank you for that and we pray that you would teach us this morning from your word

02:54

By your spirit and that you would be glorified in it, and we just thank you in Christ mighty name.

03:01

Amen on the 2nd of August 1990 and it's hard to believe it's been that many years 2nd of August 1990 the

03:11

Iraqi army by order of the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein Invaded their neighbor nation the nation of Kuwait and Basically as you remember just overwhelmed that nation in a short period of time in a brutal way

03:26

Occupied them led by a coalition the United States a coalition of 34 nations

03:31

Responded and a massive military build -up began the build -up of forces in the desert of Saudi Arabia just south of Kuwait went on for more than five months and was named

03:44

Desert Shield Close to a million coalition personnel were involved in that build -up and over 500 ,000 of them were

03:52

Americans finally on the 17th of January 1991 Operation Desert Shield became

04:00

Operation Desert Storm a five -week bombing campaign began and on the on February 24th the ground campaign was unleashed

04:11

And just 100 hours later amazingly just 100 hours later a ceasefire took place

04:18

After the stunning victory the overall commander general Norman Schwarzkopf Gave a news conference in which he outlined the coalition strategy with maps and charts and statistics

04:31

In which he detailed how they did what they did in that overwhelming rapid destruction of the

04:40

Of the Iraqi military considered at that time the fourth largest in the world like most

04:46

Americans who watch a conference I was impressed with the Amazing victory and also grateful to the

04:52

Lord that our casualties were so light But the one thing I remember when the issue of the build -up was discussed and the reporters began to ask questions

05:01

Why did it take so long? Why did you take so long and why this massive build -up of forces before you actually attacked?

05:11

General Schwarzkopf said Never assume away the capabilities of your enemy

05:18

Never assume away the capabilities of your enemy What is true in warfare between nations is doubly maybe triply true in Spiritual warfare never assume away the capabilities of your enemy and in our case enemies

05:36

This is a reminder to Timothy by the Apostle Paul as you remember Timothy being left sent into Ephesus to accomplish work there while Paul moved on to Macedonia and Paul then charges him with this and Reminds him of his

05:57

Responsibilities as a soldier of Jesus Christ. So this morning from this little three -verse

06:03

Passage here. We're going to see our war our weapons and our warning because if you're a believer in Jesus Christ Whether you know it or not, whether you want it or not

06:13

You're at war. It's a spiritual war and we're going to see that warfare this morning wage the good warfare

06:22

Paul says in verse 18 actually That's from the ESV translation wage the good warfare.

06:28

The word is actually war the good warfare So he uses the verb and the noun both in that sentence war the good warfare

06:34

So this morning we're going to see first of all our war We have a war we're at war and if you don't think that you're at war, that's okay

06:45

There's an awful lot that's at war with you, but you're at war and first we need to see we have our enemies

06:51

So just to sort of set the stage a little bit for what we're going to be looking at Let's turn in our

06:56

Bibles to Ephesians chapter 2. We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 3 this morning

07:02

We're going to kind of be doing a little bit of a Bible study here this morning You know kind of a what used to be called speaking of military

07:09

Genre, you're a sword drill. Okay, so thought your fingers a little bit and we're going to be flipping through the pages of the

07:15

Word of God this morning and First place is Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians 2 verses 1 through 3.

07:22

What are our enemies? Well, this is a good place to look for one thing it's the

07:28

Apostle Paul writing to the Ephesian Christians where Timothy is going to be ministering and He's just detailing for them what they were like before they were saved

07:38

How is it? What was your spiritual condition before you were saved? what were your spiritual enemies and he says in chapter 2 starting in verse 1 and You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked

07:55

Following the course of this world Following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience

08:05

Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature

08:15

Children of wrath like the rest of mankind Well before people came to Christ, they were they were

08:25

At war and they had enemies probably didn't even realize it But the one condition that they were in that the

08:32

Bible describes an unsaved person is just simply with one word You see it right there in verse 1.

08:38

How does the Bible describe unsaved people? Dead yeah dead they all knew what dead was and spiritually dead

08:49

But they were spiritually dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked

08:55

And of course Paul is using the word walk. There is the normal course of life how they live life following the course of this world

09:03

The first enemy of the unsaved person and even after we're saved is the world the world system

09:11

Unsaved people walk or live following the course of this world They have a worldview as it's called that is counter to God.

09:20

It is anti God Anti -christ the word their cosmos has a pretty broad range of meaning as it's used throughout the

09:28

New Testament here Essentially here world or world system. The Germans had a word

09:34

German theologians. They call it zeitgeist Maybe you've heard that word before Zeitgeist Zeit time

09:41

Geist ghost or spirit so spirit of the time spirit of the age every age has a certain

09:47

Worldview or world system that's out there and we do as well as you well know

09:53

We have the spirit of the age It is the the value system of the world the worldview that is not from Scripture.

10:02

It is from Satan as we're going to see in the upper room in John 15 18 through 21 as Our Lord began to prepare his disciples for his departure in a very short period of time

10:18

Jesus says this John 15 18 to through 21 if the world hates you

10:24

Know that it has hated me before it hated you If you were of the world the world would love you as its own

10:33

But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world. Therefore the world hates you remember the word that I said to you a

10:43

Servant is not greater than his master if they persecuted me They will also persecute you if they kept my word.

10:50

They will also keep yours He's talking to disciples believers in him and the world is still their enemy

10:58

The world hates the disciples of Jesus Christ Oh, and by the way, if the world hates you because you're a follower of Christ, you're a really good company

11:08

If the world hates you know that it has hated me before it hated you

11:14

So the world system the world is our enemy and then again over in chapter 16 still in the upper room verses 8 through 11 speaking of the coming of the

11:26

Spirit Jesus said when he comes he will convict the world concerning sin and Righteousness and judgment concerning sin because they do not believe in me concerning righteousness

11:40

Because I go to the father and you will see me no longer concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is

11:49

Judged and here Jesus calls Satan the ruler of this world Our first enemy here is the world system, but we also have a second enemy as Paul said he called him the the spirit

12:02

The the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience It is the devil the first world system and then the second is the devil or Satan Satan is the ruler of this world system.

12:16

He energizes the world system It hates God and it hates the church because Satan is involved in leading it

12:25

Satan the word means adversary the word devil or Diabolos means slanderer.

12:32

This is the one who is the adversary of God the adversary of the church

12:37

And he is the slanderer or liar He energizes the world system and the people in it because he is a liar and the father of lies in 2nd

12:50

Corinthians 4 the Apostle Paul calls him the God of this evil age and he blinds the eyes of the unbelieving

12:58

Again back to back to the gospel of John John chapter 12 This is verse 31

13:08

Our Lord once again makes reference to him in John 12 31

13:14

Now is the judgment of this world now will the ruler of this world be cast out

13:21

So Satan is the ruler. He's the God of this evil age. He energizes and operates the world system and He is the enemy of the church.

13:32

He opposes Christ. He opposes his kingdom He rules this world system very familiar verse.

13:39

I'm sure to you first Peter 5 8 and 9 this is directed to Christians who are scattered all over the place undergoing persecution at the time and Peter says your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour

13:57

Resist him firm in your faith Knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world

14:07

Satan is Hoping to thwart the church thwart God's plan as we know

14:13

He's been doing that all through time and he is the one who energizes and operates through this world system 2nd

14:21

Corinthians 11 the Apostle Paul Verses 13 through 15. He refers to Satan who masquerades as an angel of light

14:31

He's not out there advertising his Activities as a destructive force he masquerades as an angel of light

14:40

So we have our war our enemies the world system the devil who energizes and operates it

14:48

But there's a third one he mentions in Ephesians 2 the flesh he says that When we were dead in our sins

14:59

We were by nature children of wrath because we operated in the flesh and You have to take that word as it comes in the context in order to define it because as we know in John 1 14

15:15

John the Apostle said that the word this eternal word. He's speaking about there in his prologue

15:20

The word became flesh and dwelt among us now That's simply in that usage in that context.

15:27

John is simply saying he became a man a real physical man. There are just no Sinful connotation there whatsoever

15:34

So that word has to be understood within the context of how it's being used by the author what we would call authorial intent

15:41

I think a good working definition would be for the flesh the unredeemed aspect of our person the unredeemed aspect of our person and it does certainly include the physical flesh as we might say it

15:58

It's important to remember. We're not taking these earth houses with us to heaven.

16:03

Okay, and some of you are Happier than others about that. Maybe if you're over the age of 35 or 40, you know as time goes by You become very much aware that I'm glad I'm not dragging this thing into heaven with me.

16:16

We will have a resurrected body So certainly the the physical body is part of that picture

16:23

But here's a what one commentator says and I think this is very good definition When the

16:29

Bible speaks of the flesh it is often referring to our natural sin tendencies We are all born with a sin nature

16:36

Romans 5 12 Our natural predilection is to please ourselves any way we see fit

16:42

We can be trained to behave in more socially acceptable ways and even find enjoyment in being kind to others

16:49

However without the power of God in other words regeneration We remain self -centered we do what we do even good things because we receive some selfish payoff

17:03

Anything not done from faith or love for God any deed not empowered by the

17:08

Holy Spirit is a work of the flesh as Scripture says Romans 8 8 and Romans 14 23 if you'd like to jot down those references

17:18

So we're in a war we have our enemies We have the world system.

17:24

That's that we live in we have Satan or the devil as he's called of course and his

17:31

Minions his demons, but we also have the flesh it gets very close to home that way

17:37

But we also have our mission. And so now we're going to get right into verses 19

17:44

Through 20 in this passage and just see What Paul says about our mission and he does what he's done already in this passage is he gives a charge or a command?

17:56

To Timothy so in verse 18, he says this charge I entrust to you

18:02

Timothy My child in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you that by them you may wage the good warfare

18:11

It's important to understand With the mission that we have first and foremost.

18:16

It's a command. It is a command and Paul is just you know We can just take this military or martial

18:24

Metaphor that he's using and he's using this all the way through he charges Timothy with this

18:31

Great truth to wage the good warfare. It is not optional

18:36

It is a command from our commander -in -chief as we might say and Timothy would have been very well familiar with this

18:43

He spent a lot of time with Paul. He had been Working with him and in ministry for quite some time

18:49

He would have understood the apostolic doctrines that he had to teach and preach He would have understand something about the false teachers that were out there as well what the threat was to his mission

19:00

But he also had to understand this is a command from God Passed on from God through Paul down to him.

19:06

And of course it then comes down to us as well The second thing we need to see about this mission that we have not only is that a command it is a sacred trust

19:16

He says that this charge I entrust to you Timothy my child the actual the word my is not there very literally it says

19:25

I entrust to you child Timothy had a very close intimate relationship with Timothy, even though he's charging him and commanding him sort of like a commander to a soldier

19:35

This was a brother in Christ. He had a very close relationship to him and He says it is a sacred trust.

19:43

It is to be preached. It is to be taught It is to be guarded it is to be protected and it's to be passed on intact to the next

19:53

Generation we see that in 2nd Timothy chapter 2. Let's look at 2nd Timothy chapter 2

20:00

Very last words of Paul to the church His last letter to Timothy.

20:07

He's in prison. He's getting near to be Executed he knows it He wants to make sure that Timothy understands his marching orders what his priorities are because Paul's leaving the scene

20:18

And so in chapter 2 verse 2 Paul says concerning the sacred trust

20:23

He says you then my child once again this term of endearment Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus Remember last time we talked a little about about this word strengthened what it means what it refers to it

20:36

Basically strengthened for your your calling to service, but also strengthened within that service

20:42

God provides the strength we need to serve him and He says you then my child be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus How does that work out in verse 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses in trust to?

20:59

Faithful men who will be able to teach others Also, this is a sacred trust and it's being passed down and what you see here is

21:07

Four generations. Okay, you have the Apostle Paul you have Timothy He's passing it down to Timothy and Timothy is to pass it down to faithful men who will be able to teach others

21:19

Also, you have four generations there. What you don't see is the fifth person there.

21:25

You know who that is Who trained Paul? Paul was trained called and trained by Jesus Christ himself.

21:33

Paul spent time being trained being essentially discipled he got his doctrine from Christ himself, so there are five generations there

21:45

Christ Paul Timothy faithful men and then others We have to pass on the baton

21:53

Okay If you run if you're running a leg of a 400 meter 400 meter relay and you run a blazing fast leg

22:01

Maybe world record leg, but you come to pass the baton and you fumble it and you drop it, right?

22:08

The race is over it's important to pass the baton on this is what Paul wants

22:14

Timothy to have in mind here as Paul leaves the scene a Couple other details here.

22:20

This is not some kind of secret esoteric Knowledge, you know that only a few people know like the

22:27

Gnostics the people you got to go to to find the knowledge, right? You heard it from me in the presence of many witnesses

22:34

This was public teaching the proclamation of God's Word is always public. It's always well known to everybody

22:40

Everybody can listen to it. Everybody can evaluate it. Everybody can test it against Scripture it's

22:45

Public it's when the presence of many witnesses not something secret and he's supposed to pass it on to faithful men

22:53

Why why do they need to be faithful? So they'll pass it on to other people just like Timothy is able to teach others

22:59

Also, here's another little footnote on this a few weeks ago We talked a little bit about Apostles and are there

23:05

Apostles in the church? after the apostolic generation if the office of Apostle was going to be passed on You know to and from from the

23:18

Apostles to the next generation This would have been the place to do it right here, right?

23:24

Paul's leaving the scene. He's going to be executed of all the people for him to pass it on to it would have been

23:29

Timothy He was closer to Timothy than he was Titus even though he had a close relationship with Titus if the

23:37

Apostolic mantle was going to be passed on to a new generation He would have done it right here.

23:43

But what does he say to pass on the apostolic office? No, the things you have heard from me and what is that the

23:52

Word of God? We do not pass down an office. There are no more

23:58

Apostles We pass down the truth to the next generation okay, so it's a command from God and it's a sacred trust and It is from God kind of come around full circle here.

24:12

It's from God. And so he says to him In accordance with The prophecies previously made about you that by them you may wage the good warfare

24:24

It's a little bit of a mystery exactly what Paul is talking about here as far as what is this?

24:30

These prophecies, but if you just look ahead first Timothy 414, I think we get some indication here first Timothy 414

24:40

Paul says Do not neglect the gift you have which was given you by Prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.

24:51

Apparently there was a time when Timothy was We might call it being ordained or set aside for for service to the

24:59

Lord and at that point in time he he would have been entrusted with his ministry and He needs to then keep that trust in mind as he goes through that ministry also in 2nd

25:12

Timothy chapter 2nd Timothy 1 there's another little indication there verse 6

25:25

For this reason again Paul speaking to Timothy I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands now we can

25:37

Speculate a little bit probably shouldn't as to what this is But I think this is probably what Paul is referring to here when he encourages him to wage this warfare

25:46

In accordance with the prophecies previously made about you. In other words, he's he's doesn't say wage the warfare however, you want to this has to be done in line with What the charge is from those who commissioned him for his work?

26:01

So we have our war and in that war we have our enemies. We also have our mission and it's a command

26:08

It's not a not an option. Every single one of us is commanded by God to participate But it's also a sacred trust from God.

26:16

We have responsibility to pass on to the next generation the Word of God Apostolic doctrine

26:24

And it's so critical. We do that. This is a charge and a command from God. Well, I thought before we move into Number two on your outline there.

26:32

I'd see if there are any questions or comments you might have questions comments Fill in the blank

26:40

Yeah, yeah, Rick Yes, it is from God it's from God I'm sorry

26:56

It is a sacred trust oh You must have the full oh

27:15

It is a it is a command it is a sacred trust it is from God and it is good

27:23

It's the good warfare Sorry about that. I must have an old copy of my own outline

27:32

So any other thoughts you might have or questions about this Well, we also then have our weapons

27:38

God hasn't left us Empty -handed here the weapons of our warfare. We're going to see that and what does

27:45

Paul say here? He says in the first part of verse 19 You're going to wage this warfare.

27:51

You're going to wage it according to this this This calling that you have this responsibility that has been laid on you and you're going to do it

28:01

Holding faith and a good conscience faith and a good conscience the the first thing we need to understand is we have our

28:13

Weapons, they are faith and a good conscience Paul you probably recognize this from work from verse 5

28:21

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

28:29

He says that there again in verse 19 in chapter 3 verse 9

28:35

Speaking to the qualifications of deacons. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear

28:42

Conscience again 2nd Timothy. We were already in that chapter 2nd

28:47

Timothy chapter 1 verses 3 through 6 He says in verse 5

28:56

I am reminded of your sincere faith a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother

29:01

Lois and your mother Eunice and now I am sure dwells in you as well for this reason

29:07

I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands

29:13

For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self -control

29:19

So the faith is critical and so is a clear conscience The faith here is probably best understood is the objective content of our faith

29:30

We can you can see that word and this is one reason I gave you that page two there on your notes

29:35

You might take a look at that Some of you are going to recognize this because I've used this and I don't know three or four different Bible studies

29:43

Why because this is a common theme throughout the the New Testament the faith the faith

29:48

Somebody might say to you. Well, I have faith I'm a person of faith, but a legitimate questioner for them would be faith in what or faith in who?

29:58

Faith is always Objective and whereas the use of this word in the

30:03

New Testament may be for personal subjective faith There's always a connection to the objective faith that we call

30:11

Scripture the Word of God and you can just see as you as you work down through Even Luke 18 there will

30:19

Jesus find the faith. It's something that can be found the second reference It's something that can be obeyed and then in Acts the

30:27

Proconsul was turned away from the faith So the objective faith is in view all the way down there

30:33

And I want to highlight the number of times that occurs percentage wise in the pastoral letters Do you see that first Timothy 1 to my true child child in the faith?

30:42

First Timothy 119 we're seeing it right now holding faith and so on and all the way down through Clear down through Titus 315 who loved us in the faith the objective

30:55

Content of our faith is what is being referred to here Jude who also was concerned about false teachers in the church and those who had crept in unawares as he said encouraging

31:07

Christians to contend for the faith once again, it has to be fought for it has to be contended for and Again in Jude building yourselves up in your most holy faith.

31:17

It also is what we use to build ourselves up so what he's talking about here is The objective content of what we believe it is so important that we

31:27

Preserve that that we fight for it and so on and that then of course is one of our weapons of our warfare also a good

31:37

Conscience a good conscience the conscience. Is that part of our immaterial being that the

31:44

Word of God? informs and then the conscience then informs us whether or not what we're doing or thinking or whatever it might be is

31:53

In line with the Word of God The conscience in first Timothy 4 to we're going to be seeing that can be seared

32:01

In other words, it can be scarred over so it's insensitive in Titus 1 13 through 16

32:07

The conscience can be defiled we also know that there are people of certain religions whose whose doctrines inform their conscience that it's perfectly just for them to commit

32:22

Suicidal murder and they do that without even thinking twice. They're perfectly fine with it Why because their conscience tells them it's fine

32:29

Their conscience is informed by the content of their faith and ours is as well

32:36

Another pretty good definition I think is is also and it's actually from this same author a good conscience is the possession of one who actively and knowingly is

32:48

Walking in accord with the will of God as revealed by the Word of God So there you have the objective content informing the conscience

32:57

To have rejected a good conscience as he's going to say here about these two people is to have knowingly

33:04

Compromised the will of God such a compromise is the precursor to a total shipwreck of one's faith

33:11

Most of those who have abandoned their faith could with a bit of investigation trace that departure not to unresolved intellectual difficulties but to some significant moral

33:24

Compromise can't tell you how important that concept is when you went when you encounter people that say well

33:31

I don't really I'm not interested in Christianity I just it doesn't doesn't meet my intellectual needs or it doesn't make sense to me.

33:40

Their problem is not Intellectual their problem is moral. Okay, men love darkness

33:47

Rather than light why John says their deeds are evil Whenever you hear somebody say well,

33:55

I need more data. I need more data now We always want to give people as much data as we feel comfortable giving them through the gospel

34:02

What did Christ do? What did he accomplish? Who is he scripturally? But you're gonna oftentimes and I've experienced this with people get to a certain place where they just say well

34:11

That's not quite good enough and you give them more data. Well that I'm not interested in that You can you can keep playing that game that person's problem is not intellectual.

34:20

It's not they need more data They need more information. Their problem is moral and Ultimately a failure to believe in God is always a moral issue

34:29

So faith and a good conscience are two of our weapons and our weapons very important This is 2nd

34:37

Corinthians 10 1 through 5. They are not of the flesh Our world system that we live in right now and most of us can probably relate to the idea that You know it it is

34:54

It is so counter to God the values are so counter to God to the

35:00

Word of God That we sometimes feel like we would like to wage something other than spiritual warfare, but that is not our place our

35:10

Weapons are not of the flesh. Here's Paul to the Corinthian Christians in verse chapter 10 of 2nd

35:18

Corinthians, he says I Paul myself entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when

35:28

I am away I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with with such confidence as I count on showing against some

35:37

Who suspect us of walking according to the flesh Paul was? accused of all kinds of things

35:44

For though we walk in the flesh now here he's using the two

35:49

Terms of this word or two meanings kind of playing them against each other Okay, it's almost like a little a word game for though we walk in the flesh

35:58

We are not waging war According to the flesh see how he's using those two words

36:05

Yeah, we're walking around physically, but we don't we don't wage a physical warfare

36:11

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds

36:19

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought

36:26

Captive to obey Christ. This is a war of ideas. This is a war of concepts this is a war of being able to take the

36:34

Word of God and apply it to a situation and it is not a Fleshly or carnal another old -fashioned word type of Warfare the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh

36:48

They are spiritual and they are powerful to tear down strongholds. Paul here is picturing a a

36:55

Massive structure doubt there the world system like a castle the old Latin word forte fort you know where we get the word fortress the strength of the enemy is the fortress and When you

37:08

Back in the day when you had a battle you would attack the fortress the Fort some of you

37:13

Musicians recognize this little word forte, you know, you have that little F maybe two

37:19

F's I used that one time and one of the musicians in the group came later and said you could even have three of those

37:25

You know and she was a pianist So I guess I can only imagine her really pounding down on that piano with real strength

37:32

You know if there was three F's there, but the fortress is what? Paul is picturing here and it's a fortress of ideas of concepts everything in here tells you this arguments lofty opinions

37:45

Thoughts and so on and today Probably the greatest threat to the church the greatest fortress that's out there

37:53

I would say in my opinion is critical race theory for a couple of reasons one is a

37:59

Lot of the arguments historically within the church were kind of in -house, you know, they were theological or doctrinal arguments that Theologians and churches would would wrangle about back and forth.

38:10

This one is almost like a world religion. It's massive It's huge It's popular and it's also very very very powerful because so many people believe it

38:21

One of the reasons it's easy for people to believe if it's essentially a religion, okay It's a religion of self -righteousness because you hear a lot about Justice justice justice that is very easy to get people hooked on why the natural man wants to self -justify every religious system apart from historic

38:42

Orthodox biblical Christianity is a system of self justification or or works righteousness every single one you may need to peel the onion to get down to it a little bit or I'd rather say peel the

38:55

Artichoke because it makes more sense to me. But once you get down to it, it's they're all the same man is

39:01

Intrinsically involved in the salvation process somehow he's part of the system He has to be it's a man -centered system

39:09

All of them are apart from biblical Christianity And by the way, they always all all break down at the weakest point, which is where where man is

39:18

Okay, if man is in the chain of things the chain is going to break at the weakest link and that's going to be man

39:24

But our weapons are against are not carnal. They're spiritual. They are they are

39:31

Ideas and concepts that come from the Word of God this is why it's so important to have your world view and your your thinking and your opinions shaped by Scripture and to be able to use the sword of the

39:42

Spirit Paul said which is the Word of God So our weapons they are faith good conscience.

39:49

They're not of a flesh and They are Spiritual instead in in Ephesians chapter 6 we were just there.

39:57

Let's just go back there briefly you're familiar with this Paul writing to this same group of of Believers in Ephesus that Timothy is going to be ministering in probably several years before He gets down toward the end of his letter.

40:12

He's going to make practical application How do you do spiritual warfare and you can listen to how much of this is defensive?

40:19

Basically most of it is defensive Finally, he says be strong in the

40:24

Lord and in the strength of his might there's that reference to strength again Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil

40:36

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood Once again here our our warfare is not against people.

40:44

Okay. I know I know I know you all can think of what about this What about that person? Yes, they are enemies as Paul says to the

40:52

Philippians enemies of the cross of Christ But our enemies are people but not so much the people but the underlying thought processes the worldview energized by Satan Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil

41:09

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers Against the authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places

41:24

Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand

41:30

Firm here how often he says stand stand withstand stand. Okay He is not saying run around all over the county and drive stakes in the ground or do other

41:42

Strange things that people do we are mainly in a in a defensive war, but we also have offensive weapon here

41:52

Stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness

41:57

And as shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all

42:03

Circumstances take up the shield of faith With which you can extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the

42:12

Spirit Which is the Word of God? There's our great offensive weapon the sword of the Spirit. Okay, the

42:18

Word of God praying Whole thing is bathed in prayer praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication

42:27

To that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the

42:32

Saints and also for me That words may be given to me and opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.

42:40

What's Paul's weapon? It's the gospel pray for that Paul says and he says I'm an ambassador in chains

42:46

That I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak So our weapons their faith a good conscience.

42:55

They're not fleshly. They're not carnal They are spiritual this also then comes with a warning in verse 19

43:02

The last part of a 19 and then verse 20 This warning is important for Timothy to hear but also it's important for us

43:11

The warning by rejecting this What's the referent to this faith and a good conscience?

43:19

Okay, by rejecting this some have made shipwreck of their faith and actually the word there is not there

43:26

It's actually the article the the faith shipwreck of the faith the objective truth

43:32

That represents our faith Among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander whom

43:38

I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme What's the problem?

43:44

The problem is rejection. They have rejected the word. They have rejected a

43:50

Clear conscience you cannot have a good conscience a clear conscience if you reject the Word of God your conscience has to be informed by the

43:57

Word of God or it will be seared it will be Scarred over or defiled as we're told later on this word rejecting is used in Extrabiblical literature some places to speak of people tossing goods overboard on a ship

44:14

Tossing things overboard. And so Paul kind of just continues this nautical metaphor here by tossing

44:21

Overboard faith and a good conscience. Some have made shipwreck of the faith

44:27

Okay, so that's the problem a willful deliberate act of Rejection rejection of the faith or sound

44:37

Doctrine and they can't possibly have a good conscience and Paul actually names names

44:43

Now he says some and so it's a larger group than just these two people Some have made shipwreck of their faith among whom are

44:51

Hymenaeus and Alexander Whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme

44:58

This warning is a warning not to reject Apostolic doctrine don't reject the

45:04

Word of God Make sure you learn it teach it believe it inform your conscience with it

45:09

So your conscience then is able to guide you ethically. The penalty is shipwreck and Excommunication in that regard, but the purpose is redemptive.

45:19

Would you notice? That they may learn not to Blaspheme in the

45:26

Bible. There is a range of church discipline. It's important and it's critical

45:31

You probably can think of like Matthew 18 and that process there Jude even in his little letter when you get to the end of Jude He says no can now basically what do we do with these apostates and there's three different kinds of people he mentions

45:44

Well with this kind of group this group of people you deal with them this way you deal with this group this way and so It's not a one -size -fits -all

45:52

There may be a time when somebody actually needs to be approached by the elders and say you can't come here anymore

45:58

That would be very severe but basically he's saying turn them over to Satan that they may not learn not to blaspheme in that day and It's too bad.

46:09

It's not that way now. It may come to this inside. The church was a place of safety place of Care and concern a place where you would be guarded

46:19

But outside out in the world was a place of danger spiritual danger essentially they viewed the outside world is that world which was dominated by Satan and It's not a safe place for believers to be and so this is what he's talking about here that they may learn

46:34

Not to blaspheme. It is redemptive all of church discipline is designed by God to be

46:42

Redemptive God does not do anything to push people out of the church if that person does not respond

46:49

They may be put out in a certain limited way like this But it is designed to bring repentance so that person can come back into the church and if that is not possible if they refuse to do that if they prove

47:03

Themselves to be an apostate after all the effort is made with them The the next step would be to make sure the church is kept pure The holiness of the church is very important But it is always redemptive even as we remember we talked about the law

47:19

The ultimate purpose of the law is to generate a knowledge of sin and an awareness of our sin

47:24

Why to drive people to the cross? Okay, so it is redemptive even things things that are uncomfortable like that Well one one commentator says this

47:35

The nature of the disciplinary procedure is less clear several texts and you could go to Matthew 8 1st

47:42

Corinthians 5 5 2nd Corinthians 2 5 through 11 2nd

47:48

Thessalonians 3 14 through 15 again There's multiple texts that deal with these things in various ways

47:54

But these texts would it seem to indicate that handing over to Satan involved a last

48:00

Stage in which the unrepentant sinner was turned out of the church to be treated as an unbeliever

48:07

This was probably envisioned as a removal from the sphere of God's protection

48:13

Into the world where Satan still held sway The situation of even more extreme punishment involving death

48:21

Inflicted directly by God is not in view and that would be of course Acts chapter 5

48:27

Ananias and Sapphira were because they lied to the Holy Spirit He and his wife both dropped dead in church

48:34

Not exactly seeker sensitive if you want to build a big church, right? but however speaking of that you read the next three or four verses and There's a progress report there the church continued to grow even after that happened

48:48

But that was Acts chapter 5 probably not that situation here that they may learn not to blaspheme or speak

48:56

Falsely about God very interesting that Paul says this here and remember what he said one of his major sins was

49:02

Blasphemy against God he has it in mind here So we are to wage the good warfare.

49:09

We're in a war. We have our war. We have our weapons and we also have our warning Do you have any thoughts or questions from this passage before we close?

49:23

Okay Wage the good warfare Never ever assume away the capabilities of your enemies

49:33

Next time we're going to see rule number five pray for all kinds of people

49:38

This is a tough one because we are going to be commanded by Paul to pray for political leaders

49:44

He says Kings, but you know in our case, there's presidents and vice presidents. So just giving you a little

49:50

Advanced warning here. We're going to be told we need to pray for those in political leadership Okay, and I know

49:57

I know you've been praying and they're still there, but we're gonna We're gonna see we're gonna put that in a biblical perspective next time, okay, let's pray together

50:07

Our father we thank you for your word this morning. Thank you for its power in our lives

50:12

Thank you for its power to create in us a clear conscience Help us to wage the good warfare

50:19

Help us to be faithful in passing down What we have received from faithful men through this through the years through the centuries and decades

50:27

You made sure that we heard the truth help us to be a part of that that Tremendous legacy to pass down what you have given to us

50:38

Accomplish all of your many divine purposes through it and we will always praise you in Jesus name.