Book of 1 Timothy - Ch. 1, vv. 3-4

Well about two Sundays ago, we began a new study in 1st Timothy. So we'll pick right back up where we left off. If you want to turn to 1st Timothy chapter 1. We covered the salutation last week the opening couple of verses and now we see Kind of where Paul is going with this and what a large part of his intention was behind writing Timothy in the first place.

So I'll just go ahead and open with the first couple of verses going into verse 3 He says Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Which is our hope unto Timothy my own son in the faith grace mercy and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

And then right after this introduction without any hesitation at all Paul jumps immediately into The primary purpose of leaving Timothy in Ephesus in the first place, which was essentially so that Paul could continue his mission work without the concern without the worry of The vulnerable Christians that were in Ephesus at that time.

The next verse verse 3 He says as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went to Macedonia. That thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine neither give heed to fables and endless Genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith.

The Purpose of Leaving Timothy in Ephesus

So do so we see first that Timothy was left in Ephesus and he was exhorted to stay there for certain purposes now in church tradition. This Ephesus would end up being Timothy's church home the place that he just kind of parked for the rest of his life.

He would become the first bishop or pastor of this church before he was martyred a little bit later in his life. But this so this is kind of the beginning of this Paul is going off to Macedonia. He wants Timothy to abide in Ephesus anyway for certain purposes.

But what was the reason why did Paul care so much for Timothy to stay back. Well for starters, we find an interesting Dynamic in the all three of the pastoral epistles. There are certain epistles of Paul where he is talking about heresies that are plaguing the early church and he will give Instruction on how to refute it how to how to rebuke it but specifically how to refute it basically providing Ammunition if you will for the early church on how to Fend off things like early forms of Gnosticism and things of that sort.

But in the pastoral epistles, we see a slightly different dynamic where Paul will mention the heresies at hand. But it's not so much a go out and offensively refute these things but rather almost recognize that they're there and ignore them.

For the most part ignore them to a degree and so we see this interesting Dynamic again in these three epistles Titus and the in the two Timothy's with regard to how to deal with heresy. And we don't really find it in other places.

Colossians by the way is a good example where we see Paul giving specific Instructions on how to deal with the Gnostics of the first couple of centuries. But here in first Timothy and in Titus as well.

Like I mentioned a second ago we see that rather than Outright refuting what's happening which happens to come back to these kind of pharisaic Judaism type heresies that crop up. They're for the large part to be ignored and we see kind of why the reason is as we go through Some of these things now, I take it that it's not necessarily that Paul is making light of the heresies that were Going to be cropping up a lot in Ephesus the same was true in Crete for Titus.

It's not that he was making light of it and saying they're not dangerous because they were dangerous. You know again, we're talking about Really bad Judaizing really bad legalism really bad, you know.

Try as Paul puts it in Titus those of the circumcision. Trying to come in and subvert whole houses and adding works to justification and things like that. So it's not that these weren't dangerous. They absolutely were but what would happen is they would often kind of branch out into these really bizarre Directions that were literally just time wasters.

And so what Paul is doing is He's pointing out to Timothy. Look a lot of this is just noise a lot of this will waste your time if you are out there. Trying to spend your time as pastor as the leader of the flock.

And again, this is very reminiscent of what we saw in Titus as well. If you go out there and you are trying to just offensively refute all of these types of things. It'll eat up all of your time because there is no end to what these people are talking about.

And what are they talking about? You see it in verse 4 fables. That's that's the Greek term. We literally get the word myth from so we're talking about myths. We're talking about legends. He mentions genealogies as well.

And so Paul in As we'll see when we get to verse 6, he literally calls this kind of stuff vain or fruitless. It does not bear fruit. And so that by definition is a waste of time. There there were certain attacks on early Christianity that were fruitful because you had these really bizarre people coming in and trying to basically over spiritualize everything to the point that Jesus wasn't actually a physical man and It was all kind of a facade to accomplish, you know, these really nice beautiful things.

But of course that totally undermined Jesus's sacrifice on the cross and all these types of things. So there were certain heresies that were that were fruitful to refute. But in cases like this when it comes to genealogies in fables, there's no end to any of it.

It's literally just a waste of time. It's fruitless. So these are the kinds of false teachers that Timothy is now going to be dealing with as he kind of plants his feet in Ephesus so to speak and again, like I mentioned.

According to church tradition that is where he would stay for the remainder of his ministry. Now if you want to turn to Matthew chapter 7 for a second, I just want to show y 'all a prophecy of Jesus. As he discusses in his ministry.

What was to be expected? Down the road as the church began to grow as the church began to dawn. You had these young elders these newly appointed leaders these pastors all across these young newly planted churches.

What is it that they would be facing Jesus prophesies about what they would be facing and gives of course in doing so fair warning. Of what was to come? Now, this is a very well-known passage. We all know it but it's worth reading in this context.

So Matthew chapter 7. Look at verse 15 he says beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing. But inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or pigs of thistles?

Even so every good tree bringeth forth a good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A Good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.

Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them now. Amazingly this very prophecy of Jesus was kind of restated by the Apostle Paul again in Acts. In the specific context of the church at Ephesus. That's the church.

Timothy is at right now. So keep keeping in mind what Jesus just said. Turn over to Acts chapter 20.

And.

So so Jesus kind of generally prophesies about false teachers coming in sheep's clothing. So they're in disguise. They can sneak in easily. Especially if you think about the fact these are all young believers.

That Timothy and Titus and these guys are ministering to they're young they're young believers. They're new in the faith. They don't yet have the discernment which will come through sanctification and through growth, but they don't have it yet.

So these ravening wolves Wearing the sheep's clothing are sneaking in somewhat easily and of course, we know at the Church Church of Galatia. They went in there and they did all kinds of damage. They were trying to do all kinds of damage on the island of Crete.

That's what Titus was there. Therefore they were trying to do all kinds of damage here at the Church of Ephesus. That's what Timothy is there for so We know that this is happening. Jesus prophesies about it broadly, but we go to Acts chapter 20 and We see a scene here right before the Apostle Paul leaves Ephesus for the last time he's never going back.

He spent years with them. He ministered to them. He prepared them. There were elders appointed. This is before I believe I mean we can we can kind of infer With the context we have here that this was right before Timothy was left in Ephesus for Paul to move on to do other mission work and so we go to Acts chapter 20 look in verse 28 and Keeping in mind everything Jesus just said in Matthew 7 listen to what what Paul is now saying as he is it's his final Talk with the elders of Ephesus right before he leaves and never sees them again.

He would write to them, but he wouldn't see them in person again. He says take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. To feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.

For I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.

Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every night and day with tears. So the Apostle Paul was letting the elders know. Listen, this is something Jesus said was coming.

I am telling you it is coming right here to this local church. And it's going to affect you the wolves will not spare a single sheep. If you aren't keeping watch if you aren't prepared for this if you aren't ready for this battle.

It's going to be bad. And so Paul gives this very explicit warning and exhortation to be mindful to be watchful. To prepare the flock or to protect the flock and prepare them. Because you're the overseers that the Holy Spirit himself has appointed for this work.

And so Paul even before leaving Timothy in Ephesus was able to Going back to Jesus's prophecy. He says you will know them by their fruit. So the Apostle Paul in his time in Ephesus about three years He was able to kind of ascertain the fruit of these.

What we now know as false teachers, so he was able to see their fruit they may have been wearing the sheep's clothing, but the Apostle Paul in his wisdom and his Just his authority in his experience as an Apostle he was able to see the kind of fruit these people bore these false teachers that Timothy now has to deal with and He goes into detail for Timothy's sake as to what that fruit was.

And what was it? It was fables. It was genealogies as we'll see in a minute disputes about the law. These were the kinds of rotten fruits that these False teachers were bearing that they were bringing forth.

You will know them by their fruit as Jesus said and a corrupt tree. Cannot bring forth good fruit and a good tree cannot bring forth corrupt fruit and we're talking about habitual lifestyle. What their aspirations are what their goals are.

What are they trying to accomplish? They are trying to accomplish Self-glorification at the expense of everybody else in some cases to serve the God of their own bellies as Paul tells us in Philippians and.

So a.

Tree that is. Bearing that kind of fruit. Cannot bear good fruit. So it's not like you're kind of giving them a chance. Maybe they'll grow out of it. That sort of thing. That is not how you deal with these matters.

And so Paul tells Timothy what's going on? He tells them the kind of fruit they bear and as we will see this will become a common theme throughout this epistle. False teachers with a specific goal in mind and with specific techniques.

To get them there. And in this case, we see it right off the bat as soon as we open up the letter they are Disputing about these things that have no end just the infinite highway of genealogies and myths and I mean imagine Interpreting something that doesn't have any historical basis something that doesn't have any textual basis.

It's quite literally a myth in Paul's words. There there's there's no end to it there couldn't be an end to it if you spend your time trying to interpret all of that. It will it will distract everybody from what is good true and beautiful and that is what Timothy is being warned about at this point.

So Paul tells him all of this, but of course he also tells Timothy what he is supposed to do about it. What kind of actions is he supposed to take as this newly appointed pastor or at least right around the corner?

Appointed pastor of Ephesus now. To bring this to the present day a little bit because all of this as we said in our introduction to this epistle. Just like Titus it's as practical as it gets and we'll see this with it with regard to just day-to-day living virtuous living.

Certain instructions that that Paul gives for the church to exhibit in our day-to-day lives. But right alongside that there's also the reality that we face the exact same enemies today as Timothy was facing in his time the spirit behind all of the types of heresies that you can just look at and Survey throughout history the spirits that were behind those are still with us.

And so they may crop up in different forms slight different slightly different variations. But the root is exactly the same and so since we face these same enemies Will do well as we go throughout this epistle to pay close attention To how Paul sets this up and what instructions he gives on how to deal with it.

No Other Doctrine and the Meaning of Heterodoxy

Now in verse 3 kind of again honing in on these two verses here verses 3 4 We see Paul give the basis for his urgency to Timothy there in our introduction we talked about the urgent Just way that Paul approached these epistles the the pastoral epistles.

It was near the end of his life. His time was short. There's an urgency behind them and We kind of see the basis for it right here in first Timothy, which also is worth noting. This is the first of the three epistles.

He wrote the first three pastoral epistles that he wrote Titus was next and So right out of the gate straight on to Timothy. What does he say that they teach no other doctrine? So this was Paul's great concern that there would be some that would be Changing the doctrines that he had set in the years.

He was there now. This is kind of I mean this will shake you up a little bit because Imagine being at a church. The Apostle Paul himself was there. He he helped plant the church. He helped appoint the elders that were there.

He was there ministering them to them for three years. And yet that did not stop his concern for as soon as he was gone. There would be some trying to teach other doctrine now if it could be really easy for any minister of any church to Freak out about that reality because it's a true and genuine reality.

It is a possibility for every local church dad has talked about this so many times throughout my life of how rare it is to see a church under really solid leadership to last more than a couple generations if you get there now you can look and There are a couple of exceptions.

The one in Dallas was was one example first Baptist of Dallas the Metropolitan Tabernacle was would have fit that bill as well because you had really solid ministers leading up to Spurgeon and then. But as soon as Spurgeon passed away, they weren't able to it wasn't the same even his own son had to step out of the ministry.

He was his successor. Thomas Spurgeon was and it didn't last long because he didn't have what his dad had in it. Nothing like there's nothing wrong with that either. I mean there was nothing wrong with Thomas Spurgeon.

His dad was a specimen when it came to Ministerial endeavor. I mean it was just absolutely crazy. Well, everyone expected for that to just fall on Thomas's shoulders and he couldn't he couldn't deal with it.

And I understand why so he had to step out and then they filled the the pastorate with a couple other people. It didn't take long before it moved a different direction. And that was really sad. Martin Lloyd-Jones is another example.

So the guy that preceded him was Jay Campbell Morgan. So he was awesome. And then you have Martin Lloyd-Jones. He had a couple of generations there, but aside from those three I Off the top of my head can't thank you very many other great examples.

Yeah, dad. You have a couple more. Yeah, I was I think in the same thing we don't yet no they don't have a Successor in place yet, so we don't know what will happen there. It'll be really interesting to see because that was a first-generation Church.

MacArthur came in there was a relatively new church. And it grew to what it was under his pastor. And so that was just one generation. We'll see if it can last two. With regard to the solid Bible teaching they had and so there aren't very many examples the point that the reason I say that is Because it is a genuine concern that Paul himself had that as soon as he was out of there.

There would be some that come in and try to teach some other doctrine any kind of other doctrine. And this was very concerning to him. And so he's telling Timothy wanting the Church of Ephesus to last more than a single generation with regard to solid biblical foundations.

Ensured that they teach no other doctrine. Now what's really interesting about this phrase? Literally the whole phrase that they teach no other doctrine. That's a number of English words there that entire phrase is a single Greek word.

Underneath it and it's probably a word there are a number of words that we find only in Paul's epistles in the New Testament and We don't really even see the words pop up in any other Extra biblical documents around the time of the first century.

Sometimes we'll see them used later, but there are a few words in the New Testament that as far as we know The Apostle Paul coined the term. And there are a number of really interesting examples. We'll look at in fact.

We'll actually see another one a little bit later into this chapter. But right here we see it and I can't pronounce it. It's it's a massive word. But it's probably one that Paul coined and it's a compound word where he basically takes The the Greek term for teacher and he combines it with the word heteros the Greek term heteros, which is where we Get words like heterodoxy from so basically What Paul is saying here is he's talking about anyone that teaches heresy when he says When he says that they teach no other doctrine, that's all one word and he's saying Anyone that is teaching heresy that they teach anyone that teaches anything that's in conflict with God's revealed truth.

Make sure that doesn't happen. And so that's what he's talking about here now. There are obviously endless forms of heresy as you look throughout church history again. You see it crop crop up in Gnosticism and asceticism and you have different forms of Gnosticism, too.

You have like all of these sub points of different streams that that would take but then you also had the Jews and they were Coming in trying to say things like you had to be circumcised to be saved and you had to bring in the law to be Saved and all of these types of things.

So you had Judaism Judaizers you had them over here. So very Jewish False teachings and heresies and then you had very Gentile pagan esque heresies over here and so. Which heresies are we talking about what exactly is the Apostle concerned about in this context the Church of Colossae.

It was more Gentile pagan stuff here in this moment. It has more to do with the Jews and what they are bringing about so. Again, there's all of these forms of heresy all of them attack specific areas of God's Word.

What type of heresy were these people employing and that's what he elaborates on in verse 4 neither give heed to fables. Endless genealogies and what is the result of those things? They minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith.

And so First when he says not to give heed to fables. These are literally legends. They're they're man-made stories. They're they're fables. And like I mentioned earlier the Greek term is where we get the word myth from so from Paul's perspective.

Look, there's no basis to any of this.

It's it's.

There's no end to it because there's no substance to it there. It doesn't contribute to anything real and so I kind of alluded to it earlier. But just imagine the amount of time that a person or in perhaps this case a group of people can waste trying to interpret legends That have no historical basis to them.

There might not even be and I mentioned a second ago no textual basis to it so like we can we can look at stuff like Beowulf and The Iliad and the Odyssey and things like that and you know. Kind of can get some flickers of interesting points of history from them if anything just from the writing style and the context in which they were given and things like that, but They might still be legend.

Well in these cases. We might literally be talking about things that don't even have that you don't even have Beowulf Type you know history behind it. It's literally just made up stuff. These are the kinds of fables That Paul was concerned about and so a massive amount of wasting time.

That's what these false teachers were doing now. Timothy was not to occupy himself. That's what he means by you know take heed not to get into this kind of stuff. Don't occupy yourself don't occupy your time with the genealogies or the fables because They were totally useless.

You couldn't even really debate them because of how useless they were. Emily you have a thought back there.

Sure.

Yeah sure well heresy so again. There's a bunch of different kinds of heresies, but heresy in its general form is anything that is contradictory to the teachings of Scripture. So it can be it can arrive in the form of what appears to be an authoritative teacher.

So and by the way this word that Paul coined Hetero de dos Caleo I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right, but it's the word teacher combined with the word heteros. Which mean which is where we get like heterodoxy from or heresy and so it's a person that steps into an authoritative Position like as a teacher and then teaches That which is in conflict with God's Word, so that's heresy, and it's just most general kind of simplistic Definition.

It can manifest itself in a number of ways. So you can look at the Mormons, and you can say they are teaching heresy. You can look at the Jehovah's Witnesses, and it's still heresy, but a different form you can look at Judaism as a religion and say that is heresy, but in a different form it's anything that takes away from the.

The.

Deity of Jesus and the teachings of Scripture. Just kind of broadly speaking and so that's what heresy is so if you're a heretic Biblically defined you are one of those teachers. You're a person that steps into that role and are trying to Teach these things spread them out and get as many people to believe them as possible.

And as he says to Titus subverting whole houses while you're doing that so that would be a heretic Biblically defined teaching heresy. Kind of biblically defined now. Here's the the kicker. Emily is that any given person?

Could say Unheretical thing so I could get up and just out of out of ignorance perhaps say something or word something in a certain way. That could be heretical because it's inconsistent with scriptural teachings.

And so you have well-meaning teachers all around the world today that may be behind a pulpit. With a genuine faith toward Christ and that are trying their best, but in ignorance. Accidentally teach something heretical so you have that dynamic too that doesn't make the person a heretic.

Because he's number one. He's not doing it intentionally and number two. It's not the norm like it's not his habit. It's not what he's trying to accomplish, but it could still be heretical and that's more accidental so you have legitimate heretics, and you have heresy and Sometimes that there's some crossover with really well-meaning people that just accidentally.

Trip up over some of these things you have a thought Robert.

Just that I forget which of the small minor prophets talks about a blind shepherd. You eventually have the blind leading the blind. Sure so so so sometimes. There's the well-meaning who are Blind leading the blind, but other times you've got a Satan or a devil or or a blind shepherd.

He's like yeah, I'm gonna see how many of the flock I can lead astray. Right that there's the accidental blind leading the blind, and then there's the intentional. You know master.

Mastermind. Absolutely. So there could be like a nefarious nature behind it, and that's and that's the kind of people We're dealing with here, but to Roberts point even if it's a well-meaning person.

And but this is why it's so important that we have a singular objective standard that being scripture to use is our Soul infallible rule of faith what we go back to what all teachers are held accountable to.

So in that case Robert it can still be a well-meaning blind person leading people into the ditch and Even though they may not be a damnable heretic again with that nefarious Intention behind it like what Jude talks about that the for them is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

It may not be that kind of person. They may even be a genuine Christian. But they will still be held to the same standard as every other minister. And if they if they fail maybe it's just indeligent Bible study.

Who knows what could happen there.

I mean one of the things that you said is You may end up as the least in the kingdom. Sure you're still there right for all of your shortcomings.

That is absolutely right. James speaks of this at the very beginning of James. He says my brethren be not many masters or teachers those in an authoritative teaching position knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation and so.

You want to be careful with that you even if you're well-meaning you don't want to be blind. To Roberts point in the sense of being ignorant of the scriptures because you're not maybe a diligent student of God's Word.

Maybe you love the idea of just being in that position, so you just jump into it. But you're not prepared for it, and that can be pretty messy pretty fast, so. Hopefully that was helpful Emily. Thanks Robert for your thoughts there.

That was very helpful.

They're not.

Absolutely and that is pervasive in certainly in the American Church, which is and it's a bit. It's also a big Southern Baptist thing, but Essentially yes the more programs the better, but the problem is the more programs require more teachers.

And so you know you could Robert could walk in the door First time on a Sunday morning at Park Meadows. If we're in this context of Southern Baptist structure Robert you seem really zealous. You want to pick up a class.

You know you could start next week if you want. May you know we could give you some trainings if you need it. But we believe in you. And and what's funny is Robert very well could be in a position where you could do that.

But it would still be unwise on the church on the part of the church. They do it all the time because I mean you don't know the people yet. You don't know where they're coming from you don't know what they're.

You know that their worldview is. There's always a dire need for volunteers. That's right, and so in Katie's point once again that may be an example of well-meaning people like sure I'll help the church out.

I mean I want to be a servant of the Lord. I want to be a servant of The church so I'll step into that teaching role. And they're not in the slightest bit prepared and they may teach something or get everyone's thoughts.

And it just derails, and it turns bad quick. Did you ever thought Mimi?

Yes, I was not raised in church per se. But I was raised around several different doctrines, and there are several different heretical doctrines. And so you don't know what that person's background is and what has been ingrained in them.

Ecclesiastes is there's no new thing under the Sun. God knows the demons. He knows and that's and he has matched his word to the to what is necessary to combat Satan and what he teaches and that's why we need consistency in what we teach.

Absolutely and Obviously here we believe strongly in that no class Should be filled with a teacher unless that teacher is apt to teach. The person is apt to teach and has the biblical foundation To do it correctly.

So to your point Mimi when you don't have that approach You can go to a church and be hearing what just totally different and in some cases Contradictory teachings and it leads to confusion which totally puts water on The fire that any new believer has going into that and that's the devil's game plan.

Ash. Sorry you had a thought.

Very.

When I first Looking at this verse and thinking about what you said about.

The.

Word he uses where we get.

Man, yeah.

Just thinking about how this could be possibly a really good verse to contrast The way that you handle scripture versus what was common in the rest of the world at that time with the mythology. And stuff like that you could have.

It was like their their religions were based on made-up stories. So what's the harm in made-up stories or taking something? That's not meant to be You know an allegory as an allegory or whatever. Just I?

Feel like this could be a good verse that shows the contrast of how you treat scripture. Versus what was common with the Greeks and Romans at that time. These aren't just stories, and it's still a problem today.

People will say you know the Genesis is you know?

Whatever what do they say?

It's a myth you mean just like it's you know there's a there's a spiritual message behind it, but it's not literal. Oh sure the creation didn't really happen that way. But we can we can take things from it.

And it seems like what he's saying is when you do that. There's no end to the possible meanings. Versus reading you know what you have as.

Literal historical you know well in this your that is a great point ash because You know you do see dangers in over-spiritualizing things.

Like Going after like pagan Religions and stuff right. So it's not just totally out of character for the Jews in this context to be like yeah. Well, we're gonna treat these. Our baby remember in Thomas you said that they actually were reading genealogies that are in the Old Testament, but making Yes, location that was just way out out of this world crazy.

And we see it again right here, and it's like if you're gonna if you're gonna Read scripture in that way you can't take whatever you want from it. It doesn't have it loses its actual.

You know intent. Yeah, and we'll see Paul later on emphasizing with tific with Timothy especially. The importance of essentially clinging to the scripture with Titus. He says hold fast the faithful word.

So that is again you cling to the subjective standard. It will protect you from the endless Goings-on of these people. And he's gonna say the same thing in different words to Timothy in both epistles.

But.

Another thing to remember is you know ash mentioned like the Greek myths and things like that. We know that pagan culture was built upon myths and legends and stories and things like that. But the Jews had their own version of it to the intertestamental literature that we have what you might call the Apocrypha.

A lot of those things are really bizarre. You know they had their own myths and legends that they had and so just because these were Jews doesn't mean they Had less weird mythology essentially. Well you have some people talk about the fact that Jews at this time definitely had a Hellenistic Bent even the religious ones because of the culture, but even the ones that were Careful to stay set apart from the pagan culture they again still had their own history up to this point.

That in many cases were built upon by all intents and purposes myths and legends and things of that sort and.

The Israelites that that's 13 Right.

We can make that work.

An extra fencing around the law. No like they've been pendulum-swinging since the death of Moses and Joshua. Like just reading how judges through through the.

Absolutely in your point is even from the earliest phases after the Exodus. You know two generations later. You have the idol worship starting and you know you have that 400 years of darkness when the voice of God stopped Malachi Writes is the prophet the prophecy and then God was not speaking through the prophets for four centuries and during that time It just it just all bubbled into any host of different Things to Roberts point there Pharisee ism being one of them.

That was the birth of the Pharisees was the end of Malachi and those 400 years of darkness before John the Baptist comes on the scene. So you had a lot for these false teachers to work with and that goes back to the main point that Paul is trying to make here, which is Don't heed these things.

Don't don't occupy yourself with these things because It'll totally sap you of your energy. It'll sap you of your time and you won't be able to actually grow the flock like you've been called to do and so.

Anyway, we'll continue this next week. We're out of time now, but obviously Fables and then the genealogies which we haven't talked about a lot just yet goes hand-in-hand with it. And it is another example of them, you know using Ashton alluded to it a second ago.