Redeemer Live - January 26th, 2025 (Full Worship Gathering)

Oh, glad to hear it. Hey, how you doing?

Morning. Well, welcome everyone.

Grab a seat or take your seat with you or whatever you wanna say.

Welcome to Redeemer Bible Fellowship. My name's Doug. I'm one of the brothers here. We have the privilege of leading this service today.

Just wanna make sure that you're aware of a variety of things we have going on at the church. And actually, today there's actually quite a lot to announce.

For one, tonight is our women's, monthly women's Bible study.

And there should be some information in the bulletin about that. Hopefully you have a bulletin. If you need one and don't have one, raise your hand, we'll make sure you get one.

But women's Bible study will be tonight. And you're all, those that qualify in the category that I mentioned are welcome and look forward to seeing you there.

The other thing, staying on that same very topic, this next, I believe it's

Saturday, the February the 1st, is that correct? We are having a women's tea.

And here is an invitation for anyone who doesn't have an invitation, if it's not you.

You're looking at me, so we have some invitations. And if you are interested, we'd love to have you attend that women's tea.

And a wonderful time for fellowship and encouragement. Also, we just received by special courier, in other words,

Kofi brought the box in, we have the newest copy of Table Talk, the

February 25 edition, explaining well -known Bible stories.

There are copies out on the little table where you pick up the bulletins. You're more than welcome to take one.

That's courtesy of the folks at Ligonier and our gift to you as well.

One more thing to mention, we also have copies of our church -wide Bible reading plan,

Bible in a Year. I know we're into a number of weeks here in January.

If you, but there's still time to participate. If you do a little bit of a sprint, you'll be able to catch up.

And join us all in reading through a Bible, reading through the Bible in a year. I think you'll find it to be a wonderful blessing.

So with that, let's go to our time of worship.

And as we know, God is the one who calls us to worship. And as we come to him as a result of his call, it's important for us to start our call with words from his word to us.

And today our call to worship is from Revelation 19, verses six and seven.

Follow along with me as I read these words. Revelation 19, verses six and seven.

Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder saying, hallelujah, because our

Lord God, the Almighty reigns. Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory, because the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has prepared herself.

Will you join me in prayer? Gracious, sovereign creator

God, we're thankful for your care for us, which includes your wanting to have worship with us, for us to worship you, to have fellowship with us.

And we're now joined together in one of many around this community, around this state, around this country, in the world, around the world, many have gathered and have gathered to worship you.

And we, in our small little place, are joining in that multitude, just like it explains in this text.

A multitude that will one day contain those from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

And we are a small little foretaste of that here. We're grateful for that.

We're grateful for your reigning and ruling over all things.

And while there are things about this world that are troubling and disturbing, we're grateful for your grace in our lives and for the promises of at one day joining with many others, because all things will be made right.

And your rule and reign will be fully completed and in place.

And you will have called us to the marriage supper of the Lord. But in the meantime, we take our place along many others over the centuries who have come together in small fellowship groups to worship you around your word, sent in song and around your table.

We're grateful for this time together. May it be pleasing to your sight and made by your spirit.

We'd be encouraged, blessed, exhorted, instructed, and fit and strengthened for the week ahead.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. Well, if you're able, please stand and join us in song.

And by the way, just as a note, in your bulletin package are the words to our songs, just in case.

So I just want to make you aware of that. Let's join together in song. ♪

Of the soulless king, the majesty ♪ ♪

Your glories and wonders what tongue can recite ♪ ♪

How tender, how firm to the end ♪ ♪ Our maker, defender, matchless king, majesty can recite ♪ ♪

Majesty, your glories and wonders what tongue can recite ♪ ♪

Ship the king, the king, oh glorious of birth ♪ ♪

Oh, gratefully sing his wonderful love, ancient of days ♪

God who is high and above, near to us in the suffering and the sorrow.

This is the God that we worship. So let's praise the

Lord together. ♪ As strong in hopes of eternity, tempest -taste and affair ♪ ♪

Our salvation, our salvation, our salvation, our salvation ♪ All right, well, thank you.

You may be seated. As we continue our time in our worship service, we come to the portion where there is the public reading of God's word.

And we are continuing to finish Psalm 68 that you began, that we began last week, and picking it up in verse 20,

I'll be reading from Psalm 68, and if you have one of the red hardback

Bibles that we give away, it's on page 507, on page 507,

Psalm 68, starting in verse 20. These are

God's words. So that your foot may wade in blood and your dog's tongues may have their share from the enemies.

People have seen your procession, God, the procession of my God, my King in the sanctuary.

Singers lead the way with musicians following. Among them are young women playing tambourines.

Bless God in the assemblies. Bless the Lord from the fountain of Israel. There is

Benjamin the youngest leading them. The rulers of Judah in their assembly, the rulers of Zebulun, the rulers of Naphtali.

Your God has decreed your strength. Show your strength, God, you who have acted on our behalf.

Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings will bring tribute to you. Rebuke the beasts in the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.

Trample underfoot those with bars of silver, scatter the people who take pleasure in war.

Ambassadors will come from Egypt, Cush will stretch out its hands to God. Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the

Lord, to him who rides in the ancient highest heavens.

Look, he thunders with his powerful voice. Ascribe power to God.

His majesty is over Israel. His power is among the clouds.

God, you are awe -inspiring in your sanctuaries. The God of Israel gives power and strength to his people.

Blessed be God. Again, would you join me in prayer?

Sovereign, powerful, omnipotent God, we are grateful for your care on our behalf, both protecting us from enemies that would want to do harm to us, and also calling us to the fellowship in your sanctuary.

And we're so grateful that in Christ, we have that sanctuary for those that have trusted you as Lord and Savior.

And as a result of that, you, in your power, in your strength, act on our behalf.

We can trust and depend on you. Yes, you give power and strength to your people.

And as a result, we bless you. Thank you now, as we continue our time of worship, both in song and in the preaching of your word.

May it be pleasing to your sight, and again, impactful to our souls.

We give all the praise and glory to you, in Christ's name, amen. Again, now, if you're able, please stand and continue to join us in song.

I'll bless your name,

O God. You stand to setting sun.

Your greatness I'll proclaim. Your glory foreexists all human thought.

So with each breath, I'll bless your name, O God.

Your name will be revered. Like children sing to wonders you have done.

O strong and mighty, dear God, most high your name will be.

And have works of willpower till Christ descends.

He answered and said, it is written, man shall not live on every word that proceeds out of his mouth, but to hold the truth into his heart.

Please be seated. And kids, you can be dismissed to our kids. May you have a blessed time as you get to be in God's word.

And we're going to do the same thing here. As we come to God's word, just one very quick announcement. This next

Sunday at nine o 'clock, in place of our usual Sunday school hour, we're going to be having our monthly time of gathered prayer.

Our focus is going to be the subject of revival. So nine a .m. next

Sunday, we'll be in the kids Sunday school room off to the side there. I hope you can join us as we gather to see the face of the

Lord and ask for his blessing on his people, which we so desperately need. Well, it's a joy to be with you once again as we come to worship.

If you're visiting, I'm Kofi. I have the privilege of serving the Lord as the pastor here at Redeemer. And we come to our time in God's word.

If you have a Bible, and I hope you do, take it and turn with me to 1

Timothy. That's where we've been. First letter from Paul to Timothy, 1

Timothy. And we continue on with a sermon series that we've been in called God's House Rules.

And this morning, we come to 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy and chapter 4. So 1

Timothy chapter 4. And we're going to look at the first 10 verses this morning. So 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verses 1 to 10.

If you've got one of the red hardbacks we give away, that's on page 1052. 1

Timothy 4 from verse 1 through to verse 10, page 1052 in the Bibles that we give away.

If you're able to do so, can I invite you to stand with me as we come to this reading from God's word? 1

Timothy chapter 4, beginning in verse 1 and reading through to verse 10. Brothers and sisters, these are

God's words to us this morning. Now, the Spirit explicitly says that in later times, some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.

They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from food that God created to be received with gratitude by those who believe and know the truth.

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, since it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and the good teaching that you have followed, but have nothing to do with pointless and silly myths.

Rather, train yourself in godliness. For the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. For this reason we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living

God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will remain forever. Let's pray and ask for his help as we come to that word this morning.

Heavenly Father, we ask that as we come to your word and as we come with our ears open, we trust, with our hearts open, we trust to hear you speak.

May your spirit do a work in helping us to hear, in helping us to see, and in helping us to understand.

Father, may the words that are said do the work that you have purposed them to do.

Not because they are my words, but because I pray they are a reflection of your words. And Father, it's our habit to pray for other area churches during this time, and so we take a moment to pray for our friends at Cornerstone Christian Church back in Medford.

Thank you for Pastor Quentin and just his faithful labor there. Thank you for Pastor Mark who serves by his side, and pray for their entire elder and deacon team there at Cornerstone.

Pray for Pastor Quentin as he's preaching through the letters to the Hebrews this morning. Pray for their upcoming

Cornerstone lectures in the month of March. What a wonderful ministry that is, providing a concentrated time of teaching from God's word.

Pray you bless all their ministry efforts for your glory. Father, we thank you that we have brothers and sisters who are proclaiming the same

Jesus and are seeking to uphold the same truths that we do. Pray that you bless their ministry there, and bless the ministry of your word here as we come to it.

We ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Please be seated. In the last few years,

I've had the theme of gospel centrality very heavy on my heart and on my mind as a preacher of God's word.

But when I say that, I can't assume that everybody agrees with the language of gospel centrality.

So for a moment, let me just ask the question, should the gospel be central? Now, we can all say yes, but I never want us to just say things.

I want us to think deeply about the things we say. So let's think deeply about this for just a moment. Should the gospel be central?

I would like to think that God thinks so. After all, he is the central character of the gospel. He's the one who gave the gospel.

Without Father, Son, and Holy Spirit coming together, there would be no gospel message. So I think we can agree.

God thinks the gospel is important. But have you ever thought about this? Do you realize the devil knows the gospel is important?

Think about it. If the devil didn't think the gospel was important, he wouldn't spend so much time trying to mess with it, would he?

I mean, you read the Bible, and he does a lot of things in trying to mess with the gospel. Sometimes he will just try and flat out distort it.

So remember when Paul writes to the Galatians, Galatians 1, 6, and 7, and he tells them, I'm amazed that you are so quickly turning from the grace of Christ to another gospel.

There's a phrase he says that sometimes I think we can be tempted to miss. Galatians 1, 7, he says, not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

So sometimes the devil will try to distort the gospel. If he can't distort the gospel, why don't he just try to deviate us from it?

That was the problem that the Corinthians faced. 2 Corinthians 11, 3 and 4,

Paul says, But I fear that as the servant deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

For if a person comes and preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit which you had not received, or a different gospel which you had not accepted, you put up with it splendidly.

If he can't distort it, he'll try to deviate us from it. And if he can't distort it and he can't deviate it from us, well, he'll just try to distract you from it.

So the lessons of Galatians, Galatians 2, 4, Paul says to a church that was actually facing this very threat of distraction from the gospel.

Galatians 2, 4, he says, I'm saying this so that no one will deceive you with arguments that sound reasonable.

That people wouldn't come and say things that sound good and would take you off course from the message of the gospel.

Again, if the gospel wasn't that important, the devil wouldn't apply that much effort to messing with it, would he?

So heaven knows the gospel is central. And even the kingdom of darkness knows the gospel is central.

But here's the question I want you to think about this morning. How many Christians would properly recognize that the gospel is central?

Sure, we will say we believe the gospel. Sure, we'll say the gospel is important. But is it central?

There are lots of things that would like to compete for being central. But my contention over the last few years, my conviction over the last few years, is that there is nothing more important than the gospel.

This should be the thing that we judge everything by. This should be the thing we judge churches by. This should be the thing you should judge those who preach in churches by.

This is the thing you should judge the ministries of a church by. If a church does not have the gospel at its center, it's suspect.

And I know that sounds harsh to say, but it's the truth. If a church does not have the good news of Jesus Christ and him crucified and that permeating its culture at the center, if that is absent, at very best, we need to ask some questions.

And so my question this morning, I'm going to be very earnest in this message because like I said, this is a matter that concerns me deeply.

My question this morning is this. If that is true, if the gospel is central,

I'm not even going to ask should it be. It is central. If the gospel is indeed central, if the gospel is indeed the most important message that has ever been given to humanity, if that is true, and if that's true, if it deserves to be our center, then the question becomes,

I want to speak very specifically to our house this morning. How does Redeemer Bible Fellowship, how does this church become and stay a gospel -centered church?

If the gospel is indeed central, then how can we, quite frankly, act like it is?

How does God's house stay gospel -centered? Well, this morning, that's what

I want us to consider as we come to 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verses 1 through 10. I think Paul's going to give us some very helpful insight into how

God's house stays gospel -centered. This morning,

I really want to just put one central truth before your eyes, one central idea I want you to think about this morning.

It's very simple. It's that the church must pursue everything it does.

Made a slight typo there. The church must pursue everything it does in life and ministry in the clear light of the gospel.

The church must pursue everything it does in life and ministry in the clear light of the gospel.

Again, on the surface, a very simple point, but I want to point out that as we come to this passage, as simple as that should be.

I was watching one of my favorite TV shows from the UK, and there's a scene in the show where the character's basically, he's a criminal, so the character's about to go pull off a crime, well, two characters, and one speaking to the other one.

The character's much more cautious and, quite frankly, more intelligent than the other guy. Says to his friend, like, there shouldn't be any problems with what we're trying to do here, right?

And his friend actually has one rare moment of genius where he says, in theory, it shouldn't be, but the theory has to match the practical.

Well, I'm going to put it to you, though, when it comes to this, the statement I just made that the church should pursue everything it does in life and ministry in the clear light of the gospel, there's a very clear danger that the theory doesn't match the practical.

So how can we ensure that the theory matches the practical, that we don't just say the gospel should be central, but the gospel actually is central in the life of our body?

That's what I want us to consider this morning. For the rest of our time, I want to consider two directives that flow out of our text that will help us to become, and I'm going to add the words, and stay gospel -centered.

So two directives that flow out of our text that will help us become and stay gospel -centered.

This passage is actually not that hard to break down in terms of structure. It cuts actually quite evenly down the middle.

So our first directive is going to come to us in verses 1 through 5. Our second directive will come to us in verses 6 through 10.

So 1 to 5, 6 to 10, nice and simple. Two directives that flow out of our text. How can we become and stay a gospel -centered church?

I'm going to put it to you that that can only happen when, point number one this morning, you reject demonic alternatives to the gospel.

You reject demonic alternatives to the gospel. So for a moment, think back with me to our last message.

We were in 1 Timothy 3, 14 through 16, and in our last message, remember we ended with this rousing reminder from Paul of the actual gospel message.

So look at it in your Bible, 1 Timothy 3, 16. He says, and most certainly the mystery of godliness is great.

He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

Again, I won't rehearse everything I said. Last week, you can go and catch the recording of that. But we ended last time with this glorious reminder of what the gospel message is and that the gospel message ultimately centers on a person, a person called the

Lord Jesus and who he is and what he has done. This is the message that the church is called to proclaim.

This is the message that is supposed to be the church's center. But don't be fooled, everyone.

You see, not everybody is on the same mission. Not everyone who claims to speak truth, if I can put it plainly, is actually about that life.

Not everyone waving a Bible and talking about Jesus actually knows the Bible and knows the

Jesus who is at the center of that Bible. As we come to chapter 4, the mood shifts a little in these opening verses.

Gone is the sort of triumphant tone and the resilient sound of the previous paragraph.

The last paragraph was pretty positive. But as we come to this section, gone is the light tone and the positive outlook.

Instead, there's a serious warning. So look at verses 1 and 2. Now, the Spirit explicitly says that in later times, some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.

It's interesting that at the time of Paul writing, he uses this language of the Spirit explicitly says that this was happening in the present at that time.

Now, we're not told how the Spirit did this. We're not told when the Spirit did this. We're not told who the

Spirit spoke through. There's an element of mystery as to what Paul means here, or what Paul is talking about,

I should say, when he says that the Spirit is explicitly saying what he says. But can

I put it to you that while there is some mystery to the how and the when and the who of all this, the content of what the

Spirit was saying, again, look at verse 1, that in later times, some will depart from the faith, that reality that there would be people who bring in false teaching, that's not a mystery in the

Bible, actually. So, Jesus himself, our Lord and Savior said, Matthew 7, 15, be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravaging wolves.

Paul will pick up that language. In fact, he will use the same language Jesus did. Acts 20, excuse me, verse 28, be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock.

Again, see that language? Jesus talked about being on guard. Now, here's Paul saying you should be on guard. Language of the flock, language of the flock being used here.

Be on guard for yourself and for all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

And know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you. Again, Jesus talked about savage wolves.

Savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Men will rise up, even from your own number, and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following the hymn.

As much as I fear the modern church tends to either ignore this or try to downplay this, Paul's teaching is real.

The reality that there are people out there who are saying things that, as Paul says in other places, they should not be saying, that reality is real.

I've labored that point already a number of times in our study of 1 Timothy, so I'm not going to labor it again. What I do want to focus on, however, is the dimension that Paul adds to this here, because Paul does something uniquely that he hasn't done so far in this letter.

So again, look at verse 1. Now, the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times, some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons.

We can be tempted to think, especially in our theological camps sometimes, in our, as I like to say, cul -de -sac in the

Christian neighborhood, we can be tempted to think that false teaching, or better yet, false gospels, we can be tempted to think that they're just the product of somebody just who got it wrong.

You know, kind of like, you know, they started reading the Bible and then they started reading the

Bible upside down and started reading it, in English we read left to right, but they started reading it right to left.

You know, they just misread things. They're just not paying attention. Now, let's not downplay that.

There's an element of truth to that. So Peter himself says it in his day, 2 Peter 3 .16, he talks about the people who took

Paul's writings, not having the wisdom to understand them, and he says that the untaught and the unstable will twist them to their own destruction as they do the other scriptures.

So yes, there is a sense in which false teaching is the product of people who are untaught and unstable, twisting the scriptures.

Yes, that is true. But can I say that that is not the whole story? Yes, people will misunderstand the

Bible, but there is another side to this, and like I said, it's a side that I think at times, especially in our camp, we don't talk about as often as we should.

I can put it like this. Beloved, the reality is that false teaching at its core is not merely a matter of the mind.

It's not merely intellectual. It's not merely somebody just didn't read something right.

They misunderstood something. They didn't quite get the big picture. There's an element of truth to that, but there's more to it than that.

Beloved, false teaching is not just intellectual, it's spiritual in nature. If I can just put it plainly, false teaching is truly demonic.

You know, I have a lot of love in my heart for the Anglican commentator, Dr. John Stott. John Stott, in his commentary, put it like this.

He said, we tend not to take this fact sufficiently seriously. Scripture portrays the devil not only as the tempter, enticing people into sin, but also as the deceiver, seducing people into error.

I like what John Stott said, but there was another John who had something else to say about this. 1 John 4, verse 1. He said, dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God.

John says, don't believe every spirit that is out. It's interesting. John doesn't say, don't believe every teacher.

I've always wondered about that. Why didn't John say, don't believe every teaching?

Don't believe every teacher. Don't believe every message. For years

I've wondered, why did John say, dear friends? I look up in the

King James Bible, and the King James Bible says, beloved, believe not every spirit.

Why does he say spirit? Can I put it to you that he says spirit?

Because, catch this, teachings either come from the spirit of God, anchored in the word of God, or they come from some other spirit rejecting the word of God.

Let me say that again. Teachings either come from the spirit of God, anchored by the word of God, or they come from some other spirit rejecting the word.

For a moment, let me pause for a second. This raises the stakes, doesn't it?

If we rightly understand this, doesn't this make the issue of false teaching just a little more serious than just somebody misunderstood something?

We can't just bury our heads in the sand and think this will just pass us by, can we? If false teaching is truly demonic, if it truly is, as Paul describes it, come back to our passage.

Actually, say in 1 John, if you're not there, turn there. Actually, we'll be there in just a moment. I want to point something out there. But if Paul is right in 1

Timothy, and these people who depart from the faith do so because they're paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons.

If false teaching is demonic, and if we can agree that the demonic is dangerous, please ignore what our culture tells you.

I've just noticed it of late. It seems to be like this explosion of horror movies and messing around with the occult and stuff, almost as though it's not that big a deal.

According to the Bible, the demonic is actually a very big deal. The demonic is not just a big deal.

It's quite dangerous, actually. And if false teaching is demonic and the demonic is dangerous, well, how do we determine?

I think it's a fair question to ask. How do we determine if a teaching is demonic or not?

Is there some way we can tell whether a teaching is the product of deceitful spirits and whether it's the teaching of demons?

How can we know? I think we can. Let me give you this.

I think this is real easy. This is not rocket science, in my opinion. If you want to know if a teaching is demonic or not, might

I suggest one thing? It's three words. Check the center.

Check the center. In fact, I told you, if you weren't in 1 John 4 already, turn there with me. I want you to see something there.

1 John 4, in the Red Bibles we give away, that's page 1084. 1 John 4 .1. So let me read that passage in full.

1 John 4 .1 through 3. John says, Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

This is how you know the Spirit of God. Ah, okay. So this is how we can know a teaching that comes from the Spirit of God.

Okay, good to know. How do we know, John? Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

But every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the

Spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard is coming, even now it is already in the world.

Again, in one sense, it really isn't that hard to determine if a teaching comes from God or it comes from somewhere else.

All you have to do is, in fact, say it with me, check the center. Check the center.

If Jesus' person and His work are the center, you have a pretty good indication that it's coming from God.

If something else is central, at the very least, we need to ask some questions.

So again, how do you know if a teaching is demonic or if it's not? Check the center.

Come back to 1 Timothy 4 with me, because Paul doesn't just say where this teaching comes from.

Again, look at 1 Timothy 4 .1. Now, the Spirit explicitly says that in later times, some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teaching of demons through, verse 2, the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.

False teaching comes from the evil one. It's spiritual in its nature. But the evil one sends false teaching.

It comes through people who have abandoned the truth. And notice how

Paul describes these people. He says, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.

The word for seared here is actually an interesting word. We still use it in English, actually. If you ever heard of somebody who has a wound, and the wound has been cauterized, that's the word here.

Cauterization is the process where you apply high heat to a wound. It can be used negatively, but it can be used positively.

There's a sense in which some cauterization is good. If you've got a wound, from what I understand anyway, you typically can cauterize that wound to prevent further infection and to try and speed along the healing process.

Cauterization is not bad when you've got a wound that needs it. But think about this with me for a moment.

Is your conscience a wound? As God created it, is your conscience a wound that should be cauterized?

No. Cauterization is great, but there's a time and a place for it.

It would be akin to me, as you all know, I have an obsession with grilling and smoking things. It would be akin to me saying,

I want to make a steak. For what it's worth, I'm not a big steak person for a number of reasons, but it would be akin to me saying,

I want to grill a steak. Actually, this happened this past summer. Some of you remember my mom and my sister came to visit.

I made dinner for them one night. I'm kind of whizzing around doing three different things. I was making barbecue chicken.

I left it on the grill, and I made the bonehead mistake of leaving the chicken skin side down with a bunch of sauce on it.

Of course, the flame shot up, and the chicken burned. I was annoyed for multiple reasons, most of which was my mom and my sister are here, and I'm meant to be cooking for them.

Thankfully, it was just one piece, so we were able to make it work. That's a time where I don't want something being cauterized.

And I think your conscience is acting the same way. That's something you don't want cauterized. That's something you don't want seared or charred beyond recognition.

That's a dangerous place to be. In fact, those of you who've been following in this series, hasn't Paul had something to say about the conscience already?

If you forgot 1 Timothy 1 .19. Remember, he tells Timothy that Timothy is to be somebody who is having faith in a good conscience.

Remember what he said about that, which some have rejected and have shipwrecked the faith.

I'll repeat what I said back then, because it was a few weeks ago, or almost a couple months ago. False teaching is not just intellectual, it's a matter of the conscience.

That something has happened in the conscience. The conscience has gotten off direction. Paul uses a different analogy here.

In our passage, he says the conscience has become seared, it's hardened, it's desensitized.

And as a result, the devil uses that to bring about false teaching in the church.

In one sense, we can say that false teachers are spiritual puppets. Sure, they have a role in their teaching, but the hand that controls them, in the real sense of the word, is diabolical, from the devil himself.

And Paul doesn't let the false teacher off the hook, because notice he says, through the hypocrisy of liars.

Yes, so the teaching comes from the evil one, but it comes through people, and these people have willingly let themselves be that.

So he says that they're liars, they're not telling the truth. And he says that they're hypocrites, they're claiming to be one thing, claiming to speak for God, while in actuality, they're speaking for someone else.

They are liars and they are hypocrites. And that toxic cocktail, as it were, of being a liar and a hypocrite, it makes them perfect pawns in the devil's game of deception.

Again, I ask, have the stakes of this hit you yet? This is why we can't be casual and calm and bourgeois, as it were, where the gospel is concerned.

This is why we must reject demonic alternatives to the gospel.

Even a degree of deviation can lead to untold spiritual damage.

And here's the thing. Did you notice that Paul says they're paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons?

It's not that the devil doesn't want anything to be said. Think about this.

The devil is more than happy for preaching and teaching to happen. Again, sometimes we can be a little naive about this.

He's not bothered by the existence of preaching and teaching. In fact, he will gladly give alternatives.

So in some cases, he's more than happy for practical preaching to happen. Ten tips for this, five keys for this, seven principles for this.

Oh, he's more than happy with that. Yeah, do that 52 Sundays a year. Not a problem. Maybe in this room, that might not be one that we can be tempted by.

All right, let's talk politics and social issues for a moment. I've lost track of how many pastors have told me, the one standing in front of you directly, that I am failing in my duty because in my sermons,

I don't address political issues. After I tell them to shut up, because quite frankly,

I take my job very seriously. I usually will. Actually, I'll let them tell me what

I'm supposed to say first. Then I tell them to shut up. I'm that polite at least. But usually they'll say, well, you're not talking about the liberal agenda out there.

One guy was upset with me because he was like, I've been watching your sermons for ages. Thanks, I guess.

But he was like, I've been watching your sermons for ages. You never talk about like the transgender issue. I've had a number of people,

I've had a number of people in the last year tell me I need to be deported because I don't protect the American way of life. Then I was more than happy for that to be preached.

Maybe he knows the audience that you're speaking to, you don't have the political stuff, that's not going to get them. So what does he do? He'll just get you on a more emotional self -help tip.

So how many sermons, how many churches do you go to? Or have you've heard of anyway? Sermons are like how to beat anxiety, how to beat fear, how to develop self -worth.

As I like to say, it's basically psychiatry in church clothes. Now, after I usually tell these people to shut up,

I like to remind them that in and of themselves, these things are not bad in their place. I actually do think the

Bible is a practical book because God has given us a book that addresses all of life.

Now, it may not address all of life to the detail that you would like, but it does address all of life.

For what it's worth, I like to remind these people that I am actually politically conservative. So actually, transgenderism does profoundly bother me.

I do think that political liberalism is bad for society. I'm a student of history. I can prove that. I'm not an

American, so I let Americans defend the American way of life. As for emotional health and self -help, do

I think that God wants us to be emotionally healthy? Absolutely. I think he says a lot in his word about that. But what

I like to remind these folks, who at this point are generally annoyed with me, and I'm pretty annoyed with them, so there we are.

But what I like to remind them is a word, I like to remind them of a phrase that I've used multiple times already, haven't I? The center.

Those things might, depending on the topic, be good, but catch this.

They are not weighty enough to be the center of our message. Remember years ago,

I went to a conference, and I heard a guy from, I want to say he was from Kenya. That was it. Christian Luanda preached an amazing message about keeping the

Bible central in your ministry. And he said something, a phrase that I heard, and I was like, oh, that was good.

I'm going to remember that one. He said, the human soul is too weighty a thing to be lifted into the presence of God on the twigs of human ingenuity.

Here's the problem with the practical guy, the political guy, the emotional self -help guy.

All of them have a message that it would be like me trying to lift up my son, Gareth. He's a tank.

It would be like me trying to lift up my son on a platform made of twigs.

It would be hilarious. That video would go viral, but it would be ridiculous. Why? Because he's built like a tank.

Guess what? The human soul is infinitely more weighty than the weight of my son. And the human soul cannot, there's no message, as it were, that can bear the weight of the human soul and the need of the human soul like the gospel can.

And here's the thing. We might not get that, but the devil definitely does. So what will he do?

Instead of giving us a platform that can hold up the human soul, he will gladly substitute it for a platform made out of spiritual twigs.

Did you notice, come back to our text, look at verse three. Did you notice the examples Paul gives in verse three? He says, they, these liars, who are hypocrites, whose consciences are saved, he says, they forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods that God created to be received with gratitude by those who know and believe the truth.

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, since it is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer.

And abstaining from marriage. In fairness, we're not entirely sure what the origin of these two things were.

Paul just notes that this is what they were saying. For what it's worth, I personally think he has Judaism in mind.

He's talked a lot about the law. Remember back in chapter one, there were Jewish groups in the first century who believed that true holiness was to be found in rejecting all earthly pleasure, including the pleasure of marriage.

So there were groups who did teach this in the first century. And if you read the law of Moses, which Christians should read the law of Moses, it does talk a lot about food.

So for what it's worth, I think it has Judaism in mind, but we don't know that for certain. But regardless of what the specific issues were, here's the problem.

What these people were saying were going against God's purposes. So look at the passage again.

This is the first story. They forbid marriage and demand absence from food that God created to be received with gratitude by those who know and believe the truth.

Catch this. Where the gospel makes men free to serve God and to enjoy the things of this life appropriately, this false gospel only served to enslave people.

God's purposes were kind of running at this level. Their purposes were running at this level.

They were just completely crossing each other. God made everything to be enjoyed in its proper place, including food and marriage.

But these people were saying the exact opposite. Those were the issues in that day.

But here's the thing. They may not be the issues today, but the problem remains the same. Other things becoming the center.

Their center was food and marriage, apparently because Paul explicitly mentions it. Those were the threats at that point.

Those were the demonic alternatives being preached to the gospel. But here's the thing. Those were the demonic alternatives back then.

The question we need to stop and ask. This might be a good question for us to think about on Wednesday night. Join us Wednesday night at seven.

What are the demonic alternatives to the gospel in our day? And here's the thing.

As we think about that, thankfully, we don't have to think about what our response is. Whatever the alternatives are in our day, our response should be the same as it was in Paul's day.

Reject demonic alternatives to the gospel. That's the first directive we get from our passage.

That's the bad news. That's the negative side. But there's a glorious positive to this too.

Yes, we are to reject demonic alternatives to the gospel, but there's a second directive that Paul gives us in our passage, and we see that in verses six through 10.

So yes, reject demonic alternatives to the gospel, but secondly, retain and display confidence in the gospel.

Retain and display confidence in the gospel, verses six through 10.

Rather than go down the route of the false teachers, Paul's response was, did you catch this when you read it?

It's radically ordinary. So look at verse six. Paul shifts from talking about them, and he starts talking to Timothy again.

If you, those guys can do that over there, but if you,

Timothy, verse six, point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ, nourished by the words of the faith and the good teaching that you have followed.

The things that Paul refers to here are, I would argue, the things that he's laid out in this letter already, the truths of redemption, the plans of God in and through the church, the need to defend the gospel against attack.

Paul says, your job is to, you know what he says? If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters,

Timothy's message wasn't new and novel. It was tried and tested.

Paul's message to Timothy wasn't new, and Timothy's message to the brothers and sisters wasn't new either.

It was a tried and a tested message. Timothy's work wasn't to, as it were, tickle the soul with something fresh and exciting.

It was to anchor the soul with classic truth. If I can put it in one phrase,

Paul calls Timothy to, what I heard one preacher years ago say, he calls Timothy to the ministry of reminder.

The ministry of reminder. Timothy was to retain confidence in the gospel and to display confidence in the gospel by reminding

God's people of that gospel every chance he got. And did you notice what

Paul says the result of this is? Look at verse six. If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus.

Now, if you've been following this series in 1 Timothy, you should perk up a little bit, because that word good comes up a lot in this letter.

Remember what we've said, that that word good carries the idea of the noble, the trustworthy, that which can be relied on.

Paul essentially tells Timothy, Timothy, you want to know how you show yourself to be a faithful minister?

You show yourself to be faithful by reminding people of the message that itself is faithful.

The marker of faithfulness is not the ability to be innovative and creative with the message.

No, the marker of faithfulness is commitment to old truths. I've been teaching the

Bible for a minute, been pastoring a lot less, but I've been teaching the Bible for a minute now. And in doing this,

I've discovered one real simple truth about faithful ministry. So much of faithful ministry is just reminding people of things that they need to know.

And in some cases, they've just forgotten. So much of ministry is just pointing people back to what

God's word says. Again, it's not new truths that help the souls of God's people.

It's classic truths. Those truths were going to have a benefit in Timothy's own life.

So again, look at the end of verse six. It says, if you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you'll be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and the good teaching that you have followed.

There's that word good again. Nourished, built up. This word, in fact, the

ESV translates it as trained up. It's not just, okay, that this builds you up, but it actually educates you as it goes.

Timothy had heard the message from Paul. He had heard the truth from Paul. And he says, as you reflect on this, it's going to have a benefit in your own life.

You're going to be able to help yourself. And then you'll be able to turn around and help somebody else. Timothy would be ministering to himself every bit as much in reminding his people of the truth as he would be helping the people he ministered to.

And sure, the temptation to deviate would be there. So look at verse 7. It says, but have nothing to do with pointless and silly myths.

The word for silly is actually kind of funny. It literally means old wives.

That's what the word means. So we have a word for this in English. So when you say someone's telling you an old wives tale, in fact, the

King James Version translates it that way. It says an old wives fable. Something that is so silly that only, again, not all old ladies are like this.

But have you ever met an old lady who tells old wives tales? I'm going in.

We have a lot of them. Interesting. A lot of them have to do with pregnancy.

In one sense, I'm kind of glad that I was here when I had my kids. Because if I were back home, my mom would not do this.

My mom is a very sensible woman, God bless her. But I know some of the people that I grew up around would have ridiculous things to say, like ways you can determine if it's a boy or a girl.

I've heard some of them. I've been here in the U .S., so it's not culturally exclusive, I suppose. But it's that idea.

Things that just sound ridiculous. And Paul says, you are to reject pointless and silly, ridiculous myths.

Things that are so silly, they don't merit serious consideration, especially, catch this, when you put them next to the glorious gospel.

He says, Timothy, you don't go down that route. He says, it has nothing to do with pointless and silly myths. But look at the rest of verse 7 into verse 8.

But rather, train yourself in godliness. For the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life, and also for the life to come.

Timothy, you are to discipline yourself in. You are to train yourself in. In fact, the word that's used for train here is where we get our word gymnasium from, a place where you train.

Paul says, you are to train yourself, discipline yourself in godliness.

Godliness in the Bible carries two aspects to it. There is the belief aspect and the behavior aspect, that which we are to believe and how we are to behave.

And Paul says to Timothy, Timothy, you are to discipline yourself in both of those areas. And here's the thing.

Paul is obviously writing to Timothy, but like I've said throughout this series, Paul is writing to Timothy, but he's writing through Timothy to all of us.

Which means, by extension, Paul is calling you and I to exactly the same thing.

That rather than be devoted to pointless and silly myths, and there are a lot of pointless and silly myths out there in 2025, by the way, you are to ignore those things.

And you are instead to train yourself, to discipline yourself in godliness.

If we rightly understand the gospel and all of its implications, as we rightly understand the word of God and all of its truths, it doesn't make us lazy, not when we understand it rightly.

It actually gives us motivation for growth. Just like physical training produces benefit in an earthly sense, spiritual discipline.

And let's be clear what spiritual discipline is. I think sometimes this can get very misunderstood. Spiritual discipline, no disrespect to the many wonderful books that have been written about spiritual disciplines.

I think they're all saying true things. I'm not saying get rid of them. But I think spiritual disciplines, oftentimes we think about spiritual disciplines and we think about Bible reading, prayer, fasting, fellowship, those sorts of things.

I'm going to say I don't think that's what Paul means by this phrase. Those may be ways in which we do that.

But spiritual discipline, actually, I think is quite simple. Spiritual discipline, I would argue, is devoting ourselves to deeper learning about, to deeper meditation on, and deeper application of the gospel.

As we are reminded of who the Lord Jesus is and what he has done for us, as we give ourselves to learning that truth from the word of God, as we give ourselves to meditating on it, and as we give ourselves the application of it.

Now, these other things I'm talking about may be tools for that, but catch this, doing those things in and of themselves,

I would argue, are not spiritual discipline. Spiritual discipline at its core is coming back to the gospel again, and again, and again, and again.

Paul says that discipline has eternal value. It has value in this life too. So in this life, it makes us better servants of God.

It makes us better servants of others. And of course, it holds great promise for eternity.

It points us to the fact that one day we will be in the very presence of God where we will see his face, where we will see him and be in his presence forever, where we will ultimately know by sight what we now know by faith.

So yes, Paul is right. It does have promise for this life and for the life to come.

And again, it's not just those in vocational ministry who need to hear this. It is all believers who need to hear this.

We must put our everything into pursuing the truth, into loving the truth, and to growing in the truth.

We have to be diligent. We have to work hard at keeping the gospel central. Why? Because it's to our benefit when this gospel is central.

And Paul says, see verse 9? He says, this saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance.

He says, Timothy, you can bank your life on this promise.

Again, think about all those alternative things I talked about earlier. Can you really bank your life on those things? They're important to be sure.

Some of them anyway. But they're not, again, they're not weighty enough to hold up the human soul.

Of course, this saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. Verse 10, for this reason we labor and strive.

Paul and Timothy, and by extension, all of God's people who would read these words, they could be faithful in ministry.

They could have hope in a fallen and in a difficult world because, catch this, the gospel points us not to ourselves if we understand it rightly.

It points us to God. The Bible says this is the one that we have set our hope on.

So Paul says, for this reason we labor and strive because we have put our hope in the living

God. Who is this God, end of verse 10? Who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

Tough passage, lots of interpretation as to what Paul means when he uses this language. For time's sake, I'm not going to over -egg the pudding, so to speak.

Let me just tell you what I think Paul is getting at. The word Savior here is being used not in the salvific sense.

I would argue it's being used in the temporal sense, in the sense relating to earthly things, that God is the preserver of all things.

In fact, this word Savior is used that way in other places in the New Testament. So you can almost translate to, we have put our hope in the living

God, who is the preserver of all people, especially of those who believe. God, obviously, by his providence, manages all things in creation, and that is especially true for those who believe.

Now why would Paul say this? Well, think about what he said. Think back to verses 1 through 5 and what he said about these false teachers. The result of the false teaching was a disdain for creation and a disdain for the things that God had made.

God made food and God created marriage. These false teachers were basically teaching, you should reject and disdain those things.

Paul says, no, healthy teaching, godly teaching, doesn't create a suspicion of what God has given. It creates a proper appreciation of what

God has given. The gospel reminds us of the greatness of God, especially his goodness to his own.

That as we see the world that God has made, we are reminded of the goodness of God, that he is the God who is the preserver, he is the keeper of all people, and he has especially shown himself to be that in the lives of those who believe.

He's done that in planning our salvation all the way back in eternity past, as father, son, and spirit came together in that glorious conspiracy, as one writer put it, to see sinners come to saving faith.

He did that in making promise after promise and prophecy after prophecy to send a redeemer.

And then he finally fulfilled that promise in sending his son who lived the life that we couldn't live and who died the death that we couldn't deserve.

He did this in sending his spirit to not just raise the son from the dead, but to indwell every one of God's people who believe in him so that they could have assurance that they are

God's children. Father, I'm pretty much done. Let me just leave you with one thought and we'll come to the

Lord's table. Gospel centrality isn't just something we say like a cute catchphrase.

It isn't just something we say because, oh, it's something we like saying. Can I put it to you that gospel centrality, if we understand it rightly, is truly a matter of life and death.

It's truly a matter that we must always be on guard to protect. Why? Because there were always going to be, remember point number one, those demonic alternatives.

Well, how do we fight those? Well, we fight those by retaining and displaying confidence in that gospel.

This is how the house stays gospel centered. We reject the alternatives and instead we display confidence in the gospel as God has given it.

Let's pray together. Well, Heavenly Father, as we come to your word, we are freshly reminded of the fact that this message of the gospel, this message of a savior given for us, is of infinite importance.

That is a teaching like none other. It is a message like none other. Father, help us that we would remain centered on this gospel.

Father, help us that we would not be swayed one way or another by alternative messages, messages that sound good, that we, like Paul said, would not be swayed by arguments that sound reasonable, but that we would stay anchored to your word and anchored to the gospel that is found in that word.

Father, help us to retain and display confidence in this gospel. May we never lose sight of its gloriousness, of its weightiness, of its goodness, not just in our lives, but as we proclaim it to others so that they may find salvation in the

Son as well. Be with us as we come before your table now. We ask you in Jesus' name and for his sake.

Amen. Well, as we conclude our worship gathering, we come to the

Lord's table and, again, invite you to partake with us as we come to the table. As the brothers are handing out the elements and invite you to hold onto them, if you are a believer in the

Lord Jesus, we invite you to partake with us. This is, again, as I like to say, it's not Redeemer's table, it's the

Lord's table. So if you're trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and his work for you, we invite you to partake with us.

And as the brothers are handing out the elements, allow me to lead us in a word of prayer. Let's pray together. Heavenly Fathers, we come before this table that you set before us.

We come acknowledging our need of you. We come acknowledging the fact that this table points not just to the salvation that we have, but it points to the sin that made it necessary.

It points us to the fact that blood had to be shed and a body had to be broken because sinners had broken your law.

But Father, even as this table reminds us of the price that was paid, it also reminds us that a price has indeed been paid and that it's paid in full, that there is nothing that heaven could give and there is nothing that we could offer.

It has all been paid. And as we eat this bread and as we drink this cup, we are reminded of the fact that we are partakers of that promise.

And Father, we are not always perfect. We don't always do the things that you've called us to. We often do things you have not called us to do.

But Father, even in that, we thank you that we come to this table that reminds us that there is mercy to be found, that there is grace to be found, that even in our imperfection and even in our, at times, moments of sin, you draw near to us.

So Father, help us. May we always be reminded of our need for this good news.

And may our souls be strengthened as we partake of this glorious meal that you set before us, not just to remind us of Jesus, but to also nourish our souls.

We ask it all in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, we read these words.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. On the night when he was betrayed, the

Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. Let's eat together. Paul goes on,

In the same way also he took the cup after supper and said, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. Let's drink together.

So Paul ends by saying,

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Beloved, receive this assurance of pardon from God's word. Exodus 34, 6 and 7 says,

Yahweh passed in front of him and proclaimed, Yahweh, Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth.

Maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the father's iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

Those last words, in and of themselves, should be weighty words. They should be scary words, rightfully so.

That God does not leave the guilty unpunished and in fact that he will punish in fullness.

And yet here's the wonderful thing, God did do that in a sense. He did visit the father's iniquities on the children or should

I say one child in particular. And because of that, everything that God says in the previous verse is true.

That he is a compassionate and a gracious God who's slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth. Because God did indeed visit judgment on his son, we can have the assurance that we have eternal life, that we have forgiveness of our sins, that the wrath of God will never be visited on us because he was visited on another.

Can I invite you to stand and let's sing in celebration of that as we conclude our gathering. Well it's been a joy to be with you fellowshipping, worshipping together our great

God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And with that, let me send you off with this benediction from God's word.

Psalm 67 verses one and two. May God be gracious to us and bless us.

May he make his face shine upon us so that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.

And all God's people said, amen. Good again to be with you.

Don't rush off, have some time to fellowship. And just a quick reminder, next Sunday is our monthly fellowship meal after church.

So just want to give you a little teaser about that for next Sunday, that's right.

That's at nine o 'clock and then our worship service and then after that is our monthly fellowship meal.