1 Timothy for the life of..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Well, good evening, everyone, and welcome to our Wednesday Bible study. Let's continue with our study through the first letter of Timothy.

So if you have your Bibles, would you please open them up to the first letter of the Apostle Paul to his disciple Timothy? And this evening we are going to be addressing verses three to ten in chapter six. Our brother last week explained to us and went through verses one and two. And I hope that by God's grace and his help and his spirit, we might be able to address verses 3 through 10 in chapter 6. However, we're going to be reading all the way until the end of the book.

So we're going to be reading from verse 3 all the way till the end of the book. So let's read, brothers and sisters, carefully, paying much attention to each one of the words, specific attention to the portion of Scripture in verses 3 to 10, but taking all the context that we are going to be reading together. So this is the Word of God, verse 3, chapter 6. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of many, for the love of many is a root of all kinds of evils.

It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O men of God, flee these things, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will display at the proper time.

He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in an approachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see, to Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. As for the rich in this present age, charged them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. O Timothy, guard the posset entrusted to you.

Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. For by professing it, some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you. Amen. That's the words of God.

Now, brothers and sisters, we are approaching, we are arriving to the end of this very practical letter that Apostle Paul has given to his disciple Timothy. Many, many practical things we've learned. through these many months addressing the different sections of this letter, many practical things for the life of the Church. We have said that the Word of God is the foundation upon which the Church of Jesus Christ is founded and built up, and every single practice of the Church is derived from that which is written. And in times in which churches and people prefer to impose their preferences and their wisdom upon the Church, It is foundational that we, as a community, as a family, and as a church, come to the book and ask ourselves, how does the church, or what is the church to do?

How is the church supposed to operate? What are the things that the church is supposed to do? from that which is written. There are many presuppositions in our minds that have been inherited from the context in which we were raised, the culture in which we were born into, or the traditions of many of the things that we've learned, so it's always good for the mind of the saint to question all of our presuppositions and the things that we know for certain by the Word and going through the Word of God. And this letter has told us many, many important things about the life of the Church.

The Apostle starts this section that we are going to be addressing from verse 3 to verse 10. He said, teach and urge these things in the end of the previous verse. All of the things that have been taught from the book, the Apostle reminds Timothy that he's supposed to teach, to remind, to exhort the church at Ephesus of all of these very important things. Now this evening, beloved brothers and sisters, we're going to be addressing a topic that after studying this section, I realized that is the topic that the apostle has in mind from this section, and probably a little bit before this, but for this case, from this section all the way until the end of the book. The apostle is going to have a thought in his mind that is very important for the life of the church.

And the thought that the apostle will have in his mind until the end of the book, it is related to that concept of retribution or reward. just as when an employee or a worker works for the wages and for the retribution and remuneration of his work, of his duties, that type of thought is the thought that is going to be in the mind of the apostle all the way until the end of the book. It's going to be about the riches, about the financial retribution, the financial reward, all these valuable things that a person can pursue. So when a person that works, works for something, that something is valuable to him. And this is going to be very important Protestants, this is because all of us, inside of our heart and inside of our mind, we have something valuable that we don't only work for, but sometimes we give our lives for.

There's something that moves us, that drives us, that takes us, that takes the meaning of our minds, of our thoughts. Something that is in your mind or in your heart that takes you sometimes captive and moves you, that everything that you think, that everything that you say, or most of it at least, is dominated, is governed by this strong desire that you are pursuing. That is the thought that the Apostle has in this whole section. It is about that gain that someone obtains from pursuing a particular thing, to the point that the Apostle is going to give us the example of riches. And I'm going to submit to you that this whole section is divided in four categories, which are the four the four Bible studies that we're going to have by finishing when we finish this book.

So we're going to have four Bible studies, and by God's grace, we may be able to finish the whole book. But let me just point you to this specific section so that you will understand what I'm talking about. I'm saying to you, brothers and sisters, that the thought that the Apostle has in this whole section is that of retribution, that someone pursues something, is after something, trying to obtain something, and that becomes the gain for that person, that becomes that which is riches, that which is of value for that person. In the first section, the one that we're going to be addressing this evening, the apostle is going to answer the question Or what is the thing that false teachers pursue that takes them to swerve away or to deviate from the faith? So, what is that thing that false teachers are pursuing or are after that takes them to deviate from the faith, to fall away from the faith?

That is the answer or that is what we are going to try to meditate tonight. So that thing which the false teacher is pursuing is valuable for the false teacher and therefore it represents something that is of rich value inside of his heart and that is what is taking him out of the faith. But the apostle is going to compare that with that which the man of God has to pursue. That's why he says in verse 11, But as for you, O men of God, flee these things, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. So he is going to say that which the false teachers pursue and are after and takes them away from the faith and then he's going to give the exhortation and compare to those riches that the man of God is supposed to pursue and that we know are spiritual in nature.

So the riches for the men of God are spiritual in nature, and as we're going to see, the riches for the false teacher are centering the temporal on our money or financial riches. For that reason, after the apostle has given the exhortation of the comparison between false teachers and you, men of God, Timothy, flee these things, but pursue righteousness and all of these spiritual things, the apostle sees necessary now to address those brothers within the context of the church that may have riches indeed, that is, that they may be financially rich, so that he gives them also an exhortation. That's why he goes in verse 17 and he says, ask for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God. because the thought that the apostle has in mind is that of retribution, is that of reward, is that of the pursuing of something that is of value for the soul of the person. And he's going to start in the first section, as I said, that which false teachers pursue and takes them away from the faith, and then the exhortation to the men of God, which is pursuing something that is spiritual, and then to those who are rich, financially rich, in riches of this world, in this age, that those who are rich is going to give special instructions.

And he's going to finish in verse 20, if you put your eyes in the text, he finishes in verse 20 saying, Oh Timothy, guard the deposit. using words that connote or that bring to our minds financial value or even related to riches or to wealth. Those two words actually are used in Greek to connote financial riches or something that is a treasure, something that is valuable. God protect somewhere else in 2 Timothy the apostle is going to give the same instruction to Timothy is speaking of the treasure that has been entrusted to you and then he's gonna say this deposit this treasure keep it and hold it which has been entrusted to you So the thought that the apostle has in mind in this section of the book is that of retribution, of that of something that is valuable, something that we may hold, something that we might pursue, which is of value for us. That's what the apostle has in mind, and he's going to assess that from different perspectives.

The perspective that we're going to be addressing tonight is the perspective of the false teachers, and basically, The question that we are going to be answering is what do false teachers pursue that makes them fall from the faith? A false teacher is an apostate. An apostate is a person who falls from the faith. He's a person who was never truly in Jesus Christ. He's a person who demonstrated by external works, by the way that he or she spoke, or the things that she or he said, the things that they did.

People thought that they were in Christ. They said the right things. They did the right things. They were within the context of the right people. But it came to a point in which they departed from the faith.

This is the apostasy of falling away from the faith. So the question that we're going to be answering this evening, brothers and sisters, is what do false teachers pursue that makes them fall away from the faith? And this is Terrifying, because this is not only for false teachers, brothers and sisters. We are going to be addressing basically an aspect of the nature of apostasy, which is similar for everyone who departs from the faith. It's not only for false teachers, but it's for all of those who say that they are in the faith of Christ, those who say that they are in Christ, those who call themselves to be Christians, but are not.

That is terrifying. This is a warning for all of us, for each one of us, it's a warning for the church. We are to pay much attention to it. So let's read carefully again the passage from verse 3 to verse 10, having that question in our mind. What is the thing that false teachers pursue that makes them fall away from the faith.

And then it says, verse 3, if anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy, for quarrels about words which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil, suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain." False teachers imagine that godliness is a means of gain. Verse six, but godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing with this, we will be content.

Now this false teacher is going to tell us something in verse nine. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and distraction, for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. So, brothers and sisters, if we were going to give a short answer to the question that I just said before, that what is that thing that false teachers pursue What is the game that they are after that takes them to fall away from the faith, to depart from the faith according to what the Apostle Paul says in this section of the Scripture? Then the answer to that is the famous verse that we have there, that the love of many is the root of all evils. They pursue a game that in their minds makes them rich.

They said here, it says the Apostle, that they are imagining, they imagine in the end of verse five, that godliness or that their profession of faith is a means of gain. And then the Apostle will explain that that gain, it is the desire that they have to be rich, the desire in their heart to obtain riches. That is a simple answer and there is a sense in which we could just finish the Bible study there because we have answered the question. But the apostle does not reach to the answer of that question in that way. He is going to address a couple of things that will take us to understand not only the nature of apostasy, but also why false teachers are pursuing this gain, which is financial, if you want, these riches, and these are taking them to fall away from the faith.

So this will help us to understand why that happens and how we can observe those things biblically and then examine our hearts, which is the important, very important thing. So what we're going to do in order for us to understand this desire the false teachers have towards these riches that makes them all from the faith, we're going to answer a couple of questions that are from the text. The first question is, what do false teachers teach? What do false teachers teach? After we answer that question, we're going to answer what is the fruit of the teaching of false teachers.

So then we will understand why they pursue what they pursue, which in this case is riches or they desire to be rich. What do false teachers teach? What is the fruit of the teaching that false teachers teach? And this will give us an understanding of the nature of false teachers. And then we will be able to understand more biblically why they pursue these riches or this game.

Let's start with the first question and pay attention. I'm going to try to be concise so that we will understand each one of those questions and how they relate to the final purpose. first one what do false teachers teach and the apostle puts it in a very simple way he says if anyone teaches a different doctrine brothers and sisters he doesn't say if anyone teaches an opposite doctrine he doesn't say if someone teaches a similar doctrine he only says if someone teaches a different doctrine. Because if the doctrine is different, then the doctrine is full. And what he's emphasizing is that there's only two categories of doctrine.

It's the doctrine that corresponds to that which is written in the Bible, and any other type of doctrine which is false doctrine. There's only the doctrine that accords to the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the apostle says here, and all other doctrine which makes that doctrine different to the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, teaches a different doctrine, and then he adds, and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ. the teaching of these men were different to the teachings that apostles were teaching, and they were different to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls that, that does not accord to the sound words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That word sound is going to be very important because it means healthy. It means something that is healthy. This is not the first time that the apostle has used this term that accords to this type of teaching. In chapter 1 he has given us a little bit of light. Go to chapter 1 and in verse 10 the apostle has already spoken to doctrine, different doctrine that is contrary to sound doctrine, and he has given us a little bit of light in that in that verse.

In chapter 1, verse 10, after this apostle has spoken of a list of sins, in verse 10 he's going to say, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine. And then he gives another qualifier to that, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. False teachers teach a type of doctrine that may be similar in the way that it sounds, in the words that they use, in the way that they present it, in the things that they deliver, but substantially, brothers and sisters, false doctrine, it is different to sound doctrine, and it is not in accordance to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore, as the apostle says here in chapter one, It is not in accordance with the gospel. And the Bible speaks very clearly of those who bring a doctrine that it is of another gospel. When the apostle is speaking in Galatians, he says that even an angel brings a gospel that is different to the gospel of Paul, that that person is cursed.

Why? Because, brothers and sisters, that which is not of the words of Christ is the opposite to sound. If sound means healthy, then that which is opposite means that it is unhealthy. And this is where it takes us to the next line that says, not only to the sound words of the Lord Jesus Christ, but also it says, and to the teaching that accords with godliness. in verse 3 in the chapter or in the section that we're addressing.

He says that if anyone teaches a doctrine that is different, that does not accord with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then he says that does not accord with godliness. Brothers and sisters, this is very important, and as I was preparing this, I remembered Arelis. Arelis asked me a question very important, like five or six years ago. She was asking me, what is sound doctrine. You might not remember, but you asked me this question, what is sound doctrine?

And I said to her, I spoke about doctrine being articulated and proper, that it should be in alignment with the history of all of our forefathers, that we should be able to track it in the past and see that our forefathers believed that, that it is not something that someone comes on a particular day and says, I have this doctrine and no one has this doctrine, and now I'm just presenting this doctrine to you. But all of that is somehow true. But there is a very important aspect of sound doctrine that is not only the doctrine that accords with the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's also a doctrine that has the power to produce godliness. The doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ is sound doctrine, is healthy doctrine, because it's not only a set of intellectual the statements that are true, but rather the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ has the power, is a doctrine that accords with godliness. That it is that produced in the life of the person that receives this doctrine, a powerful change.

A powerful change that does not abide only in the mind of the person, but abides in the heart of the person. And that is what sets sound doctrine apart from the doctrine of men. Because the words of men do not have the power to affect and to transform the life of the one that receives it, the one that is dead in his trespasses, the one that is dead in his or her sins. The words of God are going to be dull and indifferent. the one whose heart is a heart of stone, the one whose heart is a heart of flesh, a heart that has not been touched by Jesus Christ, a heart that is dead and dull and cold, will not be transformed.

But when Christ, by His Spirit, goes into a person and transforms that heart, then the words of the Lord Jesus Christ become the means by which that person develops godliness or Christ-likeness. These are the sound words of the Lord Jesus Christ. False teachers, even if they speak, with clarity and with truth, so articulated truth, and it sounds very well. If it's not the doctrine of what it is written in the Bible, then this will never, ever produce a healthy soul, a sound soul. It will not produce in the heart of the person that which is expected.

Your word is truth, and the word of God is the one that sanctifies and makes us more like Jesus Christ. That is a reality that happens only with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and when they correspond to that which is written. This is what false teachers teach, and then if we know that what they teach is not sound doctrine or not healthy doctrine, then we can understand the fruit of it, which is the second question that I wanted to address. So what is the fruit of the teaching of these false teachers? Now remember that false teachers They are unable to preach the words of Christ, because the words of Christ are not in their hearts in the first place.

They are apart from the person of Christ. They are departed from the grace of the Spirit. They are blind to the grace of Jesus Christ. They speak things with their mouths, but their hearts have not been taken captive by Jesus Christ. So they are not experiencing, they speak of things that they've heard, but they speak of things that they do not know spiritually.

So therefore, not only the fruit of the things that they speak for others, but inside of them is going to be a fruit, not of the spirit, but a fruit of the flesh. And that's what the apostle says in verse 4 of the false teacher. He's going to address at least three aspects. He's going to give a list of many things, but he's going to address three aspects. The heart, the mind, and the deeds of this person who is teaching a false doctrine.

So what do false teachers teach? They teach a doctrine that is different to the gospel, that is powerless, because it's not sound doctrine according to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't have the power to produce godliness, not in the person that speaks or in the person that receives. And what is the fruit of that teaching? The fruit of that teaching affects the heart, the mind, and the deeds.

The Apostle starts in verse 4 saying, He is pathed up with conceit. Pride takes over the heart of the person who is not participant of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Love to self. The Bible speaks of the fulfillment of the love for those who are in Christ as loving God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our might and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Those who are not partakers of the grace of Christ are unable to love God with all their might and are unable to love their neighbor as they love themselves.

They can say it with their mouth, but they are unable to do it. So they love themselves. They are lovers of self. And love to self is always manifested in pride, wanting to be more of what we are, wanting to be seen by others greater and higher statue of what we are, pretending to be something that we are not so that people will think and perceive of us something that substantially we do not have within us. Pride.

takes captive the heart of the false teacher. These people are not sons of God, these people are sons of Satan, and Satan being the father of lies. In the heart of these people there is deceit and lies. The fruit of false teaching is a fruit of the flesh, and the flesh in the heart produces pride and produces deceit. But it's not only affecting the heart of the person who teaches a false doctrine, it also affects the mind.

It says, following says that they understand nothing. In chapter one, he had spoken of the false teachers saying, desiring to be teachers of the law. not knowing what they say, nor the things which they affirm." And then in the portion of the Scripture that we read in the end, it says, the falsely called knowledge, false teachers, brothers and sisters, false teachers cannot apprehend the true meaning of knowledge that is given by the Bible or given in Scripture. People might be able to put together certain schemes of doctrine or certain patterns of doctrine or certain topics and organize them intellectually, and they might be able to communicate things that we agree and we consider to be true.

but biblical understanding is an understanding that goes beyond the mind and that abides in the heart of the person. That's why the apostle says that this is falsely called knowledge, because this is knowledge that abides only in the mind of the person. If you go, as we have done in the past to Psalm 119, the one that loves the law of the Lord is the one that has understanding according to the ways of the Lord, because in order to know... We are supposed to have a heart that is able to love, and not love according to the standards of the world, but in order to understand the things of the Lord, our heart has to be taken by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the Lord will take the mat from the ground, spit on it, and then remove the thing that we have in our eyes and make us able to see Him, not with our eyes of the flesh, but with the eyes of the Spirit, so that we can love Him and know Him more.

This is biblical knowledge. It does not matter how many truths come out of the mouth of a man. If that man has not been taken captive by Christ, then that man knows nothing. Pride abides in the heart. Lack of biblical knowledge in the mind of that man.

So what are we going to expect of the deeds of that man? This is what the Apostle says here. It says continuing, He has an unhealthy craving. Doctrine of the men of God is sound doctrine, which means a healthy doctrine. But for the false teacher, he has an unhealthy opposite, craving for controversy and for quarrels about words which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth.

This can be summarized in one word, the vision. The goal of biblical knowledge as it is given to a man, it is that by the exercise of the spirit and love of one another, that knowledge or that biblical knowledge through love may bring edification and unity among the people of the church. when the heart of the man that speaks or when the hearts of those who hear are not in the grace of God and are deprived from the love of God, then that which is eventually going to produce is division. It is conflict. It is what it says here is slander and difficulties among people because they will never be able to come in the unity.

They will never be able to be knit together by the power of the Spirit. The bringing together of the members of the church happens only by and through the power of the Holy Spirit as he works in the hearts of those who preach and in the hearts of those who receive false teachers. are unable to do so, brothers and sisters, and therefore their fruits are not going to be only evidence in their hearts filled with pride and deceit and in their minds not knowing the things of the word of God, but also what they do and their works and their dealings with others are going to be tainted and stained by division because in their hearts there's self and a desire to impose themselves over others. to be the rulers of others, to be the ones that guide others, and not to be the servants of others, which is that which the gospel produced in the heart of a person. A false teacher is a lover of self and not a lover of God and his people.

His heart is completely given unto himself and therefore everything that he thinks, says and does corresponds to that nature. That is the type of people that the Apostle describes here in the end of verse 5. And then he says that these people imagine that godliness is a means of gain. Now, brothers and sisters, just think about it and see how it makes sense. If a person deep into his heart, into his soul, is a lover of self.

He's not a lover of others. He or she may say with his or her mouth that he or she loves other people and that he or she loves the church and that he or she loves God. But if deep in his or her heart, she or he is a lover of him or herself, If that which moves her or moves him is love to self, to be preeminent among others, so then that person will only strive to obtain those things which in his mind or her mind will bring gain to him individually. So then the falsely called godliness that they profess for them becomes a means for gain. Not a means to edify, not a means to serve the Lord, not a means to give himself in service to others, or to do the work of the Lord, but rather a means of gain.

They have been affected in their mind, and therefore what they are looking for are gains that are personal. That's what the Apostle then will elaborate and will speak the thesis, I desire to be rich. The power of money, the enslaving power of riches, the enslaving power of money can easily take captive the mind of those who are not in Christ and to take them as slaves unto the service of Satan, making them work unto themselves, pretending a godliness that speaks to the church something that is not real in their hearts but the apostle now is going to speak why these people are pretending this godliness as means of gain? Why these people are after this gain? And this is the main question that we wanted to answer, because the apostle, or the way that I was going to try to present the answer of that question, brothers and sisters, is by actually seeing the opposite of the godliness or the gain that false teachers look for or are after in their profession of faith that compare with the true biblical godliness.

The apostle is going to speak of true biblical godliness in verse 6, and pay attention to it please. In verse 6 he says, speaking of this godliness, this god-likeness, if you want, of this Christ-likeness, this power in us of making us more like Jesus Christ, our profession of faith, But godliness with contentment is great gain. He has said that the false teachers in verse five, he said in the end, that they imagine that godliness is a means of gain. In verse six, he's going to give us the definition of biblical godliness. He says, but godliness with contentment is great gain.

That word contentment speaks of a sense of sufficiency, that it is sufficient and it is enough for them. So that means, brothers and sisters, that spiritual godliness or that the true godliness in the heart of a man of God, it is a godliness that brings the sense that the temporary things are sufficient, and therefore what I have is enough, and I'm not going to pursue further riches. That's what the Apostle does in the following verses. He says in verse 7, For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing with this, we will be content.

So brothers and sisters. spiritual, Christ-given, Spirit-empowered, Scripture-based godliness. It's a type of godliness that we bring to the soul of the person, contentment. That is a sense of sufficiency with the things that we have, and therefore, we're going to be at peace with what we have, and we are not going to want to have more. But for the ones that are not in Christ, the ones that are apart from the person of Jesus Christ, whose heart it is given unto themselves, whose hearts are in darkness and not in light, they will want to make their professional faith and their exercising of Christianity the means by which they obtain more and more and more riches.

They will never be satisfied. It will never be sufficient for them. But pay attention to the two reasons that the Apostle gives us. Because in the first reason, the Apostle is going to take us to eternity, and then he takes us to the present life. He says in verse 7, For we did not bring anything into this world, and we know that we will not take anything out of this world.

a perception of that which is eternal. We did not bring anything into this world. And in the life that is to come, we're not going to take anything into that world. He gives us a perception of the material related to the eternal. We have nothing material.

And when we die, we will have nothing. And then he gives us a perspective of the right now, of the present time. He says that with fruits, and with clothing we are content. Why? Because the sense of sufficiency, beloved brothers and sisters, the sense of sufficiency and contentment and happiness and satisfaction that the soul of the saint has with the present is derived from the assessment that we have of eternity.

that the things of this world are passing away. That the things that we see, we observe, we obtain, we take, we have, we don't have, we purchase, we don't purchase, we have, we obtain, we give, we receive, that those things are passing away. And that no matter how much we have in this present life, we did not bring anything into this world, and we are not going to take anything into that world. The sense of eternity has been enlightened to the mind of the Christian. That only happens when the eyes of the person have been opened by the power of the Word of God.

Brothers and sisters, we will never be able to have the ability to set our minds on things above, as Paul will say, not on things of the earth if it's not by the power of the Spirit. The dead, the person who is dead in his or her sins, has an attachment to this present age, has a natural attachment in the heart and in the mind to the things of this world. And therefore, having an attachment to the things of this world, he wants to accumulate the things of this world. He wants to obtain the things of this world, because this brings pleasure, present pleasure to that person. It is when eternity, it is stamped in our hearts by the power of the Spirit, that temporary things lose their value, and then we are able to give value to what really has value.

So we say, please give me what I need to eat, and give me the clothing that I need, and give me a roof, give me the basic things that I need, so then I will be able to live my life as I'm supposed to, with my eyes set on eternity. that can only be produced by the teaching of the men of God. The nature of humanity, it is attached to the present. It is filled with pride and desire to obtain satisfaction and to satisfy my present pleasures today, right now, in my life. And whatever I do, it is for me, and it's for my tomorrow, and it is for my life alone.

That is the nature of the flesh. But when the eyes of the Christian are opened by the grace of the gospel and by what Christ did, then our eyes are not only open to Him, but to everything of this spiritual world that is eternity. That our lives are not rooted in the present time, but are rooted in eternity. Therefore, we are able to relate to the things that are passing away in a different way. That's why he says, brothers and sisters, and he attached, the apostle is going to attach to this desire to be rich in verse eight.

But if we have food of verse nine, but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless, harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. They are given entirely to this temporal desire of obtaining riches. And I don't know if it comes to your mind, but the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 5, verse 19, He says that we are to lay up treasures where? In heaven, because they are not going to be destroyed or no one is going to break into in heaven. Do not lay up treasures down here where treasures can be destroyed or when someone can broke into and take those treasures.

The Christian, has not only the duty, brothers and sisters, but this is the more important thing, the willingness and the desire to lay up treasures in heaven, because his and her mind has been utterly transformed. They have received the words that accord to the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ that are according to godliness. So opposite to the fruit of the false teachers, the fruit of the word of God in the life of the person will be a fruit that will take this person to desire the things that are eternal. But brothers, there is a consequence of the love of money. In verse 10 he says, For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.

It is through this craving, that is the love of money, that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs or many pains. The love of money. is eventually the reason why some people will depart from the faith. When the fleshly desires of the person cannot be satisfied by any other means, that person will eventually demonstrate and prove that he was never into these things for Christ himself, but he was for a personal gain. And you know what the scary thing is about all of these, brothers and sisters?

that the love of money, or the love of riches, or the love of two pleasures of this world, it is in the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ, one of the reasons that proves that a faith was never a true faith. in the mouth and in the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, love to riches, love to the treasures of this world, love to the pleasures of this world, is an evidence that the faith of a person was never a true faith. And actually, riches, biblically speaking, are means by which apostasy is revealed. Go to Mark chapter 4 and you will see what I'm talking about. In Mark chapter 4, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to speak of this, of the parable of the sower, of the different seeds.

He's speaking of these four types of faith. And only one of those types of faith, only one of those types of belief is real belief. In Mark, did I say Mark 4? Mark chapter 4. You might remember the parable of the sword.

He's going to explain the parable of the sword in verse 14. He's going to give, there's a man that is throwing seed and the seed falls into different places. And the Lord will say that this seed is the word of God, that is the word of Jesus Christ. And he's going to explain the parable and these four types of faith. And let's read carefully what the Lord is going to teach us about the love of riches and the love of temporary pressures.

Verse 14, the sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path. So these are the seeds that fell along the path where the word is sown. When they hear Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sung in them. So he had given the parable that there was certain seed that fell along the path, and then birds came and took and removed the seeds.

And then he's now explaining, and he's saying that this is the word of God that was put into the heart of these people, but he never gave fruit. They never believed because Satan came and take the word of God and remove it from them. Now he's going to give in verse 16 the explanation of the seeds that fell on the stony or rocky ground. In verse 16 it says, And these are the ones sown on rocky or stony ground, the ones who, when they heard the word, they heard or they listened to the word, they received the word, immediately received it with joy, and they have no root in themselves but endure for a while. Then, when tribulation or persecution arises, on account of the word, immediately they fell away.

The first ones, it says that the world was removed by Satan immediately. Nothing happened there. The second ones, they believed for a while, but when tribulation came, when persecution arise on account of the Word of God, immediately these people fell away. Now verse 18, And others are the ones sung among the thorns. So we did the path, the stony or rocky ground, and now the ones among thorns.

They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. These people, because of the pleasures of the world, because of the deceitfulness of riches, these things come into the heart of that person and they are proved unfruitful. And verse 20 gives us the ones who believe, who truly believe. But those that were sent on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept. So they hear, first thing, they accept it.

And the third thing that they do is that they bear fruit. They bear fruit 30 fold and 60 fold and 100 fold. Brothers and sisters, the fruit of the false teacher. who teaches a different doctrine than the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, is a fruit of the flesh. It is a fruit of a heart that is dead, still in his or her trespasses.

It does not produce fruit. And when, in this case, the deceitfulness of riches, when the pleasures of this world take over, then those people are removed and taken over. But pay attention that both persecutions and tribulations are the means by which true seeds are tested. and riches and the desires of this world are the second means by which fruits in that true seed is a means of testing the genuineness of the faith. Peter would say that the genuineness of the faith of a person is tested by fire just as gold is put through fire.

Brothers and sisters, this should make us tremble. Because the deceitfulness of riches, it is something that affects our hearts. It is something that goes inside of us and moves us and shakes us from within. This only will happen if the perspective of the person is in the right here and right now. But the power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is a power unto salvation that opens our eyes to see Christ and the eternity of our lives.

That our lives are not for the right now, are not for the here, but that there is a sense of eternity. There is a life that is eternal. And working and laboring and giving ourselves for the things that are temporal is foolish. is silly. Giving ourselves for the things of this world, ultimately, it is silly, it is unreasonable.

We have a strong word in Spanish that it speaks of a person being utterly silly in the mind, when a person gives him or herself to the things of this world, which are passing away according to the first John. The sense of eternity and the desire to give our lives for things that are eternal can only happen in and by the power of the Holy Spirit as it is given by and in His Word. That's why faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. The faith, the saving faith that produces fruit. The faith that is received in the good soil.

The faith that is received in the good ground. The faith that is received in the heart that accepts and produces fruit. brothers and sisters, we see here in the end of this section that is this love to money, that it is this love to riches, what in the end takes this man to fall away from the faith. Then the apostle will say, but you men of God, but you men of God, pursue the things that are not of this world, that are eternal, that are spiritual. Now, testing, as I said, brothers and sisters, from the very beginning, and let me just finish with this.

This is not only an exhortation for those who are teachers of the Word, of those who are false teachers, but this is an exhortation for the heart of every one of us. What are the type of desires of this present age, of this present world that are taking our hearts and define our motivations and our desires? Where are we putting our minds and our hearts and all of our souls in the things of this present world? Because, brothers and sisters, as Paul says in Colossians, we are to set our minds on things that are above and not on things of the earth, with Christ seated. Christ is seated right on the right hand of the Father, and our minds are meant to be set on those things which are above, so that we can relate to the temporary things in light of eternity, and then we will not be taking captives and slaves to the things that are eventually passing away.

May our souls, brothers and sisters, not be taken and captured by the things that are passing away, the things that are going to be destroyed. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming. He is coming and he's going to come and he's going to judge the living and the dead and all these things are going to pass away and only the things that are going to endure are the things that are rooted in the person of Jesus Christ. Amen.