1 Timothy for the life of..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verses 20 through 21. O Timothy, guard the deposit 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. This is the Word of the Lord.

It's a short reading, and we'll get straight into it. As I said earlier, this is the last study that we have on this epistle, the first epistle of Paul to Timothy. It's been a very, very fulfilling study, to be honest. As a congregation, as we've come week after week, I think 22 or 24 weeks we've been in this book, I hope at least at this point we've come to realize how practical the book of 1 Timothy is in particular to the church of Jesus Christ. It really does teach how the church ought to function, what the leadership should look like, what the individual responsibilities are, and it really speaks about what a healthy church, a Christian church, a church that carries the name of Jesus Christ, how it ought to function in this age.

It's an incredibly practical book and it's just as practical for us today as it was for the first century Christians and that is because the biblical The principles of the Christian faith are eternal. They don't change whether they are from 1 AD all the way to 2019. They're the same principles. We have the same God and the same Savior and the Bride of Christ is being made and built by Christ. and he's the one who's edifying his church.

Last week we looked at the portion that was just before the text that we read here this evening and that portion was really speaking to the rich, the rich in the first century church. those who have means, those who have material possessions in the first century. And we said last week that there were many in the first century, especially in the Roman Empire, that were quite impoverished. And the Christian church was a microcosm of the people in that day. So if the people in that day, there were many poor, and we said even some estimates up to one third of the population were deemed slaves, That's a lot of people, 150 to 200 million in population in those days.

That's a lot of slaves, a lot of poor people. So the church was consistent of many poor people. So the address that Paul gave to the church in Ephesus through by way of Timothy was in particular to the rich in those days. And they were people who had means, who probably had a better home than others, those who had food in their pantries. Not that there were pantries, but they had more food, they had good jobs, incomes, maybe they had many slaves and so forth.

And what we determined from our study last week is when we looked at the context, We found that indeed the words are very applicable to us here today because we would be deemed as rich. We all have roofs over our heads. We all have cars and furniture and food in our pantries. We all have an income. We're not concerned about whether we can have food for tomorrow to feed our families.

Most of us eat three meals a day. and so forth and we're deemed as rich and really the essence of what Timothy or what Paul was speaking to Timothy about about charging the rich among them to be a certain way in essence he's saying do not allow those among you who do have means who have money To place their trust in what is uncertain. To place their trust in the material things of the world that do, that we can derive a temporary pleasure from. However, these things come to an end. They are temporal.

They are shaky. They are uncertain. However, place your trust in God. Place your trust in the rock that doesn't change. The one who has your life in the palm of his hands.

Why would you put security and your hope in something that is shifting when you can place it in the rock of all ages The God Almighty who says that He has you in the palm of His hands and if you're trusting in Him, your whole eternity, not just the midst of this life, but the whole of eternity is in His hands and it's secure in Him. And when you are trusting in the Lord and you understand what the things that you have, the money, the possessions, that you're a steward of them because they belong to God anyway, Then you realize that the clutch that one has on money and material things, the grasp they have, slowly loosens because their eyes are looking to eternity and not the here and now. And you become more and more generous towards those around you who are in need because you don't need to hold on. Because you know God is the one who provides for you richly. and he has only provided for you and promises to provide in the here and the now but he also provides for us into all eternity that is secure in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But now, now the Apostle turns that and goes into verse 20 and it seems that he takes the emphasis away from those who are rich And he addresses the first words, Oh Timothy, speaking it seems to Timothy personally. He says, Oh Timothy, God the deposit entrusted to you. You can sense that there's an emphatic emotion and passion in the voice of the Apostle Paul when he speaks these words. You see, these are the last words the apostle writes to Timothy in this letter. So you would think that whatever the last words, the last two verses, they must be pretty heavy, pretty important for the apostle to leave young Timothy.

with these words, and it seems to me as I read this that it's almost like the Apostle is pleading with Timothy. It's like, Timothy, the emphatic tone of his voice, the stress of his voice, and he's saying, you need to do this, Timothy. You need to guard the deposit that has been entrusted to you. So the question as 21st century Christians reading this passage ought to be, what is that deposit? What is it that is so important for the Apostle Paul to say you Timothy need to guard the deposit that has been entrusted to you?

What is Paul referring to? Now he's just come from speaking on a topic of money and riches and so forth and one sees the words that the Apostle is using guard the deposit our minds when we think deposit goes probably to bank as we deposit money into the bank so we may still think that the Apostle is speaking on monetary terms but that would be mistake because he's not speaking on monetary terms. Some have thought maybe the deposit is the gift that Timothy is given, the gift that he's given to minister and other things when he was given those gifts prophetically with the laying of their hands. But really when we look at this carefully we realize that it's beyond that. That the very thing that the Apostle Paul is is exhorting Timothy to God, in fact, is the content and the body of the Christian faith.

It is the divine revelation from God. It is our Christian faith. It's the gospel. It's the word of God. That's what he's saying.

You see, there's only two other times that the Apostle Paul uses that terminology. Deposit entrusted. Here it says deposit entrusted. In the Greek, it's actually one word. But there's only two other times that the Apostle Paul speaks in this way or uses those words.

And it's in the second letter to Timothy in chapter one. And listen to what he says. There he says, Therefore, speaking to Timothy, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of the Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher." Very much speaking about the gospel here. "'Which is why I suffer as I do, but I'm not ashamed,' says Paul, "'for I know in whom I have believed, and I'm convinced that he is able to guard,' hear this, "'guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.'"

There's your first. And then he says, still speaking to Timothy, follow the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me in faith or in the faith and love and that are in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Hear this, guard the good deposit. entrusted to you. So once again Paul uses the same terminology here as he uses in verse 20 in chapter 6 of his first epistle.

And so what is he talking about? Well he's speaking about the words or the sound words that he has heard from the apostle Paul. He's speaking about the apostolic teachings. He's speaking about the divine revelation from God, the word of God, which the gospel makes part of. Paul is saying, guard.

Guard the body, the content, the faith, the Christian faith, Timothy. Guard these things. You need to guard these things, the redemptive faith that we find in God, the faith that we understand and know as a result of the apostolic teaching. Guard these things. You see, it's no coincidence here that the Apostle Paul uses the terminology deposit or deposit entrusted to Timothy.

Because as I said earlier, our minds could quite easily go to the banking system and think, well, when I go to the bank and I deposit $1,000, I put $1,000 into the bank. It's a deposit. And it's important for us to recognise also that a deposit is actually something of value being entrusted to someone else. So when I put that money in the bank, it's not the bank's money anymore because I have a piece of paper that says my account's gone up by $1,000. So I've entrusted something of value and I've said to the bank, here you go, I'm giving it to you in trust, and when I come back, I can always go, I want my $1,000 back, and the bank says, well, it's yours.

We've only held it here. See, some banks have what we call safety deposit boxes, and you also deposit in that way. They give you a box, and you say, I've got a jewel, or I've got something of value. It could be anything. You can put it in that box, put it there, close it.

You've got the only key, and then you go away, and you come back next month, next year, in 10 years, and it's still there. You see, it's something of value. that you give to someone else in trust. What Paul is saying here to Timothy is that which he has been given, that deposit that he's been entrusted to God, that Christian faith, the divine oracles of God, the apostolic teachings, the gospel, it's not Timothy's. It belongs to God.

It's been passed down to Timothy. It's been given to Timothy for him to guard and to protect and for him to teach and exhort through. But it's not his. It doesn't belong to him. It's God's.

So in other words, if it's God's, then Timothy is but a steward of what belongs to God. And this is important that we realise this, because it's very similar to the material things that the Apostle Paul spoke of just previously in the previous section, saying, where I said everything from God, all the riches is from God, his one provides richly anyway, and we leave it all behind anyway, we ought to be good stewards of what God has given. The deposit that he's given to Timothy It doesn't belong to Timothy, it belongs to God. And therefore, Timothy is to be faithful in the way he guards that deposit. And beloved, likewise, if we're thinking about that, we think that if it belongs to God, Timothy has no right to manipulate it.

He has no right to change it. He has no right to alter it. He has no right to take it away from the original form. It needs to remain as pure as possible as he has received it. because it doesn't belong to him.

It's God's, and he's only been entrusted with it, with the gospel. This is important that we realize that. When we think about, for example, we think about historical family heirlooms or jewels that have been passed down in generations from one person to the other. And you've heard of, we haven't done this in our family, but we've heard of families who have said, look, as the mother's giving or the father's giving a child something, they may say, this belonged to your great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather. And it's a wonderful thing to be able to track down the history of centuries of something that's been passed, something valued that's been passed down.

And the idea is, not when that child gets it, it doesn't go, great, I can't wait to sell this. No, that's not the idea. The idea is to see something that is of great value and to guard it so that that person, that child, once they grow up and they have children of their own, they can then pass it to the next child. But the idea is to keep it in, purest form, because when that child is speaking to their, or when it grows up and speaks to their child that they're passing it down to, the words ought to be, this is in the original form, this is exactly how two or three hundred years ago it was passed down in the generations in our family. The idea is to keep it as close as possible as to what it was originally, not to change it.

The value is the fact that it was passed down through the generations. And Paul is saying here to Timothy, he said otherwise. He says, this is a deposit that you've been entrusted with. It's not your own creation. It is God.

God is the one who has given us this body of Christian faith. You've received the faith from your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice, and now you're hearing from the Apostle Paul in the apostolic writings and teachings, inspired by the Holy Spirit. This is the Word of God. Timothy, guard this. It is important that you guard it and you keep it in its purest form.

Your responsibility is to guard and to teach and exhort from the Word of God, from that faith, the way you received it, but not to manipulate it, not to change it, not to alter it in any way, not to corrupt it, protect it from corruption, protect it from any impurities. You see, we can't, we should not, the minister of God's Word should never add to God's Word. He should never take away from God's Word. He should know that this is an entrusting with the Word and try the best they know how to present God's Word to God's people in its purest form, unadulterated, uncorrupted. Because beloved, when we human beings put our hands in it to try to make it better, we pollute it.

We pollute it. This is truth. God's Word is truth. And anything you add to it will only corrupt it from its truth. And beloved, if you add to God's Word and manipulate or alter it, then it loses its power.

And the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of truth, will not, He will not under any circumstances, promote or condone anything that is not of truth. It is inherent. It is infallible. It is breathed out by God. It is perfect.

You cannot add to perfection. It doesn't need human additions, human fabrications, as though somehow to make it more appealing. We sometimes hear these words, we hear the words, no, no, no, it's an old book, it's antiquate, antiquate, I'm not gonna use that word, antiquate, antiquated, no, I'm not gonna use that. It's an antique book. I can't pronounce the word, unfortunately.

But it's a unique book, and we need to make it far more relevant to our day and age. We hear this all the time. So we need to change things in it. But beloved, what we do... is what we end up doing if we were to take that deposit and rather than to guard it from the impurities and the corruptions of the world.

If we would just look at it and say, okay, I understand this is the Bible, but people, you know, they're going to struggle with some things. So I'm going to mute some of the things in the Bible, change them, maybe explain them in a different way. You know, this way, okay, we're not being pure to its original intent, but at least the world will accept it. So what we do is we blunten the sword of the Word of God. We take away the edge, we take away the sting.

And then what you're left with is a body of Christian faith, a gospel with no sin and no judgment, a gospel that embraces everything. Like we see in many churches today, they've adopted what we call the ecumenical movement. That is basically all roads lead to Rome. As long as we pray and we're sincere, then you're okay. No, no, the Christian faith is exclusive.

One way, through Christ, Paul said that in chapter 2, one God and one mediator between God and man, the person Jesus Christ. That's it. We ought to be very concerned with preserving and guarding, as Timothy is, With guarding and preserving the Word of God in its purity and not manipulating it or changing it to appeal to anyone or anything. It is an offence in and of itself and we ought not to be an offence when we proclaim it. Of course we need to do it in grace and in love and in gentleness.

But don't take away the sting of God's Word. Don't take away what God's Word is intended to be. This is our faith. We're not the ones who dictate what He is and isn't. It is God.

He's given us His perfect, inerrant Word, and we ought to study, we ought to read and meditate upon it, and in particular, it is the elder and the pastor's responsibility to do these things, definitely. But it's also all our responsibility, and we'll get to that in a few moments. And this is why it's so important that we do these things. Because this is truth. God is truth.

And as I said before, you corrupt the truth, you put some impurities in there and it's no longer truth. And beloved, if you take away the truth from the church of Jesus Christ, you take away her identity. This is why Paul in chapter three says that the church is what the pillar and the buttress of truth. It's foundation. is truth.

It upholds truth. The truth is what the church ought to be known for. And when you manipulate or change or corrupt what is in the truth in God's word, then the church loses her identity. Essentially, if the truth is not protected, She may be more relevant to the world temporarily. That's a possibility.

But you know what you do? You'll end up condemning the world eternally. It may make more sense now. It may be more palatable now. Maybe the world will embrace Christianity more now in their temporal sense.

But if we take away the truth and manipulate it for people's ears, then what we're doing is we're actually condemning those people eternally. And Paul says to Timothy, guard. Guard the deposit you've been entrusted with. The way it's been handed down to you, Timothy, preserve it. Keep it.

Keep it from defilements, from corruption. Keep it as pure as possible in its original form, in the way you've been given it. Keep as close as you can to it and don't try to alter it in any way, shape, or form. Because one day, you will give an account. Every minister of the Word, anyone who teaches God's Word will one day have to give an account to the things they taught.

Every one of us will. Everyone who has ever opened God's Word and taught it will have to give an account before the Lord. The question is, will they be faithful? Now this is a massive responsibility. If you think what Paul is saying to Timothy, this is a very big responsibility.

He's saying, you need to preserve and guard the body of faith. How can one man do these things? How can one... it's a massive responsibility, right? But he has to play his part.

And it's not as though he needs to figure all this out in the moment because the Apostle Paul has already, throughout even just this one epistle, given him so many instructions as to how he is to guard the deposit that's been entrusted to him. Today or this evening I'm going to mention five of these things, five instructions. The Apostle Paul will find four of them are found in the text of 1 Timothy and one is found right here in the passage that is before us. And the first, beloved, is so obvious. The first for Timothy, in order for him to guard the truth that he's been entrusted with, the truth that the church ought to know of and to hear of and to grow in, Timothy firstly is required to wholeheartedly believe and live out this truth.

So in other words, it needs to be real to Timothy. The inward reality must be genuine before he can manifest an outward action. In other words, unless Timothy loves the truth, unless he's committed to the truth, unless he's devoted to the truth, he'll never seek to genuinely protect or guard. the truth. It needs to have made an effect on him.

It needs to have changed him. It needs to have changed him from within and therefore manifested through his personal life and personal ambition to be more and more like the Word teaches wholly. The one who loves the truth will naturally want to live according to the truth. And this is why Paul exhorts Timothy throughout this book. He says, hold to the faith and the good conscience, he keeps saying.

He says, be prepared to wage a good warfare, Timothy. He goes on to say, pursue righteousness, pursue godliness, faith, love, steadfastness. Pursue gentleness. Fight the good fight Timothy, the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.

Beloved, a love for truth and a concern to live by this truth is absolutely necessary before one can wholeheartedly be prepared to guard this truth against distortions. It needs to be real in the heart of Timothy. And Paul makes this point throughout this epistle, in particular when he says, Timothy, Keep a close watch on yourself. He goes on to say, and on your teaching, but he starts with, he starts with, watch yourself, Timothy. Watch yourself.

Watch what you hear. Watch what you see. Watch what you think. Watch how you act, Timothy. Keep a close eye on yourself.

And then, as one trusts and believes upon this body of truth, the thing that God has given to be entrusted, that deposit to be entrusted, then within that person is created a zeal, a spirit-wrought zeal. And that zeal then takes us to the second thing that Timothy could do in order to guard the deposit that he's been entrusted with, and that is to guard the church from false teachers. So he guards the deposit that God's given him, guards the purity of the doctrines that he's been received by protecting the church. from false teachers. And Paul starts with this.

And if you remember when we started this epistle, one of the big themes was false teachers and their effect on the church of Jesus Christ. And not only in the first century, we said that one of the biggest problems, one of the biggest dangers to the church throughout history has always been false teachers from within the church. And even today, that is one of the greatest risks, one of the greatest dangers towards the church. And how does Paul start? In 1st Timothy chapter 1 after he greets Timothy in verse 3 this is what he says.

He says, As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. Hear that? not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculation rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. That's why Paul requested that Timothy would stay back in Ephesus, that he would pursue these men. These men who are causing havoc, confusion within the church.

These men who are teaching these false doctrines, motivated by pride, motivated by something that will feed themselves rather than feeding the people of God. We looked into what the motivations are for false teachers, and at their core is self. Because they don't have the love of God or love for others. It's self. And Timothy is told by Paul, stay back.

Stay back here in Ephesus and find these men. And then what did he say? He says, tell them not to do these things. not to teach these things. They're fabricating things from themselves.

They're not teaching the doctrines that are pure, doctrines that are the God's own word, the revelation, the divine revelation of God. They're not doing these things. They're causing people to stumble and fall. Paul gives many examples through this book on these things. Instead of building the church up, these men break the church down.

They're wolves in sheep's clothing, wolves that the shepherd must call out in order to protect the sheep. He needs to call out the false teaching in order to guard the deposit he's been entrusted with. And this is why Paul uses firm words. He says here, I urge you that when you go there, he says, charge them not to do these things. Charge these persons, tell them, command them, demand that they stop teaching these false things.

You tell them, Timothy, stop. Stop teaching this rubbish, these empty words that puts the church into confusion. It is against God's word. These are very firm words that the Apostle Paul is speaking because, beloved, corrupting God's word, corrupting the body of faith that we have with us, corrupting the word of God, And the gospel of Jesus Christ is a great offence before the Lord. And we must take it very seriously.

But how's Timothy going to do all these things on his own? Ephesus is a large city. And it could be, we're not too sure, there could have been several congregations throughout Ephesus. It could have been one big church, that's a possibility. But it could be several congregations throughout this quite large city in Ephesus.

But either way, I think this leads us to the third way that Paul has given, through the instructions in the book of 1 Timothy, of how Timothy is able to guard the deposit that's been entrusted to him. How he's able to guard the purity of the body of faith The apostolic teachings, how he can do that, is to appoint men to become elders. The right men to be elders. The right men to be ones who would shepherd the church and take care of the church. Now, it's important that we realize that a few weeks ago we spoke about the appointment of elders, that one should not be in haste, so it should not be a rush job.

The church, and Timothy in particular, ought to be looking at men who fit the qualifications, but not only fit the qualifications, but men that he believes and the church believes have been raised by God, that they're the choice of Jesus Christ, appointed and gifted by Christ. But either way, I mean, this is something you have to do, but there are characteristics and qualifications given in 1 Timothy 3, and if you look at them, there's one, they're all non-negotiable, but one of the main ones there is he needs to be able to teach, or able to teach. He needs to be able to teach the truth. Beloved, for someone to be able to teach the truth, they must be well accustomed to the truth. They need to know God's Word.

They need to understand God's Word. They need to have spent time in God's Word in order to be able to teach God's Word. But beyond this, the almost parallel passage to this verse or to chapter 3 in 1 Timothy is found in Titus chapter 1. And there, not only is the elder one who needs to be able to teach, but listen to what Paul says there. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so know the word, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine.

And also, and this is the other side, rebuke those who contradict it. Able to teach because he's well accustomed with God's word, well accustomed with the Christian faith, the very thing that he's been entrusted with. but he's also one who needs to be able to say no to those who are teaching false doctrine. He needs to be able to identify falsities, lies, contradictions, myths, endless genealogies. He needs to be able to identify the things that are false from the things that are true.

That's his responsibility. So I'm hoping, beloved, by now, That we, as a group of Christians, that we would know that very much in 1 Timothy, the emphasis has always been on the Word of God. Very much so. We said it's a practical instruction to the church and that it is. But how central is the Word of God throughout the words and the chapters and the verses of 1 Timothy?

Timothy, it's all the way through, everything. The Word of God is central. The apostolic teaching is central to the healthy functions of a church that is a true church in Jesus Christ. Everything is built upon the foundation of God's Word. Even the appointment of deacons.

If you remember when in Acts chapter 6, and we've referenced this on many occasions, when Peter says to the church back then very early, in the early stages, that deacons ought to be appointed, You remember the words he said, and the reason why he said, go find seven men filled with the Holy Spirit? And then he said, so that why? Why were they looking for deacons? Why were they appointing deacons? He said, he said, but we, so that we, he said, but we will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry.

the Word. Even the deacons, brothers and sisters, who are essential, they are there so they could facilitate, they could free up the the elders to be able to study and meditate upon God's Word and they're able to teach and exhort and preach God's Word. The Word of God is central to the church. And that leads me to the fourth thing, the fourth instruction that Paul had already given to Timothy in this book, of how he can guard the deposit that he was being given. And that is, in chapter 4, verse 13, Paul says, Timothy, devote yourself to public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching.

In other words, saturate God's people with God's word. Because God's people can never get enough of God's word. A truly regenerated heart is always hungry to hear God's word. There's a hunger and a thirst to hear the words of God, to meditate upon scripture, to hear the explanations of scripture. This is what their heart and soul longs for.

Nothing else can satisfy the soul. Human words, cannot satisfy the soul. There can be someone who stands up who is charismatic and very good in the way of communication, but that will provide temporary entertainment. Unless what he says is from the word of God, the soul, the spirit cannot be fed. Only the spirit of God can feed the child of God through the word of God.

And this is important that we remember this. And if one was to neglect these things, then the church becomes anemic, it becomes poor, it becomes weak. How much so in this day in particular, where Paul writes this to the church, the principles still stand, but we, all of us, right now we have Bibles in our laps, we have Bibles and languages that we can understand. But in this day, the only exposure that a Christian had to the Word of God in most cases was when they gathered as a people and they heard one of the elders read it to them. That's the only way.

They had to be completely attentive. They had to apprehend God's Word because it was until next time. It wasn't like in between they can read because Bibles were very expensive and there were only a few copies. Beloved, but if the church was not familiar with God's Word, if the elder and the pastor is neglecting his responsibility of Judaism, reading and preaching, exhorting through God's Word, and the members and God's people are not being fed, then the church, as I said earlier, is weakly. It's not well-versed in the words of Scripture.

And then how are they going to, how is the church going to identify that which is false and foreign to God's Word if they're not familiar with God's Word? And beloved, as I said earlier, we all have Bibles in our hands, so it is also our responsibility individually, not only is the elder and the pastor the one who teaches and exhorts and preaches through the Word of God, that is true. But also, it ought to be a zeal in the heart of every one of God's people to open up God's Word and to meditate upon it. To become familiar with God's Word, and therefore, familiar with God. To be familiar with Christ, who is our Savior, what is our salvation.

To work out our salvation with fear and trembling. It's to bring that knowledge that is in God's Word, the words as the Spirit works in and through us, to make us aware of how rich and wonderful our salvation is. It's important that we all meditate upon these things. And the question we need to ask ourselves is this, are we being responsible in that duty? Are we being responsible in spending time in God's word?

Spending time and being faithful with the deposit that we've been entrusted. God's word is for all Christians. God's word is for every believer. But how are we able to know the difference between doctrines of demons? and that which is from God's word if we don't meditate and know and understand and become well acquainted with God's word.

You see, it's really sad to see so many so-called churches in our day who have veered and swayed so far away from the Christian faith, so far away from the teaching of God's Word. And a lot of these cults and a lot of these so-called churches, which we would probably be very uncomfortable in good conscience to call churches, Beloved, if we trace down their history, on many occasions we will find that their roots were in an orthodox church. A church who did teach and preach the truth of God's word. But somewhere along the line, that deposit deposit that they've been entrusted was not guarded. It wasn't protected.

It wasn't adhered to. It wasn't protected and therefore somewhere along the line it was corrupted and they themselves have been corrupted and generation after generation after generation Now they're not even a church. They may gather and think they are, but they're not. So you've heard it in our culture that theology doesn't matter. You've heard it said that it doesn't really matter what you believe as long as you live the right way.

That is not true. That's antithetical to the Word of God. Theology matters. What we believe determines how we live. It does matter.

And Paul dedicates the last words of this epistle to Timothy and the church in Ephesus to state that exact point. It does matter. Your theology matters. The Christian faith, the body of faith, the revelation, the divine revelation from God that's been entrusted to God's people does matter. Timothy, protect it.

Go. And the fifth way I want to bring up this evening is what's found in our text. The Torah says, avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. It's interesting how or what words the Apostle Paul uses here. The ESV uses or translates irreverent babble, and what it translates, my apologies, as irreverent babble is literally profane, empty, and worthless chatter.

Let's listen to those words. Profane, empty, worthless chatter. That's how the Apostle deems that which is foreign to scripture, that makes itself, that makes itself something that it's not. That makes itself knowledge, he says, but it's a lie. It's not really knowledge.

And just as a by way of reminder, what is, as I said, what is something that is profane? Something that's profane is something that's trotted upon, something that is polluted or something that is desecrated. But something that is profane takes or makes something that is holy unholy. It makes something that is godly worldly. To say it another way, what Paul is saying here is Timothy, stay away from blasphemy.

Because essentially, those who are teaching and saying that this is God's word, this is the apostolic teaching, this is what the Bible says, but it's not consistent and true with the spirit of God's word, then that's blasphemy. Because you're saying God says when God did not say. Timothy, Stay away from that. Stay away from that. They oppose God's Word.

And something that is in opposition to God cannot be of God. It cannot be of God. It contradicts, it goes against It goes against what you've been taught, Timothy, against the apostolic teaching, against the sound doctrine. And if it goes against these things that have been handed down from God himself through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the one who divinely, by the Holy Spirit, gave the apostles the words to write, then if someone is teaching something that is contradictory, in other words, making that which is true, to seem like a lie, it opposes it, then it cannot be. It cannot be from God.

Paul says, stay away. It's empty. It's useless. It's only destructive to the church and it's destructive to you, Timothy, because it won't help the cause of you guarding the deposit that which you have been entrusted with. Beloved, this is really important because that empty chatter, that profanity that calls itself knowledge does indeed call itself knowledge.

And the risk here is in our human flesh is that we appeal to knowledge. We're always hearing things and reading things and watching things. We're always looking at bettering ourselves by increasing our knowledge. And so this is a real warning to us because in many cases that which is deemed as knowledge is in fact more destructive to our soul than it is edifying It can be so destructive and we think it's knowledge when in fact it's not knowledge at all It's foreign and it's against God's word and we as human beings are so attracted to knowing more But we have to be careful what we see, what we hear, what we read, what we listen to. All these things can enter into our minds, beloved, and can destroy our soul.

How do we know? How do we know what is knowledge and what is not? How do we know what is true and what is not? How do we know these things? We always have to come back to the source.

We come back to the Bible. Inerrant, infallible, God-breathed word. We come back to the Bible because otherwise we will be given over to this, what is called knowledge, which is not really knowledge. And in the world today, when we look around, we see some churches that have fallen into that trap. We see that these men who claim to know, but don't.

claim to have a high knowledge or a secret knowledge or knowledge that you really need to know about but in fact they know nothing. What they say is just chatter. It's meaningless and it goes against God's word. They surround themselves with immature Christians or uninformed Christians and what they teach we may listen to sometimes every now and then we may listen to one of these one of these preachers preach or teach and we cringe and we think how can their congregation remain there knowing that this is so obviously against God's Word they remain beloved because they don't commit to knowing God They remain there because they're not familiar, they're not well accustomed to God's Word. And therefore, when a man stands in front and says something, they swallow it up and they believe it because they don't know that which is true.

They haven't guarded in their heart that which they have been entrusted with. And that's what we have to be very, very careful because false doctrine is very damaging to the church. So Timothy is to stay away, stay away from these heresies. Don't go near them. So what is he to do?

What is Timothy to do? Paul gives the answer in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verses 16 through 18, and he uses very similar terminologies. Listen to what he says. He says, but avoid irreverent babble. for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.

So you're listening to these men thinking you're getting closer to God, in fact they're pushing you away further and further, and their talk will spread like gangrene, it's like a disease, it just goes through. Among them, he gives two examples, Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. they are upsetting the faith of some. And this is where Paul says in chapter 20, where he says, some have heard these things, or 21, and they've swerved away from the truth, is because they've heard the irreverent babble, they've heard the profanity, they've heard that which is contradictory to God's word, and they've embraced it, they've taken on board, and they've gone away from the truth. And Paul says, avoid all this.

What's the solution? The solution is the verse that comes right before that passage. And this is what the apostle Paul says. He says, do your best, speaking to Timothy again, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed. Hear this, rightly dividing the word of truth.

What does that mean? It means one who is able to rightly handle, to rightly understand, one who's committed time to the study and the meditation and prayerfully come before the Lord and dedicated time and effort into studying the purity of God's Word. and then has guarded God's Word. And now he's able, like Timothy, is able to rightly divide, rightly teach, rightly understand and then proclaim, teach and exhort through the Word of God because he's committed the time to understand God's Word. The doctrines he teaches are true and not false.

And now he's able to identify that which is true and that which is false. He doesn't need to commit countless hours in studying all the heresies in the world. No, he needs to commit countless hours into studying the truth and then when he sees heresy, he smells it a mile away and he can pick out heresy or false teachers from a distance because he's so well acquainted with that which is true. Beloved, there's a huge correlation. There's a huge correlation between one who diverts or deviates from Scripture and one who deviates from the God of Scripture.

One who's departed from the orthodoxy, from the truth that is found in God's Word, cannot claim to say he's close to God. One who doesn't spend time in God's Word and meditates and prayerfully considers the things in God's Word. One who doesn't spend time with God in His Word cannot claim to be close to God. Because this is how we become close to God. Through the reading and the meditation of His Word.

When we open up God's Word, we encounter God. in his word. And this is really important that we understand this. And I love what comes next. And this is the last portion of these verses where Paul says, grace be with you.

It's interesting that in English we don't see this, but the you here is in plural. We may have thought that Paul speaking to Timothy addresses Timothy, oh Timothy, He does address Timothy, and primarily Timothy is the original recipient of this letter. But Paul's benediction in the end, grace be with you, is grace be with you all. Paul is addressing the church. It's the church's responsibility.

Yes, it is Timothy and it is the pastor and the elder. He has a primary responsibility to study and meditate upon God's word and to guard the deposit that God has given him through his word. He has that responsibility, there's no doubt there. But also there's a responsibility for the whole church to guard from error. How does she do that?

Like we said before, by getting really familiar with the truth. by getting really familiar with the treasure in God's Word. God's Word, God's voice is found in His Word. And we protect our church, even as a congregation, we protect our church from that which is false by knowing that which is true. Beloved, this is the thing.

It's your responsibility. Why? Because if someone stands before you and starts to preach error, How would you know? If someone starts to preach error and the church begins to dwindle and dwindle and dwindle into error and then error becomes heresy, how will you know to pick it up? How can you protect your brothers and sisters if you've been taught something that is not consistent with God's word?

Like I said earlier, those cults, Many had started in an orthodox church. The seven churches in the book of Revelation, five of them are on the brink of Jesus going, snuff, I'm snuffing your candle. This is very scary because you can go from being orthodox, faithful, loving the Lord, to in a few generations, become a church where Jesus says, I'm going to turn your candle off. Very, very scary. It's our responsibility individually to do this.

The you is plural, but you need to remember also, this is way too big of a responsibility for Timothy to handle, for you and I to handle, for any church to handle. Because what Paul says in the end here is, grace be with you all. And there's a beautiful word, grace. That it's not by our own efforts, it's not by our own strength or our own wisdom or our own knowledge, but rather we are able to do these things and accomplish that which the Lord intends for us to accomplish. The eldest, Timothy in particular, is able to keep or be faithful in guarding the deposit that he's been entrusted.

How and why? How can he do this as a mere man? Well, he's not doing it as a mere man because the grace of God is with him. The unmerited favor of God, the goodness of God that he doesn't deserve, that you and I don't deserve, is given to us because we are in Jesus Christ. Because we've believed upon him.

Because by faith we've come to trust in him and him alone for the salvation of our souls and in him and him alone to sanctify us in truth. the inherent Word of God. He says, your word is truth. It's by His grace and by His grace alone that we're able to walk in the Christian faith. It's by His grace and by His grace alone that the Church of Jesus Christ is able to guard the deposit that she's been entrusted.

It's by grace and grace alone that she remains faithful to her Lord according to the Word of Jesus Christ. May the Lord give us all a deep desire to have a zeal for His Word. A zeal for His Church, a zeal for our Saviour, a zeal for the Christian faith, the body and the content of all that Christ has given to His Church. This is a divine revelation from God. May it be that we all have a zeal to keep and to protect and to guard from falsities in the world, because the enemy is always attacking as he originally does.

He originally attacked in the Garden of Eden the Word of God. He said to Eve, surely you will not die. He's attacking what God said and he hasn't changed his tactics in over 6,000 years. He still attacks the Word of God. The question is, are you ready?

If those attacks come, by God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, are we ready Because we can be ready, beloved, if we commit the time to study and meditate upon His Word, trusting that Christ will work in and through His Word by the power of His Holy Spirit. Let's become familiar with the Word, so that if we're fed false doctrine, we can stand up and say, no, this is not the purity of God's Word. Amen.