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1 Timothy 1:18-20 - Right Belief and Right Behavior · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle talk Tabernacle talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in Hello and
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  welcome back to Tabernacle talk. Today we are concluding first
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  Timothy chapter one with verses 18 through 20.
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  Verses 18 through 20, the letter of first Timothy is written from
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  the apostle Paul to his son in the faith.
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  Timothy and Timothy had been left in Ephesus in order to deal
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  with some false doctrine and some false teachers that were
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  kind of making havoc, wreaking havoc, leaving mayhem all over
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  the place in the Ephesian church.
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  And that was a church that was near and dear to the apostle
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  Paul's heart that he had planted, that he had spent three
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  years there in that church. He wrote the letter to the
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  Ephesians to that church. Timothy was there.
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  And so Paul wrote first and second Timothy to there.
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  And then the apostle John was one of the elders, one of the
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  bishops or overseers there in the church at Ephesus as well in
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  his later years. And so Ephesus was a bustling, I
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  almost said suburb. It was a bustling metropolis
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  there in the 1st century. It was a home of a lot of idol
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  worship. There was a temple to the Greek
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  goddess Diana that was there. Greatest Diana of the Ephesians
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  was they call that was raised by a giant mob as many Christians
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  who had turned their backs on idol worship as they burned up
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  the idols and the, you know, books of witchcraft that they
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  had owned in their pre Christ days.
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  Yeah, there was just so much going on in Ephesus.
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  Well, for this young church, there were false teachers that
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  had come in and they were teaching, as Paul describes it
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  at the beginning of chapter 1, endless speculations, myths,
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  genealogies, empty, fruitless discussions was what was
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  happening there in that church. And so Paul told Timothy, I am
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  sent. I'm leaving you there in Ephesus
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  so that you are able to deal with these things.
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  And then he says these people are obsessed with like the Old
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  Testament, both what the Old Testament says and with the
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  myths and genealogies and stories that people made, if you
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  will, in fan fiction of what occurred in the Old Testament.
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  And so he says those people, they want to teach, quote UN
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  quote, the law, but they don't even know what the law is about.
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  The purpose of the law is that we would recognize our need of
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  Jesus. He says the law is not for the
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  righteous but for the ungodly. And he says the point of our
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  religion, if you will, the point of our relationship with God and
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  everything that we do is love out of a pure heart and a good
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  conscience and sincere faith to this really heavy mission that
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  Timothy had. Paul says you should take heart
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  though, that even as you're encountering some people and
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  there will be difficulties, I want you to know that God
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  already saved the worst possible false teacher and persecutor and
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  blasphemer because God saved me. God saved Paul.
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  And so he says, Timothy, you can experience victory in what
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  you're doing because God has already saved the worst of the
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  false teachers. And so he will be with you in
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  your journey in verses 18 through 20.
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  I'm going to read through this, and then we'll see what this end
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  of the chapter has for us. Timothy, my son, I'm giving you
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  this instruction in keeping with the prophecies previously made
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  about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the good
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  fight, having faith and a good conscience, which some have
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  rejected and have shipwrecked the faith.
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  Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I've delivered
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  to Satan so that they may be taught not to blasphemy.
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  So here he says, Timothy, you have been called to this
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  mission, but I want you to remember that you didn't call
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  yourself to this mission, that other people saw who you were.
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  They saw your faith. They saw the gifting that God
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  has given you. And so you were, as we'll read
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  later in the book, there were a group of pastors, a group of
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  elders, those that are mature and sincere and godly in their
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  faith, that recognize what the Holy Spirit was doing in you.
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  And as they laid hands on you, as they, if you will,
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  commissioned the work that you were going to do, a phrase that
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  would be more often used today. They ordained you for this
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  ministry work. I want you to remember that.
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  I want you to remember that this thing didn't start with you and
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  it's not going to end with you. And so he says, Timothy, I want
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  you to remember the prophecies, what was spoken from the Lord to
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  you through the mouths of other believers, so that you would be
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  encouraged and strengthened for the work that you've been called
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  to. Something that I had not thought
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  much about before the last two years, but that has been a
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  recurring source of joy for me is though not every person is,
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  you know, called to ministry, Though not every person has been
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  ordained, commissioned for the work of the gospel.
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  All of us in our spiritual lives have been the recipient of
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  someone else saying I see God working and alive in you and he
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  has a purpose for you. If in no other time period, then
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  in our baptism that in that moment that we confess Jesus as
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  Lord that we are one of the Jesus people and we want to
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  follow Jesus. That whether it was our pastor
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  for many people, maybe a parent or a friend or a Deacon or
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  someone that someone else from the body of Christ assented that
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  they said, yes, we do believe that based on your profession of
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  faith that you are my brother or sister in the Lord that the Holy
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  Spirit does live in you. And if the Holy Spirit lives in
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  you, then that means that God has a plan for your life and
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  that every single single one of us are able to say, God, I know
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  that you are real and that you are alive in me.
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  And if I, if I have no other proof, if I have no other thing
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  that convinces me of that, I can remember back to when someone
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  else said, yes, I do believe that you are my brother or
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  sister in the Lord. And so I baptize you in the name
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  of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit buried with, buried
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  in the likeness of his death, raised to walk in newness of
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  life. I'll tell you guys for for my
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  part, I remember when in Bible college I went through what
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  would be very, very similar to perhaps an ordination council
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  where there were several of the Bible faculty that all I could
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  bring in was 1 unmarked Bible. And they asked me questions over
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  the course of hour, hour and a half and about my about my
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  doctrine, about my beliefs from the word of God and, and that
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  they said, yes, we firmly believe that this is someone who
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  is able and capable to go into the work of the ministry.
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  I remember when I interviewed with Pastor Dennis Fountain in
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  Moses Lake, WA at Moses Lake Baptist Church and he said, yes,
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  I, I believe that this is someone that I could trust and
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  that I could rely on to be able to lead our congregation both in
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  worship and in discipleship. And I remember when Moses Lake
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  Baptist sent out my, my wife and I to come here to Tabernacle
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  Baptist and they said, we, we believe that God has equipped
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  and gifted you for this work. And that Tabernacle Baptist,
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  they interviewed me and they said, yes, we believe that you
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  are the person that God has for our church.
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  And in times when it gets tough or when there's difficulties
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  within my soul or within the church or within the culture, I
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  am so thankful that I can look back and I can say, God, I
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  remember all of these times that this Christian faith, it didn't
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  start with me and it's not going to end with me.
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  And you have my brothers and sisters all around me and they
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  have spoken truth into my life that I have a mission and a
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  purpose. And can I encourage you, maybe
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  you wish that you had some people that were equipping you
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  or encouraging you in your faith more.
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  And I heartily agree with you that you should receive that.
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  And I want to be that for people.
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  I want to, I got to tell you guys, I just want to do better
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  about that myself as I think about this.
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  I am one of these. I am, if you will, in kind of an
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  Old Testament sense. I'm a prophet.
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  I'm one that declares this is what God is saying.
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  And not only that, but I am one that's from the New Testament
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  would be an elder, a presbyter would be the older word for it.
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  And so I have a mission from God to help equip God's people for
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  the work that I need to be faithful to say this is what I
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  see in you. This is how I can see God's
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  Spirit at work in you. And I'm so encouraged and I want
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  you to continue in this because other people need to hear my
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  voice. Other people need to hear your
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  voice, that you can be for someone else what you wish
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  someone would do for you. And as you do that, that will
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  also help motivate other people to be able to reciprocate the
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  action that they see as you encourage them in their faith
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  and what you see the Holy Spirit doing in them, that they will be
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  able to see what God is doing in you.
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  And if all of us as believers, we're doing that and we were
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  encouraging one another. And if you will, if we're
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  prophesying over one another, to say this is what God says and
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  this is what I see in you. And so I see where God's Word
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  and you are lining up here, and I'm so excited that you're
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  following the Lord in these ways.
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  I just think that is such a rich thought that we are not meant to
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  go through this battle alone. Pastors aren't meant to go
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  through it alone. Everyday believers are not meant
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  to go through this alone. So encourage others.
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  So here Paul says, I'm giving you this instruction in keeping
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  with the prophecies previously made about you so that by
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  recalling them you may fight the good fight.
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  When you know that you're not alone and you have teammates,
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  You are able to fight the good fight.
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  When you know that God lives in you and is wanting to work
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  through you. You can fight the good fight
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  when there are enemies, but you know that you also have friends.
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  You have these coworkers in the faith that can motivate you to
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  fight the good fight. There are fights that are not
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  worth fighting as Christians. There's the as at the beginning
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  of the chapter, the fruitless discussions and the empty or
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  side, the endless genealogies and the empty teaching.
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  That's not good fights to have, if you will.
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  Inter Christian fights and spats of ill will are not good things
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  to have. You can have a conviction on
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  perhaps whether to celebrate Easter or Christmas or Halloween
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  or any other of the of the Christian holidays.
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  You can have conviction on Calvinism or Arminianism or
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  Provision ISM or you know, any one of 1000 other things.
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  You can have convictions on a whole ton of things, but those
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  aren't fights to have. Those are discussions to have,
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  but those are not fights worth having.
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  There is one good fight, which is Jesus Christ and his gospel.
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  And we can hold to our convictions, we can hold to our
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  beliefs, but the fights, the things against an enemy, those
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  we need to reserve for fighting against Satan and the gates of
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  hell. Because I promise you, if we get
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  distracted and we start fighting against other believers who also
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  holds a faith in Christ alone through grace alone, faith alone
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  by by the grace of God alone. If we waste our time fighting
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  against other believers, we're going to have no energy for the
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  fights that really matter. And there is a good fight and
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  the fight is against false doctrine.
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  The fight is not against fellow believers.
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  Verse 19, he says having faith and a good conscience, belief in
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  God and what God can accomplish and a good conscience, which is
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  that I am what I'm doing. I know within my soul that I am
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  following the Lord's direction. That my conscience isn't saying,
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  hey Brian, you shouldn't have done that.
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  You shouldn't have said that, you shouldn't have gone there.
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  That instead what I'm doing I'm able to do with a clear
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  conscience that I don't have to try and cover over it.
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  I don't have to try and excuse it.
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  But that part of me that goes that wasn't great, that I am
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  operating in the Holy Spirit, that I am not feeling that, that
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  I'm not feeling. You didn't do that right?
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  Not because I'm ignoring it, because I am operating in
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  accordance with a clean conscience, a good conscience.
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  But Paul says some have rejected faith and a good conscience and
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  they have shipwrecked their faith.
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  When you no longer believe that God is able to work, He's not
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  able to save anymore. He's not able to accomplish His
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  will in or through you. That you just say, OK, I'm going
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  to throw out my hands and I guess I will lose this battle
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  with sin. I'll just be an angry person.
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  I'll be a bitter person. I'll be a lustful person.
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  I will be a gossip. And that's just who I am.
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  I'm going to be undisciplined. I'm going to lack any
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  self-control. I'm going to be cruel or unkind
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  to others. And man, that's just who I am.
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  No, my friend, don't lose faith or a good conscience, says the
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  ones that give up faith. The ones that give up belief in
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  Jesus. That is a shipwrecked faith that
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  it's, if you will, it's dead in the water.
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  Paul knew what it was to be shipwrecked.
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  And so as he thinks about the devastation that occurred, I'm
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  certain that that is at least somewhat of what was in his mind
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  as he describes this to Timothy. And he says when you abandon
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  faith in God and in Jesus, it's a shipwreck.
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  It's devastation. And he says, when we give up on
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  a good conscience, when we give up on doing and saying what is
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  right and being able to hear that wasn't what you were
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  supposed to do, when we silence that voice, when we silence
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  conscience, when we can never be told that we are wrong, we make
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  shipwreck of our faith. He says, among these, these ones
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  that have rejected faith and a good conscience, he says, our
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  Hymenaeus and Alexander, he says, whom I have delivered to
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  Satan so that they may be taught not to blasphemy.
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  Now you as I might be like, what in the world?
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  What does it mean to be delivered to Satan?
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  That is, these two individuals having rejected faith, having
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  rejected a good conscience, and following Jesus as their Lord,
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  Paul says I've delivered them to Satan, that is, to the realm of
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  Satan. That instead of being Kingdom
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  citizens, they were excommunicated, that they were
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  barred from communion, barred from the Lord's Table.
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  That the church was not to treat them like they were believers in
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  Jesus. The church was to treat these
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  individuals. The Ephesian church was to treat
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  these individuals like they were unbelievers.
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  Church discipline is a topic that unfortunately has been very
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  misused in some circles before. But it has a valuable it has a
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  incredibly valuable reality that we read about in 1st and 2nd
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  Corinthians here in First Timothy and Matthew 18, and a
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  number of other places. We are only to consider church
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  members to be those that are actively following Jesus, if you
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  will, with a good conscience and in faith in Jesus, and those
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  that do not have faith in Jesus alone.
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  We are to view those not as church members.
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  It does not matter if they were baptized.
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  It doesn't matter if they put their name on a member role.
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  If they repudiate Christ as Savior, they are not to be
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  considered church members. And if they are living lives in
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  open rebellion that they, if you will, they're not living with a
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  good conscience. They are rejecting Jesus's
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  Kingdom ethics. We are to consider them to not
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  be citizens of the Kingdom of heaven.
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  So that's what church membership is, is from Matthew 16 and 18,
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  what Jesus describes as the keys to the Kingdom where he says
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  whatever you bind on earth will be down in heaven and whatever
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  you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
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  That who has the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
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  It is the local congregation of believers that together we say,
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  yes, we baptize this person because they have faith in Jesus
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  and we can see that they are operating in conscience
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  according to these Kingdom ethics that they're what they
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  say with their mouths and what they live with their lives.
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  It is consistent with those who profess to be Christians here.
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  Paul says Hymenaeus and Alexander, they've given up the
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  faith and the a good conscience. The what they're saying with
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  their mouth about Jesus and how they are living their lives has
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  nothing to do with Jesus or with the Kingdom of heaven.
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  And so he says, I have delivered them to Satan.
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  This is not saying that he killed them.
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  It's not even saying necessarily that they were barred from
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  coming to the gathering of the church, but he does say they are
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  considered not part of the Kingdom.
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  They are, I'll say, dismembered jokingly.
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  They are excommunicated. They are barred from partaking
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  of the Lord's Table, which is the privilege of those that are
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  members of the local church, as we would read throughout First
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  Corinthians. So why was this?
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  Why would someone be excommunicated?
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  And Paul says here he'll give other reasons and other places
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  as well. But he says one of the reasons
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  is so that they may learn not to blasphemy, that right now they
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  are treating Jesus in a way that is blasphemous.
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  And it's not that blasphemers cannot become believers.
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  We read that Paul before he came to know Jesus was a blasphemer,
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  But he says these people are living and talking and believing
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  like I did before I came to Jesus.
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  And so he says, so for these for these people, for these people
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  that used to be in the church at Ephesus, he says I have made it
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  so that they are not considered members of the church anymore.
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  And the goal of church discipline is multiple, many
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  fold if you will. But it is for.
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  A couple really important reasons #1 so that the onlooking
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  world knows that the church genuinely believes what we say
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  about believing and acting in accordance with our belief that
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  Jesus is Lord and King of our lives.
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  That they say, Oh yeah, if someone doesn't believe that or
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  doesn't act like that, then they're not going to be a member
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  of a Church, of a Bible believing church.
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  It is also so that the person that is excommunicated, that
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  they are no longer a member of the church, that they go, man,
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  I, I wish that I was on the inside.
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  Right now I'm on the outside. I can't partake of the Lord's
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  Supper because I've been excommunioned.
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  And I wish that I had the relationship with God or the
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  relationship with these people that I see them having and that
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  I once enjoyed. I want to get back.
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  I, I repent of my sin. I repent of my false doctrines
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  and false beliefs because I want to be back with God's people.
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  And so here Paul says this is what we learn when people are
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  excommunicated is that they learn I can either be team Jesus
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  or team devil. And if I don't want to be team
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  devil, then I repent and I believe in Jesus.
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  And when we do that, what a joy. Much more could be said, but
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  that's all that we have time for today.
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  I encourage you to look up the book Church Membership or the
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  book Church Discipline by Jonathan Lehman.
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  That's LEMAN at 9 marks, and they have excellent resources on
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  all of the many benefits that we find as we utilize the keys of
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  the Kingdom that Jesus talks about in Matthew 16 and 18.
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  What that should look like and the many blessings that it
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  brings to the church, to the person that is disciplined and
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  to the onlooking world and ultimately for the glory of God
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  himself. But here Paul says to Timothy,
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  you have right beliefs and right behavior.
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  The Lord has given you so many people in your life to be able
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  to speak truth into you. And so know that God has this
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  mission for you, and other people have seen it too.
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  So you can accomplish it. Hold faith and hold a good
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  conscience, because without those, you're going to make a
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  shipwreck of your life just like these other two people.
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  So this is such a sobering portion of First Timothy.
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  Tomorrow's episode will frankly be a little bit more fun in
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  First Timothy chapter 2. But I want, I want you to sit
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  with these thoughts even today. Be an encouragement to other
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  people. Live in the reality that God has
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  given to you and recognize that being a Christian, being a
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  member of the being a citizen of the Kingdom of heaven means that
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  we believe in Jesus and Jesus alone and that we act like we
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  believe in Jesus alone. Thanks for tuning in today and
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  see you next episode.