Some Passionate Final Words

Amen. Well, let me have you guys turn in your Bibles this morning to 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6 for our time of study in God's word. this morning, we have been doing just a verse by verse study through the book of First Timothy over the last 2 years.

And, this morning, as we continue in that study, we come to 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 20. And my goal today, Lord willing, is to cover verses 20 and 21. Which brings us to the end of the book of First Timothy in terms of our verse by verse study through, this book. As we have been approaching the end of this book, I've been asked by a number of people, what book are we going to study.

next, and, I've maybe spoken a few ideas that we are kicking around, but I just want to officially announce to all of you that we are still undecided on what we will be doing after First Timothy. I'm going to be gone out of town over the next, few weeks and plan on spending that time really pondering the direction that the Lord would have us to go. So be in prayer, about that. Know that I'm open to bribes as well.

So, if you feel any leading in that direction, I'm open to that. but whatever, whatever we decide, it's God's word and we're in safe territory going through God's word and allowing him to speak to us. but, as we come to the end of our study through 1 Timothy, we come to the last two verses of Of this letter and this has been a wonderful book. There have been surprises along the way.

It's been a very rich study and it is with some reluctance that, that I will be letting this book go. But as we come to verse 20 and 21, there is much that God has for us in these verses. If you want to give a title to the message this morning, it would be some passionate final words. Some passionate final words.

One of the things that's observable, in fact, let me just read the text to you, beginning in verse 20. 0, Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith, grace be with you. One of the things that becomes obvious as you look at this passage, and I don't know that every English translation brings this out, is that there's an emotional intensifying that happens as Paul comes into verse 20.

Literally, look at verse 20.

If you have the new American Standard, Paul says, oh, Timothy, Oh, Timothy, right there, there's emotion in the heart of the apostle Paul. That English word oh is a transliteration of the Greek word oh, that means oh, and That is designed to express emotion. Literally, you could put an exclamation point after Timothy. Paul is saying, Oh, Timothy, and some people would actually place the exclamation point after the first command Guard what has been entrusted to you.

My personal opinion is the exclamation point could very reasonably go at the end of verse. 21. These two verses are an emotional exclamation on the part of the apostle Paul. Paul has been passionate in everything that he has said up to this point.

But coming into verse 20, he like breathes a sigh, and then just, he knows this is it. This is his last little bit that he's going to be writing to Timothy. And he just says, Oh, Timothy, And then we have what he says next. John MacArthur says the word oh reflects Paul's emotional appeal to his beloved son in the faith.

Another writer says oh is an emotional interjection. And it's used here to add solemnity and urgency. So Paul, if we were listening to Paul speak first Timothy to Tim, Timothy, he would have a certain tone, but then coming into verse 20 and 21, there would be an intensification of that tone that we would be able to observe. That piques my interest about these two verses.

I, I don't know about you guys, but whenever, like, if I walk by a group of people or two people, and they're just having a conversation in normal tones, That doesn't really catch my attention. But if, if I walk by someone, and they're having a real intense, passionate, emotional conversation, whether it's anger, grief, or whatever, I'm like, I'm hooked. it's like, what, what's going on there? I'm interested.

Somewhat recently I was at the bank standing in line waiting for my turn at the teller, and there was a customer way ahead of me that was extremely unhappy with his teller and whatever was going wrong with the transaction and talking to the teller through this bulletproof glass, and so he was talking really loud. There was a lot of emotion. He was upset. He was angry.

Everyone in the room. I could hear what he was saying, and I'm standing in this line bored, and I was riveted, just like, man, I, I was locked in on what this guy was saying because his passion, was what captured my attention. It's funny the things that happened to you as a, a pastor, about a decade ago, I was in, at our home one evening and our, our phone rang and I, I went to answer the phone and I said hello and there was no one on the other end of the line. So I said hello, hello, and no one answered so I thought, well this someone got the wrong number or whatever, but just when the thought occurred to me to hang up the phone, I, I heard some voices in the background.

So like I pressed my ear against the phone and I, I realized that there's this heated exchange taking place between two people and so I was interested, so I, I listened real carefully and the two people having this heated exchange, they got louder and louder, and it seemed like they were getting closer to the phone, so I could hear every word that they were saying. And, and so I, I began to understand what they were fighting about and arguing about. And then I also realized I know these people.

And it was a married couple that was attending our church at the time.

And, And then when I realized that I knew these people, I felt ashamed for listening to them. So I hung up the phone. And then I really wrestled with what do I do with this information? God in your sovereignty, you've given me this information.

What do I do? And I was so tempted the following Sunday to go up to this couple and say, my, my skills of discernment are picking up that You guys have had marital discord this week, haven't you? But I didn't do that. However, about 5 years later, I told this couple what had happened, and they immediately knew of the incident, and they said, yeah, we were, we were having this spat, and one of the spouses said, I'm calling Pastor Milton.

So they walked to the phone and dialed my home number and the other spouse was like, No, no, no, no, no, let's work it out. We can work it out without Pastor Milton. And so they said, OK, and they hung up the phone, but it didn't hang up all the way. So hence I got to hear their argument.

But it was the, the thing, I would have hung up that phone were it not for the fact that there was passion in the exchange that I heard at the very beginning when I detected those voices. And I want us to bring something of that sensibility into this with this intensification of Paul's passion and emotion, just right out the gate in verse 20 ought to really capture Our attention. What is it that Paul is so passionate about that he is about to say? Another reason why I'm really intrigued by these two verses and want to pay attention to them is because we actually have textual evidence that Paul knows we're listening in on this conversation with Timothy.

We know this. In fact, look at this, look at verse, 21. Paul says, which some have professed and thus gone, well, let me start in verse 20. 0, Timothy, so he's talking to Timothy.

Timothy, you guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. It seems like he's talking only to Timothy, right? But then look what he says, grace be with you. And that word you in the oldest manuscripts of the Greek New Testament is in the plural.

He's not saying grace be to you, Timothy. He's literally saying grace be to you, plural. Giving us indication that when Paul wrote this letter to First Timothy, he knew that this letter would eventually be read to all of the Ephesian congregation. In fact, he intended that, no doubt, to be what would happen.

And in addition to that, Paul anticipated that many, many eyes would be reading. This letter to First Timothy in the days and years to come. So Paul's aware that we're listening in, and we're reading his mail to Timothy, and he delivers this benediction and this blessing, not just to Timothy, but to all of us. And so he knows we're listening.

And that makes me all the more intrigued because what Paul is saying here to Timothy, Paul intends to apply to us as well. The way we're going to break this passage down is 3 final wishes that Paul expresses to Timothy in these two verses. He's expressed many wishes and desires and instructions throughout 1 Timothy. But in these final verses, we find 3 final wishes passionately expressed by the apostle Paul to Timothy.

These are wishes in the heart of the apostle Paul for Timothy and for all of God's people, which would include us. All right. Wish number 1. that Paul passionately desires for all of God's people is that we would guard the apostolic deposit, that we would guard the apostolic deposit.

Now, I know that doesn't excite you guys. I'm sure no one got up this morning pondering the apostolic deposit. but that's actually the language that Paul uses here. So let's go with that.

Look what he says, Oh, Timothy, verse 20 0, Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, or literally, guard the deposit. That's the command that Paul is giving expression to here. Timothy, I am laying upon you as I close this letter, the responsibility to be guarding the deposits. That raises the question, what is the deposit that Paul is talking about here that Timothy is supposed to guard?

Well, there's various ways of looking at this. At the very least, many, many brothers who've written on this passage would suggest that at the very least, the deposit that Paul is talking about that Timothy needs to guard is the gospel deposit. Listen to what a couple of writers say. The deposit is the pure faith of the gospel, the essential apostolic teaching.

Another writer says, Here it is clearly the gospel that is meant. There is no doubt that the reference is to the gospel in this broad sense. Paul is saying, Timothy, I have, I've deposited the gospel of Jesus Christ into you. And I am commanding you to guard this deposit of the gospel into your life.

Beyond that, I think we could draw the circle even wider and that Paul is talking about all of the teaching he had given to Timothy. It's the gospel deposit along with everything that emerges from the gospel in terms of instruction, perspective, promises, and guidance. and how to live even more broadly for our purposes today, it's the apostolic deposit. It's essentially the contents of our New Testament that have been given to us and deposited in us by the teaching of the apostles.

Other writers suggest, and I think there's validity to this, that when Paul says guard the deposit, a part of what he's thinking about is First Timothy. It's the contents of First Timothy. And Paul is essentially saying, I am writing this letter, I've talked to you about many things. I've made a deposit into you, Timothy.

And now I'm laying upon you the responsibility to go forth, having received this deposit, and to guard this deposit of the contents of what I've just given to you in this letter. Throughout First Timothy, we've learned many things. Paul has, has deposited into us teaching about the subject of prayer and the priority of prayer. He's taught.

us about how men ought to behave in the church. He's taught us about women, the role of women in the household of God, and even about how women are to dress themselves. He talks about that in 1 Timothy chapter 2. He teaches Timothy and all of us about elders and what their qualifications are, deacons, what their qualifications are.

He's taught Timothy and handful of places how to conduct his life and his ministry so as to ensure salvation for himself and anyone who hears Timothy. He's taught Timothy how to apply the gospel to the care, the financial and material care of widows and also elders, and he's given Timothy instruction on how to instruct slaves with regard to their masters and how to handle. Money and the traps that go along with the love of money, and he's also given Timothy, we've seen this in recent weeks, instruction to give to those who are rich and have plenty.

There's a lot that Paul has taught Timothy about that he has deposited into Timothy, and now he says to Timothy, you need to guard this deposit.

In other words, Timothy, it's not enough that you've simply read this letter. It's not enough simply that you've heard this. It's not enough even that you may understand this letter. You now have the responsibility to guard.

This letter, to guard the contents. So let's go ahead and embrace all of that. The deposit is at its core, the gospel, and all of the teaching of the apostles, and even more specifically, it is the contents of First Timothy, which does include the gospel. And gospel ramifications in the lives of God's people.

So Paul says guard the deposit. So we know what the deposit is. But what does it mean for Timothy to guard the deposit? Let's look at this word for a minute.

To guard this particular word that Paul uses can have the idea of guarding something so as to protect it from corruption. It can mean to guard someone so as to prevent that person being guarded from escaping. You guys know the story in Acts chapter 12, where Herod has Peter arrested, and then he assigns essentially 4 squads, 16 soldiers to guard Peter. In other words, to keep their eyeballs on him and to keep Peter from escaping.

Their grasp. On an earlier occasion when the apostles were arrested, they escaped miraculously, and Herod's like, this is not going to happen to me. And so he gets Peter arrested and then there's 16 guards that are guarding him. By the way, does he escape?

Yeah, read Acts 12, it's a great story. he escapes. But nonetheless, these guards were assigned to guard him so as to prevent his escape. This word also has the idea in some passages to mean to keep before one's eyes, to not let out of one's sight.

It can mean to observe, to follow, to keep something like a law from being violated by oneself and by other people. What's interesting is, let me just read to you three other passages where this A particular word is used that's translated guard in verse 20. Look at this. First Timothy 5:21, Paul's been giving some guidelines and instructions, and he then says to Timothy, maintain these principles without bias.

In other words, implement and follow these principles without bias, and that word translated maintained is the same word that is translated guard in verse 20. Galatians 6:13, Paul speaks of one who, those who keep the law, that word keep is the same word translated guard. Romans 2:26, he speaks of those who keep the requirements of the law, and again, that's the same. word.

So, this is a big word and in telling Timothy to guard the deposit, what, what, what he's saying is, Timothy, I want you to keep your eyes on this deposit. I don't want you to allow it to get away from you. I want you to protect this deposit from any corruption. From any addition, from any subtraction that anyone might want to, to do with this deposit.

But he's also saying, Timothy, and guarding the deposit, I want you to keep your eyeballs on this deposit. I want you to observe this deposit and all that's in it as carefully as an Old Testament Jew observes the law. As meticulously as an Old Testament Jew would study and observe the law of God. That's how I want you to observe.

This deposit. I want you to be gospel observant, he's saying. I want you to be carefully observant of the contents of this letter. I want you to be carefully obedient and observant of all of the teaching of the apostles.

He would say to us that we find in our New Testaments. Now, think about it. Why should Timothy and why should all of us guard the deposit? Is it so that we can keep it locked away and no one can mess with it?

No, actually, in a context like this and another context, it, it has this idea of as, As, as one takes this deposit and transfers it and gives it to other people and deposits it into other people, that he is careful to guard that deposit so that it remains unaltered in the transfer. Does that make sense? So don't let it undergo any alteration. You be faithful with this gospel deposit that I've given to you.

Don't tamper with it. Don't allow anyone to tamper with it. And as it passes through you and you make that gospel deposit into other people, you guard that deposit so it does not undergo any corruption. Any diminishing, any alteration?

In any way, shape, or form. This is partly a call to faithfulness and passing on to other people what the gospel exactly is. And not corrupting it in any way. I was so blessed this past week.

Paul Kumamoto, our church's youth pastor, they're right now at a retreat. There's 29 of our young people that are, up at a retreat and, various men including Kumi from our church were, have, have been speaking to them, and Kumi called me this week because he was just, he was working over the gospel and he wanted so badly to get it right. And so he had questions about, specifically what does the Bible teach regarding these aspects of the gospel, because whatever it is that the Bible teaches, that's what Kumi wanted to communicate without compromise.

And sure enough, on Thursday night of, Of this week with those young people up there listening to Kumi, he, he made that transfer.

He, he took that gospel deposit from God's word and he transferred it to the young people listening faithfully and without corruption. Kumi called me this morning and, and said, I just, I want you to know and I want you to tell the church, this morning that Thursday night, 3 of our young people accepted Christ as their Savior. And so here we have this, this man seeking to be faithful with the gospel. And he makes that transfer all the while seeking to guard that deposit.

And the reason why we want to guard it and not alter it is because that's where the power of God is. If we allow it to be altered, it ceases to be the gospel anymore and it loses its power. And so as we go forth, just like Timothy was being called to do in, in sharing the gospel with other people, we need to be careful that we guard that deposit, that we guard it and not allow it to undergo any change. As we pass it on to other people.

And even in our own lives and ministries, we are to just be gospel observant at all times. As we finish our study through the book of First Timothy, I think Paul is speaking to us as much as he is Timothy, saying it's not enough that you've spent 2 years going through this book. It's not enough that you even have an understanding of this book greater than what you had 2 years ago. You now have a responsibility to take this deposit that I have given to you and guard it.

Be observant of it, obey what's in here, believe what is preached in here, and faithfully teach it and pass it on to other people. There's a second wish that Paul expresses passionately in verse 20, and that is that we would avoid any and all substitutes for this apostolic deposit. That we would avoid any and all substitutes for this apostolic deposit. Look what he says in verse 20.

He says, oh, Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, guard the deposit. Then look what he says, avoiding worldly and empty chatter, and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge. Notice that verb, avoid. It means to go out of the way of, and probably a really good picture would be if you're walking through the woods on a dirt path and, and there is a snake that is coiled up in the middle of that path.

I don't think there are many of us that would would walk over that snake. And I don't think we would either say, well, I don't want to step on it, so I'll just make sure I don't step on it, and I'll just walk right by it so as to avoid stepping on it. No, most of us in this room would. would chart our course well around that snake on the path, right?

That's the idea of this term here. Paul says you need to be just meticulously observant of the gospel just like an Old Testament Jew would be of the Old Testament law. And not only that, but I want you, Timothy, there's worldly chatter, there's empty chatter, there's, there's Arguments that oppose this gospel deposit. And what I've taught you in this letter and everything else that I've taught you.

and Timothy, I am, I am expressing to you that you have a responsibility, not just to guard the gospel deposit, but then also to chart your path well around avoiding anything that is contrary, or would offer itself as a substitute. For the apostolic body of teaching that I've given. To you. Look at these things that offer themselves as a substitute.

He says worldly and empty chatter. The word that is translated chatter is the Greek word we get our English word phone from. speaks of sounds, voices, and he's saying worldly and empty voices and whatever the message is that those voices are conveying. The word worldly.

has the idea of something that doesn't come from God, something that comes from the world, something that is natural rather than supernatural. Something that is not sacred, meaning divinely improved or divinely approved. Think about the gospel message as God crafted it through the crucifixion of His Son. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and 2, God was, God was planning this hundreds of years in advance.

And he says, as he plans, tells people of the gospel plan that he's going to devise. He says, the, the wisdom of the wise, I'm going to destroy, and the cleverness of the clever, I will set aside. God specifically designed the gospel, the way of salvation through Jesus in such a way. That it rendered all this other wisdom of the wise men of the world completely useless.

No one in their own wisdom and their own genius, and their own ingenuity, no one by searching the depths of their own heart and following their heart, no one through sheer. intellectual prowess would ever have arrived at this way of salvation through the bloody crucifixion of the Son of God, shedding His blood so that people who believe in Him can have all of their sins of a lifetime forgiven. And so Paul is saying anything that does not come from God in the gospel, but it is natural.

It is something to be avoided.

Do not allow this to be a substitute. Timothy, in your ministry to God's people, don't teach God's people merely human wisdom. It will never lead them to a knowledge of the gospel. He says also empty sounds.

There's a lot that our world says today, and they have a way of packaging it to where It sounds substantive. Paul says it's empty, there, there are some of the most meaningless and empty songs that are out there now, but man, the music is so powerful. But, but when you, when you look at the lyrics, it's empty. It says nothing.

In fact, my kids aren't real thrilled about this, but if they ever want to download a song. On their iPod, they have to bring that to me and I have to do an oral reading of the lyrics apart from any music. And And I don't know, there's just something about with all the musical trappings aside, you see the nakedness of a lot of the songs that are out there, and you just see how empty and vacuous a lot of it is, not all of it is, but much of it out there is. But with all the trappings that are around it, it can sound substantive.

Paul says, Timothy, in your personal life and in your ministry, listen, you've got the deposit. It's completely sufficient. And whatever the world tries to offer, contrary to that or as a substitute for that, listen, just chart your course around that. And then look what he says next.

He says in the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge. the Greek word translated opposing arguments is antithesis, from which we get what antithesis. Our English word antithesis is literally a transliteration of this word, and an antithesis in this sense of the term as it's used here is either principles and teaching that contradict the gospel or teaching and principles. That are designed to replace the gospel.

Sometimes influences come at us and it's an outright assault on the gospel, a frontal attack on the gospel, and then other times there's no attack. Nothing's even said about the gospel, but it is clearly offering itself as a substitute for the gospel, and he says worldly chatter, empty chatter. The opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge. He's saying, Timothy, there's a lot out there that people deem to be knowledge.

They call it knowledge. It looks like knowledge. Many people believe that it is knowledge, but it is pseudo knowledge. It is false knowledge, and it's not worth the gaining of it.

What are some examples of this just to maybe help us wrap our minds around what this false knowledge might look like today? Well, Like I said a minute ago, there are people that, are scholars. They have degrees by their name. They, they, they teach in universities and graduate schools, and some of these individuals will outright deny some of the historical events of the gospel.

They'll outright deny that the bodily resurrection. of Jesus even took place, they will scoff at the gospel accounts. And then there are others who are a little bit more subtle, and they'll say, no, no, no, I believe in the resurrection of Jesus. But they don't believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus that's taught in the Gospels.

They say, well, I believe that there was a spiritual resurrection of Christ that occurred in the hearts of his disciples. And it was very meaningful for them, and they just didn't know how to say that, so they just told stories about touching and feeling his body and him sitting down and eating food in front of them. That's just the only way they could know to express the fact that it was a spiritual resurrection inside of their hearts, and they belittle and patronize the gospel writers in spiritualizing the gospel accounts in this way.

There are some who would seek to add to the gospel.

And there are some who would say, what, the gospel is great as far as it goes, but if you could just add this one provision regarding requiring circumcision, if you could just do that, then you would have the complete package. But what does Paul do in the book of Galatians? He says, if you take the gospel, and you add one thing to it, You don't have the gospel anymore. You have another gospel, you have a gospel that actually damns rather than saves.

There's some also who would take away from the gospel, and their inflated knowledge instead of just following what the Bible itself says by way of presenting the gospel, they, they just pick and choose and preach their own version of the gospel. I've read gospel tracts. that have been given to me that completely leave out the cross. They completely leave out Christ shedding His blood for the forgiveness of sins, and all it did was it talked about Christ as an example and presented the way of salvation as being just simply follow his example and you will be saved.

They've taken away something very vital right out of the core of the gospel. What is more common is people and their inflated. Sense of knowledge who deemphasize the gospel and replace it. And there are ministries, there are churches where, week after week nothing is said about the gospel, and instead other things are talked about and whatever else is being talked about, they're obviously more enamored with that than they are with the gospel, and I don't want to pick on anyone else, outside of us.

This is a danger that we need to always be aware of because we are fully capable of, of this. There are also ways that false knowledge manifests itself, in, look at this on the screen, individuals changing the terminology of men's problem and hence changing the solution. One of the most grandest strokes of evil genius on the part of the devil has been to get people to stop using biblical vocabulary when describing their problem. To a man's problem is no longer a sin problem, and they don't use biblical terms to describe the, the acts of sin such as lying and stealing and adultery and transgression and iniquity and rebellion against God.

Instead, other terms are used and now someone has an oppositional defiant disorder. instead of a rebellion problem, and, and that is a problem if you've got oppositional defiance disorder, then, then you need a particular form of treatment. And the thing is, when people buy into just replacing biblical terminology that defines their problem, and they buy into these other terminologies, what happens? They start reading their Bible going, this doesn't meet my needs.

This doesn't meet my needs. I guess this is fine. I don't disagree with anything, but this is just not hitting me where I'm at. My problem is codependency, and there's nothing in here to help me with my codependency problem.

And I'm just challenging you guys to, to be careful about the terminology that you use, that you, that you embrace the Bible's description of what your problem is. Use biblical terminology, because as long as you're doing that, you read the Bible, and it's extremely relevant. Because it not only defines your problem, but it also defines your solution to that problem. Another way that false knowledge manifests itself in either replacing or denying the gospel is people redefining biblical terms.

there, there are pastors that I've heard, I've heard them live. I have read their books where they will talk about sin and hell. But what they mean by sin is the loss of self-esteem. They'll even give you that definition.

Here's what when I say sin. It is the law, it's anything that I do that robs me of my self-esteem. And here's my definition of hell. It's the eternal loss of self-esteem.

So you might listen to someone like this and, and man, they're using all the same terms that we are, but they don't mean the same thing that the Bible means when it uses those terms. There are others who will just outright disagree with scripture in their arrogance. They will look at that apostolic. Deposit and they will study it and they just frankly disagree with it.

They don't like it. Friedrich Nietzsche, the philosopher, said if you're going to read the New Testament, which is the Apostolic deposit, then you need to wear gloves when reading the New Testament because the New Testament is so full of so much corruption and uncleanness that it is a defiling experience to even read it. This is a man who in his own inflated sense of knowledge, outright disagreed with what's contained in the Bible. Not too long ago, there was a, a meeting that was held of a particular denomination where they were discussing the subject of homosexual behavior and whether it is OK or not, and, And there were people who were speaking at this get-together saying that, well, there's different ways of understanding the Bible and they were going through passages and deconstructing those passages and interpreting them in a way to where, hey, the Bible doesn't really say anything is wrong with homosexual behavior.

However, there was one liberal reverend in this gathering. who, when he spoke, he said, as I read the Bible, it does criticize homosexual behavior. It clearly does say that homosexual behavior is a sin against God. So he affirmed that, but then listen to what he said.

He said, however, there are times when reason and experience overrule scripture. So he's like, I'm not gonna deny it, yeah, this, this says that it's wrong. However, this is one of those times where my reason, my knowledge, and my knowledge by experience overrule what's said in this apostolic body of truth. Even 1 Timothy, part of what Paul's talking about is depositing into the Timothy the contents of the Book of First Timothy and, and earlier in this book in chapter two, Paul says things that are very politically incorrect.

And he says in verse 11 that a woman must, Or verse verse 12, I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man speaking of life in the household of God, in the local church. And then to argue for that principle, Paul goes back to Adam and Eve and talks about the order of their creation. and so forth. And so he transcends culture in his argumentation and goes all the way back to Adam and Eve.

Well, even that line of argumentation, there are scholars who, look at Paul's, the point he makes and the arguments for it and Adam and Eve, and they say, well, we just disagree with that. Listen to this. 11 writer says regarding Paul's handling of this issue in 1 Timothy 2, he says Paul is assuming the traditional rabbinic understanding of Genesis 2:18-23 when he goes back to Adam and Eve and argues from that the way that he does in 1 Timothy 2. And then this commentator says, is this rabbinic understanding of Genesis 2:18 correct?

We do not think that it is. The difficulty is that Paul, who was an inspired apostle, appears to teach such female subordination in certain passages. To resolve this difficulty, one must recognize the human as well as the divine quality of scripture. In other words, this book isn't perfect, and sometimes Paul, inspired though he was, engages in faulty reasoning.

And we must be careful. To not embrace everything that he says. There, there are so many different approaches where people with this, this false knowledge come at the gospel, they come at this body of truth that's been given to us in the pages of our New Testament, and they either attack it outright or seek to replace it. And look what Paul says in chapter 6, verse.

20 he says the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge, avoid this and then look what he says verse 21, which some, speaking of this false knowledge, which some have professed and thus gone astray. From the faith. There are people that have taken their eyes off of guarding the gospel, and they have looked at this false knowledge, they've been enamored with it, and they've begun to embrace it, and then began to profess it and teach it to other people. And those individuals little by little have wandered away.

They've gone astray from the faith, which is the gospel, the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Paul says, Timothy, if you're going to be the man God wants you to be. You need to guard. What's been given to you.

In the word of God, in the scriptures, and not only that, Timothy, but you're going to have to just clear a path way around all of this other stuff that would seek to oppose the gospel and seek to supplant. That gospel. Well, there's a 3rd and final wish that Paul expresses. In This book and we find it at the end of verse 21.

And that is that God's grace would be with us at all times. That God's grace would be with us. At all times. At the very end of verse 21, he says, grace be with you.

Grace be With you. This is actually, in a sense, a prayer. Paul is saying, may God's grace be with you. Paul says, Timothy, when I look at you, I, I pray for you and, and my wish, my heartbeat for you is that God's grace would be with you.

God's grace would be around you. It would be in front of you, to your right and to your left and behind you, that wherever you go, God's grace, the grace of God would be with you in all that you do. And affirming this to Timothy, Paul's saying a number of other things. He's not only saying, I want God's grace to go with you, and I pray for that, but he's also reminding Timothy, hey, you need God's grace to go with you.

Don't try to do anything in your own strength. You need the grace of God. He's also affirming to Timothy that God's grace will in fact go with him. He's not just saying, I want this, and you need this.

He's delivering an affirmation that God's grace will indeed go with Timothy. And I think Paul is also just delivering a reminder to Timothy by his use of grace that God's grace is in fact just that, it's grace, it's ill-deserved favor. None of us in this room, and Timothy included, deserves the love of God. None of us deserves the grace of God.

All of us have sinned. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. We have failed in so many ways in rebelling against God. If you're here today, and, and, and, and you have sinned, and, and, and that those sins are pressing upon your conscience.

I just want you to know you're in very good company here, because we all have sinned against God. And what brings us together is not the fact that we think we're righteous, but what brings us into this room is the sobering and humbling awareness that we are unrighteous, that we have sinned against God, we cannot save ourselves, and we need a savior. And that's why we love the gospel, which means good news, because it is the good news of salvation and forgiveness through Jesus, who died for us.

And this grace, we look around us, every good thing in our lives is an undeserved favor, an undeserved blessing.

From God. Just in closing, one of the things that, You'll note about most all of Paul's epistles is that he begins almost every epistle somewhere in the introduction saying something to the effect of grace to you. At the end of most all of his epistles, he says something to the effect of grace be with you. And I think the sense of that is that when Paul begins the letter, he's saying, hey, God's grace is coming to you in the form of this letter that I'm writing.

And then when he finishes the letter, he says to the readers, May the grace of God that has come to you in this letter go with you. May you take it with you. He's saying more than that, but I think at least he's saying that. And as we conclude our two year study of this book, I think Paul is laying that upon us.

God's grace has come to you in the form of this letter, and now my prayer, Paul says, is that you will take this deposit of grace with you wherever you go. Let me ask you to bow your heads. We're going to give you an opportunity to give to the Lord, And the offering as the Lord leads you to give, no pressure on anyone, just give as God leads you to give. We praise God for your generosity and giving to the Lord's work.

If there's any, comments, prayer requests, praises that you have, just put those on the back of the, The comment cards and we'll, Be lifting those up in our staff meeting on Tuesday. You just put that card in the offering bag as it goes by this morning. Let's pray together. Father, you, you, we, we have such a high calling to be faithful to this.

First Timothy has been such a gift to us. Your word is such a gift to us, but But as we have received your word and deposits of your revelation, we have a responsibility to guard what we have learned to not compromise it, to embrace it, to observe it as carefully. As anyone would, Seek to obey anything. May we be gospel observant at all times, Lord, just living in the good of the gospel, realizing the sufficiency of your word and of your revelation, that your word is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training us in the way of righteousness so that we may be totally equipped for every good work.

And may that be where we abide. And reject the forms of false knowledge that would present themselves to us, that we would not be seduced by them. And that this grace that you have given to us in Jesus and in your word would be something that would go with us wherever we go, because of your love for us and also because we want that. We know we need it and we want to take your grace with us in all we do.

Thank you for all you've given to us and shown us, Lord, and thank you for this opportunity that we have right now to just give, to make a deposit into your work, the work of the gospel here in this community and around the world. Do much with the offerings that we give, Lord, in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said,