1 TIMOTHY 1:1-112007 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Timothy 1:1-11

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2007. Here we are in 1 Timothy. Now,

Timothy, as I shared last week, is an exciting book, especially for me because I relate to Timothy really well. But as I reminded you last week, and I will continue to do as we go through the book of Timothy, that it's not just to pastors and those who are called to be pastors that this book is applicable to, but to you as well, to all of us together as the body of Christ, because you and I have been given the similar call of Timothy. Now,

Not all of you are called to be pastors, but probably some of you are. Some of you are called to be spiritual leaders within the church. But all of us are called to be spiritual leaders and to disciple other people. It's the great commission that we received from God to go into all the world, to go into your world, your workplace, your home, your neighborhood, the people that God has placed in

In your life and to make disciples, to train others, to follow Jesus Christ. All of us are called to make disciples of others. And therefore, we can all learn from Timothy the things that God wants us to do, to to apply, to put into practice as we endeavor to fulfill his call, his commission in our lives, to make disciples of others and minister to others.

He's given us authority. He's given us ability. He's called us and gifted us to minister to those that he has placed in our lives. And it's a call to make disciples of all those around us.

And so you and I, as Timothys, can recognize and understand that these are the things that we need to put into practice. And these are the things that will be helpful to us as we endeavor to fulfill this call that God has given to us.

The Apostle Paul is writing to Timothy who is in Ephesus. Now, Ephesus was a difficult place to minister. Paul had been through Ephesus back in the book of Acts chapter 19. We read about that and he spent about two years in the city of Ephesus ministering there.

And if you remember, though, he was thrown out of the city. There was the great riot that took place and this whole city was crying out, you know, great is Diana of the Ephesians. And he was driven out and there was this big uproar because there was much opposition to the work of God there in Ephesus. This is where Timothy is ministering. It's a few years later now.

I believe it was about nine years later that Timothy is here and Paul is writing this to him.

But there's still those difficulties, those who are opposed to the gospel that Timothy has to deal with. But more specifically, what Paul is sharing with Timothy is there's those within the midst of the believers, within the midst of the brethren that he is going to have to take care of. And so we need to understand that there are those around us. We're called to be disciples, but we need to recognize that.

that there's going to be opposition from the outside, and sometimes there's going to be trouble from within as well.

Paul warned the Ephesians of this when he was saying goodbye to them in Acts chapter 20, a famous portion of Scripture that you're probably familiar with. As Paul says goodbye and the Ephesian elders are weeping and it reminds him, he says, hey, savage wolves are going to come among you. There's going to be people who come from within you to lead astray others.

to cause them to follow after their teachings and their doctrines instead of the true doctrine of Jesus Christ. Doctrine is something that Paul deals with heavily here in the books of Timothy and Titus because doctrine is essential for you and I as believers, as Christians. We need to know doctrine and we need to know what it is that we believe, why we believe it, that we may hold fast to it.

Doctrine is just a word that means teaching. And we use that word, it's used to describe for us the teaching of the Word of God. It's the collective teaching of what the Bible has to say about God and who God is. What the Bible has to say about Jesus Christ and the plan of salvation. Paul begins this letter writing to Timothy reminding him,

Some important things. Let's look at verses 1 and 2. He says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandments of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ our hope, to Timothy, a true son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. In your call to disciple others, you must never forget God's grace, mercy, and peace. Paul says to Timothy, grace, mercy, and peace to you.

We need to be reminded that this is how God relates to us. He doesn't deal with us according to our sins in the way that we deserve. Otherwise, none of us would be here. He deals with us in grace, mercy and peace. And when the enemy condemns us and our hearts condemn us, we need to remember that God is greater than our hearts.

We're not worthy to be ministers of the gospel. We're not worthy to be called into the ministry, but we are because of God's grace, mercy, and peace. I would encourage you to spend some time meditating on those words, grace, mercy, and peace, and allow yourself to receive the fullness of the work that God wants to do in you and the relationship that He has for you. He relates to us in grace, mercy, and peace. Now,

I don't want to get into this too much because then I'll spend all my time here. And so I'm just going to give this to you as somewhat of a homework assignment. If you count me as a spiritual authority or leader in your life, then write this down and pay attention to this. I want to encourage you to meditate on four things this week. Paul, as he's writing and introducing himself and introducing who he's writing to in these first two verses says,

describes four different things about God. And they really stood out to me. And I want to encourage you to meditate upon them. He says in verse 1, he's talking about the commandment of God, but he says, God, our Savior. So that's the first thing. Our Savior. The second thing, also in verse 1, he talks about Jesus Christ, our hope.

So our Savior, our hope. In verse 2, he talks about God, our Father. Our Father is number 3. And then he talks about the end of verse 2 there. Jesus Christ, our Lord.

So we have our Savior, our hope, our Father, and our Lord. And I would challenge you to meditate on those words. Perhaps look them up in the dictionary. What does the word Savior mean? And do I have that relationship with God? What does it mean, Father? And how does that affect my life? How is that demonstrated in my life? I would encourage you to spend some time on each one of these and allow yourself time

To be challenged by the Lord in these different areas. To have all four relationships with God. That we would be able to say, He's my Savior. He's my hope. He's my Father. And He is my Lord. Let's move on to verses 3 and 4. Paul says this,

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus, that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification, which is in faith. Here Paul begins the letter reminding Timothy why he's there.

And this morning, as we look at the rest of our portion of Scripture, I want to point out three things for you and I. As a Timothy, these three things are things that you and I need to take heed to and put into practice. By looking at the words of Paul to Timothy, we can understand what we are called to do.

And the first one we find here in verses 3 and 4, as he reminds Timothy what he is there for, the first thing I want to encourage you to do as a Timothy is enforce godly edification. Enforce godly edification.

Paul says, I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus, stay there. You wanted to come with me. I know it's not the best place to minister. There's some difficult people around you, but stay there. There's a reason for you being there. And that reason is that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine.

Paul is telling Timothy, Timothy, you need to enforce godly edification. That word charge is a word of authority. That's why I use the word enforce for godly edification, because there's an authority that comes for you as a minister of the gospel, as one having been having had a trust committed to them. God has given you authority.

Just like he has given Timothy authority. And he tells Timothy, charge some. Command them. It's not an area that we're to be soft spoken about or kind of tread lightly in this area. But no, you need to be firm in this area, Timothy. You need to make sure that they teach no other doctrine. Use your authority. Exercise it. Make sure it's clear. Make sure they know that they are not to be involved in teaching other doctrine.

This is not an area to be politically correct and be worried about those things. It's not an area to just kind of allow it and just hope it goes away. It's not an area that you can just kind of turn your head and not think about it or deal softly and hope it's received. No, Timothy, you need to charge them. You need to command them strictly and sternly. You need to use the authority that God has given to you. And you and I as Timothys need to do the same.

We need to recognize now God hasn't given us authority over everything and everyone. But there are those that he has placed in our lives. And he's called us to disciple. And he's called us to be spiritual leaders in their lives. He's called us to train them up and teach them the ways of Jesus Christ. And we need to make sure we need to guard them against teaching and receiving other doctrine. You know, it's something that was taking place recently.

Very quickly after Jesus ascended to the Father. In many of the letters that we read here in the New Testament, Paul and the other apostles, the writers of the New Testament, those who were ministers of the church at that time, they were dealing with false doctrine. People who were teaching things contrary to the Word of God. Galatians was written...

For that purpose, the book of Hebrews was written for that purpose. The book of Jude was written for that purpose, the book of Colossians. And we could go on and on. There was much false doctrine around them. If you remember Galatians chapter one, verses six and seven, Paul tells the Galatians, I marvel.

that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another. But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. Paul tells the Galatians, I can't believe it. I marvel that you're turning away from the gospel to another gospel, which is really not a gospel. It's not the truth and it cannot save you, but you're turning away from the truth,

to this lie, to this fable, then as well as today, there's a great danger of false doctrine, of other gospels that are really not the gospel, not the truth, not able to save. You and I as Timothys, we need to receive this encouragement from the Apostle Paul because there's the danger. He'll go on to say in just a couple of verses that some have strayed.

He says that about some specific individuals towards the end of the book, that these have been shipwrecked in their faith. They've abandoned their faith. They've walked away from the faith because of all of this false doctrine, this idle talk, these babblings that have turned them away. Paul's talking about within the church. He's not talking about all of the external things.

And there's always a lot of those. And in our lives, there's a tremendous amount of those. We have so much feeding in from the world around us, all of these false thoughts and and things that are contrary to the word of God. But we need to be on our guard because there is also within the church, within those who call themselves believers and Christians, there's going to be false doctrine, false teaching, things that will lead us astray.

Right now there's a movement going through churches around the world. It's referred to generally as the Emerging Church or Emergent Church.

I'm not going to get into the details, but there's a lot of false doctrine within this movement, but it's happening within churches. Churches are getting caught up within this idea, and it's turning away from biblical principles and teaching and seeking after the experiences of

of some religious people in the past and it's experience related and and the word of God isn't the authority and we can't really learn about God from that. We have to experience these things and test out and try these things and and we can learn. It's a real gathering of all kinds of religions. We can learn from Buddhism and we can learn from the meditation here and the way that they've connected with God and learn from all these people's experiences. And it's false doctrine. There's only one way.

Jesus said it. I am the way, the truth and the life. The word of God must be our authority. Timothy charge charge that they teach no other doctrine for those that God has sent you to that you minister to that you're called to be an example for charge that they teach and receive no other doctrine. He goes on to add on to no other doctrine, fables and endless genealogies.

Fables and endless genealogies. Now, fables also could be translated myths, and it's probably Paul's referring there to those that come from the Greek culture background. Greek mythology is something that is what was very common then and even prevails to this day. Make sure they don't teach anything.

From that, anything mythological, any of these fables, these false things that have been conjured up or genealogies. Now, that wasn't a Greek thing, but that was a Jewish thing. The Jews would would go back and look at all the genealogies and and try to.

Connect the dots and turn all these historical things to mean this. And there was these endless genealogies. There was these fables and myths. And there was this false doctrine that was floating around the church. And Paul says, Timothy, you can't let that go on. You can't allow that to continue. You got to put a stop to it. You need to charge them. Use your authority and make sure they teach none of those things.

Why? Well, he says, these are the things which cause disputes. They cause disputes. That word dispute, literally, it means causes questions or controversy. Now, please understand, there's nothing wrong with having questions. We don't have all the answers. We all have questions. There's things about God that we don't understand. And if we can understand God completely, then he's not the God of the Bible.

Because His ways are not our ways. As high as the heavens are above the earth, His ways are higher than our own. There's nothing wrong with having questions or asking questions. There's nothing wrong with having differing opinions on things. There's lots of issues and areas that you and I can read the same...

Bible and and have some different opinions on different things. But but there are those essentials that that need to be there, that that need to we need to be solid and agree on. There's a lot of areas where it's not a big deal for us to have differing opinions. There's nothing wrong with having good conversation about those things. And Paul's not saying any of that.

But what he's saying is these things cause disputes or questions or controversy to the point that there's division and destruction. There's division among the people. There's destruction of faith. There's a cause for wandering away from the faith as a result of these teachings that are being brought forth.

The problem isn't having questions or having different opinions or having good conversations, but the problem is when those things divide us or get us caught up so much in the argument that we neglect the other things that are necessary in our walk with the Lord. I think a good example for us, and maybe you've experienced it, maybe you haven't, but there is a continual argument that's been going on for a couple thousand years, that

About the free will of God. And the free will of man. And the sovereignty of God. Often it's labeled as. Calvinism versus Arminianism. Is man. Man.

Does he have free will and he can do whatever he wants and he has the opportunity to receive or reject salvation and God doesn't have any influence on it? Or does God have all control and man has no choice? And they take these two extremes and there's some groups that focus completely on that to the neglect of everything else.

And they can't get past that issue. They can't get past that discussion. So nothing else gets dealt with. Nothing else gets taught. Nothing else moves forward. But it's to the point that they fill themselves and everyone around them with disputes so that there's no growth. It's not edifying. It's not for edification. They have the mentality, we have to figure this out right now.

But I can tell you, if we haven't figured it out for 2,000 years, we're not going to figure it out right now. There are some things that the Bible teaches both. We're not going to figure it out. We're not going to understand completely the ways of the Lord. It's like an endless genealogy. It's not going to be answered. And if you get caught up and consumed with those things, understand those things don't edify you.

And so Paul's saying you need to put a stop to those things. Don't let those things prevail. Don't let there be those disputes and those controversies within the church. Those who teach false doctrine and these fables and endless genealogies and these things that will cause destruction within people's lives and cause destruction in their faith because they're not being built up and edified. They're just circling over these arguments and disputes continually.

So Paul tells Timothy, you need to enforce godly edification. Use your authority. Stop those who are teaching other doctrines. Stop those who are causing disputes. All things are lawful, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10. But not all things are edifying. Not all things build up. You and I, as Timothys, we need to consider, first of all, for our own selves. What do we allow in our lives?

Because there's a lot that we can't allow, but not everything is godly edification. We need to allow God to build us up and fill our lives with the things that edify, as well as those around us that God has given us charge of and given us to disciple. We need to make sure that the things that are in our lives edify us.

And if they're receiving, if there's being brought into their lives, the things that do not edify in these controversies and other doctrines and influences from the world, we need to know we can't stop and and be the person's Lord. Well, you can't listen to this and you can't listen to that. But we need to refute that false doctrine with the word of God. And if there's those around us who are teaching other doctrine and teaching those things that are not true,

established in the word of God, we need to put a stop to it using the authority that God has given to us. The first thing for you and I as Timothys, enforce godly edification. The second thing we find is in verses 5, 6, and 7, and it's be motivated by love. Be motivated by love. Verse 5 says this,

Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.

Paul now tells Timothy, OK, you need to give this command, but the commandment, the purpose of the commandment is love. You need to be motivated by love, Timothy. He's not telling Timothy, hey, use your authority. Make sure they know you're the boss and they got to run things by you. They need to know you're in charge. So make sure you tell him he's not saying that. He says, here's the command.

It's not about you promoting your kingdom or being more and more powerful, but the point of the command is love. Timothy, you have to do this because it's the loving thing to do. Sometimes we forget that rebuke and correction are acts of love. Timothy, you have to charge them because it's the loving thing to do for them and for those who would be destroyed by them. Paul says they've strayed. They've turned aside.

Love them enough to charge them not to get caught up in these things. Love them enough to correct them and demonstrate to them by the Word of God where they have veered off, where they have turned. You and I as Timothys, we need to be motivated by love. And we need to charge them not to teach other doctrine. But we need to do it in love because we love them. To remain silent and not deal with it

is not love. We have to take care of the situation. The purpose of the commandment is love. And he gives us three elements of love. These are good tests for your heart and my heart. When we have to approach and deal with these situations, when we have to charge others not to teach other doctrine, we can examine ourselves with these three tests.

These three evidences of love that Paul gives. He says, the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and from sincere faith. A pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. This is how love is demonstrated, Paul is saying. The whole point of this, you need to be motivated by love, and you can tell that, and it will be demonstrated by a pure heart.

A pure heart. This deals with our intentions and motives of not having wickedness within our hearts, not dealing with the situation with wicked intentions or mal motives, not wanting to see them humiliated or destroyed or not wanting to exercise our own authority for our own gratification, not not for our own purposes or whatever other intentions and motives we might have.

not trying to advance ourselves. We need to have a pure heart. That's part of love. When we're working in love, it will be with a pure heart, not having some ulterior motives, things we're trying to accomplish and do on our own, not having wickedness in our hearts.

And so it's a challenge for us because, yes, we need to deal with the situation. We need to charge them. It's the loving thing to do. But then we also need to allow God to change our hearts and purge from us the wickedness within our own hearts that we might, as we approach this situation obediently, as we're ministering to those people the way that God would have us to, that it's from a heart that's been touched by God. And

Sees the situation as God does. That we would deal with it the way that He would have us to deal with it. A pure heart, Paul says, and from a good conscience. A good conscience or a clean conscience. It's a conscience that's really in right relationship with God. That there's nothing that our own consciences are condemning us for or convicting us of. It means not having things in our life that's contrary to the Word of God.

And I think specifically as Paul is dealing with this, he's saying, look, as you're charging them to make sure that they teach no other doctrine, check your own hearts and make sure in your own life that there's not the conviction of what you're doing contrary to the Word of God or what you're sharing and ministering contrary to the Word of God, what you're allowing in your life that's contrary to His Word. Make sure that it's from a good conscience, Timothy, because that's real love. You know it's love when it's...

Well, when it's based on the right motives, the pure heart. And when it's not in conflict with the way that you're living yourself. It's not a hypocritical correction that you're providing. But it's with a good conscience.

Now, Paul says elsewhere, you know, hey, I know of nothing against myself, but that doesn't make me innocent. The idea is not that we have to be perfect and that if, you know, we're not perfect, if there's not perfection in our lives, we can't charge others and correct others. No, it's just that we are there in right relationship with God. We recognize who he is.

And our heart is pure before Him. And our conscience is clean before Him because we've confessed our sin. And He has been faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And so we need to have that right relationship with God which will give us the pure heart and the good conscience. And then finally Paul says, sincere faith. The purpose of the commandment is love. And it's from a pure heart, a good conscience, and from sincere faith.

This word sincere is pretty interesting. The opposite of this word sincere is to pretend or to simulate. Paul's saying, look, it must be with a faith that is not pretending. It needs to be real. It needs to be genuine. As you approach this situation and share with those people what the Word of God says, that they are not to teach and receive those things that are not of His Word.

You need to believe. You need to really believe that the Word of God is His Word and that it's sufficient for us, for life, for godliness. You need to really believe. It needs to be a sincere faith. You can't be faking it. You can't be pretending to be one thing and something else behind the scenes. There needs to be a reality to your faith. I saw this article this last week. It came out and it's

The headline at the top says police sees magic trick from preacher. It's taking place in Uganda. It says the Ugandan police are holding a preacher over a stage magic device. They fear may dupe people into believing they have experienced miracles. The electric touch device, which magicians use to give small shocks to volunteers. Here's essentially what's going on here.

This pastor flies in. He's the head of one of the large Pentecostal churches over there, the article says. And many people come to him and to the ministries there to seek miracles, cures for disease, help with financial problems, and so on and so forth. And as he's coming into the country, coming back into the country, going through customs, they seize...

A magic device. Why? Because they're afraid of him putting on a magic show? No, because he's using it to deceive people. And basically what happens is you have this device on you and when you touch something, the electric current goes from you

To that object or person that you touch. And so you touch someone. It's almost like the old handshake ones. Remember, you give a handshake. But it's a little bit milder than that. So it's not not quite so obvious. But there's a gentle shock.

A gentle electrocution. You feel that little vibration or that little thing. And so as they're ministering and they lay hands on people and you feel, whoa, I felt something. And so the government sees this taking place and he comes back in and so they take the opportunity to seize that and confiscate that from him. See, that's not sincere faith. That's fake faith.

That man, if he's truly using it in that way, he doesn't really believe in the power of the Word of God. He's not concerned about the reality of the Word of God and the importance that it plays in our lives and the power of God to change a life. It's not sincere. Now, it's not from a pure heart and a good conscience either, I'm sure, but it's a fake. It's a front. And we need to guard ourselves against that. Not necessarily that we would go to that elaborate of a scheme, but we need to guard ourselves against that.

But that we really believe. Do you really believe that the word of God is sufficient for you and I as believers? That it has what we need in revealing God to us, in directing us in our lives. Do you believe in the sufficiency of the word of God? Paul warned the Ephesian elders. I made mention of it earlier in Acts chapter 20. And he said, after my departure, savage wolves will come among you, not sparing the flock.

And also from among yourselves, men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore, watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to want everyone night and day with tears. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Paul says, watch out. There's going to be savage wolves that come in from without. And from within, there's going to be men who rise up and speak perverse things and draw away disciples after them. And so I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, the word of God, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance. It's all that we need for life and godliness. It's found through the knowledge of him.

And this is what was happening there. Paul prophesied of it in Acts chapter 20. And it's taking place as Paul is writing to Timothy. There are those who have risen up from within, speaking perverse things, drawing away other disciples after themselves. They were rising up, desiring to be teachers of the law, Paul says. The emphasis being on of the law. They wanted to be teachers and enforcers of the Old Testament Levitical code. And they were rising up,

James says, hey, don't let many of you become teachers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment. They weren't taking that into consideration. They had this ambition, this desire. I want to be a teacher of the law. I want to teach others about the law. I want to hold them to the Old Testament regulations and rules. They're desiring to bring disciples after themselves. It was a perversity that was taking place, Paul says. So Timothy charged them.

Not to teach any other doctrine. Be motivated by love. And you and I as Timothys, we need to consider. He told the Ephesian elders to watch. Look around you. Look at those that you minister to. Look at those that God has called you to be an example for. Watch. Are there issues? Are there areas that you need to deal with? You need to do it in love. With a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith. But you need to do it.

And fulfill the ministry that God has given to you. The third and final area that we see from the Apostle Paul to Timothy this morning is found in verses 8 through 11. The third thing that we see is to know how to use the law. You and I, as a Timothy, need to know how to use the law. Verse 8 says,

Verse 1.

for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. Paul tells Timothy, you need to know how to use the law.

Dealing with the situation, there were those who were raising themselves up, designed to be teachers of the law. But Paul says, they don't know what they're saying and they don't know what they so confidently affirm. Here's what you need to know, Timothy, in verse 8. The law is good if one uses it lawfully. The law is good. The Old Testament, the regulations and rules that God gave to Moses, the Ten Commandments and so on and so forth, the law is good if one uses it lawfully.

It's good, God says, Paul says, but only if you use it lawfully. There's a lawful and an unlawful, a right and a wrong way to use the law. The law is good, but Timothy, you need to know how to use it. Do you know how to use the law? Do you know how to apply the principles of the Old Testament, the Old Covenant? Paul says it was made for a specific purpose and it's only lawfully used.

used in that specific purpose for that way that God created it. How is it to be used? Well, first of all, Paul says, know this. It's not to be used. It was not made for a righteous person. He says that in verse nine, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person. The law is not for the righteous. It kind of stands to reason, right? You don't make laws for people who keep them.

But you make laws for those that break them. Laws are for the lawless. Rules are for the unruly. There's a situation right now in Huntington Beach that caught my attention this week as well. This article came out on Friday. Huntington Beach Council considers nudity ban. Now, it was my impression that this was already in force. But I'll just summarize it for you. They're going to be meeting on Monday, the city council.

to discuss whether or not they need to ban nudity in public or in areas that are visible to the public. And the issue started because there was this man who was a naturalist who moved into this neighborhood. And this woman was saying, my son was quite surprised one day when he went out to get a Jamba Juice and there was this man standing out in the yard completely naked.

But the police can't do anything about it, they said, because it's only illegal if there's any type of sexual connotation. So if there's nothing of that sort going on, then there's no law being broken in the city of Huntington Beach.

And so they're trying to do it, but there's this debate that's going on. And some are for and some are against. And it just is crazy to me because I thought it was already illegal that, you know, you shouldn't be doing that. It's kind of, but they say, no, it's against the constitutional right to ban that and prohibit that. Now, they're not having this discussion for all the people that are wearing clothes in Huntington Beach.

But it's because of the ones that don't. That's the issue. See, the law is for the lawless. Rules are for the unruly. The law isn't for the righteous. It's for the unrighteous. So if it's not for the righteous, who is the law for? Paul goes on to list lots of different issues, lots of different sinful activities for those who are involved in those. I just want to highlight two of them for you. For the most part, I think they're pretty self-explanatory. But

These two, both of them found in verse nine. The first one is, he says, for the ungodly and for sinners. Who's the law for the laws for the ungodly and for sinners? That word ungodly literally means one who actively practices the opposite of what the fear of God demands. It's someone who actively practices. It's a willful decision to

To do what is opposite of what the fear of God demands or basically a willful desire, a willful disobedience to God. That word sinners, it implies those who are in habitual sin. It's a continuous, repeated lifestyle. And so Paul says, first of all, the law is not for the righteous, but instead it's for those who continually live in an area contrary to the word of God or in a way that's

Contrary to what the Bible speaks of, what God says, it's those who are living in habitual sin. This may be those who have made a profession of faith or maybe not, but it's those regardless of if they've made that profession of faith. It's for those who continue to press on, to press forward, to continue to live in sin. That's who the law is for, Paul says.

Now, the idea here, the understanding is that those who are raising themselves up as teachers of the law, they weren't using it in that way. In Jesus Christ, we have a righteous standing with God because of our faith in him. The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We've been redeemed. We've been bought. We've been purchased. We've been washed. We've been justified by faith in him.

That's the next verse goes on to say being justified freely. We've been put in right standing with God. And so for the person who's walking in relationship with God, the law is not for that person because the law is not for the righteous. But it's for the person who continues to practice sin. It's for the person who is living in habitual sin.

The second person that I'd like to highlight that Paul points out here is the profane. Also there in verse 9. Profane basically means that they lack all relationship to God. That's who the law is for, Paul is saying. It's for those who continue to live in sin and for those who do not have relationship with God. The law is not for those who do have relationship with God. Now the book of Galatians deals with that extensively.

That's an issue or something that you need to spend some time in. Read through the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter 3 kind of sums it up in verses 22 and following. It says,

But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified, that is, made in right standing with God, by faith. And after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. You and I as Timothys, we need to know how to use the law. It's good if it's used lawfully.

And that means, number one, it's not to be used on a righteous person because after faith has come, we are no longer under the law. We're no longer under the tutor. Now, I'm not going to get into what does that mean? Well, hey, all things are lawful, Paul says, not all things edify. You can deal with God in your own heart regarding what that means and how that applies to your life. But you need to know the lawful use of the law is not for the righteous, not for those who are walking in relationship to God.

It's for those who practice sin. Now, of course, if it's not for those who are walking in relationship with God, not for the righteous, but it's for those who practice sin or those who live in sin, then you can't say that you're both. You can't say, well, I'm righteous. I have relationship with God and I live in sin. No, they're mutually exclusive. You can't be one and the other. You're one or the other. The law is not for the righteous, but it's for those who live in sin and it's for those who have no relationship to God. You need to know how to use the law.

Because there's going to be some people in your life that are living in sin. And there it is appropriate, it is lawful to jump on them and beat them over the head with the Bible and tell them that they're going to hell. No. To use the law. To share with them the truth of God's Word. Again, motivated by love, but it's the truth in love. This is what God's Word says. For those who have no relationship to God, it's lawful to use the law. To share the truth of what God says about sin.

about those things that separate us from Him, about what is necessary for us to be justified and to have right standing before God. You need to know how to use the law for your own self and for those that you minister to. You and I are Timothys. We're called to minister. You've been commissioned by God to make disciples. That's why He has you here to be an example. The city that's set upon a hill that cannot be hidden.

That's why you're at that job. And that's why you're part of the family that you're part of. And that's why you live in the neighborhood that you live in. It's why you are where you are. To be an example, you've been commissioned by God to make disciples. And so Timothy, enforce godly edification. Be motivated by love and know how to use the law. And I'll close with the encouragement I gave you at the beginning. Your homework assignment.

Take some time this week. Our Savior, our hope, our Father, our Lord. See, the law is not for the righteous. It's not for those who have right relationship with God. We're not called to legalism. But what we need to, before we just jump to conclusion, I have right relationship with God. Meditate on these four things. God, are you my Savior? What does that mean? How is that demonstrated in my life? Are you my hope? What does that mean?

Does my life reflect that you are my hope? Are you my father? Do I have that relationship with you, God, as a father and child? And are you my Lord? Are you my master? Am I obedient to you? Allow God to minister to your heart. Meditate on those four things. Have right relationship with God that you may be able to enforce Godly edification, motivated by love, knowing how to use the law. Timothy.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, Your Word, it's powerful in convicting God. Lord, we know there's so much in our lives that You still want to work on and to change and transform, but we thank You for Your grace and mercy and peace. Lord, we thank You, even though we don't deserve it, but Lord, You counted us faithful and put us into ministry. Lord, You commissioned us to make disciples. And Lord, none of us are excluded from that.

God, thank You for the opportunity to serve You and bring glory to Your name and minister to the needs of others. Thank You, God, for counting us faithful, for enabling us and putting us where we are today. God, I pray that You would help us to enforce godly edification in our own lives and in those that You've given to us to disciple, minister to, what it requires for us to know God

true doctrine, sound doctrine, that we may recognize the other doctrine and fables and myths and endless discussions and debates that just cause distraction and destruction. But help us to know Your Word. Give us understanding and a thirst for Your Word. Lord, may we fill our lives with it because truly that is the best way to be edified in a godly way. And Lord, may we fill the lives of those around us with Your Word.

Not in condemnation, Lord. Not lashing out. But Lord, lovingly, gently sharing your word and allowing you to do the work that you promise. Lord, allowing your word to do the work that you set it forth to do. God, I pray that you would help us to be motivated by love in this. God, that we would see the needs of others and even though we cringe, Lord, at the idea of any type of conflict or conflict,

difficult situation of straining relationships. Lord, we don't want to risk the relationship dealing with an issue, but Lord, I pray that You would help us to be motivated by Your love. Lord, that our love for those involved would overcome the things that would hold us back. God, that we would be faithful to carry out the ministry that You've given to us. And God, that we would do it with pure hearts and good consciences, with sincere faith, knowing, Lord,

that you are real, that your word is true. And God, I pray that you would teach us how to use the law. Lord, that we might not be condemned by the enemy or even condemned by our own hearts. But Lord, we would know and understand that we would grasp that the law was given so that we might come to you and have right relationship with you. And so God, speak to us in that area. Lord, speak to us in those four things, Lord. You as our Savior, as our hope, as our Father.

and as our Lord. And God, I pray that you would use us to minister those same things in the lives of those around us. Lord, that we would make disciples, that we would take heed to fulfill the ministry that has been given to us. And Lord, if there's any listening to this that do not have right relationship with you, they don't have to meditate on it, they don't have to consider it, they already know that in one or more of those areas,

As Savior, as hope, as Father, as Lord, that things aren't right between you and them. God, I pray that you would minister your grace, your mercy and peace. And Lord, that they would receive right relationship with you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.