Amen. Let us turn our scripture reading this morning, 1 Timothy chapter four, page 1,264 in the Blue ESV Bibles under the seats. And it was a little while ago, about five, six months ago, we had two catechism sermons, with our text from the beginning of this chapter. And we might say that we looked at the trees in those sermons. We looked in quite some detail at the first 10 verses over a couple of weeks. And so now we're gonna step back and do more of the forest. And we're gonna step back and the chapter is united by a theme of teaching, by implication, a theme of hearing. And so we'll take now the whole chapter together this Sunday. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 to 16. Let us hear the word of God. Now, the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. Being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths, Rather, train yourself for godliness, for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people. especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have. which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things. Immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. So far the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Your brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ, words are such a huge part of our life. Even if we go a day where we don't speak words out loud, there are all the words that we are thinking, there are all the words that we are hearing, that we are seeing, that we are reading how many thousands and thousands of words in one way or another are part of our daily life. And we know that there are many different ways that words can be combined and there are many different ways that words should not be combined. There are many ways that words are used which do not bring honor to the name of God. We might even speak about unchristian vocabulary, not just words put together, but individual words, which even by themselves in a way express rebellion against God. Then we know that there are words that are God honoring, or this is how it is said in verse six of our text, that Timothy is trained in the words of the faith. There is Christian vocabulary. Christian words. There is a Christian way of speaking, of thinking, of taking the words of our life to be God-honoring. And so, people of God, as we think about words, as we think about the words of the faith, as we think about all of the teaching laid out here, which is still in the context of the household of faith back in 3 verse 15, and so it's either being taught or being heard by implication. if not by explicit direction. This applies to each and every one of us. Our theme then this morning is this, train in and live by God's true word. And we're gonna look at teaching against falsehoods, first five verses, and then teach the gospel, verse six to 10, and then teach with perseverance, the 11 to 16. Well, teach against falsehood. The false teachers who were very much the focus of the first chapter of this letter, they come back to the foreground here and the Apostle once again mentions them and speaks of specific ways that Timothy must stand against them. They are teaching specific false things, including this, they forbid marriage and they require abstinence from foods. Now very briefly, how do we get to such a teaching? Well, there was this specific false idea in the days of the early church that all matter, all physical stuff was evil, and that this was pitted against spiritual things which were good. And so marriage relates to physical bodies. It relates to physical things. And so relating to stuff, it was evil. Marriage should be forbidden. Food is a physical thing. It relates to matter. It relates to stuff. And so it should be forbidden. But then, of course, you couldn't forbid all food because then you would starve. And so they kind of went halfway and they only forbid some foods. And this is the general idea. This is the general picture of an error in philosophy. It was an error of how the world came into being. Matter was eternal. Matter was evil. And the only reason why matter had been shaped into anything is because some god or gods were foolish enough to think that they could turn bad matter into a good creation. That was the world view of the Roman Empire of Greek philosophy and such that surrounded the early church. And what happens when there are specific false views of the world What happens when there are specific false views of the world? It is tempting for the church to be shaped by them in one way or another. And so these were the specific things that the church was falling into, related, again, all to this matter is evil, we need to get away from it in some way. We see one more specific thing if we turn to 2 Timothy chapter two, So if you turn over just a couple of pages, 2 Timothy 2 verse 18. And so now the false teachers are being spoken of again. A couple of them are named by name in verse 17. And then we read this in 2 Timothy 2 verse 18, who have swerved from the truth saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. Why would you say that the resurrection has already happened? Now that's a very difficult question, but a simple answer is probably something like this. All stuff is bad, all bodies are bad, and so the resurrection has already happened. Our hope is some purely spiritual thing in the future. You see, there's this false way of thinking, and it was leading to these very specific false ideas, false theologies, twisting of the promises and the truths of the Word of God. God. But this creation was made very good. The only reason why we see the curse is because of the fall of man. But inherently, God made everything very good. And so we can receive the things that God has made. We should receive the things that God has made. even as we must receive them rightly. They are to be received, the end of verse three, with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. Now at this point, I'm going to step back. I'm going to consider a false error in the days of Moses. Because this was a verse that really jumped out at me when I was younger. One of those, why does the Bible say that? moments. Have you ever had a moment like that? perhaps in your teenage years or even before that, and every once in a while you read something in the Bible and you think, why does the Bible say that? Well, this was a verse that struck me in that way when I was younger. Exodus 23, verse 19. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. Now, why does the Bible need to say that? It is because there are specific errors from one age to another. In Moses' day, it involved false religious practices such as that cruel and false religious ceremony of boiling a young kid in its mother's milk. In the days of the Apostle Paul and young Pastor Timothy, it involved these teachings against stuff, against matter, which took various forms such as rejecting the future resurrection, rejecting the goodness of marriage and the goodness of food that God has given to us. And what is it today? Think about this. There are some things that are addressed against specific false teachings, false practices in the days of Moses that don't really make sense to us when we first hear it. Are there things that we should address specifically today that if Moses was taken in a time machine and put before us they would not make any sense to him? What about teaching specifically against the various errors of the sexual revolution and things like transgender surgery and stuff like that? That would make no sense to Moses. That would hit him like Exodus 23 19 hits us. But the point is this, brothers and sisters, there is to be specific teaching against the specific errors that man invents and focuses on from one age to another. We are to specifically teach against errors and speak to why they are false. Now, This is not the only thing that the Bible does. And we need to be careful that this is not the only thing that we do. Because even as we are called to specifically call out and train and teach and why things are false from one age to another, going against the word of God, if that's all we do, then we'll miss the big picture, which is really the big picture and the main focus of scripture, which is this, that the human heart is sinful. and that we are all sinners standing in need of God's grace. So let us teach against the specific false errors, but let us not get so focused on those and wrapped up in those that we say, ah, look, I haven't done these five things and therefore I'm okay. No. No, we teach against the five, the ten, the many great errors of our own day, but we remember The main problem affects each and every one of us, that we all have a sinful heart, that we all need to humble ourselves before God, confess our sins, and to trust in him for salvation. And that's where our text goes next. If we step back as we come to our second point and we think about how verse six gets into verse 10, we can summarize it this way. Verse six looks back and says, yes, you need to put these things before the brothers. This needs to be part of your teaching, Timothy, and by implication, and that means that everyone should be in the household of faith, either being the teacher of these things or the hearer of these things. You need to put these things before the brothers, brothers, brethren, brothers and sisters. You need to be either teaching them or sitting there hearing them. But we move on from verse six and we move on from specific teachings against specific errors. and we mention specific silly things and irreverent things which should just be avoided, verse 7, all of this leading us into what has eternal value, what is the greater value of spiritual things over bodily exercise which has some value, and all of this is leading into what? The faithful saying of verse 9 and 10. The one hope we have, the one hope which does not change, which is the same from one age to another, the one hope we have in our living. God. He is our Savior. So even as the specific false errors of the day must be addressed, the Apostle is not going to keep it there and he's not going to allow Timothy to just talk about those kinds of things. No, we must speak these things, but we must move past this. We must move to our one and only hope. And that does not change And so there is another place where scripture jumps off the page, whether it's written 3,000 years ago or 2,000 years ago, whether it's written by the prophets of old or by the apostles of the New Testament, the hope is the same. The only difference is we now know the name of the Messiah. He is Jesus Christ who came, who suffered, who died, who rose again, conquering death and conquering sin. He is. our hope and there again while scripture addresses specific errors in one place and in another what the scripture come back to again and again and again prophesied and and and and proclaimed and anticipated and then rejoiced in and defended and witnessed to this all comes to the central hope and the one man who is also God, Jesus Christ. We need the details. We need our one hope. And we always need our one hope. There is an account of, there's an old account of a preacher who was not setting the beauty of Christ, who was not speaking the good news repeatedly to his congregation. He was sometimes getting caught up just in these things. And so one day he goes to the pulpit and there's a note on the pulpit and it says, sir, we would see Jesus. We would see Jesus. Finally, whatever the errors of the age, we are all sinners. And finally, the only hope for any age is Jesus Christ. So I ask, are you hungry for the teaching of the words of the faith? And are you hungry for those teachings to be focused on the one hope we have? Is that your greatest desire? And would you be one who would speak up? And it's probably better to speak up than to just leave an anonymous note on the pulpit. Would you be one who would speak up when the good news would ever be neglected? Well, brothers and sisters, let's come then to our third point. Teach with perseverance. Teach with perseverance. Because the gospel must be, it must be laid out. So we're going to jump ahead to verse 16 now. The gospel must be laid out. Christ finally is the only Savior, but Christ works through preaching, and by implication, all those who hear. This is a semi-public letter, but in verses 11 to 16, we see Timothy addressed in a more specific way. Teach these things. persist in this for by so doing, the end of verse 16, you will save both yourself and your hearers. God finally is our only savior, but he uses means, he uses the preaching and then the hearing of the gospel to bring us to repentance, to bring us to himself. And so Timothy is to be persevering as a faithful teacher. If he does not want others to despise his youth, then he is to live as someone who is mature beyond his years. I once was speaking about a brother with a brother, and this young man was described in this way. He is an old soul in a young body, which is just a way of saying he was a mature young man of faith. He acted beyond his years. And so that's what the Apostle is saying to Timothy. He's saying, if you do not want to be despised for your youth, well then live with a maturity in the faith that is beyond your years. And then you will be heard. Until I come, verse 13, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching, How is it that something as simple as the public reading of Scripture can be neglected in churches? There is nothing like the Word of God. And it is very simple instruction that we have to read the Bible, to have it open before us. And notice that that's what comes first. Public reading of Scripture and then the exhortation and teaching. And that order is important. If you exhort and you teach, and if the Word of God is absent, then what good is the exhortation and the teaching? Then it's just the words of some man, young or old, and it doesn't matter. But if we start with Scripture, and if the teaching and exhortation flow from Scripture, then the teaching and the exhortation you hear is from the Word of God. It's God's Word to you. It's not just the word of a man, young or old or anything in between. And notice exhortation and teaching. The exhortation that we might say relates especially to application. We need to hear application, how the word of God directs our daily life and our weekly calling and all of these things, but we need also teaching. We need the details of what God has called us to and of the truth of His Word. And how is this for Timothy? Again, this is one of the more personal parts of this letter. Timothy does have a specific calling. He has an ordination with the laying on of hands from the Council of Elders, verse 14. He has a particular call to immerse himself in these things. It's his very labor, it's his very work to be a preacher, and so he must be immersed in it in even a special way. But brothers and sisters, let me say again, there are direct applications to Timothy, and then there's many implications for each and every one of us. So let's put it this way, and step back and look at verses one to 16. If Timothy is called to put these things before the brother, and we said this already, but I'll say it again, verse six, that means that the brothers and sisters need to be there to hear those things. And now back to, you know, verses 11 to 16, if Timothy is to set the believers an example, verse 12, does that not imply that there is at least some relationship between the preacher and the whole congregation? Now these are very basic things, but these are things which are even lost in the structure of how churches are sometimes made today. The average size of the church in the United States is bigger than it used to be. But there's more small churches. What has happened? We have all these huge churches, mega churches, the mega church movement. There's one in every town. And sometimes it's even a satellite church where, forget about having a personal relationship with the pastor because the church is too big for the pastor to even know everybody's name. Forget about having a personal relationship. He's not even physically present. How is the preaching and the living of God's word to be put together if church is just some big thing with maybe one gifted teacher and maybe not just heard by many, many hundreds of people where you couldn't even know everybody's name, but it's even satellited out to other places as well. This is increasingly common in our nation. There are more small churches, but the average size of the church is getting bigger because you just have these huge churches where there's no personal relationship. 1 Timothy 4 and the commands to the preacher, and by implication to the rest of the people, don't even make sense in such a setting. Well, and then, and what about the call to be immersed? That is a special calling in verse 15 to the preacher. But brothers and sisters, turn back with me to Psalm 1. Psalm 1. And we're gonna read the first two verses. And we're going to see that this is a word not just to a preacher, but that these are words for each and every one of us. Psalm 1, we're going to read the first two verses. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. How does that relate to our text this morning? Well, what are the scoffers of our age saying? It's not the same. as what was said and done in the days of the Apostle Paul or was what was said and done in the days of Moses. But should we all be able to recognize the falsehood of scoffers? Should we all be able to see what the counsel of the wicked is? Should we all be able to recognize the false teaching of our own day and the false ideas of our own day? And then verse two, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law, he meditates day and night. Now, as I said, verses 11 to 16 of our texts are an especially personal part of that letter. Now, in this semi-public letter, Timothy, the young preacher, is addressed in a specific way. He has a special ordination, verse 14. He has a special calling to be immersed in the word of God, verse 15. But do we all have a calling? to be immersed, to meditate day and night upon the Holy Word of God. There is nothing like the Word of God. And then this will impact our life. Then, verse three, he is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and all that he does he prospers. The wicked are not so. The wicked are not so. Brothers and sisters, do you know the words of the faith? Are those the words that roll around in your mind day and night? Do you seek to live by those words? Everything coming back, to the one central hope we have, Jesus Christ, and all of this preparing us for eternal life in heaven, where the whole congregation of the righteous is gathered in His name. Amen. Let us pray. Our great God and Heavenly Father, may we May we know the teaching of your word. May we know.