Good morning, dear friends. I want to welcome you all in the name of the Lord. Such an honor and privilege for us at Trinity to worship. I mentioned this morning as we were praying in my office, just the highlight that this is. You know, sometimes we don't always have good weeks. We have a lot of things going on at work, at home, and we often get distracted. But this is what we are made for. It's to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. And so I welcome you. It's right and good for you to be here, friends. And so if you don't have a church home, I welcome you that this place is open to you to be your church home. Let me get into this section by telling you a couple of things. When we are freed from the dominion of Satan, because he is called the prince of the air, and he roams around like a roaring lion to know who he can devour. But we have been freed from that through the blood of Jesus. And that is why we have scripture verses like, if the Lord sets you free, you are free indeed. Finally free, free from the snare of the devil, which this passage talks about. And from being captive to him, because he wants to take you captive. He wants to hold you in prison, in his prison. There's only one thing that can free you, and that is Christ, and that is the gospel. And so, when the Lord sets you free, everything changes. Your life changes. The way you talk changes. The way you interact with people changes. The way you handle problems changes. The way you handle wrongs committed against you changes. And what Paul's really doing in this passage, friends, is saying there is a manner that's different for believers. Because of the Holy Spirit, because of the freedom in Christ, we don't actually live the way we did before. Have you ever gotten mad at someone on the phone? Come on, be honest. It used to be the telephone person. or something that you have to work through for your home or business. This last week, I'll share this story a little bit more later, but this last week, I got into a little bit of a tiff with my mailman. Because he decided, because of a conversation that we had in front of my house, that he was just gonna stop bringing my mail. And that lasted about seven days. And then I followed him and stopped the car right next to him when he was going to another person's house, and we had a little conversation. And I had to stop myself and say, don't act like the old man, the old person who would have just gone off, who would have really put him in his place. But the Lord actually enabled me to stop for a moment and say, you know, can we talk about this? And I apologize if I've misunderstood something, but there is a call to godliness. We're not who we used to be anymore, because Christ actually does change us. It's life altering what the gospel does. We are no longer who we used to be, although the process continues. Well, I'm going to do a quick review from last week. Paul was warning Timothy and the church at Ephesus about false teaching. Do you remember I talked a little bit about just a slight deviation from God's word can lead you into all kinds of trouble and damage and actually your life's destruction. Just a little change. But let me mention a couple things. Do you know Did you know, as I've been kind of working through the last few weeks of messages, I found out, and did you know, that there are 757,439 words in our pew bibles. In our ESV pew bibles that you have in front of you, there are almost 757 1,440 words or 39 words. The King James Version is 783,137 words. Isn't that interesting? Just a different English translation. The NIV has 727,969 words. And people love to squabble about words. Are you a King James guy? Are you an NIV person? Are you totally now bought out on ESV? And people start wrangling about words and about useless things like side issues when that's not the main thing. The main thing is the gospel. Paul's dying concern was about the gospel in God's church. And he warns Timothy not to get sidetracked squabbling about words. That's what last week was about. He's preparing Timothy and the church of God for the future. Times of persecution where there's going to be false teachers, more false teachers right from within the church, when there will be no more Paul, no more Peter, no more John, no more apostles. This is going to be a hard time coming up. And that's what we're experiencing now, right? And Timothy was not your typical, independent, strapping young man who's ready to get out there into the world and conquer it for Christ. Who's raring to go. Actually, he was the opposite. You know what the Scriptures tell us? He was a frail and timid young man. So Paul's instructing, encouraging, and preparing him for the future. Listen, this world is not for us. We're on enemy territory. I hope you recognize that. No one wants to follow God or hear His word. And when you talk about God and His word, you're going to be persecuted in one way or the other, honestly. My son EJ just left back for college this past week. I don't know if you remember, when he was leaving at the beginning of the summer for an internship in Memphis, I mentioned that I had to figure out which car to send with him. So the best working car was the car that I didn't want to send with him, but I ended up sending them because I didn't want him to get stuck in Memphis, or on the way to Memphis, or on the way back from Memphis. Well, lo and behold, a few weeks ago, he calls me or about three or four weeks ago, he calls and he says, Dad, the check engine lights coming on. I said, OK, does it feel different? No. Do you notice anything? No. Has it happened more than once? Yes. How many times? Well, three or four times. So I start panicking and thinking, what am I going to do? I'm here. He's there. He's got to drive back eventually. So I told him to go to the local mechanic and the local mechanic, you know, just the kind of the quick lube or oil change kind of place. He couldn't find it. Couldn't find the issue. It was subtle. And that's why sometimes you need to go to someone who is even more of an expert. You need to get that checked out because underlying that little light is probably some bigger issue that's going to cause you to get stranded somewhere. These false teachers were often very subtle, just twisting the truth of God's Word slightly and leading people astray to destruction. I wanted to mention this last week, but I'm going to mention this. I forgot to. I didn't have time. I'm going to mention it today. There's an old German proverb that Martin Luther often used to quote, and it is often attributed to him, but we don't know if he actually wrote it. But he said this, all mischief begins in the name of God. all mischief begins in the name of God. What are you trying to say is people use God or God's name and then they kind of reel you in and then all options of mischief are open to them because there's just a little bit of truth mixed in with a little bit of lie based on their agendas. Beware of that is what The Apostle Paul was telling Timothy and the church and to all of us. My friends, listen. Do you know why we do what we do here at Trinity the way we do it? It's because God's Word is more important than anything else. Anything else. More than the songs. More than the patterns of how we do stuff. The way we structure our service. Giving time and importance to what God's Word says is more important than anything else. We need to stick to it and not deviate even a little bit. Otherwise, we're headed for destruction. All right, let me pray. Father, I pray that today, even this passage before us will lead us to truth and holiness. Lord, we are called to be different, not who we were before. I ask, Lord, that you would convict us in our hearts of areas that need to be cleansed and cleaned up. that we would repent, that we would fall on our knees and say, Lord, cleanse us, make us holy. Lord, help us to live unto you and not unto ourselves. Father, forgive us. My prayer is that you would truly, Lord, open us, open up our eyes so that we can see your son, our only hope, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in his name we pray, amen. So Paul's giving directions here in this passage to his son in the faith, Timothy, his protege, his mentee. And some of this is just as relevant to us today as it was then. And it has some direct application and indirect relevance and application to us. So the main thing I want to focus on today is eight little things that Paul says in this passage that we read. I'm just going to go through them individually, sometimes just a word, sometimes part of a small phrase, so you can break it down and think about what does this mean for me? How does this truth impact me? How, Lord, do you want me to be changed? How do you want me to be different as a result of hearing this truth? What do I need to repent of? These are the things that I want you to think about. But I'm gonna give you a couple of ideas. The main reason Paul's doing all of this talk, one is to say godliness matters. It's not just words. It's how you live. It's how you behave, how you interact, how you deal with people who have wronged you. And He gives these eight instructions to kind of say it's all about building up the body of Christ. Building up one another and having a unity based on Christ. So that we're not all playing our own game, every man for himself. No. Do you know why God gives us what He gives us? So we build each other up. So we encourage each other, so we support one another, so that we can sometimes even take someone aside and correct one another, so that we will move towards godliness. Well, before I go into all that, the early passage, the first section talks about this. Let me read this to you, okay? And I'm gonna go through this a little bit quicker because I wanna get to the eight individual things that Paul tells Timothy and the church and us to be careful about. Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. You know what jumped out at me, the word useful? because I started reverting back to when my kids used to watch over and over and over again Thomas the Tank Engine. Have you guys ever seen that video? And you know what they always said near the end where the conductor or the main operator of the railway system, Sir Topham Hatt, always said to Thomas, Thomas, you are a truly, what? Useful engine And you know, I wouldn't always watch but I would hear that and I think that is so biblical Well, of course, you know, the originator of the series was an Anglican priest So he probably was thinking many many biblical themes, but think about this. There's probably no greater thing than to be useful Then to be used by God and to be beneficial to one another and Right? And I kept coming back to thinking about those words. There's two kinds of people, people who are useful to the master and people who are not useful to the master. So let me mention a couple of things about this. This house that's mentioned isn't just a house. It's a very large house. It would seem that it's filled with people of means. And what it represents is God's household and it's made up of all those whom God has created. And then he talks about the vessels. What are vessels? Containers, things to serve with or put things in to serve others or people in the household. Does it sound familiar in some ways as you read the passage? Well, it should because the vessels are us. Looking in the mirror, it's us. You're looking at yourself. It represents all of mankind. And then the story says there's different kinds of vessels that represent various kinds of people. Some are of wood and earthenware, and some are made of more noble materials like silver and gold. Some are made to hold foods and drinks, and some are made to hold other things that in a little bit of study turned out to seem pretty vulgar to me because we're not used to it. Well, think about days when there is no built-in bathroom. So there are vessels that are used for things of honor, and there are vessels and containers that are built for other things. And that's the vivid imagery that's here. It's, hey, what do you want to be? What do you want to do? How do you want to be used by the master who is God himself? And in a sense, you get to choose what kind of vessel you are made for or to be set apart for. We've been called to be filled with the spirit. But you can't really be filled with the Spirit if you're filled with a bunch of other things, like whatever you want, and sin itself that fills up your heart and your souls and your minds. We're called to go to the cross and to be cleansed from all that is dishonorable so that we can be filled by the Master. Now, just to kind of go a little further on this, when Paul says that If anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared for every good work. These things that Paul's talking about are the things that we talked about last week that Paul exhorted Timothy to avoid, not to wrangle about words, chapter 2, verse 14. Avoiding worldly and empty chatter, chapter 2, verse 16. Abstaining from wickedness, departing from wickedness. And when you live unto the Lord and unto godliness and holiness, which by the way is part of our sanctification process, where we die to ourselves and live unto Christ, we become vessels for honor useful to the master. So let me go back and kind of ask you this question then. Are you useful? Are you useful for the master? Are you going to the cross and asking for repentance of the things that are filling your heart? Are there things that need to go so that He can actually fill you with the Holy Spirit so you can be as used as you possibly can be used? For God's glory and the blessing of His church. Well, Paul goes into the next section talking about eight directions or commands things for Timothy to build up the body of Christ by the Word of Truth leading to unity in God's church. And so, I want to go into those one by one. The first is... is fleeing youthful passions. That's what Paul says to Timothy in the very first instruction. He says, pastors and teachers who are true of God, who are real, who are genuine and not fakes, and those who listen to their teaching, they will flee youthful lusts. So let me just unpack each of these just briefly so you'll kind of take it to heart and ask yourself, what do I need to repent of? What do I need to go to the cross for regarding this? Do you realize it's not just talking about sexual lusts or passions? He's actually saying, Timothy, you must avoid youthful impulses and desires that will cause you to be vulnerable to wrongful behavior, like strong headed thinking, leading to partiality, intolerance, to quick temperedness. to over self-assertion, things like this. So Paul's actually thinking more broadly than just youthful passions, meaning lust or sexual things, although it does include that. So I started thinking about something I struggle with sometimes with the kids, especially anger. Do you have a handle on your anger? Or do you know properly how to check it? Do you fly off the handle, so to speak? Do you know how to manage it in a godly way through the Holy Spirit? Here are some application questions for you. Are you impatient? Are you impetuous? Are you rebellious in your nature? Are you overly aggressive? Are you too vain? Are you self-centered? Are you obstinate? Do you know why he says to Timothy, who is younger than him, but he's really telling the whole church and especially to teachers and pastors and those who are in leadership in the church, he's saying youthful passions because you know why, what happened to young people? They've not lived long enough to get burned. Young people are still learning the world, others and themselves, and they are not yet good at managing themselves through their experience. And so Paul's saying to Timothy to flee such youthful impulses, impetuous feelings and impulses. And so that's why I brought up things like anger. You know, when I mentioned about the mailman, well, I got a little angry at him. And then I started getting angrier, and then I wanted to go a little too far, and then I had to stop myself and think, wait, who am I? I'm a believer, aren't I? I'm a follower of Christ, aren't I? I am not like the world anymore. And even though we have this tendency to be impetuous, Paul's telling Timothy, especially When things don't go right, when there's opposition to us, that there is a godly manner that we are to live out our lives. Now, if Paul could tell Timothy, the pastor of this church, this consecrated person, these strong words, hey, watch your youthful tendencies, how much more to us? Brothers and sisters, we're on this side of the cross thousands of years later. I want you to hear this. How much more should we now, having had all the instruction and teaching in God's word made available to us, how much should we live in godly manner in every situation, and especially when things don't go right? When there's people opposing you, when there's people attacking you. Do youthful passions get the best of you? Paul says, flee, run from it. Now, there's all kinds of reasons. There could be situations at home or things not going right all over the place in your life, but don't let it control your actions and behavior because the Spirit has changed us. Now, about that other thing. It does also mean sexual temptations. And Paul says, flee from it, run, go another way if you have to. There is probably a cost, but you must flee from it. I probably shared this here before, but when I was working at the World Trade Center in New York City many, many years ago, I had to always pass by these newsstands. You know what I'm talking about, the ones outside that have these vulgar magazines right on the front. They don't even hide it. And then sooner than later, I began to notice that my eyes would wander. And then I would catch myself slowing down as I got closer to it. And then I said, Lord, You've got to help me with this. I had to make my New York City newsstand covenant with God. And you know what that was? I had to cross the street, walk all the way down, and then cross back. And sometimes it'll slow you down and you have to detour, but there's a cost. And so Paul's telling Timothy to be calm, not impetuous, controlled by the world's way of handling things. Live a godly way and avoid falling into the trap of the evil one, falling prey to youthful passions and impulses. The second thing, and I'll try to go through the rest somewhat quickly. true teachers, true pastors, true people of God, genuine believers, are to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace. So notice on one hand, he says, run from. Right? Run from your youthful tendencies. But that's not enough. You need to run to something too. Run towards righteousness. God's truth. Fix your eyes and heart on the right things and pursue them, the righteousness of God. I remember when I was in college, my campus staff director told me about a man who was on drugs that they had taken in to live in their home. Now this guy was all out bad. But after a year or more of discipleship and welcoming him and taking care of him, that intensity towards evil turned into intensity towards God. And the Lord took a hold of his life. And after like a couple of years of discipleship, he went to Bible college, this New York City drug addict. The intensity for evil turned into intensity towards righteousness. And Rob Moran, what was his name? I still remember it. He turned out to be an evangelist like you wouldn't believe. God completely got a hold of his life. Listen, we are to run towards the things of God, towards holiness. What do you do to do that? Are you putting yourselves in the right places? Timothy, Paul says, pursue and cultivate righteousness. Pursue the Lord. Pursue holiness. Pursue good virtues. Pursue righteousness, love, faith, and peace. And by the way, there's a little part in the Scripture here, it says, along with those who call on the name of the Lord from a pure heart. By the way, you don't do this alone. You don't pursue righteousness on your own. You can't. You need the body of Christ. You need the church. You need one another to hold you and support you and encourage you. Fellow believers, in the company of the saints of God, in the context of the local church of Jesus, I remember a sweet lady here from our own church. Some of you guys might remember this name. Many of you won't. There used to be a sweet lady in a wheelchair in our church here named Martha Combs. A few of you may remember her. She passed away when Jay and I had already left Trinity the first time and we were in New York and we wept upon hearing that Martha had passed away. She used to sit right back there. We used to remove one of the chairs and Martha would sit back there. And after sermons, she would come up to me and just encourage me. And it meant so much because I was a stinky preacher. I was new, I was young. I knew I was stumbling all over myself, but Martha would not harp on the bad stuff. She would say, I really love that you said this, Pastor Jake. She showed up at all our baby showers. You guys remember that? She would give like the best board book. She was so encouraging. In the body of Christ, we need one another. And I remember thinking as a young pastor, I said, I know that was probably an awful sermon, but Martha had something to say that kept me just going. She said, I got this out of what you said, Pastor Jake. We need the body of Christ. Let me move on. The third thing. We are to refuse to entertain foolish speculations. So remember what I said about all these words in the Bible? Almost 800,000 words. You know what happens? There are some things in the Bible that are super clear, and some things in the Bible that aren't super clear, and then you begin to speculate, and then you begin to argue about the speculations. Tease you to get sidetracked in foolish controversies and foolish conversations. And what Paul's telling Timothy is, and each of us, don't get caught up in uninstructive wrangling with words and false and ignorant speculations. Why? One, because they're false. And secondly, because it's not helpful, but actually unproductive for yourself and the church. Don't get entangled in unfruitful squabbles and controversies and speculations. I want you to hear this, okay? If the word of truth leads us toward godliness, then the opposite is true as well. False truth leads to ungodliness. Let me say that again. If the word of truth leads us toward godliness, then the opposite is true. False truth leads to ungodliness. And in the passage last week, it said further ungodliness. Paul wants the Ephesian church to become mature, to be edified, to grow in God's grace and peace and love and joy. So avoid all those things that sidetrack us with, you know, speculative conversations and controversies and arguments. A side thing here, when you are talking or when you are going over what the pastor preached on or a passage that you studied in your Bible study, do you ever stop and ask yourself this question, rather than getting stuck on these speculative things, do you ever stop and ask yourself, Lord, what do you want me to get from this truth? Lord, what Does this mean to me in my life to shape us, to change us, to grow us in maturity, to continually make us more and more into the image of Christ? What do you desire for this to do in me, Lord? I want you to think about that. Maybe instead of getting sidetracked on these other things, maybe after every sermon, after every Bible study, after every small group conversation about the Lord or some study that you're doing, you ask, Lord, what do you desire for this to do in me, oh Lord? Produce in me what you desire through your word in the gospel. Okay, fourthly, We are not to be quarrelsome. It's somewhat self-explanatory, but let me just ask it again for the sake of application. Do you love to get into debates and arguments with people more than to edify them? Listen, the whole point is that this is all done in the body of Christ to build one another up, not to tear anyone down. So do you love to get into arguments with people more than to edify them? The scripture in this passage says literally, the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome. You know, I remember guys like this in seminary especially, they just love to argue. And there are times when I've had to go to my prof and apologize for them, and apologize to fellow students for them, And I would be so vexed that I would just avoid those guys and didn't even want to interact with them. Because it wasn't a good testimony for the church and to the gospel. So consider whether quarreling is a pattern in your life. and instead focus on building up the other person to strengthen their faith and not to be right and to put them in their place. That takes a lot of practice, a lot of daily work, and deliberate effort to do this correctly and well to the unity of God's people. Fifthly, true pastors and teachers and disciples of Jesus are kind. Also somewhat self-explanatory, but let me tell you how Paul is saying this. Paul is saying this to Timothy and saying, Don't be impetuous. Be kind to one another as you deal with various congregants. There's all kinds of people in church. Are you kind? You've probably seen the bumper sticker that says something like this. I've seen this. I've even taken pictures of it with my phone that says, I hate mean people. And then I've thought to myself, well, that's not very kind either. to say, I hate mean people or mean people suck. You've seen that, right? On bumper stickers and things like that. Sometimes unkind teachers who teach the truth can ruin it for the hearers. Let me say it again. Sometimes unkind teachers can ruin it for the hearers, even if they're handling the truth or giving the truth. Timothy, Paul says, your character, your kindness, your gentleness, your attitude of care, concern and love for others will be hard to argue against when you're kind. Your demeanor of gentleness and kindness will open doors for you with the truth that you proclaim. It will pave the way forward to promote this word of truth that leads to godliness and peace and righteousness. Okay, two more points. I'll try to go as quick as I can. True pastors and teachers are able to teach. Now, that sounds interesting, doesn't it? Are able to teach. Now, this is something that we use when we think about ordaining elders. Elders, according to our understanding of the Scriptures, and our polity, even within our own denomination, are meant to be able to teach, apt to teach. But I want to tell you something, that this doesn't just mean that they're supposed to teach you something that you didn't know before, or they're to give you 10 facts that you didn't know before. Able to teach also means that they are good teachers and effective communicators and teachers, so much so that it makes a difference in your lives. Apt to teach doesn't just mean able to teach a Bible passage. It means being able to communicate that in godliness and gentleness and with calm hearts and winsomeness so that what you're teaching makes an impact on your disciples and their lives are changed. It's more than just learning new things and gaining knowledge of things that people didn't previously know before. It means so much more. than communicating facts and imparting knowledge. It leads to living differently because of changed lives by the work of the Holy Spirit. That's what Paul's telling Timothy. Listen, be gentle, be kind, right? And be able to teach in this way. Listen, I want to say something on behalf of Pastor Jeff and myself. Our desire and goal is not that you would walk away knowing something more in the way of theological and biblical information, but rather to be transformed by the truth of God's word through the power of the Holy Spirit as He works grace in your hearts. That's what it means. when we open up God's word as godly people and share it with one another. That's what Paul's trying to say here to his young son in the faith, Timothy. Number seven, be patient. So you know what Paul's telling Timothy here? Be patient and forgiving when wronged or maligned because of you proclaiming the word of truth, Timothy. Listen, Timothy, don't get offended, don't get defensive, or start silencing your challengers when there are objections, but graciously engage them to understanding. Because you know what the goal is? The goal is the building up of the body of Christ in maturity and godliness. So very likely Timothy has gotten attacks, just like all of us get attacks for being believers. And Paul's telling him to be patient when wronged, seeing the ultimate end goal. He's going to have a forgiving spirit when we're responded to wrongly. Is that true of you? Are you patient that way? Finally, let me say this. This is number eight, gentleness in correcting others. Why? Listen to this. God may, well, let me read the line before. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will. You know why we should be gentle with one another? Because it may lead to repentance. Because the Lord's setting them free from the captivity of the evil one. You know, there's something really interesting in this verse. Do you know that when Jesus called Peter and John and Andrew, He said, I will make you what? Catchers of men. Have you ever realized that that's also what's indicated here of the devil, that he is a catcher of men? Now, I want you to think about that. The devil sets a snare. Why? To catch you. And then you know what he wants to do? Hold you for as long as he can and hold you captive. He's also a catcher of men. But if we respond with loving kindness and gentleness with people, even when we're correcting them, that kindness of the Lord through the Spirit leads people to repentance and may cause them to come to the Lord through repentance. My friends, I'm going to stop there. What does this all basically mean to us? the Lord calls us to a higher standard. Even when you're speaking to the mailman, even when you're handling people who are persecuting you, in the church, godliness matters. And Paul's telling Timothy, do it the gospel way and not your way. And the Holy Spirit will help you. Will you consider some of the questions that we're asked today, are you impetuous? Are you harboring youthful passions? Are you gentle? Are you kind? Or are you the opposite? Do you care to edify the body or are you only doing what's good for you? The Lord's calling us to something greater because of the gospel. Praise be to the Lord. Let me pray. Father, I ask that this would sink into our hearts as it has been challenged to Timothy and now us as well. Father, forgive us. Forgive us when we've lived unto ourselves and not unto you. Lord, correct us, convict us, and cause us to repent. And Lord, would you make us useful in your household? Use us immeasurably, even our little church, Trinity. And I pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.