Sunday Morning Service 10:30AM- Be Diligent - Pastor Ryan
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Transcript
Organized into readable paragraphs from the preserved Whisper transcript. Non-speech markers are removed.
Good morning, church family. Glad you're here. Glad you guys can make it out this morning. I invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started.
Lord, we thank you for another day and thank you for another opportunity to be in your house this morning, Lord. Lord, we ask your blessing upon this time. We bless the word as it goes out, Lord. May you be glorified this morning. And we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Lord, that we can come and spend some time in your presence. How sweet it is. How awesome it is to just spend a little bit of time in your presence this morning. Your word says in Psalms, We're better as one day in your courts, one day in your presence, than a thousand else. Lord, help us to be mindful of that this morning as we sing this next song. A storm and storm
Lights up Scorned by Jesus Commends my death Holds me As Pastor Ryan comes, that as your word comes forth, you will be glorified, that you will be magnified, and Lord, that you would mold us into the image of you.
Make it all about you this morning. Lord, I pray that you do something awesome and mighty in this place this morning. God, we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.
Good morning. If you could begin the process of finding your seat.
Grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.
Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you are with us this morning. A few things to take note of in your bulletin. Over on the left-hand side are the things that go on throughout the week, and everything's back in action this week, so find yourself a spot to get plugged into. Over in the middle section, some things to pay attention to. First of all, ladies,
just a reminder that the new Joyful Life Ladies study will be beginning November the 6th. It's going to be in the Gospel of John, and if you're interested in signing up for that, all those sign-ups are out in the foyer. There's the Thursday afternoon, the Monday evening, and then if you can't make it to either one of those, but you still want to do the Bible study, you can sign up just to receive the Bible study as well. And then another reminder that Operation Christmas Child's shoeboxes, which BTW, wow, apparently the packing party was very successful.
How many are over there right now? 330-ish. So that blows last year. That was our goal, right? Yeah, so that's pretty awesome. And you people haven't even started packing yours yet, right? I haven't. I haven't even thought about it yet. So, so November the 16th is when those are due. Okay, three things that are not in your bulletin. Number one, for those of you that still own a clock,
that you have to change, congratulations. Second of all, time changes next weekend. We gain back that hour of sleep that we were so thoughtlessly robbed of in the spring. So we fall back next weekend. The second thing that's not in your bulletin is that if you are on the cleaning team, either currently or have signed up to be a part of the cleaning team, they are having a quick meeting after,
after church. I say it's a quick meeting. I assume it's a quick meeting. They're going to meet for as long as they need to, to tell you what you need to know. The last thing that I need to let you know is that the first draft of the directory is done and all of those pages are in a notebook out on the foyer table by where you got your bulletin. Here would be a fantastic thing for you to do.
On your way out, after you've chatted for a little bit and fellowshiped, go ahead and peel that back to wherever your beautiful picture is and make sure that your name and your, all your information is written down correctly and that your name is spelled correctly, that everything is in there as it's supposed to be because once that is done, we're going to get that thing printed and hopefully get those out here real soon. So if you would take a minute to do that, that would be great. And if you did not get your picture in it, but you're like, hey, but maybe I should tell people I go to church and put like my name and phone number and stuff like that in there. There's a blank page on the back that you can do that on too.
So those are the things that are going on. If you'd make sure that your mobile, dial device is silenced and for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 146. Psalm 146, looking at the new American standard for this part so that hopefully we all sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. Although there's a bunch of you in here this morning,
you may have to make a friend. So while you are turning to Psalm 146, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.
I will read the odd verses. If you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses, Psalm 146, Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord while I live. I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Do not trust in princes and mortal man in whom there is no salvation. His spirit departs. He returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish.
How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God. Who made heaven. Who made heaven and earth. The sea and all that is in them. Who keeps faith forever. Who executes justice for the oppressed. Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises up those who are bowed down.
The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord protects the strangers. He supports the fatherless and the widows. But he thwarts the way of the wicked. The Lord will reign forever. Your God, O Zion, to all generations, praise the Lord. And so, Father, with the psalmist, we echo the words, praise the Lord. Father, we praise you for your character, for your nature, the wonderful ways that you care for us,
and for your mercies that are new with every morning. And so, Father, I pray that as we spend time in your word this morning, that your Holy Spirit would move in our hearts as you see fit. Lord, bring conviction, bring comfort, and bring instruction in the way that only you can. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles
to the book of 2 Timothy, chapter 2. 2 Timothy, chapter 2.
We said that our theme for 2 Timothy, while a pastoral epistle and faithfulness is still the theme, the theme is final words from a faithful servant. We said that Paul was going to give Timothy, as Paul has neared the end of his life and facing certain execution, he was trying to give Timothy all of the information that he could. He wanted to share as much wisdom with him as he could in the amount of time that he had left. And so he penned this letter of 2 Timothy.
And we said that there were several instructions that he was going to give. The first instruction that he gave to Timothy is he told him to guard the treasure, to guard the treasure of God's word and to hold it in highest esteem. Last week, we looked at the second lesson that he gave him. He told him to be strong, particularly in the grace of God, but to be strong in grace, to be strong in discipleship, to be strong like the farmer, to be strong.
To be strong like the soldier, to be strong like the athlete and to remember Jesus. Well, today, as we come to the last half of chapter 2, we look at the third lesson that he gives to Timothy. He tells Timothy to be diligent, to be diligent. And so starting in verse 14 of chapter 2, it says this, remind them of these things and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.
Be diligent to present yourselves approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth. But avoid worldly and empty chatter for it will lead to further ungodliness and their talk will spread like gangrene among them. Or excuse me, among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place and they upset the faith of some. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands having the word of truth.
And so starting this seal, the Lord knows those who are his and everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness. Now in a large house, there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful to the master prepared for every good work. Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness faith, love, and peace with those who call on the name of the Lord from a pure heart.
But refuse foolish and ignorant speculation knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged. With gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition. If perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth. And they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil
having been, held captive by him to do his will. Be diligent. Five things that Timothy is going to tell, or that Paul is going to tell Timothy that he needs to do if he's going to be diligent. Five things. The first is this. If you're going to be diligent, you need to stay focused. If you're going to be diligent, you need to stay focused. Looking at verse 14,
he says, remind them of these things and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. To stay focused, he first of all needed to remind them of these things. What are the things he was supposed to remind them of? Well, the preceding verses are what tells us what we need to pay attention to.
In verse 11 it says, it is a trustworthy statement. If we died with him, we will also live with him. That's hope. If we endure with him, we will also reign with him. That's motivation. If we deny him, he will also deny us. That's warning. And if we are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself. That's peace. Basically what he tells Timothy that he needs to do is
remind them of gospel truth. Remind them of the hope of the gospel. Remind them of the motivation of the gospel. Remind them of the peace that comes with the gospel. But remember the gospel has a warning because the gospel deals with sin. And if you don't take sin seriously, you're going to have a major problem with sin. And so he says, remind them of gospel truth.
Remind them of gospel truth. That word remind carries with it the idea of make it a regular practice. Make it a regular practice to remind them of this gospel truth. And it's kind of interesting. You know, your first two or three years of walking with Jesus, you're just learning all kinds of new things. You're learning new things about the word. You're learning new things about God.
But eventually you come to a place in your walk where you've really learned a lot and you just constantly need reminded of the exact same things. You need reminded over and over again of the exact same truths. You know why? Because we as people forget very easily. We forget the truth very easily. You know how I know this? I can give you a real world example.
I'm going to throw a little shade on all of you right now, but that's all there is to it. I'll give you a real world example. I can have an event here at the church and I can put it in the bulletin for three weeks in a row. And I can announce it from the pulpit three weeks in a row. This is what's coming up. And the event will have come and gone and people will see the pictures on social media.
And inevitably, some of you will come up to me and say, I really wish you would have announced that. I really wish you would have put that in the bulletin. And I'll go, you mean like this? Like if I had to put it in there just like this? And if I'd announced it for three weeks in a row, would that have been helpful to you? And they're like, yeah, yeah, that would have been helpful.
You know why we do that? Because we don't pay attention and we don't listen. We get caught up in our own thing. That's why really the Bible is just a giant repetition of the exact same gospel story. It's a giant repetition of the exact same gospel story because we forget so easily. And so he says, remind them of these things. Keep them focused. As you stay focused by reminding them of these things.
But not only remind them of these things, this is what you need to charge them to do. Charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words. Not to wrangle about words. In other words, don't have petty controversies about words. Petty controversies. This is one of five times in the pastoral epistles that Paul will tell either Titus or Timothy, don't get caught up in stupid controversies.
Don't get caught up in petty controversies about words. You would be amazed at the people that I try to have gospel conversations with. And I'm not talking people outside the church. I'm talking people inside the church that you try to have a gospel conversation with and all they want to do is debate you on words. Debate you about different subjects, completely pointless things
that get us away from the truth of Jesus and end up allowing us to get distracted from what's really necessary in our lives. He says, you cannot stay focused if you're constantly getting distracted by petty, controversies, by all the petty wranglings about words and ideas. And it's kind of fascinating how it starts to happen because there's two things that happen to us when we get caught up in petty controversies. Number one, and it tells us right here, number one, it's useless.
It's useless. You show me somebody who is constantly wrapped up in the next new controversy that comes along and I will show you someone who is not growing in love. They're not growing in faith. They're not growing in service. They are not becoming a profitable member of the body of Christ. They are becoming a cancer. They are becoming a cancer to the body of Christ
because all they want to do is argue with everybody about their newest pet doctrine. And they're not growing in their understanding of scripture. They're growing in their understanding of the thing that they want to tell everybody about. And he says, you have to be careful to stay focused. Charge them to not wrangle about words because first of all, it's useless.
But the second thing that he tells us about it is that it is to the ruin of the hearers. It is to the ruin of the hearers. It is to the ruin of the hearers. It is to the ruin of the hearers. Do you know how many people don't want to go to a church because they say all the people in the church do is argue with each other all the time? I can tell you conversations that I've had
with people that say, I don't even want to go to church anymore because everybody just argues about everything. Nobody can get along with each other. There's all these different denominations. There's all these different ideas. And nobody can get along. I don't want to be a part of church, which is the very opposite of what Jesus told us that we were supposed to be known for.
He says, they will know that you are Christians by the love that you have for one another, not by your ability to love one another. They will know that you are Christians by the love that you have for one another. So he says, don't get caught up in these things. As a matter of fact, he takes it so seriously that he says, charge them. That is a direct imperative.
In other words, this is not just something that you should consider. This is a command that is to be followed to not get caught up in petty controversies. Stay focused. Number two, not only are we to stay focused if we are to be diligent, but number two, we are to handle the word accurately. Handle the word accurately. Notice what it says in verse 15. It says, be diligent to present yourself approved to God
as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. He says to be diligent. That word diligent means to study and to do your best. It means to exert one's self. It means to bend. It means to bend every effort. Now that's a pretty serious word, right? I think it was Chuck Swindoll who said, that word has the smell of the sweat of a gym all over it
because it's a word that works. It's a word that has exertion behind it. And that's what he tells us that we are to be. He tells Timothy, you need to be a diligent individual. You need to be a hardworking individual, especially in the work of the gospel, especially in the work of how you handle God's word. It is so easy to become lazy. With God's word to take it for granted.
And I think now is a great time of year for us to be reminded of the fact that men gave their lives so that the word of God could be translated into a language that everyone could understand. Men were burned at the stake because they translated God's word into a language that was understandable to the common people because they said the greatest thing that you can have is God's word in your hands so that you can understand it. So that you can understand it. So that you can understand it.
So that you can understand it. So that you can understand it. So that you can know what it says for yourself so that the guy standing behind the pulpit can't control you by his own interpretation of God's word. So you should be diligent with the way that you handle God's word. You should be diligent in the way that you approach God's word. Listen, I understand where people are coming from
when it comes to the Bible, okay? Like, I get it. The Bible is a hard book to understand. I was talking to somebody the other day. They're like, sometimes I have a hard time getting motivated because I don't understand what it says. Listen. Listen, I get that, okay? Like, I've been studying the Bible for a very long time now. And right now, in my devotional reading in the Old Testament,
I'm in the prophetic books. And quite frankly, when I come to the prophetic books, I'm kind of like, huh, I don't know what that said. I'm going to have to read that again. And I've got to pull out commentaries and all these Bible handbooks because I still just don't, my brain doesn't work that way. And I have a choice to make at that point in time. I can either be like, well, I'm just going to set those aside
and never read those, or I'm going to dig into them. Sometimes I choose options. Option A, I know I'm supposed to choose option B. And when it comes right down to it, here's what we have to know about God's Word. You're always going to struggle to be motivated to read God's Word. You know why? Because your flesh doesn't want to do it. There's always going to be that struggle.
I have that struggle inside of me, that struggle to be motivated to get into what God's Word has to say. At the end of the day, for me, what it comes down to, and I think for all of us what it comes down to, is it comes down to commitment. You have to decide I've made a commitment to get into God's Word, and so I'm going to get into God's Word. Yesterday, I had signed up for a two-mile run.
I woke up yesterday morning, and the lyrics to that famous song were going through my head. The odds are stacked against you, girl. Get back in bed. Right? Like when my alarm went off, I was like, this is bad. It's raining. I hear the rain beating against the window. Right? Now listen, I love to run in perfect conditions. I do not love to run in non-perfect conditions.
I don't like the cold. It's terrible. I do not like the rain. It's dangerous for my delicate figure. Right? I just, I don't enjoy it. So I woke up yesterday morning, and I'm like, I'm genuinely wrestling with this in bed. Like, I'm like, okay. I've signed up for the race. I already have the t-shirt. I already picked up my packet. Right? Like, all I got to do is just hold the little bib out in the rain and go,
look what I did. Right? No one's going to know that I didn't run that race. Like, and I know that there's two or three people that I said I'd be there. And I know that there are people walking around in the rain right now, setting this race up. I made a commitment. I'm going to go run. So I show up to the race, and I run the race. And at first, I'm like, man, I really hate getting wet.
But I'm here to tell you right now, about halfway through that race, I was stepping in every puddle. I was splashing like a small child. I ended. It was miserable. But I did it. When I talk to somebody after the race, they're like, how'd it go? I'm like, eh. They're like, you did it. I'm like, I did it. You know? I mean, I finished. I finished the race. Two miles, nothing but rain, soaking wet.
But I did it. And that's the way it is sometimes when it comes to reading God's Word. Sometimes you've got to say, I made a commitment, and so I'm going to keep the commitment. But here's what you find. Some days, you finish reading God's Word, and you're like, well, I did it. And sometimes, you finish reading God's Word, and you're like, man, thank God I did it.
Because you know what God's Word has done for you. And you'll never get to that place if you don't keep the commitment. And that's what it comes down to sometimes. That's why he says, be diligent. He tells us to be diligent, to present yourself approved to God, a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed, a workman that is approved. The idea is this, a laborer or a workman who has been tested by trial
and found to have passed the test, a workman who has been tested by trial and has been found to have passed the test. That's what we want to be. That's what diligence produces inside of us. Diligence produces inside of us the kind of workman who has been put to the test, and passes the test because they were diligent in the way that they handled themselves.
And what are we the most diligent in? Notice what it says. Accurately handling the Word of truth. Accurately handling the Word of truth. That phrase, accurately handling, means to cut it straight. To cut it straight. It carries with the idea of being precise. Precise in the way that we handle it. And so really what it says here is, to expound it soundly, and to teach it skillfully.
To expound it soundly, and to teach it skillfully. So if we are to be diligent in the way that we handle God's Word, an approved workman in the way that we handle God's Word, and we are to be precise in the way that we handle God's Word, I bet you're asking yourself the question you should ask yourself right now. How do you do that? How do you become someone who handles God's Word accurately?
Who cuts it straight? I'm going to give you three things that I think that you need to do, and I don't think I had them. I'm going to put it up there. So you're going to have to use your listening ears. That's okay. You can do that. Use your listening ears. These aren't going to be hard. Number one, if you're going to handle God's Word accurately, you need to read it.
Now I know that sounds absolutely not earth-shattering at all, but it's kind of like yesterday when someone was saying, how do you get faster as a runner? Listen, runners run. That's how they get faster. There's different variations of it, but runners run. Football players play football. Baseball players play baseball. That's how you get better. There's no secret sauce.
You just do it. And if you want to handle God's Word accurately, you've got to read it. You have to set up a plan for yourself. Either get on the YouVersion Bible and set up a plan, talk to me and set up a plan, figure out what you're going to read through, but set up a plan to read through. But the other part of reading it is you have to choose for yourself
a Bible that you'll read. Everybody says, what's the best translation out there? The one that you'll read. That's the best translation. There's all this argument about it, about which one's the best. Listen, they're all pretty good translations, okay? You choose the one that you read. If you're really new at getting into God's Word, I would highly recommend a New Living translation
because to me it's the most readable of all of the translations. I use it all the time when I study. Like every now and then you come to things and you're like, ooh, that's a good one. What do you mean by that? And so I open up the New Living translation because it says it in words that this not-so-smart guy can understand. Or just get into on the YouVersion Bible
and look at all the different translations. Look at all the different translations and find out which one's the most readable for you. But choose a translation that you'll understand. And then maybe get yourself a study Bible. Invest in a library of a study Bible. And again, there's lots of them. There's the Ryrie Study Bible. There's the Open Bible. There's the Thompson Chain Reference Bible.
The Schofield Study Bible. There's lots of them out there that are really good. Choose one of those because they're going to have cross-references and notes for some of the times when you're a little bit confused about what you're reading. But once you've chosen those things, just get into it. Start reading it because that's the only way that you'll start being able to handle it accurately.
So number one, read it. Number two, read it and study it in context. Read it and study it in context. You know what that means? That means don't just pull out a verse every single day. I hear people say it sometimes. I'm like, how often are you in the Word? Every day. I get the verse of the day on my phone. Listen, there's zero wrong with the verse of the day.
I am not trying to say don't read the verse of the day. I'm saying maybe go ahead and read that guy in context because every now and then, people take verses of the Bible out of context. And the problem about taking a verse out of context is that might not really be what it says, right? And so you have to be careful when you do that. You need to read all of the preceding verses
and all of the verses that come afterwards so that you really understand the context of what's being said. So what I would do, instead of just reading one little verse a day, read a chapter a day. Choose a book to go through, a book of the Bible to go through to where you're actually reading it in context because reading it in context, number one, make sure that it stays accurate. But number two, make sure that you don't skip the hard parts.
Make sure that you don't skip the parts that are going to convict your flesh because those are the parts that you need the most. So number one, you need to read it. Number two, you need to read it and study it in context. But number three, you need to let God's word interpret God's word. That's where a study Bible is really good because it'll give you cross references.
Well, where else does it talk about this? Because you can read one verse and go, hmm, is that really what that says? Oh, you know what? It says this over here, that feels a little bit different. So there must be a balance that I need to find in what this says. Allow God's word to interpret itself. And it's fascinating how it's able to do that. How the Old Testament interprets the New Testament
and the New Testament interprets the Old Testament. So if you will follow those three simple steps, I promise you, you will begin to handle God's word more accurately. And so he says, be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed. Accurately handling the word of truth. So if we're going to be diligent, number one, you got to stay focused.
Number two, you have to handle the word accurately. Number three, you have to avoid worldly chatter. Avoid worldly chatter. Notice what it says in verse 16. But avoid the worldly and empty chatter for it will lead to further ungodliness and their talk will spread like gangrene. And then he has two examples he gives us in just a minute. He says, avoid worldly and empty chatter.
The idea is this, irreverent and empty or profane and unhallowed. Let me give you two really simple words. Immoral teaching and false teaching. You have to avoid those sort of things. There's a lot of immoral teaching out there that tells you you can live however you want to because really we didn't know what we were talking about at one point in time and we've always been overly provincial
in the way that we've handled God's word. That's immoral teaching. It allows sin in where God has always desired holiness. But then there's an incredible amount of false teaching. False teaching oftentimes leads you into legalism or some false idea of who Jesus or the word of God actually is. He says you have to beware of those things. As a matter of fact, he says you have to avoid those things.
That word avoid means, lost my place in my notes here. That word avoid means to shun, or to turn about for the purpose of avoiding. In other words, when you see it, you turn around and go the other way. You push it away. How do you know what's false? How do you know what worldly and empty chatter is? See step two. You see, if you are handling the word of God accurately,
if you are knowing what it says, then that's how you can spot the false. That's how you can spot that which is not genuine because you go, that's not what it says anywhere else in scripture. And usually I find people say, yes, but that's what our tradition says. Yeah, but that's the problem. You see, if the Bible doesn't say it, but your tradition does, I'm always going to go with what the Bible says,
not what your tradition does, or not what your idea says, or not what this newfound spiritual experience is that you have. I'm always going to go with what the Bible says because, well, 2,000 years, we seem to be doing pretty good, right? The Bible's always stood pretty firm. He says avoid worldly and empty chatter. And he tells us two reasons why. Number one,
number two, number one, it leads to further ungodliness. It leads to further ungodliness. That's what happens. When you are believing the false, it leads to an ungodliness in your life. It leads to an ungodliness in the way that you handle yourself. But number two, that sort of thing spreads like gangrene. That's a very vivid picture he gives of what false teaching does,
not only to the life of an individual, but to the life of a church. It's when false teaching starts to spread, it spreads in such a way that it spreads decay and ultimately brings death. So he says you have to beware of these things. And I got to tell you, he's telling a pastor this right now, right? Like Timothy lived with Paul. Timothy lived under the teaching
of one of the best Bible teachers of all time. And yet he's warning him, not only for himself, but for his followers to avoid worldly and empty chatter. That tells me that no one is in a place where you can't end up being harmed by this. That tells me that no one is free from a temptation to fall into false teaching because false teaching will always appeal to our flesh.
Therefore, we will always have a tendency towards it. So you have to hold tight to the truth. And then he gives an example. He says, like or among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth, saying, that the resurrection has already taken place and they have upset the faith of some. I always love that Paul names names, right? Like he has no problem calling people out.
He says, you should be aware of these two guys because that's what happened to them. That's what happened to those two guys is they began to teach false doctrine and now they are led astray and have led other people astray as well. I always tell the story about my friend that I used to be in ministry with up in Kansas City. He was a pastor. He had a pastor that absolutely abandoned the faith,
abandoned his wife and started walking in the world. He's back to being a pastor now but of a very liberal church that doesn't teach the truth. As a matter of fact, he doesn't really believe the Bible is real. And I tell that story lots of different places. And I was speaking at a conference in Emporia and I tell that story and a guy comes up to me afterwards
and he names him to me. I'm like, you know him? He goes, not only do I know him, I have to confront him almost every day. Because I see him. He said, I was there when the whole thing happened and I watched the slow decline in his life as I watched him slip away from the truth of doctrine and into liberal theology to where ultimately he fell into sin. He goes,
I know his wife and I know the pain that she's going through right now. Why? Because that guy did not avoid worldly and empty chatter. He allowed himself to be led astray by false doctrine, false doctrine that appealed to his, to his flesh, that'll let him do whatever he wanted to do. That'll let him have an affair and leave his wife and leave his church. And he's completely justified in it in his own mind
because he didn't avoid the worldly and empty chatter because it led to further ungodliness. Brothers and sisters, it's a warning for us. Now, lest your hearts be too heavy about this warning, let's come to the next one. Number four, he says to be holy. Ryan, that doesn't feel less heavy. Hang with me. Verse 19. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands.
We'll get into the rest of be holy in just a second, but can we just camp here for just a couple minutes? Because I love this because after Paul just gave this incredibly sharp warning about what can happen if you don't maintain the truth, if you don't stand strong on the truth, after he gives this warning, he reminds Timothy that the firm foundation of God stands. I want to read this to you out of, I think it was the Weiss translation. I love this.
It said, the immovable foundation of God has always stood and at the present continues to stand. Isn't that great? God's foundation cannot be taken down because it has always stood the test of time. It is currently standing the test of time and it will always stand the test of time because God's foundation is unshakable. And I love this because Paul borrows language from Jesus here.
Do you remember what Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount? At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, towards the end of Matthew chapter seven, Jesus says, now, whoever hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him unto a man who has built his house upon a rock. The rains came down, the wind blew, and the storm beat on that house, but the house stood because it was built on a rock. Anyone who hears these words of mine and does not believe, do them, I will liken him unto a man who has built his house on the sand.
The same rain came down, the same winds blew, the same storm beat against the house, only that house fell because its foundation was not on the rock. Brothers and sisters, you can't tear down the foundation of Jesus Christ. The question is, are you gonna build your house on it? Are you gonna build your house on what it says? Are you gonna build your house on what it says?
Are you gonna build your house on what it says? Are you gonna accurately handle the word and then build your life on that word? Because when you do, I promise you, nothing can shake the house. I have watched the people in this congregation go through incredibly hard things and their house has continued to stand. Do you know why their house has continued to stand?
Is it because they're such strong individuals? No, it's because their house is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. And they have been building their house on that foundation for years. And because of that, nothing shakes them. Does it try to shake them? 100%. Do they still stand? Yep. You know why? Because it's built on the rock. Paul says, nevertheless,
the firm foundation of God always stands. He goes on to say this. He says, and this is the seal. The Lord knows those who are his and everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness. In other words, on the foundation, of every house that stands, there are two different seals. On one side is the seal of the Lord knows those who are his.
And on the other side is the seal of those who call on the name of the Lord abstain from every kind of evil. One is what God does. The other is what we do. And that's the foundation that we're built on. On God's perspective, when we come to know him, he says, I always knew you. You're one of mine. And I know those who are mine. Can we just for a moment just say,
thank God that he knows me. You see, it's not important whether or not I know you. It's not important whether or not I know God. The important thing is whether or not he knows me. And he does. As a matter of fact, it's not important that I know God's name. What's important is that he knows my name. I'm on his favorites list. And you're on his favorites list
if you're a believer in Jesus Christ today. And he knows you. And that's the foundation that we stand upon is that I am known by the Savior who gave his life for me and created me. But on the other side of that foundation is the seal that those who belong to Jesus those who call on the name of the Lord abstain from every kind of evil. In other words, the foundation that we stand on
is that our lives are continuing to walk away from the evil and walk towards Jesus. Walk away from the sin and walk towards God because that's the indication that you really belong to God. I have people ask me sometimes, Ryan, how do I know if I really belong to Jesus? How do I know if I'm really his? And one of the tests that I give them is is your life walking away from the things of sin
and towards the things of God at least in your desires. I'm not saying you're ever going to be perfect. We're always going to stumble because we live in a body of flesh. But are you daily walking, making every effort to walk away from sin and walk towards Jesus? Like, yeah. I'm like, well, then you belong to him because the person that doesn't belong to Jesus
they can't identify sin. They don't know what's sin. All they know is to pursue their flesh. That's all they know how to do until God begins to do. His work in their life. And they realize this is sin. This is not sin. I'm tired of walking in sin. I want to walk with God. Those who belong to him, they're walking away from the things of sin. And they're walking towards that firm foundation of God.
He says the firm foundation stands. And then he goes on to talk about this aspect of holiness. And he says this, verse 20. Now in a large house, there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and earthenware. Sometimes, some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor,
sanctified and useful to the master, prepared for every good work. Paul uses this image of a household that's full of all kinds of vessels, right? Some of them are beautiful vessels that are used for great service, you know, gold and silver and beautiful things that are used for very honorable things. And then there's very common vessels in the house. Vessels that are used for,
for, for very, very common things that are, that are almost unholy, but they're still necessary. He says there's those kinds of vessels in the house. Let me give you Ryan's perspective on this. There's glasses that I drink out of, and then there's the toilet. Which one are you? Right? I mean, there's two different kinds of vessels that hold water in my house.
Which one am I going to be? Well, if I want to be a vessel for honor, then I need to cleanse myself. If I want to be a vessel usable by God, then I need to cleanse myself. And we must understand, we can't cleanse ourselves from sin. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can do that. So if that's not the kind of cleansing that he's talking about, what kind of cleansing is he talking about?
He is talking about the daily surrendering of ourselves to godly use, not the daily surrendering of ourselves to common use. We have to understand that in our lives, if you are set apart unto God, act like you're set apart unto God. Don't give yourself over to the common things if God has, has decided that, you should be used for uncommon things. Don't give yourself over to the fleshly things if God has said you are to be used for holy things, right?
Don't use your good shoes to go mow the lawn in. That's what the parents used to tell us, right? Those are, those are good things. He says, cleanse yourself, make yourself usable by God by living a sanctified life, set apart unto God. He goes on to explain what he means by that in the next verse. He says, now, verse 26, 22, flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness,
faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. He says, if you, if you want to cleanse yourself, if you want to be usable by God, there's one major thing you should do. Flee youthful lusts. Now again, he's writing to Timothy, who's a young man at this point in time, a young man in his forties, nothing makes me happier than knowing that Timothy is a young man in his forties, young man in his forties.
He tells him to flee youthful lusts. Now, I think that there's one thing that most of us think about with this, and I'm going to address that, but, but I think that there's other things besides just that one area that he deals with, but we'll deal with, we'll deal with the, the elephant in the room first. He says, flee youthful lusts. I think the first thing he means by that is that we're supposed to flee from sexual sin.
We're supposed to flee from sexual sin. This continues to be an issue in our culture. It continues to be an issue for pastors. It continues to be an issue for men, for women, for young, for old. It doesn't seem to matter. This issue seems to affect just about everybody. And we need to realize something. What we're dealing with in our culture today is not new.
And sometimes we try to forgive ourselves by saying, well, listen, we live in a different culture than they did back then. No, we don't. We live in the exact same culture that they did back then, which is why it had to be written about 2000 years ago, which is why, and almost every epistle it has to be dealt with because the issue of sexual sin is something that always was dealt with in the culture because once sin entered the world, every aspect of sin entered the world. And whether it's the book of Genesis, whether it's the book of Isaiah, whether it's the book of Matthew, or whether it's the book of Revelation, the same thing's being addressed in all of those books over a 4,000 year span, sexual sin.
And now 2000 years after the writing of the book of Revelation, we're in the exact same place. We're still dealing with it. And it has to be put away in our culture. It has to be put away in the church because what statistics tell us is the percentage of people in the church that are dealing with sexual sin is not a ton different than the percentage of people in the world that are dealing with it.
That tells us that if we want to see change in the world, we better clean our own house first. We better clean our own vessel first. And so he addresses this issue and he says, flee, youth, full lesson. I want you to notice that word that he uses there. He doesn't say, hang in there and fight against it. Stand strong against youthful lust. Stand strong against sexual sin.
No, he says, get the heck out of Dodge. Run as far as you can from it. Joseph, of course, gives us the best picture of this. You know, here's Joseph, this, this young man who is being constantly propositioned by, by an older woman who is undoubtedly a good looking woman because of the position that she held in culture at that point in time. And she's propositioning him every single day and giving him,
every opportunity to partake in sexual sin that she says she'll never tell anybody about for all intents and purposes. He could have gotten away with it and would have been justified in doing so in the culture. And yet, what did he do every day? He said, no, no, no. Until finally it got so great that all he could do was run. And he ran so fast, so hard that he lost his garment in the process.
She ripped his coat off of him. And he said, I don't care. I got to run because he loved his God too much because, he respected his, his master too much. And because he was too much about his master's master's business. And because he respected himself so much, he ran from it. And that's what we have to do. This is the one sin that we're not told to fight. It's the only sin we're told to run from.
And so he says, flee youthful less. But you know, I think that this is a more all encompassing thing that he tells us to flee from because there's other things than just sexual sin that we deal with. So I wrote down three other things. I think that as people, one of the other sins that we have to run from is the sin of impatience. Right? And we love to talk about this with young people.
Oh, young people are so impatient. They can't wait for anything. You know who else is impatient? I love you all, the old people. Old people are incredibly impatient people. Listen, I deal with you all the time, right? Sorry. But it's just true. It doesn't matter how old you are. We are impatient people. And sometimes you've got to flee from that. You've got to decide you're going to be a patient individual.
Let God work in his time. Let people work in their time. Give people patience that they need. We've got to flee. We've got to flee from impatience. The next thing that we need to flee from is we've got to flee from materialism. Right? We continue to live in this culture. We're heading towards Christmas time, right? Like Halloween's what? Is that Friday? Is Friday Halloween?
Yeah, I think it is. And so listen, last year on Halloween day, Halloween night, I met the Shields, right? And, and because I really don't like Halloween. That's a whole other study in and of itself. But I know a lot of people disagree with me on that. It's okay. You're entitled to be wrong. But, but, but I'm in the Shields. And as I'm looking at a sweet pair of sneakers,
all of a sudden I hear, Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock. I'm like, it is Halloween still. Don't we have 24 more hours till that starts? Isn't it after Halloween? And one of the Shields workers just goes, I don't know what happened. It just started today. It was actually kind of scary to me. I don't even know who turned it on. There has just been Christmas music playing in here all afternoon.
You know why Christmas is such a, such a great holiday? Why everybody loves it so much? Materialism. It's what everybody is looking forward to. We're about to have Thanksgiving. That's that little holiday that takes place a month before Christmas. A lot of people don't realize it's in there. A lot of stores don't like to pretend it's in there, but we turkey on that day.
It's a great day, right? And right after we give thanks, what do we do the day after that? We shop, right? Everybody's, we've stopped giving thanks and now we're angry because we didn't get our big screen TV. And we have to flee that. We have to flee that. We have to flee that and become people who are content. That's what God tells us we're supposed to do.
But then the last thing I think that we have to flee from is we got to flee from arrogance. Listen, this is another problem in the church today. C.S. Lewis calls this the great sin. Pride is the great sin. Arrogance is the one thing that we are blind in to ourselves, but we hate in everybody else. It's the one sin that we can't see in us, but we can't stand on anyone that's around us.
And it's the one sin, that will ultimately keep us from God. And we have to flee from that. Young or old, male or female, it doesn't matter who you are, arrogance can take us all down. My favorite thing is when I see people who have nothing to be arrogant about being incredibly arrogant. I'm like, where does that even come from with you? Like you got nothing going on,
and yet you're arrogant. We have to flee from it because that's a turn off to everybody around us. He says, flee youthful us. But I love what he does here because he doesn't just tell us what to run from. He tells us what to run to. He says, flee youthful us, but now pursue. And he says to pursue a handful of things. Number one, he says to pursue righteousness.
Righteousness there is right living. It's kind of like the breastplate of righteousness. It's not a righteous standing in God, because that's gifted to us by faith. He's talking about right living. In other words, living a righteous life. Pursue living a righteous life. So what that means is, if I'm struggling with sexual sin, then I need to pursue a pure life.
That's righteous living. If I'm struggling with impatience, then I need to pursue a patient slowed down life. If I'm struggling with materialism, I need to pursue contentment. If I'm struggling with arrogance, I need to pursue humility. That's why he says, pursue righteousness. But not only are we to pursue righteousness, we're to pursue faith. Not just the faith,
but faith in God. Pursue a life of faith. I have a question for you. I didn't ask this first service, but I thought about it between the services. When's the last time you took a step of faith? When God was like, listen, I want you to do this, and the only way it's going to work is if I do it, but this is what I want you to do. And if I don't do it, you'll flop, you'll fail.
It'll be the biggest failure anybody's ever seen. Probably the greatest failure anybody's ever seen before. But I want you to take a step of faith. When's the last time you did that in your life? Because that's what he means by pursuing faith. It's not only the faith, like your understanding of the faith, but it's a life of faith. We've gotten a little too comfortable
in the Western culture. Can we all agree with that? Like if it's not all prepared for us, if everything's not ready to go for us, I'm not ready to take that step. And sometimes God's like, listen, why don't you just take one little step into the water and you watch how I'm able to make you walk on it. Oftentimes we want to build bridges where God wants to part the waters.
When's the last time you took that step of faith? He says, pursue faith. And then he says to pursue love, a lifestyle of loving other people, and then to pursue peace. But he says to do all of those in community. Notice what it says in the verse 22, with those who call on the name of the Lord from a pure heart. That tells me that if you are going to flee from immorality,
if you're going to flee youthful lust, and you're going to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, we're to do that in community. You know why? Because one of the things that the gospel does is it restores relationships. But one of the other things that the gospel does is it creates transparency. Do you know the first thing that happened to Adam and Eve
after they sinned? The first thing they did? They hid. Why? Because they knew they'd sinned, and they were full of shame. That shame caused them to hide. It caused them to want to conceal themselves. Why did they make coverings for themselves? Because the righteousness that they were clothed in, the transparency that they had because of the righteousness of God,
was now gone. And so they wanted to hide themselves. And that hiding not only took place physically, that hiding took place spiritually. And they've passed that on to the rest of us through sin. Sin causes us to not be transparent with each other because of our guilt and our shame. Well, if we've been set free, free from guilt and shame, we can now be transparent with each other.
We can now be honest with each other. And one of the things that happens with the gospel is, I can be honest about my failures with you, you can be honest about your failures with me, and then we'll pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace together. But we can't do that unless we're transparent with each other, unless we're honest with each other. That's why small groups are really important.
That's why whole Bible studies are really important because you get a smaller group of people that you can be transparent with, that you can be real with, that you can be honest with, and you can pursue that together. Because we were never intended to pursue God as just an individual. We were always intended to do it in community. That's why the first thing that God said about Adam was, it's not good that he's alone.
I'll make someone that's suitable for him. And so he says, pursue those things in community. And so, if we're gonna be diligent, number one, you gotta stay focused. Number two, you gotta handle the word accurately. Number three, you have to avoid worldly chatter. Number four, you have to be holy. But number five, diligence requires being kind. Being kind. Notice what he says in verse 23.
But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome. If we're gonna be kind, you have to avoid the constant arguments. You have to avoid being the person that always wants to pick a fight. You gotta quit being the person that wants to argue with everybody that comes along. And you gotta start being a little bit peaceable
in the way you handle yourself. I was told at the first service, I sat on a board with a guy one time. And this guy could have agreed with you five minutes before, but once he found out that you agreed with him, he was going to argue with you and take the other position. It was the most irritating thing. Board meetings lasted for stinking ever, because he had to argue with everybody.
And I'm like, bro, you agreed with me like five minutes ago. Where have we gone wrong? But I think he just liked arguing. Listen, that's not a good leader, nor is it a good witness. Because if we are to be peaceable, which we are, then we have to avoid quarrels. We have to avoid being the person who wants to argue with everybody, right? Second part of being kind is this,
the statement itself, and be kind to all. Be kind to all. I wanna point two things out about that. The first is the word kindness, which carries with it the idea of meekness and gentleness. And I think that's one of the things that's missing in the conservative church today. It's the one thing that the liberal church gets right. I know, I know, three of you just popped your heads up,
and you're like, it's the one thing that the liberal church gets right, is to be kind. The problem is they are kind at the expense of the truth. You can be kind in the truth. But one of the things that the conservative church misses is that we have no problem telling people that they're wrong. Sometimes we struggle to do it in a nice way. And kindness is what we're supposed to show to people.
And notice the second word that says who we're to be kind to. All. You know what the word all in the Greek means? All, right? That means whether you like them, whether you agree with them, even if they are completely opposed to you, you continue to show kindness to them. You know why? Because eventually that kindness will pay off, because it is his kindness that led us to repentance,
and it's our kindness that can lead other people to repentance. I've watched it happen. I've watched it happen over and over again. The third thing he tells us is that you must be patient when wronged. You must be patient when wronged. This is really hard to do. But one of the things you learn as a leader is being a leader invites the opportunity to be a villain in someone's story.
I know I'm the villain in some people's stories. And you look at me and you think, how could you be the villain in anyone's story, Ryan? You're such a nice, lovable sort of guy. I think so too! Sometimes I tick people off. Usually if I have to confront them about something. But sometimes you make people mad, and I'm the villain in some people's stories. And I always know in those moments I have a choice to make.
I can either go around putting out all the fires, and trying to tell everybody, no, no, no, that's not true, that's not true, that's not true. Or I could let God do that for me, and just be patient when I'm wronged. And I find that if I do option A, I wear myself out. If I do option B and let God handle it, and me just be patient when wronged, he's way better at it than I am.
Because he's really good at letting the truth come out. And he's really good at handling people. And he'll do it much more graciously than I would. So be patient when you're wronged. And then the fourth part of being kind is to correct gently. Notice what it says in verse 25. With gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition. If perhaps God may grant them repentance,
leading to the knowledge of the truth, and that they may come to their senses, and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. We have to correct people gently. We have to do that within the church. Because nobody likes to be confronted with something that they've done wrong. Nobody likes to be told that they're doing something wrong.
And if you do it harshly, there's a really good chance that you'll burn a bridge that you'll never be able to rebuild. Instead, he tells us that we're to do it, to do it gently. Because the purpose of confrontation is always restoration. The purpose of confrontation is always to bring people to repentance. And so he says, correct people gently. And that's within the church.
Now let's think about people outside of the church that we have to correct. That we have to say, hey, this is what sin really looks like. And the biggest thing that we have to remember in those situations is what he said in verse 26. That they have been held captive by the devil to do his will. They've been held captive by the devil to do his will. Listen, when you see the average person on the street
that is living a life of abject sin, we have to understand something about that individual. They are held captive by the enemy. And so the way that you approach them is incredibly important. Because you have to approach them like a prisoner of war, not like they are the enemy. And so to do that, you have to do so gently. Because they've been held captive their entire life by sin.
So to do so gently means to not hold back on the truth, but to present it in a palatable way. In the Proverbs it says, the truth is only as good as the way in which you present it. So you have to present it in a palatable, understandable way. And with the heart to see somebody restored. Because we have to understand something about God. It's his desire that none should perish,
but that all should come to everlasting life. That doesn't mean that everyone is going to, but it means that's his desire. And we also know of God that judgment is his strange work, because mercy is his bent. Therefore for us, judgment should be our strange work, and mercy should always be our bent in the way that we handle people. I have found that if you are gentle with people,
they tend to be gentle back with you. It's almost like the Bible knows exactly what it's talking about. Because it says in the Proverbs that a gentle answer turns away wrath. And that it is kindness that leads us to repentance. Brothers and sisters, if we're to be diligent, we should be diligent in our kindness. But all of these things begin with an understanding
of accurately handling God's word. Because as we accurately handle God's word, it will create in us the heart to be diligent in every other part of our lives. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come before you. And Lord, I thank you for the truth of your word. Lord, I thank you that your word always proves itself to be true. And Lord, that the foundation
can never be shaken. And so Lord, as Jesus declared to his disciples after the Sermon on the Mount, he who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a man that builds his house on a rock. And so Lord, may we take this truth of your word and not just hear it, Lord, but do it so that our houses too can be built on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ. And so Father, be with us as we go out from this place.
And may the truth of your word sink deeply into us and becomes a part of the fabric of everything that we are. In Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed. Christ is my firm foundation. The rock on which I stand. And everything around me is shaking.
I just thank you that you will. When we fall short, always faithful, God. We thank you that you are always there for us. Oh, God, you are always there for us. You are always working on our behalf, Lord, God. We thank you that you are always working in our lives. And Father, as we leave here today, I just pray that your Holy Spirit go with us and continue to minister to us.
We love you and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.