Faithful to the Word, Part 1

All right, good morning. It's good to see you all. I'm glad you're here. Good to see you all survive the snowpocalypse. I want to invite you to stand with us. Pray and we'll get started. Lord, we just thank you for the day. God, we just thank you for another opportunity, Lord, to be here, to spend some time in your word, Lord, and to lift just praise. Lord, we just thank you for another opportunity. Lord, just help us to set everything

else aside that's going on in our lives, Lord, God, and to focus on you. God, to give all glory and honor due to you, God. We ask your blessing upon this time, Lord. We love you and we praise you in your name. Amen. Love surrounds me. In you there is victory, God. There's victory over sin and over death, Lord. Mercy never fails me. In all my days, I've been held in your love.

From the moment that I wake up. Until I lay my head. I will sing of the goodness of God. Oh, God. I will sing of your goodness, oh, God. Lord, God, we just thank you for how when we fail, Lord, you are still good and you're still kind and you are still faithful, Lord, God. You still love us. Sing that chorus with me one more time. And so, so, I will sing of your goodness, oh, God.

Lord, God, again, we just thank you for how good you are, Lord. We have a million reasons, Lord, God, to sing of your goodness. Oh, God, to abide. Oh, God, you are our source of life. Lord, God. Without you, we are no one that gives us our next breath. You're the one that gives us each day. So, God, forgive us if we thought that we are here by our own efforts and abilities, Lord, God.

Or when it's truly all you, God help us to remain in you. You are our source of life. We thank you for that, Lord. us a strength and our source of life stand with me for this last one so god has reached for me being seen i am safe on the solid how much you love us that we just give you praise for or for sending your son to be our salvation lord to to be rightfully deserve taking the beating and the suffering lord the condemnation that we rightfully deserve lord god we thank you lord i ask that you would move mightily this morning i want to leave this morning god the same i was when i walked in what i want to leave talking about what you've done in my life so lord come this morning and move mightily in our lives or god let people be talking about

what you've done this morning and father we love you god we praise you we thank you in jesus name amen let's have some fellowship good morning if you could begin to locate your seat grab a bulletin we'll get ready to go over some announcements welcome to calvary chapel i'm glad that you have joined 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 so find yourself a spot to get plugged into you're going to love it it's going to be great over the middle section of your bulletin they had to put off the start of the grief share group because well the weather hated us last week and um i don't think the skies are angry anymore

so that'll that'll pick up this week also a reminder uh there's still about three or four spots left on the uh experiencing god uh bible study list out there so ladies if uh you want to get plugged into that starts march the 3rd and all the info is on the table out there and then they also had to move the hope worship night uh to this coming thursday the 27th really looking forward to that should be a great time to worship god together as a community seven o'clock at venue 208 and then uh one thing that did not make it into your bulletin on march the 15th we are going to do our second annual march madness uh fundraiser uh kind of family fun night um is janna here are you no she's not okay uh janna lumber's putting this together i'm assuming

i'll tell if she's watching online i'll have a message when i'm done um i'm assuming that she is getting some basketball teams together and we'll probably do like some food and so you'll get a certain amount of money to get in eat some food and then we'll watch probably some of the best basketball you're ever going to watch in your entire life of the middle-aged men and the teenagers uh here in calvary chapel of ark city uh playing basketball and the goal is to raise some money not only for our agape fruits meal ministry but also for our youth group that's going to be going to young christians weekend uh in a few weeks so uh but it's a great time uh to be together so

uh take note of that mark your calendars uh lots of good lots of good stuff let's see is she's sending me a message right no that's dick sporting goods i don't care about that all right and then of course we have our memory verse of the month first timothy 115 in there and then if you are interested in keeping up with us reading through the bible together that's on the back flap of this bulletin so uh if you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced and for our responsive reading this morning we're going to be in psalm 23 psalm 23 looking at the new american standard for this part so that we hopefully all sound the same if you need a copy of a new american standard

we're going to be in the front row around you there's two really lonely ones right up here in this front row if anybody needs one other than that make a friend and as you are turning to psalm 23 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 23 a psalm of david the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he makes me lie down in green pastures he leads me beside quiet waters he restores my soul he guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake even though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff

they comfort me you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies you have anointed my head with oil and my cup overflows surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life and i will dwell in the house of the lord forever and father we thank you that that's who you are for us lord you are our good shepherd father the one who leads us who guides us corrects us when we need corrected restores us when we come to you in repentance lord the god who loves us and provides for us and so father as we take time to be in your word this morning i just ask that you would minister to us by the power of your holy spirit father that your spirit would

move through this time and do what only your spirit can do throughout your word in jesus name amen you may be seated and if you would open up in your bibles to the book of first timothy chapter one first timothy chapter one we started last weekend of first timothy and first and second timothy as well as the book of titus which are the next three books are all considered what's called pastoral epistles for two reasons one because they are written to young pastors the guys that will pastor the the church not only in ephesus that's timothy but and titus will pastor the church in they're written to young pastors but ultimately the reason why they're called pastoral epistles is because they are instructions

for the church instructions for how the church is supposed to run how the church is supposed to function because paul knew that his days on earth were becoming numbered he was getting older and he wanted to make sure that he had passed along to uh to the to the churches that he had started the uh the information that they would need the doctrine that they would need the teaching that they would need in order to run a church properly and so we said that ultimately the theme really of these three epistles which i stole absolutely from warren weirsby is be faithful and so this first chapter that we look at he's going to tell us to be faithful to the word he's going to tell us to be faithful to the the truth of the word

to the gospel of the word and to the good fight of the word of god and so we pick up in chapter one verse three and it says this as i urged you upon my departure from macedonia remain on at ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of god which is by faith but the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith for some men having strayed from these things have turned aside to fruitless discussion wanting to be the teachers of the law even though they don't understand either what they are saying

or the matters about which they are speaking and so we pick up in chapter one verse three and we look at the word and we will take under account that the word of the gospel is the same to the word of the church it is the other way around in a way that though some may have learned from the gospel the truth is that the truth is not from one of the verses but from the word of the gospel we are to be the witnesses who are to be the witnesses who are to be the witnesses of good news and truth that is the great grace in which they make confident assertions but we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully realizing the fact that the law is not made for a righteous person but for those who are lawless and rebellious for the ungodly and sinners

gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. The chapter on the word is ultimately going to break down, or this section that we covered on this first part of the word, talking about the truth, is going to break down three ways. He's going to give Timothy the charge, he's going to give the purpose, and then he's going to tell the problem with not following that charge. And so as we start in verse 3, he says, as I urged you, this is Paul speaking to Timothy, as I urged you when I left Macedonia, continue on, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct the men. As I urged you, remain at Ephesus. The first thing that he tells them is

he gives them this charge, and the charge is to continue on in the place where he had been called. Paul, after he was released from that Roman imprisonment that you read about at the end of Acts chapter 20, had gone and gone back to the churches that he had started and was ministering to those churches. He had gone back to the churches that he had started and was ministering to those churches. And as he was ministering to those churches, he left Timothy behind in Ephesus to continue on the work. And the work that Timothy was left to do in Ephesus was a difficult work for

him to do. As a matter of fact, in the book of Acts chapter 20, Paul had told the Ephesian elders, after I leave, there will come some who will rise up even from amongst your own ranks and who will lead you into falsehood. They will teach you not sound doctrine. And so you need to be aware of that. And that's why Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus to continue on in the place where he had been called.

Because there were false teachers that had arisen, and Timothy had a hard job that he had to do. And remember, we described Timothy last week. Timothy was sort of a nervous guy. He was easily intimidated, and he struggled with maybe a little bit of anxiety, right? Like, add in a bald head and an overactive bladder, and you've got me, right? That's who Timothy was. And so I understand

when he tells them, hey, remain on where you are. Stay in Ephesus. I know it's hard there. I know this is a difficult job for you to do, but I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. But this is where you need to be, and it leads me to bring a point of personal application to us.

Friends, God calls us to do hard things. And when God calls us to do hard things, we have to stay about the task of the hard thing that he has called for us to do. Listen, there are lots of hard things that God calls for us to do, and our natural tendency is to want to run. I would like to say that that's a new thing, that that's a 21st century thing. But Paul in the

first century is writing to Timothy and saying, don't run. Don't run from the hard thing. Don't run from the hard thing that you've been called to do. Don't run from the hard ministry that you've been called to do, because God calls us to do really hard things that he empowers us to do. And I can appreciate this, because I have a tendency to want to run. I remember early on,

right after Bible college, I had graduated. Life was kind of hard. I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing. And so I had this run mentality. I moved about three times in a period of about a year, because I couldn't figure out where I was supposed to be, because everywhere I'd go, it was hard. And finally, I'd moved to Kansas City, and I'd moved to Kansas City, and I'd moved to Kansas City,

and I'd gotten a job at the retirement community that I affectionately refer to as the Wrinkle Ranch. And as I was doing groundskeeping there, it started to get hard, because it was wintertime. And being a groundskeeper in the wintertime, listen, it ain't awesome, okay? That's just all there is to it. And I remember saying, I think I'm supposed to move. I think I'm supposed to go

somewhere else. And I praise God for people like my mother and my father in my life, because they said to me, you will stay where you are for one year, and you will do the hard thing, and you will finish the hard thing. And at that point in time, I was like, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to If God's telling you to move, we'll support you 100%. Until then, stay here and do the hard thing.

And I appreciated that in my life, because I needed that at that point in time, because I was in this run mentality. And I got to tell you, ever since that point in time, when I find myself wanting to run, and sometimes I find myself wanting to run, God says, no, stay here and do the hard thing. Because I'm here to tell you right now, just complete transparency on the part of Ryan, being a pastor is a hard thing to do. I was listening to Chuck Swindoll teach on this one time.

And he said, I sat on a panel with some other pastors. Matter of fact, one of them was Chuck Smith, the guy that started Calvary Chapels. He said, it was me, Chuck Smith, and he named two other pastors. I can't remember who they were at the time. But he said, somebody gave us a question. They said, what do you do every Monday morning? What's your Monday morning look like? He said,

two of the pastors answered, and Chuck Smith answered. He says, well, you know, we teach straight through the Bible. So Monday morning, I just pick up where I left off and start studying. And Chuck said, it came to me to answer. And I looked at him, and I'm like, how are you guys so much better than me? Every Monday morning, I write a resignation letter to the church. And I'm like,

resignation letter? Because I don't want to keep doing this. It's hard. And I'm pretty sure I'm getting fired anyway. And that's the way we feel sometimes in life, isn't it? Like, maybe you're sitting here today, and you're like, my marriage is hard. I think I'm just going to run. My job is hard. I'm just going to run. Being a student is hard. I'm just going to run. It's hard to be where

I am. It's hard to do what God's called for me to do. And since it's hard, it must not be from God. So I'm just going to run. And I got a word for you this morning. Stay where you are. Do what God has called for you to do. And when God's ready to move you, He will do two things. He will reveal it through His Word, and He will confirm it through other people. Because that's

what God does throughout Scripture, is He shows you in His Word, and He confirms it through other people. And that's when you'll know it's time to go. But until then, stay where you are, and do the hard thing. Amen? And so he says, Timothy, remain on Ephesus. And this is what he wanted him to do. So that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrine, nor to pay attention

to myths and endless genealogies which give rise to speculation. He tells them to instruct the people. The word instruct sounds really nice in this translation, doesn't it? Makes you think of maybe like a professor. You know, maybe like a guy in a smoking jacket with a sweet pipe who's ready to give you some sort of instruction about things that you're going to need to know. That's

not the idea of the word. It's actually a portion of the Bible. It's not the idea of the word. It's translation of the word. I actually prefer the New King James translation of the word, which is charge them. Because the idea behind the word to instruct or to charge is to give a command like that of a commanding officer. Command like a commanding officer. In other words, he was

supposed to bring the heat. He was supposed to bring the fire. He was supposed to nail some people to the wall. And I want you to think about something. Timothy, who is nervous, who is easily intimidated, who is anxious by nature, has to now go and confront the Lord. And he's going to confront. Did you notice what it said? He didn't just say give a sermon about this. He said go and

instruct certain men. In other words, Timothy was going to know who he was talking about. Timothy was going to know that there were certain men and he needed to go to them and he needed to tell them, stop. Stop teaching strange doctrine. He said, this is what I want you to do. I want you to instruct them. I want you to command them to stop teaching strange doctrine. What does he

mean by strange doctrine? Well, strange doctrine in this sense is not the idea of, of something that is completely unbiblical, completely anti-biblical altogether. No, Kenneth Wiest in his commentary says this, strange doctrine poses as Christian, but it ultimately is opposed to Christian doctrine. It poses as Christian, but it is ultimately opposed to Christian doctrine. You understand what I'm saying? The problem with

false teaching is not that it is 100% false. It's that it has 95% truth and 5% error. But the 5% error that's in there will destroy you because the 5% error that's in there will pull you away from Jesus. You see, a lot of false teachings that are out there, whether it be Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, even Catholicism, I know this is going to be really unpopular, even Catholicism, the problem with strange doctrines like those is you will agree with them on morality. You will

agree with them on respect. You will agree with them on a whole lot of things, but you'll always miss one thing. And the one thing that you'll miss is Jesus. Because they have a different Jesus than you have. Because they have a different understanding of Jesus than you do. And because of that, it is 100% false. But it is strange doctrine. Now, when he says this, it's interesting because throughout the pastoral epistles, 32 times

doctrine and teaching are mentioned. 32 times in three short little books. That should tell us something about those three short little books. And that's that doctrine and teaching is important. Most of the time, we hear doctrine and we think, snooze fest, right? Like, that doesn't sound fun at all. Nobody's like, where are you going this weekend to a doctrinal dissertation? Well, I'm

really sorry to hear that, right? But that's kind of what this is. It's teaching the truth. Because you see, we need to understand that doctrine and practice go hand in hand. Because if you don't know the right things, then you can't believe the right things, which means that you can't practice the right things. And so these have to work together. Your doctrine has to be correct.

Otherwise, your practice, will always be false. And so he tells them this doctrine is important and you need to pay attention to the doctrine. And so don't let them teach strange doctrine. But then he goes on to tell them something else. He says, and also, don't pay attention to myths and endless genealogies which give rise to speculation. Don't give in to myths and endless genealogies that give rise

to speculation. Okay, now, some of these things that he's saying are true, but just don't look at them. I have a book of a book called The Lord is True. And I've written about how Jewish titleators, the Bible teachers, disagree on what the myths and genealogies are, right? I read five different opinions on this. Some said it was Gnosticism, some said it was Jewish mysticism, some said it was a mix of the two,

some said it was somehow finding the biblical numerology of the Old Testament and turning it into doctrine, or even spiritualizing, or allegorizing all of the Old Testament. And so, if that many scholars disagree on it, I start going, maybe we need to talk about it. It just needs to be focus on that. we need to pay less attention to the specific words, fables and endless genealogies, or myths and endless genealogies, and pay more attention to the principle.

You know what the principle that he's giving us here is? Don't give in to silly distractions and controversies. Don't give in to silly distractions and controversies. As a matter of fact, the word speculation there literally means controversy. And I'm here to tell you right now, if we're good at anything at the church, it's being distracted by controversies, right?

So I've been thinking about this, and I thought, what are some of the controversies that we tend to get distracted by? So I started making a list. As I started making the list, I'm like, I'm gonna offend somebody with this list. So I was talking to my wife, and I said, well, I mean, do I use this list? And she goes, I mean, it seems like if that's what it is,

that's what you ought to do. And then I got to thinking and praying about it, and I thought, what did Paul tell Timothy to do? He told them, he told Timothy, command them not to give in to these things. And so if Timothy, a really timid, nervous guy, had to get up and call it out, well then, so does this nervous guy. So let me give you my list. And if I don't offend you in the first one,

I'll probably get you by the last one, okay? These are some of the controversies that we as the church tend to fall into. Number one, who's the Antichrist, right? Like, that's always one of the big ones. Every new world leader that pops up, everybody's like, he must be the Antichrist. The only person I've not seen everybody say this must be the Antichrist is Joe Biden.

And everybody was convinced that dude was not the Antichrist, right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? He's not taking over the world. That's all that there is to it. So that's the first one, Antichrist. We're all debating about who that's supposed to be. And you know what? The fact of the matter is, it doesn't matter who the Antichrist is because I'm not looking for the Antichrist.

I'm looking for Jesus Christ, right? So that's the first one. Second was the mark of the beast. Everything's the mark of the beast. You ever notice that? I remember when the vaccine for COVID first came out. And I literally watched this Bible teacher. And the longer he talked, the more I was like, boy, that feels really weird. And he convinced us through the naming

of the palisades and all that. And all these kinds of things. Like the vaccine is the mark of the beast. And if you take it, it is the mark of the beast. Listen, the vaccine was not the mark of the beast. Okay? That's just all that there is to it. I remember when I was a real little kid and the Dillon's shopper cards came out. You guys remember that? And everybody was just like,

oh, it's all of your personal information. It's on your Dillon's shopper card. That's the mark of the beast. No, it's a sweet way to use coupons, right? Like that's what the Dillon's shopper card is. It's not the mark of the beast, okay? But we get into these controversies. And you know how you can always tell a controversy? You know how you can always tell

that that's the most important thing to the person? That's all they can talk about. You ever been around somebody like that? That every conversation always goes back to that controversy. Every conversation goes back to that little pet doctrine. When I led college ministry, there was a group of guys that showed up at one point in time and they were Calvinists.

Which by the way, I'm gonna offend some Calvinists in here. This is another one that sometimes can end up becoming a controversy. That's all you can talk about, right? If you don't know what Calvinism is, don't worry about it, just study the Bible, it's okay. But these guys showed up and I was like, what's off about them? It feels like they're really kind of distracted by some things.

And then one of them asked me, so what do you think about Romans 9, 10, and 11? I was like, oh, you're Calvinist, that's the problem. That's where we're off just a little bit. Have I offended anybody yet? So once that starts to happen, you're like, that's all they care about. They don't care about telling you about Jesus anymore. They care about telling you about Calvinism.

But I'm here to tell you right now, if you're a Calvinist, there's some things in Arminianism that are true. And if you're an Arminianist, there's some things that are Calvinist that are true. The fact of the matter is, man has free will, God is sovereign. You can't put the two together because they're really hard for us to understand. So don't get into pet doctrines.

So the Antichrist, the mark of the beast, I threw that one in extra. The next one is flat earth, right? Like this is a big one right now. And listen, don't laugh. There's lots of people that believe this. There's lots of people that believe in the flat earth. I spoke at a conference last summer and I said something about flat earth. And one of the people said,

you know, that guy in the back, he's a flat earther. I said, oh no. And he goes, yep, he probably won't be back tomorrow. You know what? He was not back tomorrow. You know why? Because his hope wasn't in Jesus. It was in his philosophy about flat earth. And listen, whether the earth is flat, which it's not, or whether it's round, which it is, Jesus is still king.

And we have to focus on Jesus, not our controversy, not our pet doctrine, right? It's okay, I'm gonna get some more of you. Education, this is a big one right now, okay? You talk to some people, they're like, you know, really, really the only way to educate your kids is to school them at home. That's the way Jesus would have done it. First of all, Jesus didn't have kids.

Second of all, nowhere in the Bible does it say the only place to educate your kids is at home. Do we have responsibilities as parents? Yes. But it doesn't mean that that's the only place we can educate them. And then you've got other people who are like, no, no, you have to send them to a Christian school. Because at the Christian school, that's where they will really be grounded in the word.

Let me tell you about some kids that I've had as students over the years, as a teacher at a Christian school who are now atheists, okay? Like, and then you've got other people like, no, you've got to put them in the public school system so they can be witnesses to the people around them. And that's the only way to do it. Really? Because I see some kids get drugged down

by the things of the world in public school. Listen, the fact of the matter is you've got to be convinced in your own heart. You've got to decide what's right for you and your family. You can't turn it into a doctrine and tell everybody I have made it my mission in life to get everybody to do school the way I do it. Because I'm right and you're wrong. Right?

That's what we do. Okay, so here's the next one, right? Start, everybody start throwing things at me. Vaccines and make America healthy again. I am watching people turn this into a religion right now. On my social media feeds, this is being turned into a religion of the church. Listen, I appreciate the fact that we have once again decided steak and eggs are healthy.

I plan on eating steak and eggs over and over again, washing them down with a Dr. Pepper and finishing it off with a brownie and some chocolate milk, okay? That's just all that there is to it. And is there wisdom that we need to use as people? Yes. Yes, there's wisdom that we need to use as people. But our religion is not getting rid of dyes. Our religion is getting out the gospel.

Our religion is not getting no one to take a vaccine or to go to a doctor. Our religion is to get people to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because I have news for all of us. Whether you are the healthiest person on the face of the earth or the most unhealthy eater God's green earth has ever been, you're still going to die. The mortality rate is still 99.98%.

That's taking into account Elijah and Enoch. But other than that, we're all still going to die. Because at the end of the day, this is what all of these controversies, which by the way, again, my goal is not to step on people's toes, but my goal is to get you focused back on Jesus. Because what I'm seeing happen right now in the church is people are getting their focus off of Jesus.

And they're putting them on all of these things. And we're starting to see that. And we're starting to see that. And we're spending all of our time talking and thinking about this instead of being focused on Jesus. And whether any of those things are important to you or not, I don't know. But the fact of the matter is, if Jesus isn't the most important, all of those other things,

they just become distractions. They become controversies. And they cause us to, as it says in verse four, they lead to speculation rather than the furthering of the administration of God, which is by faith. I struggled with that last line. Because I'm not that smart. And I was like, what does that mean? So I read it in the New Living Translation. This is what it says.

Which, these things lead to controversy, which doesn't help people live a life of faith in God. It doesn't help people live a life of faith in God. And brothers and sisters, God told me to tell you, get rid of the stupid controversies, get rid of the silly distractions, and get your eyes back on Jesus. Because Paul told Timothy, charge them. To not give in to strange doctrines

and to not be distracted by silly controversies. So he gives the charge, which is remain at Ephesus and instruct the people. And then he gives them the purpose. Notice what it says in verse five. The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. The goal of our instruction. What instruction is he talking about?

What commands here is he talking about? Well, he's talking about the command to tell them to not give in to strange doctrine and silly controversies. Because that particular teaching that he was supposed to give always had at his heart a love for people. Because a love for people will cause you to say, I don't want you to be distracted by the things of this world.

I want you to be focused on the God who created it. I don't want you to be distracted by the controversies of this world. I want you to be focused on the Jesus who said, who set you free from it. That's what I want you to be focused on. So the ultimate goal of these is love. But if you think about it, in a broader sense, the ultimate goal of all of the instructions

in all of God's word is love. The Greek has several different words for love. I'm just gonna tell you what this one is for right now. The word that's used for love here is the word agape. And the word agape is a sacrificial divine love that always puts the needs of others above myself. It always puts the needs of other people in front of me. And I'm here to tell you right now,

love is always the first victim of bad doctrine. Love is always the first victim of bad doctrine. Because it's really hard for us to love God when we are caught up with things that are distracting us from him. And it's really hard to love other people when all I wanna do is convince them that I'm right and that they're wrong. Because that's always the goal, is love.

Love from a pure heart, from a sincere faith and a good conscience. That's what God is calling us to and that's the purpose of it. You see, as I give into all of these controversies, it begins to affect the way that I view God because no longer am I studying God's word so that I can know him better. I'm studying God's word so that I can prove my point to other people.

It becomes an intellectual pursuit so that I can be right. And I've missed God in the entire thing. And in my relationship with other people, when I approach them, I'm no longer seeking what's good for them. I'm seeking to tell them, hey, this is what I found to prove to you that I'm right and you're wrong. And it's not true love. You see, God has called us to be a people that love

because as I said, all the commandments in scripture can all be ultimately dialed down to the word love. If you don't believe me, just ask Jesus. Because that's what a lawyer did. A lawyer came to Jesus and he said, what is the greatest commandment? And Jesus said, the greatest commandment is this, that you would love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind,

with all your strength. And the second is like it, that you would love your neighbor as yourself. And these two things is wrapped up all of the law and the prophets. So ultimately, the command of all of it is love. So he says, that's the purpose of all of these instructions, is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. I only want to zero in on one word of those three things.

And that word is sincere. The word sincere is kind of an interesting word because the word sincere means without wax. That's the idea of that word. And the idea is this. In Paul's day, there were these sculptors. And what these sculptors would do in order to make money is they would make elaborate sculptures for very rich people. Well, you can imagine the scene, right?

You're a sculptor and you're working away. Tink, tink, tink, tink, tink, tink. That's on the face. I don't know if it was up here because it's taller than me, so it's on the face. And you're working on this sculpture and your three-year-old comes in wanting animal crackers or whatever they wanted in ancient Greece. And you're like, what? Ah, and you knock the nose off of the sculpture.

You're like, oh no, six months of work. That was gonna provide for us for the whole rest of the year. What am I gonna do? I'll use some wax. So they go and they get some wax and you put a new nose on there, right? You make it just look just like the rest of the statue and everything looks great. You deliver the statue to the really rich person. He pays you the money and everything is great

until the hot Mediterranean sun comes out. And the hot Mediterranean sun comes out and it causes that wax to melt. And pretty soon, they're like, oy vey, or whatever they say in Greece at that point in time. Like Windex, I don't know. Anyway, so, it's my big fat Greek wedding. And oh no, it's not sincere because it has wax. It says your love should be sincere.

It doesn't have any wax in it. And everything is pure. In other words, what you see is what you get. And brothers and sisters, that's the way that we're supposed to be in our love. And that's the purpose of all of these commandments is that our love for each other would be pure. That it would be sincere. That what you see is what you get because that's what's missing in our culture today.

You know, sometimes it's hard to talk, especially to men about, ladies love talking about love, right? Like you ask a lady what's your favorite chapter in 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. You ask a dude what his favorite chapter in the Bible is, it's something out of Judges, right? Like we, or David and Goliath. We don't like to think about love. But I want to tell you fellas in here something right now.

You see, love is a really important thing for us to do. But it doesn't have to be some flowery, girly thing for us. You know what love is for us as men? Love for us as men is that we protect and care for those that are around us. Jesus actually showed us what love really looked like. You know that? On the night before Jesus was crucified, they were in the upper room together, right?

And the job of the lowest servant was to wash the feet of everybody that came in. And so Jesus, Jesus lays aside his outer garment, puts it aside, he wraps himself with a towel, girds himself with a towel, it says, and he goes and grabs a bowl and a pitcher, and he goes around and he washes all the disciples' feet. They're like, why are you doing this? He said, because I want to show you what love really looks like.

Love looks like me serving you. And then Jesus showed even more what love looked like when he stretched out his arms on a cross after he already endured a beating with a cat of nine tails so that he could show that his greatest desire to show us love was to protect us. Not to protect us from some foe that we face on this side of eternity, but to protect us from eternal death, which we face on the other side of eternity. Because that's what it means to love.

And men, and I'm talking to us in here right now, men, we are called to protect. That's what love looks like, is that we be the men who protect. We protect the honor of the ladies that are around us, we protect the dignity of the ladies that are around us, we protect those that can't protect themselves, and we make a stand as men. That's what we do as men, to love those that are around us.

It means that we serve, and we protect everyone. And that's what we're called to do. And especially you young men in here, that you haven't found that special someone yet, or you think you've found that special someone, but you're not married to them yet, I want you to know that the number one thing that you need to do to protect them is to protect their purity. That's your job.

Your job is to protect that person's purity, because that's what God has called you to do, to love them properly. As a matter of fact, in the book of 1 Thessalonians, Paul says that this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you should abstain from sexual immorality. In the book of Ephesians, he tells us that we are to love with a pure heart, which means that we are to abstain from sexual immorality. And brothers and sisters, especially you young men out here, you need to protect these women.

You need to protect these girls. That means you don't need to be asking what their boundaries are, because you need to know right now that their boundary is your boundary, which is in the confines of marriage, which means that you don't touch them until you get married, because that's what God's called you to do. And those of us that are adult men in this place that have found that special someone, you know how we protect our women? We have eyes only for them.

That's what it means to love, that our eyes are only for our wives, and that we don't give that attention to anybody else. We give it to our wife only. Ladies, especially you young ladies in here, you need to understand that love for you means that you are worth more than you can ever imagine, and you need to live in that love and expect that kind of love from those that are around you. And for you older ladies, in here you need to teach these younger women what that looks like, what it looks like to have a pure heart, what it looks like to have a pure relationship, what it looks like to have pure motives, because that's love.

That's love from a sincere heart. And for all of us in here, we should be loving each other and caring for each other, serving each other the way that God has called for us to do. Amen? So he says the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, from a sincere faith. And then he tells us the problem. Notice in verse six. For some men, straying from these things,

have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the law, even though they do not understand either what they're saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion. The idea of straying means to deviate from that which is correct. That's the idea of straying, to stray away, to deviate from where you're supposed to be.

He said when you end up giving into strange doctrine, and when you end up giving into silly controversies, you stray from that which is correct, and you give into fruitless discussions. This is one of the places, again, where I prefer the Old King James, because the Old King James says vain janglings. I don't even know what that means, but I just love the way it sounds coming out of my mouth, right? They've given into vain janglings, but the idea is this.

The idea behind both vain jangling and fruitless discussion means that it is empty and void of substance. That it is empty and void of substance. And I'm here to tell you right now, brothers and sisters, there are a lot of conversations that I hear that are empty and they are void of substance. I mean, y'all are on social media, right? We call that Ark City Ask and Answered,

the place where things are empty and void of substance. Right? But listen. Those conversations that happen online, listen, they happen in real life, too. I hear some of them sometimes. The problem with being a really auditory person, which is what I am, is I hear everything that goes on around me, and as I hear everything that goes on around me, I listen in on conversations.

And when I listen in on conversations, I'm like, they didn't ask. Right, because this is what people do. They take part in empty discussions, because they don't know what they're talking about. They just want to hear their own head rattle. And that's what goes on with people. And we have to be careful about that as believers in Jesus Christ, is that we have to keep our conversation fruitful.

We have to keep our conversation edifying. He says, many who have strayed from these things have turned aside to fruitless discussions. Notice what he says. He says, they want to be teachers of the law. What law is he talking about there? Well, it'd be the Mosaic Law. Because the problem Paul dealt with everywhere that he went is that people wanted to be teachers of the law.

He would come in and he would introduce salvation by faith alone. All you have to do is believe in Jesus, and once you put your faith in Jesus, you are born again, and you're as holy as you will ever be. And then other people would come along behind him and go, I mean, kind of, right? Let me explain to you a little bit more deeply what he means by that. What he means by that is that

you also have to keep the law. It's great that you believe in Jesus, but you also have to keep the law. You have to keep a list of rules. If you don't keep the list of rules, well then you're not good enough, and you can't be accepted by God. So they take them from the freedom of liberty in Christ back to the bondage of the law. He says, they want to be teachers of the law,

the problem is they don't understand what they're talking about. That's basically what he says. Let me read it to you again. He says, middle of verse seven, though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. Let me put just a really simple two-word statement on that. They are confidently ignorant, right?

You ever been around people like that that are very ignorant in their confidence, or they're very confident in their ignorance? Maybe both, I don't know. But they start talking, and they're sure everything that they're saying is right, and you want to be like, you sure about that? And they're like, yes. I'm like, I don't think you are. I don't think that's what you mean to say.

Nope, 100%. And they don't care, because they're confident in their ignorance. And that's what these teachers of the law are doing, which is where we have to be careful with all of the vain speculation that we get into, is not being so confidently ignorant. He said, this is the problem. They have a lack of understanding, and they've turned aside to fruitless discussion.

But that prompts Paul to begin a discussion about the law. Because Paul was always careful to say, listen, the law has its place. The Mosaic law, God's righteous standard, it has its place in our lives. Notice what he says. We know, verse eight, that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that the law is not made for a righteous person,

but for the lawless and the rebellious. The law is good if one uses it lawfully. Let me give you a couple of illustrations, right? When I was a little kid, I had a bedtime. Anybody here have a bedtime? I had a bedtime when I was a little kid, and I didn't like bedtime. I didn't handle bedtime very well at all. Matter of fact, there's some adults sitting in this room today

who were a part of my parents' youth group, and they remember what it was like when my parents would put me to bed at night. Because they would have to put me to bed seven times, and then I would ultimately get capital punishment. We won't go into it, because I'm online right now, and I don't want to get anybody in trouble. But I'd have capital punishment for the fact that I would not keep the law of bedtime.

And I had to have that law, because I'm pretty sure that if I did not have that law in my life, I would never keep that law in my life. I would have just stayed up as long as possible. The reason why I know that is because of my oldest daughter. I love my oldest daughter with all of my heart, but when she was tiny, she hated to sleep. And so we went to, of course we had to put her to bed,

had to give her the bedtime. So we went up to Kansas City one time. I don't think Nora was born yet, so she's probably like maybe two and a half, three years old. We went up around this time of year to watch March Madness with some other guys that I was really good friends with. So a bunch of us went over to our friend's house, and all the kids went into the room and watched TV.

The guys were watching basketball, and eventually the games ended, and we all just caught up for a little while. Probably stayed there until about midnight. Around midnight, we go into the little room where all the kids are watching TV, and every kid in the room is just completely just passed out, right? Like drooling, snoring, whole nine yards. And there's Violet eating popcorn.

Glued to the movie, and we were like, well, that's not good, right? I'm pretty sure that kid'd stay up all night if we let her. She needed law, just like me. And I was like, oh, now I know what my parents went through with me, right? So we needed that law in our lives. Well, now that I'm 44 years old, no one has to tell me to go to bed. I'm like, you know what sounds really good right now?

Bed, right? Like that is, I don't need that law in my life anymore. The law did its job, and now age has stepped in. And it's like, hey, I don't need the law, I'm old, right? I just fall asleep on the couch, and then get up and go finish it in the bed, right? Well, that's kind of what it means. It says, it's good if it's used lawfully. It has its place, but eventually it doesn't need that anymore.

Let me give you one more illustration. It's cold and flu season, right? Has it been one heck of a cold and flu season, or what? Right, this has been a doozy of a cold and flu season. And you know how it is. Your kids wake up in the morning, and they come to you, mom, dad, I don't feel very good. And so you start asking the question, are you sick, or are you sick of school?

And so, okay, well, tell me what's going on. Well, my throat's scratchy, my nose is kind of runny. Well, that's every human being in the world right now, so are you really sick? So what do you do? You get out the thermometer, right? And you either put it in their mouth, or you put it under their arm, or wherever you put a thermometer anymore, I don't know. Think you can swipe that thing on your head,

or bop it, or twist it, or whatever you do with the thermometer anymore. And, oh, 102.3, nope, you're sick, go back to bed. Now, once you have identified with that thermometer that you have 102.3 fever, that thermometer now does you no good. That is a useless piece of machinery for you now, because it cannot do anything to heal you. I remember my wife telling me a story about a kid

that she was trying to identify if this kid was sick or not. I can't remember if it's when she taught first grade, or more recently when she taught fifth grade, but she said, this kid comes to me, she goes, Mrs. Nichols, I'm sick. Okay, well, let's check your fever. So they check the fever, no fever, I think you're fine. 10 minutes later, the kid goes, thank you for checking my fever, I feel better already.

Right, and it didn't make any sense, the thermometer didn't do anything. All it can do is reveal, you have a problem. It's powerless to solve your problem. That's the way the law is. The law is really good for one purpose and one purpose only, showing you that you have a problem, but it is powerless to solve your problem. That's where Jesus comes in. And Paul takes just a moment to talk about

what it looks like for the law to reveal to you that you have a problem, so I wanna go through a handful of these things. He says, verse eight, but we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and the sinners. Then he starts to go through a list of things, for the unholy and the profane. The word profane is kind of an interesting word there.

The word profane literally means those who make themselves available for sin. Right, it's the very opposite of holy, right? Instead of being set apart unto God, it means you're set apart unto sin. That makes you profane, you're available for sin. Well, that describes a whole lot of people, and that's what the law shows us. Dude, I have lived my entire life available

to all of the sins of the world, and the law showed me that. The second thing it says is, not only for the unholy and the profane, but also for those who kill their fathers and mothers, I hope that's no one in here, otherwise that's gonna make a Netflix show, or for murderers, but now that one is kind of an interesting one. You know what most people do, is they say, I'm a pretty good person, I've never, I've never murdered anyone. Interesting yardstick to use, but that's the yardstick most people use.

Well, you know what Jesus said about murder? Jesus said that if you've had hatred in your heart toward another, you've already killed them. He said if you call somebody you fool, in other words, you demean their character, you're worthy of hellfire. So, in that way, we understand that murder is not just the outward act, it's also the attitude of the heart, the anger in the heart, that ultimately leads into murder.

Well, he goes on from there to say, not only does the law for the unholy and the profane, but also for the unholy, and the profane, for the unholy, and the profane, for the unholy, and the profane, for the unholy, and the profane, not only is it for those who kill their mothers and fathers, and for murderers, but it is for immoral men and homosexuals. Now, I do wanna take just a couple of moments on these two words, because I think they're really important for us to pay attention to. The first word that's used there is immoral. Immoral comes from the Greek word pornos.

I think you can probably identify what we get from that word. But the idea behind the word, the actual meaning of the word is men who sell themselves for sex, male prostitutes. But there's a secondary meaning to the word, and that's any who would involve themselves in illicit sexual behavior. So that should cause you to ask a question. What's illicit sexual behavior?

Anything outside of the bonds of marriage. Matter of fact, another word that can be used there is fornication. If you look up the word fornication in the English dictionary, you know what it says? Sex outside of marriage. Now, I point this out because I have actually had people come to me and say, you know the Bible never actually says not to have sex outside of marriage, right?

You know that's not actually true. I'm like, you know you've never read your Bible, right? Because it's everywhere in the Bible. It starts in the Big Ten, the Big Ten Commandments, right? Where it says you shall not commit adultery. But then it's carried on throughout the rest of scripture. We not only see the effect of that sin, but we see it given to us. And perhaps some are going, well, I've never done that.

But remember what Jesus did with it, which is the law. He said, if you have even looked with lust in your heart on another, you have already committed adultery with them. I will never forget telling a young man as a college kid this one time, and he looked at me and he goes, dude, I've had sex with a lot of girls, right? The law did its job in his life. And he's like, I'm guilty.

But not only is it for the immoral men, but it's also for the homosexuals. And I know this isn't a fun topic to talk about, but this is what the law addresses. This is where God gets real with things. Because I've also had people try to tell me that, you know, we've misinterpreted the word homosexual and that's not actually what it is. That that word that's used there,

which is also used in First Corinthians chapter six, verse nine, that that word actually speaks of pedophiles. And that is one use of the word. But it's actually a very all-encompassing word. It actually speaks of any sort of sex that would exchange the natural for the unnatural. It would encompass not only pedophilia, but would also encompass homosexuality.

It's the sin in our culture that we have to continue to address, unfortunately. But I want you to notice something. Heterosexual immorality and homosexual immorality are addressed in the same sentence. So we can't act like one is worse than the other. He says, the law reveals these things. And kidnappers and liars and perjurers, it's interesting that word kidnappers

literally means men stealers. And the idea is that of trading for the purpose of selling, which is kind of interesting because now the human trafficking world has become such a major stain on our culture today. Matter of fact, Super Bowl weekend is always one of the worst weekends for that. Wherever the Super Bowl is held, the sex trafficking just increases exponentially in places like that because of the stain on our culture today.

He says, the law reveals those things. Not only that, but anything else that is contrary to sound teaching. Anything else that's contrary to sound teaching. Why did I take time to do that? Because brothers and sisters, the law has one job and one job only. And that's to stop our mouths. To keep us from talking and defending ourselves. Because that's what the law is really good at doing.

And if that's what it's done in our lives, then it's done it's job and then it's done. And we don't need it anymore. But if you're here this morning and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, I need you to know that you stand guilty before God. You do, you stand guilty before God. You have one hope. The thermometer reads, you have one hope. It reads, you're gonna die.

And it can't do anything for you other than tell you that. That's where Jesus comes in. Because that's what the gospel is. The gospel is the good news that even though that's who you were, Jesus wants to change you and make you who you can be. But it's only by the grace of God. And it's only because of the blood of Jesus Christ. That's why you need Jesus. That's why it's called the gospel.

That's why it's called good news. Because he takes guilty sinners, shuts their mouth from saying, no, no, I'm a pretty good person. And turns them into people that say, I just need some help. And Jesus comes in and says, that's what I'm here for. Is to give you some help. Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

From meek and lowly in heart. And you'll find rest for your souls. That's the gospel. So if you're here this morning and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, that word is for you. Because don't keep putting off the day of salvation. Let it be today. Let it be today that you say, that's not what I'm gonna do anymore. I'm gonna follow Jesus. Because I need Jesus in my life.

But if you're here this morning and you're a born again believer in Jesus Christ, that law is still for you. I'm not under law anymore. Yeah, but has it stopped your mouth? Because too many people are way too comfortable condemning everyone else for getting what they've been saved from. Too many people are way too comfortable with pointing out sin in everybody else's life,

forgetting what God has done in their life. And that's where the law does a really good job of stopping our mouths, even as believers in Jesus Christ. Because instead of us going, you deserve death, we go, I deserve death. And Jesus saved me. The same Jesus can save you. And it keeps us from constantly defending ourselves. See, here's the thing. All we can do is embrace the accusation

and embrace what Jesus has done for us. Because I want you to notice what he says next. He says in verse 11, according to the glorious gospel, of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. And next week, we will get into talking about that glorious gospel. But I'm gonna give you a quick taste of what Paul says. It's our memory verse. He says, this is a true and faithful saying,

that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. You see, that's a man whose mouth has been stopped by the law, and who has found all of this hope, and the gospel. Amen? And brothers and sisters, that's what we need in our life today. So as we look at this quick recap, do the hard thing. Do the hard thing that God has called for you to do.

Don't give up, don't run. Keep doing the hard thing. Stay away from the strange doctrines. Stay away from the controversies that pull you away from Jesus. Make love the center of everything that we do. And let God's law continue to do its work in our hearts. So that as God's law does its work in our hearts, our hearts our mouths are closed and the gospel does its job amen let's all stand and if you'd

bow with me father we come to you now and lord i thank you for your word i thank you for how powerful it is in our lives i thank you for the power of the gospel lord that the gospel is able to change the hardest of sinners into the softest of saints and so lord i lift up everyone that's here this morning lord i pray for sincerity in our walk with you i pray for sincerity and our love for each other and i pray that your law would do its good work in our hearts father i lift up every believer here who has had a tendency to want to condemn condemn those around them and lord may they be reminded that it is by grace that they have been saved through faith and that not of themselves that it is a gift directly from god and father for everyone

here this morning that maybe doesn't know you lord would today be their day for salvation or would today be the day that they say you know what i do need jesus in my life because as it stands i'm really guilty as it stands i'm going to have to face god knowing i'm guilty of all of those things and that's not going to go very well for me that's what jesus is here for matter of fact while everybody's still sitting here praying i just want to ask you a question this morning have you ever given your heart to jesus or are you sitting there guilty of all of those things that the law says that you're guilty of are you sitting there in your own righteousness and you keep saying no no you don't understand

i'm a pretty good person no you're not the law just revealed that you broke so many of them and you have one hope and that's jesus so everybody's still out there heads bowed and eyes closed i do want to ask a question if you're here this morning and today is the day for you to say you know what i need jesus because i'm guilty of all those things that he just talked about i just want you to do me a quick favor i just want you to put your hand up in the air because i want you to say today's the day that i need you amen praise god so here's what we're going to do there's there's no magic in any prayer that we pray what matters is the condition of your heart but let's just all pray this prayer together so that those that have put their hands up

know that they are being joined by an entire body of believers so just repeat this short prayer after me Father I know I'm a sinner Father I know I need salvation would you come into my heart and make me clean forgive me of my sins and make me brand new in Jesus name Amen and so Father I just lift up those that have prayed that prayer and Lord may they know and truly understand new life Father we just thank you and praise you in Jesus name, Amen hey before they do this last song if you prayed that prayer would you come talk to me afterwards I'll be in the back be blessed oh the joy to be joy to know it's when I decrease you fill up my soul what a joy to see joy to hold it's when you thank you for your word and how amazingly sharp it is

Lord God I know sometimes Lord your word cuts and it hurts know that you're cutting away all the things that don't need to be in our lives all the things that do need to be there Lord I just thank you for your word thank you for it's surgical precision Lord able to call out all the awful things in my life Lord God also able to bring healing and restoration Lord and salvation Lord through your son Jesus so Lord I just pray that as we leave here today Lord I just pray that you would move mightily in our lives God God your word is so good and I just pray that we would spend each and every day just soaking it up Lord God let it permeate our lives Father we love you and we praise you in your precious and holy name all God's people said Amen Amen

you guys have a wonderful week God bless you God bless you