1 Tim 1:1-10

An Exposition of 1 Timothy
Sermon 1
1 Timothy 1:1-10

1. A True Father and A True Son—“…Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope, 2to Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord….”

a. Paul was a true (spiritual) father

(1) He was an apostle of Jesus, a special messenger and witness of the Gospel

(2) Usually, Paul says that he is an apostle by the WILL of God, But here He uses a different word, one which means a command by a higher authority

(3) Paul was COMMANDED to be an apostle

(Acts 9:15-16) "But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 "For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake.""

(a) God’s Hand had rested on Paul’s shoulders from the beginning—Gal 1:13-15
(b) In the Fullness of time, God’s time, God called Paul to Himself, the chains fell off, his heart was free—and Paul followed.

(4) Paul had a true Hope
(a) Not maybe so, but surely so
(b) Hope in the Bible is never conditional, it is always certain
(c) Hope is certain knowledge based on knowing the character of God, and based on believing in the Person and Work of Christ, and based on a personal relationship with Christ. Heb 6:18-19 "That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;"

b. Timothy was a true spiritual child—Paul’s True son in the faith

(1) The word “true” indicates a legitimate son, not a false one or illegitimate one
(2) This was a young man led to the Lord and discipled by Paul personally.
(3) He often accompanied Paul on missions as a co-worker, and he was the scribe for several of Paul’s letters.
(4) His mother Eunice and grandmother Lois were devout believers
(5) “…Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord…” Three things we all need!

2. An Urgent Mission—Protect the Flock—“…3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia; remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.

a. A False Cult was attacking the Ephesian church

b. Cults, Isms, and False Prophets

(1) Right now, in 2007, This is the age of the cults, the false religions claiming to be Christian, but even in the apostolic times, these things existed

(2) A few months after this letter was written, Paul visited the elders of this very church (Acts 20:17-36), and warned them against these sorts of false teachers. The elders were told:

(Acts 20:28-31) ""Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 "For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 "Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. 31 "Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears."

c. Paul’s warning to Timothy

(1) Instruct—In the Greek, to give a military order and give it in an authoritative way.
(a) Bible teachers can and should speak with authority—as Jesus did (Mat 7:28-29)
(b) “But, we aren’t Jesus!” Yes, but we have His completed word, and we have the Holy Spirit
(c) The man of God is to speak with authority and say “thus saith the Lord…”

(2) Watch out for Certain men—
(a) these were specific men who had arisen in the Ephesian church (as Paul later warned in Acts 20:28-31)
(b) They were teaching false doctrines and were tossing weak believers around –Eph 4:13-15

(c) They were teaching Strange doctrines— heterodidaskalon—“…a doctrine of a different kind…”, one that does not match with the teachings of the Bible

(d) Paul speaks in Galatians of “another Jesus” taught by false prophets

(e) Jesus, in Matthew 24, warns of false Christs and false prophets that will arise

d. The teachings of the cult in Ephesus

(1) Myths and geneologies—there are and were branches of Judaism which find symbolic meaning in the “begats” and in Jewish folklore—this is very similar to Kabbalism, practiced by the popular singer “Madonna.”

(2) The Ephesian church had shown a weakness to these things in the incident of the “spell books” in Acts 19.

(3) Mere (useless) speculation—there is nothing to be found of any use in any legend, myth, or idea of human invention

(a) If someone has a “word” supposedly from God, let that “word” be tested against the Bible, precept upon precept, line upon line

(b) The false prophets cannot do that, because their lies will not stand against truth.

(4) Turning aside from Truth èTruth, a small sampling
(a) Our Lord is Truth (John 1:14) “…, full of grace and truth."
(b) Christ is the Source of Truth (John 1:17) "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."
(c) Worship must be in truth—(John 4:23) “…the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth…”
(d) Knowledge of the Truth makes us free—Jn 8:32
(e) The Holy Spirit is our Guide to all Truth—Jn 16:13
(f) We are sanctified (made holy) by the Truth (John 17:17) ""Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth."
(g) Truth identifies you with Jesus—John 18:37”… Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.""
(h) The Truth Grows us up in Christ—(Eph 4:15) "but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head; Christ;"
(i) Truth is the first weapon in spiritual warfare—(Eph 6:14) "Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,"
(j) Not loving Truth leads to death—(2 Th 2:10) "and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved."
(k) And these false teachers had turned aside from the Truth, and were trying to turn others aside as well

(5) Fruitless discussion—
(a) If you and I are discussing Truth, with the Bible as the judge of all things, fruit will almost certainly be the result.
(b) But if we are arguing the fine points of things that are not even from the Bible, there can be no fruit

(6) Wanting to be teachers of the Law
(a) [rather than teachers of New Covenant truth]
(b) and since these men were apparently not even Jewish, they were unqualified to talk about the Jewish Law anyway
(c) and did not have any clue about their own cluelessness.

e. There were other false doctrines of this cult, and Paul deals with them later in the letter

3. The Law and Gospel Taught Correctly—“… 5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith…”

a. The goals of Biblical instruction:

(1) love from a pure heart (the expression of a born again believer—Mat 5:8).
(2) A good conscience—a clear one, one which is a true sign of a true believer.

(a) A consistent lifestyle—“My sheep…follow me…”
(b) the Law cannot make anyone holy
(c) The Spirit, however, can cause people to walk as God wants us to walk.

(3) Sincere faith—saving faith, confessing Christ as Lord and Savior—Rom 10:9

b. Rom 8:1-4 “…Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit…”
(1) The Law cannot save
(2) The Law cannot make holy
(3) But grace does BOTH—Eph 2:8-10

c. How then, is the Law Used Lawfully?—1 Tim 1:9-10 “…realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person…”

(1) The Law

(a) does not save nor keep saved
(b) is not for believers
(c) The Law is the Holy Spirit’s prime weapon in the conviction of the lost
(d) The Law Shuts Our Mouth—Rom 3:19-20, 7:9

(2) Those for Whom the Law is intended— “…but for those who are …”

(a) lawless and rebellious— (1 Sam 15:23) "…rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry…”

(i) Lawless people have no commitment to any standard of righteousness, but are a law unto themselves
(ii) This naturally leads to rebellion against authority
(iii) There are at least four sources of spiritual authority in the life of a born-again Christian
Ø The Word of God
Ø The Holy Spirit
Ø The Local Church
Ø The Leadership of the Local church

(iv) the lawless and rebellious rebel against all levels of God’s authority

(b) ungodly and sinners——ungodly means the person has no respect for anything sacred, and that leads to a sinful lifestyle

(c) unholy and profane—This is a particular problem for lost church members, who are apathetic about holy living, and this leads them to be “profane,” which means they do not care about anything sacred

(d) those who kill their fathers or mothers—Why is this separate from “murderers?” Because it deals with the lack of subjection to and respect of parents, and as Jesus told us in The Sermon on the Mount, hatred = murder.

(e) for murderers—For assassins of character and of life, for abortionists and drug dealers, all of whom are murderers.

(f) immoral—the Greek word is “porneois,” from where we get “pornography,” and it refers to sexual sin in general

(g) homosexuals—it may be shocking to see homosexuality ranked alongside these other sins, but homosexuality is a denial of the creation ordinance of God (He made them male and female and told them to multiply), and it is a particularly rebellious sin—see Rom 1:24-27

(h) kidnappers—“slave traders,” or others who catch people and imprison them for selfish reasons. I would think that a modern category would be drug dealers.

(i) liars and perjurers—bearers of false witness, particularly those who have “gone to trial,” are heinous in God’s sight.

(j) whatever else is contrary to sound teaching—A host of things are contrary to sound teaching, and the New Testament spells these out!

d. The Holy Spirit takes these and other facts and uses them to convict and convince lost people of their lost state.

e. That is the Law, What about the Gospel? Tell the Story

So, How are Timothy and his allies in Ephesus to deal with False teachers?

By preaching and teaching the truth, exposing and rebuking false doctrines and false teachers, and teaching the church to be the church.