1 Tim 1:18-20

An Exposition of 1 Timothy
This Means War!
1 Tim 1:18-20

Ø ORI, War Plans, War Order
Ø Illustration—the “unknown” aircraft circles the field and asks for landing and parking coordinates
Ø The Wing Commander meets the plane, and off steps the Inspector General
Ø The “Two Biggest lies” take place
o The IG says, “we’re here to help you.”
o The Wing Commander says, “we’re glad to see you…”

Ø Then we were instructed to carry out our war order, launch the aircraft, and to do this under simulated war conditions.

Ø How much higher was the stress level, however, when my phone rang at 0200 on August 2, 1990, and I received the very simple message—“ Captain Buntin, Report to the command post.”

o Iraq had invaded Kuwait, and we knew that we would respond
o Then, on August 6, 1990, when the national command authorities made their decision, we launched the fleet of cargo planes at our disposal. The first troops on the ground were mechanics I sent to service our aircraft.
o An army designed and trained to fight against the Russians in the forests, towns, and cities of Western Europe was instead going to be unleashed against the soldiers of a madman on the most-used battlefield in history, the sands of Mesopotamia, known to us as Iraq.
o A navy, designed, built, and trained to sink the Russian Navy off the coast of Iceland moved its might to the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea to search for SCUD missles..
o An Air Force designed to Return Forces to Germany and engage in a desperate battle to control the air over the Fulda Gap of Germany, was going to instead move forces to Saudi Arabia and face a foe whose aircraft, for the most part, remained hidden for fear.
o This was NOT a drill
o What were we fighting for? Oil? The freedom of Kuwait? To prevent a madman from controlling the world oil market? The historians will still be debating that issue when the Rapture occurs. As military professionals, we did not concern ourselves with those questions, we just did our duty.

Ø The Spiritual war we fight is also NO war game—there is nothing so real as THIS war, and unlike the First Gulf War, the stakes are higher than oil, land, pride, even liberty—this battle is for souls of a multitude no man can number

1. Ordered to Fight—(1 Tim 1:18) "This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,"

a. The War Order: “… 18 This charge I commit to you, son Timothy…”

(1) Charge—a solemn charge. A military term referring to a solemn responsibility that must be carried out without regard to costs—What Ewell did not do at Culp’s Hill
(2) Commit—to hand over a responsibility
(3) Paul has handed Timothy a difficult set of war orders to be carried out without question

b. The Warrior’s Commission—According to prophecies made (at Timothy’s ordination)

c. What Is Spiritual Warfare? “…wage the good warfare…)

(1) Spiritual Warfare: a neglected doctrine
(a) Fear of “superstition”
(b) God’s Word

(2) Spiritual Warfare: An abused doctrine

(a) TV preachers have turned this into a circus, complete with preaching clowns.
(b) The R. W. Shamback example
(c) The Jesse Duplantis Example
(d) The Bennie Hinn Show

(3) Spiritual Warfare: a necessary Doctrine—1 Pet 5:8-9

d. The Origin of Spiritual Warfare—Satan’s Rebellion

e. What is involved in waging Warfare?
(1) Joining up
(2) Training
(3) Being tried and tested
(4) Knowledge
(a) General military knowledge
(b) Knowledge about weapons, equipment, and special functions of each career field, and training to be able to use all of them professionally
(c) Constant study and reading to improve knowledge and skills

f. Waging Spiritual Warfare

(1) We enlist at Salvation—the all-volunteer army of God
(2) WE are to be trained (discipled) thoroughly—Mat 28:19-20
(3) We will be tested and tried—(John 16:33) ""These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation…”
(4) We are to be taught all that we need to know (Acts 20:26-27)
(5) We must learn where the battlefield is located —2 Cor 10:4-6
(6) We must learn to use our weapons—2 Cor 10:4-6, Eph 6:10-18

g. So, the War Order is for Timothy to wage spiritual warfare in the hearts and minds of the people in Ephesus, fighting against false teachers and false doctrines which had invaded the church.

2. Ready to Fight “…19 having faith and a good conscience…”

a. Faith and conscience—see 1:5 and 3:9
b. Faith—in The Faith, Doctrinal purity
(1) Timothy is warned later on in this letter to safeguard, to watch, his own doctrinal purity.
(2) Faith is necessary for the fight—not just faith in Christ, but adherence to The Faith Once Delivered to the Saints (Jude 3-4)
(3) Every one of the weapons of our warfare is related to the Word and Prayer—Eph 6:14-18
(4) What did Jesus Use when attacked?—The Bible

c. A good conscience
(1) You cannot fight the war unless your conscience in clear between you and your Father
(2) The Warrior will be wounded, but he must keep short accounts with his God.

3. Traitors to the Cause—“…which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, 20 of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander..”

a. The false teachers have Self Inflicted Wounds, and they have joined the other side while claiming to be on our side!

b. The false teachers, two of whom are NAMED right here, rejected both Truth and Conscience

c. Like the false teachers in 1, 2, and 3, John, Jude and 2 Peter

d. They rejected Faith

(1) They taught doctrines which were not in accord with THE Faith
(2) They taught heresies that denied the essence of Christianity

e. They rejected Conscience

(1) Again, like the other false teachers, their lifestyles were unconcerned with holiness, they soft-pedaled sin, and they were “open minded”
(2) In Jude and 2 Peter, we find them guilty of all sorts of vile behavior
(3) Rev 2:18-24!!!!

4. The Traitors Receive Courts Martial—“…whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme…”

a. This is not like the providential battles fought by Job, Jesus, Paul, and Peter, whom God Himself submitted to trial by allowing Satan to attack them
(1) Those things are character building exercises for believer
(2) Or, they are designed to purify the metal and make the believer stronger and more ready for warfare.

b. No, these men were traitors to the cause, they had joined the other side, and Paul was turning them over to the Enemy to whom they actually belonged. He was removing the umbrella of protection from their lives, in the hope that they might repent and get right with God.

c. The prime NT example of this process—the man in 1 Cor. 5.

(1) He was living in open, gross, and rebellious sin, and was remaining in fellowship with the church
(2) The church had done nothing, and was, in fact, puffed up about their open-mindedness
(a) “Oh, yes, we are praying for him, and for her, and we hope that they will get it together sometime. In the meanwhile, we are not doing anything to push them away…”
(b) There may be many here in this service who would have the same attitude!
(c) But WHAT SAITH THE LORD?

(3) What was Paul’s reaction?
(4) READ 1 Cor 5
(a) Paul was practically incredulous that this situation was going on with the church doing nothing
(b) He takes the church to the woodshed
(c) He commands them to put the man out of the church

(5) What is the footnote here? The man, being cast out of the church, repented, and in 2 Cor 2, Paul says this: 2 Cor 2:5-11èbecause: The main purpose of church discipline is to rehabilitate and restore the offending party

(Jude 1:22-23) "And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh."