Preaching Truth: Standing Firm in Sound Doctrine

"so to recap the charge is solemn it's straightforward it is the inerrant word that is to be preached to be preached when the wind is with us when all occasions do in form against us and to be preached patiently and carefully and the reason this is so important uh paul now sits before timothy in the challenge that is his verses three and four he's already been made aware of those who have sweared from the truth that's in verse 18 of chapter two and now he's going to exercise the ministry in the absence of paul faced with people who are turning away from the truth and who are wandering into myth" [00:58:48]

"the time is coming it's always coming it's a recurring phenomenon we quoted earlier from moses words in deuteronomy 4 absolute clarity as god speaks through his prophet to his people and he says this wasn't a visual thing this was an audible thing this wasn't about what you would look and see it was about what you would listen and hear and what happened well they immediately went out and they were intrigued by attracted by all kinds of visual possibilities instead of buying before their creator they became creators themselves creating their own manageable little gods who would accommodate them essentially they exchanged the truth of god for a lie and as martin luther observed if a man will not have god he must have his idols" [01:42:32]

"so timothy must be prepared for the times when quotes people will not endure sound teaching or put up with sound teaching he's already exhorted him to follow the pattern of sound words and in the first letter he had told them of those who teach a different doctrine chapter 6 that does not agree with the sound words of our lord jesus christ this adjective sound is a very british adjective at least in my background as a boy growing up i would hear of those who apparently were sound and those who were not sound i never really understood it until i had grown up a little bit and i realized that sound was essentially uh it was a euphemism a synonym for they agree with me but no not really it was uh it was uh it meant that they are orthodox in their view their understanding of the bible and so on" [02:46:00]

"well people won't put up with sound doctrine as soon as it goes sound they have decided to exit stage left instead of availing themselves of teachers and of teaching that will make them godly make them healthy make them useful they are now in search of the intriguing the fascinating the speculative the spicy they'll be more interested he says in novelty than an orthodoxy they will essentially seek out teachers who tell them what they want to hear now of course this was not new information this was not unique to timothy's day in isaiah 30 we find god's people rejecting the instruction of the prophet not because it wasn't clear but because it was too clear they didn't want him to stop preaching they just wanted him to preach in a manner that suited their fancy that accommodated their passions" [05:21:12]

"see the real challenge for most of us is not that we actually stop believing the bible the real challenge is that we actually stop using the bible that we that we stop submitting to the authority of the word of god in our own lives and in our proclamation and listen to the way in which isaiah 30 reads they are a rebellious people lying children children unwilling to hear the instruction of the lord who say to the seers do not see and to the prophets do not prophesy to us what is right speak to us smooth things prophesy illusions leave the way turn aside from the path let us hear know more about the holy one of israel" [06:23:40]

"now it's no new thing to encounter those who are in search of and then proponents of a spirituality that is actually disconnected from biblical truth that surely is the environment in which most of us are operating now people tell us all the time i'm a very spiritual person i just have no interest in the bible i'm a very spiritual person these individuals accumulate teachers the way the along the lines of the weak women that paul has already mentioned in the letter those individuals who were always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth they accumulate them you can just imagine that their their facebook page is just filled up with teacher after teacher after teacher did you hear this one did you see that one oh look at this one they're tweeting while you preach they're trying to find new information all the time they have cds from every imaginable place in the world you could you could line an entire trailer truck with them all of all the information but if you ask them and uh and and what do you know of the gospel of the lord jesus christ where they know nothing at all now they're always learning but they're never able to come to a knowledge of the truth" [07:28:00]

"secondly endure suffering paul began his letter by inviting him to join him in suffering for the gospel he's spoken about his suffering all the way through this is my gospel for which i'm suffering he says again and again timothy would not have been able to recognize many of our approaches to what it means to be a gospel minister in paul's case the suffering was obviously physical in timothy's case it may not be for many of our brothers and sisters in the world it is physical for us it may be more mental or emotional but it's real nevertheless as people chase around in search of a more politically acceptable gospel there's a cost involved in guarding the good deposit there's a cost involved to declare in public and then in private the bible's assessment of man as being sinful and guilty and responsible and lost" [13:09:00]

"timothy you're gonna have to endure suffering you'll be you've you'll be on the receiving end of accusations the insinuations of the evil one who comes to deceive you to discourage you to derail you if he possibly could as i read and reread this this week i thought how often timothy must have taken to himself the way you would take a piece of hard candy and keep it in your cheek take to himself the opening statement of paul in his second chapter timothy strengthened be strengthened by the grace that is in christ jesus he would have said to it again again that's it i'm strengthened by the grace that is in christ jesus" [14:56:16]

"do the work of an evangelist oh so paul wants him to get a new job he's is a change of role is it he's not going to be a pastor teacher he's going to be an evangelist i don't think so rather he's reinforcing the charge to preach the word j.b phillips paraphrases it again and you can tell i like j.b phillips paraphrase go on steadily preaching the gospel go on steadily preaching the gospel be a gospel man timothy if you're going to be known for one thing be known as a gospel man packer in the quest for godliness has a wonderful quote where he says if one preaches the bible biblically one cannot help preaching the gospel all the time and every sermon will be as bolton said at least by implication evangelistic so that we are ultimately saying we beseech you on christ's behalf be reconciled to god you're not here simply to be informed a little with a few practical tips to take home for conversation in the car we preach to you as mcshane preached as men who will soon die to those who are on their way to death therefore we beseech you on christ's behalf god was in christ reconciling the world to himself not counting our sins against us he who knew no sin became sin for us that in him we might become the righteousness of god that the only safe haven for the sinner is in the mercy of god himself and when this begins to dawn on the preacher and on those to whom he preaches then we're moving in the realm of useful effective biblical evangelism" [15:50:00]

"confronted by opposition by isolation it would be all too easy for timothy just to throw in the towel to quit the fight to lie down in the grass to exit the race but this is no time for self-pity this is an opportunity to stay steady to face whatever suffering may come to keep on preaching the gospel to complete the task and so without much elaboration let's just notice this fourfold directive number one always be sober-minded he was surrounded by some who had become intoxicated with all of their mythological notions they had wandered away they had drifted off this wouldn't be a good time for timothy to use a pastoral cruise control or automatic pilot he dared fall asleep for his own sake and for the sake of those under his care he must be vigilant so must we he must be alert he must be prepared to endure he must make sure that he's not susceptible to the speculative notions nor that he is unduly influenced by the numbers of people who flock in the direction of these kinds of teachers always always be sober minded or in the niv keep your head in all situations" [11:52:00]

"and half of the context in which worship takes place is so unlike anything that the bible would regard as worship that it makes it far harder to actually bring any kind of solemnity or godness into the experience of the scriptures" [14:45:44]