I invite you to open your Bibles tonight to the first letter of Timothy, first letter to Timothy by Paul. First Timothy in your Bibles, near the back, after Thessalonians, before Hebrews, in that pew Bible on page 1262. We want to continue our series tonight through this letter that Paul wrote to Timothy in Ephesus, a city where they served together for more than three years and recorded in the book of Acts. And sometime after Paul wrote a letter to the Ephesians, which is also in the scriptures for us, certain persons, certain leaders rose up to reject Paul's authority and to reject the gospel that he preached. And so Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus and then sent this letter, a letter of encouragement to Timothy and a letter to put the church on notice. We're going to read the opening and closing sections of chapter 1 tonight. We've worked our way through this chapter. We're going to give our attention to verses 18 to 20. But I want to read the beginning and the end to help you see how this all ties together. This is all one section that we've broken apart as we've gone along. Remember that from the outset, Paul makes it clear that to reject Timothy is to reject him. To reject him is to reject Christ who sent him. In verse 2, we're going to hear Paul call Timothy his true child in the faith. Not only a child of God by the sovereign grace of God through the ministry of Paul, but also the legitimate heir of Paul's ministry with the gospel that he brings and the authority that he bears. In verse 3, Paul reminds Timothy of his mission, which is to charge certain persons that I have called the wannabes. And in verse 11, Paul affirms that he has been entrusted with the gospel of Christ. And then we're going to drop down to verse 18 and recognize how Paul picks up all those themes together to close out this section that's aimed at Timothy. This is like the launch pad of a NASA rocket. This is the last stage in this chapter which is intended to brace Timothy for battle. This is setting the stage for him to step into his work. And in getting Timothy braced for battle, we are going to recognize three points in this text. First, that he's braced for battle that is a spiritual battle. Spiritual warfare is point one. We need to understand the nature of the battle. It's spiritual. And number two, he's braced for battle with encouragement from God's word. The resources that he needs for this battle are found in the scriptures. And lastly, our third point, that he's braced for battle among willful sinners. Even in the church, there's opposition. And it's a matter of the heart. And it's part of the battle. So hear now the word of God from 1 Timothy, chapter 1, beginning in verse 1. We'll read down through verse 8, then verse 11, and then jump to verse 18. Hear now God's word. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, my true child in the faith, Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love, that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swarming from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. Now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, verse 11, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted, verse 18. This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. And here ends the reading of God's word this evening. verse 18 that opens our text makes it clear that Timothy was engaged in a battle which is a spiritual warfare everybody is involved in spiritual war on one side or the other whether you're aware of it or not Jesus said whoever is not with me is against me by nature were all born enemies of God dead in our trespasses and sin and following the prince of this world who is Satan but God being rich in mercy makes some alive together with Christ and raises them up with him and seats us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus he creates the family of God every Christian who's been raised in Christ is in the service of Christ Jesus, our Lord, our eternal King, as we confessed tonight. Every Christian joined to Christ through faith shares in his anointing and is anointed to strive, that is, to fight with a good conscience against sin and the devil in this life, as we confessed tonight. This Christian life is a life of spiritual warfare. and it's against our sworn enemies the devil the world and our own flesh Paul explains in 2 Timothy chapter 10 for though we walk in the flesh we're not waging war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds it's a spiritual war and you're in it apostolic ministers like Timothy and other ordained officers in the church are high profile targets in this war they're in the war with you they're in a more prominent position if they can be struck down to mix the metaphor the sheep will be scattered and they are certainly in Satan's crosshairs Timothy was certainly in Satan's crosshairs therefore Paul is very much focused on Timothy and his role in this battle this text is aimed very clearly at him but we need to understand that what's at play here the principles found here apply to all of us we're all in this battle in our text Paul calls this warfare good we have a hard time with that we live in a time when there's no warfare that's considered good there was a time when it was considered a righteous war this warfare is good, Paul says it's helpful, it's beneficial to those who wage it and for those for whom it's waged it's good to serve our king it's good to serve our king even through suffering and it will be even better in the life that's to come Paul had this perspective and at the end of his life in 2 Timothy chapter 4 he says of himself I have fought the good fight I've kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness the victor's crown which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing this warfare is good and it leads us into a better everlasting life now the thrust of verse 18 in our text is this this charge I entrust to you Timothy my child that you may wage the good war for it that you may engage it that you may be active that you may not be hesitant but be all in and in this battle Timothy has at least three objectives his immediate objective is to charge the wannabes to stop what they're teaching and doing that's the immediate concern his broader objective is to rescue the church in Ephesus it's a church that's being led astray it's a church that's following after error it's a church that's being filled with licentiousness and wanton living, it's unholy Paul puts a point on this objective in chapter 4 of this letter when he says to Timothy, if you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ. If you do what I call you to do in these next four chapters, we're going to go through. You'll be a good servant. Persist in this. Don't give up. For by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. You hear it there. You're sent there on this mission. Do these things for you are there to save not only yourself but your hearers. And Timothy's enduring objective, perhaps his legacy if you will, according to Paul's second letter, is to guard the good deposit entrusted to him, whatever come, to guard it and to entrust it to faithful men who will be able to teach it to others also. To be the first link in what we know as apostolic succession by which the scriptures have come down to us today. By which they continue to be preached to us today. By which they are still held before us as the standard of our lives. Timothy was one of the first to do that. That's his legacy. Now in order to engage in these objectives, Timothy is further braced for battle with encouragement from God's word. Timothy needs resources. You can't go into battle without resources. Without weapons, sustenance, provisions, support. And so Paul, in this next little section, Paul uses the word of God to encourage Timothy in three ways. First of all, he wants to encourage Timothy with the fact of the entrusting of the gospel to him. That just as God entrusted the gospel to Paul, on the authority of Christ, Paul has entrusted the gospel to him. Therefore, Timothy is an apostolic minister, and as such, he can have the same confidence that Paul had as the one who received the gospel from the Lord. Timothy is to have the same confidence as that, And that is to know who he has believed and to be convinced that he's able to guard what he's given to him all of his days. That if God has given to Timothy the deposit of his word to guard and to transmit, he can be confident the Lord is with him to uphold him and protect him and to carry him through his mission so that he can accomplish his objective. That's his first confidence. His second confidence is more explicit in verse 18, where Paul encourages Timothy to wage the good warfare in accordance with the prophecies previously made about him. Sometimes we forget that in the age of the apostles, during the time when they were living before the last word of the New Testament was written down by John. Amen. God gave the gift of prophecy to some in the church so that they could receive direct revelation from him for the benefit of the church. According to Ephesians chapter 2, and the Ephesians should have known this, the prophets served with the apostles, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ. That was their role, and they shared it with the apostles. Prophecies had been made about Timothy sometime in his past. These have been made for this purpose, to equip him for ministry. And with these prophecies, he was given a spiritual gift. A gift which was given by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on him, when he was ordained. The gift of God through the laying on of Paul's hands, so he was evidently present. A gift that provided all that he needed to do his work as an evangelist. Timothy was to remember that day when he was set apart for the service of God and promises were given to him, encouragements were given to him about his work. We don't know when that took place, we don't know where that took place, but we do know this, that what was said about him in the past spoke to Timothy in the present. The time had come for what was said to be realized. The time had come for what was said to give him courage, direction, all that he needed to step into this fight. He was going in probably the fight of his life in Ephesus as a minister of the gospel. And he used to raise the good warfare in accordance to what was said to him. Now we don't know what was said to him. But we do know that he used to be encouraged just as Paul was called by Christ directly on the road to a man. It's a road to Damascus. And given all that he needed to fulfill his ministry as apostle, Timothy is to know that he has also been called directly by God through the word of a prophet and given all that he needs to fulfill his ministry. So you see, Timothy is to be encouraged not only from the example of Paul but actually what was given to him and to recognize it for what it was, a commission from God with provision to do. And this is the confidence of every minister, elder, and deacon. It's what the confidence that should be. It's the confidence that we need. We don't get a direct word from God like Paul did. We don't get a direct word like Timothy through a prophet. We get the word of God through providence. With a sense of intercall by the power of the Spirit, we feel compelled that we can do no other but to do what we do. And it leads to the providence of the church to recognize and to accept and confirm that call. We need to recognize as ministers of the gospel and as elders and deacons in the church to recognize that when we are placed in this office as frail as we are and imperfect as we are, that we've been placed here by the call of God and given gifts to do what in ourselves we cannot do. If we measure ourselves against the calling, we'll despair. But when our confidence is in the God who gives all that we require, we can wage the good warfare. We can step up one more time. And it's not just ministers and elders and deacons. It's very prominent in us. But every believer is a priest in the household of God. called by his name, called into his kingdom, called with a purpose, and equipped by the Spirit to do it. And so each of us and each of you can have this assurance that he who began the good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus. You need to know that. You need to stand on that. Because if you look at yourself, you'll despair or grow proud. And so Augustine offered this prayer to the Lord, Give what you command, and command what you will. I'm ready. If you say so, I trust you'll provide. The third way the word of God serves to encourage Timothy is by showing him the way to wage war, the ways and the means, if you will. It's very simply, he's to wage the good warfare by holding faith and a good conscience. Holding faith and a good conscience. Now we know from verse 5 that these are given to every believer. In Christ we're given faith to hold fast to Christ tightly. We're given a good conscience by the power of the Spirit to know right from wrong and to do it. So holding faith is holding tightly to Jesus. Not only for salvation, but for the day-to-day life of waging this war to provide all that we need to do it. And holding a good conscience involves guarding and exercising this conscience that's been renewed by the Spirit to pursue what is right and to avoid what is wrong and to be after God's will. We fight the good fight by holding faith in a good conscience. Holding a good conscience helps us advance in good warfare. It conforms us to the image of Christ. it helps us mature sinning against conscience paves the way to the sidelines and if it's left unchecked to our undoing countless casualties have resulted from sinning against conscience acting contrary to what you know is true and good just this once just this once well maybe one more time and again and again that's how it goes you don't hold fast to a good conscience you drift you slide and unless you repent you will change your doctrine to excuse your behavior you'll change your doctrine to excuse your behavior and that will lead you to believe a false gospel and to trust in a different Jesus. Waging the war is holding fast to faith and holding fast to a good conscience. And so John Calvin said, a bad conscience is the mother of all heresies. You track down the errors of doctrine in the history of the church to the person who advanced them, you will find something. somewhere that they need to defend in themselves. The last thing Timothy needs to be braced for is realizing that this battle that he's in is a battle that takes place among willful sinners. Paul continues in verse 19, some in Ephesus are rejecting this they're rejecting a good conscience at least more likely they're rejecting the whole package of faith and a good conscience because they go together and it's not an ignorance it's not because they don't know better it's high handed willfulness they're searing their consciences by misusing the law of God for their own purposes instead of in accord with the gospel. They're doing it as they want and they're abandoning their professional faith by rejecting the apostolic gospel and thereby rejecting the person and the work of Jesus Christ. They're rejecting this. They're going their own way. And by rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith. By casting this off, some have cut loose the anchor that would hold them fast and are tossed to and fro by the waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes, until they're undone, like a ship on the rocks. That's how it goes. It starts with swerving and wandering, verse 6, progresses to all kinds of ungodly behavior and quarreling over doctrine that we're going to see as we go through this book until eventually those who do not come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil make shipwreck of their faith. Not only is their own faith exposed to be something other than true faith because we know from the rest of scripture that if they're really trusting Christ they can't lose it. But what they called faith, what they believed to be faith, what they acted on as faith is found to be false they're also upsetting the faith of others they're leading other people into ungodliness they're teaching them ways to go that they shouldn't go and they're teaching them doctrine that Paul said spreads like gangrene is deadly and they find themselves contending against rather than for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints in this Paul says they blaspheme they blaspheme criticizing and insulting the gospel of Christ and thereby the God of salvation himself even if they don't say his name it's a blasphemy and among those who are blaspheming there is Hymenaeus and Alexander he names two how would you like to have your name recorded forever as exemplars of this according to 2nd Timothy Hymenaeus swerved from the truth saying that the resurrection has already happened he's not the only one in history to teach this error it's like saying to you there is no hope folks there is no resurrection to come how that undermines the gospel and Alexander did great harm to Paul for he strongly opposed the apostolic message Paul says that later in 2 Timothy Alexander was a bold faced opponent he was public and he was loud he hurt the ministry it's not hard to identify him as a blasphemer before their blasphemy Paul has already disciplined them all the way to the extreme remedy of excommunication. Now, we don't know how long Paul worked with them before taking this action, but we can know that it wasn't a knee-jerk reaction. It wasn't emotional. It wasn't vindictive. It wasn't to make a point. It was for their benefit. And we can trust that Paul followed the instructions of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, In Matthew 18 for how to proceed to this remedy. We should trust that Paul went to each one of them alone. Telling them his fault. Addressing the problem. Trying to restore them in a spirit of gentleness. And then when they did not listen. They took with him one or two others. That every charge might be established on the evidence of two or three witnesses. And then when they refused to listen, telling it to the church. In this case, it seems like it was the leaders, the officers of the church that were gone wrong. And so it fell to Paul, the apostle. And when they refused to listen even to the church and listened to Paul, direct apostolic authority. He handed them over to Satan. He handed them over to Satan. Now that's hard for us to hear. we need to remember some things in order to hear it rightly. We need to remember that God can and does use Satan for his own purposes and for the good of his people. God permitted Satan to afflict Job for his sanctification. God allowed a messenger of Satan, Paul's thorn in the flesh, to keep Paul humble and dependent on God's grace. Those are two very clear examples in scripture. When Paul says he handed them over to Satan, he means that he let them go. He let them go to where their hearts already were, which is outside the church, to the realm of Satan, the prince of this world, as God permits, outside the spiritual protection and the provision of the church. He let them go. It's not unlike Romans where God turns people over, Let's them go the way they want to go. To reap what they sow. And we need to understand that Paul's goal, which is the goal of all church discipline, and it should be the goal of all discipline, period, is not their destruction. It's not to cast them out into the outer darkness and the gnashing of teeth with no hope of return. It's not to paint on them the scarlet letter that they must wear the rest of their life and never be allowed to darken the door of a church. It's not for their destruction. It's for their instruction. He says it's that they may learn, that they may be taught not to blaspheme. And if they will learn that lesson, the unspoken result here is that they'll be restored. This is what we confess in Heidelberg question answer 85 that asks about discipline. And there we confess that such a one as Hymenaeus and Alexander, the officers exclude from the Christian fellowship by withholding the sacraments from him, and God himself excludes him from the kingdom of Christ. And such a person, when he promises and demonstrates genuine reform, is received again as a member of Christ and of his church. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we hear the same expression, Paul handed a man over to Satan. That he would be tormented in his flesh in order that his spirit might be saved. That's the goal. In these three verses we've heard a lot. We've heard Timothy's call to wage the good warfare and we've been reminded that we're in it with him. His warfare was not only that of a Christian, his own life, his own struggles. Timothy wasn't above that. But his warfare also included warfare in the life of the church as a minister of the gospel and he had a mission there as well for the sanctity of the church and the well-being of the members. and this warfare to which he was called and which we engage is spiritual, it's constant and it's often difficult and therefore we need to be braced for it, prepared for it, fortified for it. We don't have it in ourselves to fight it. We're totally dependent on Christ and his resources for the fight. Therefore Paul braced Timothy for battle with encouragement from God's word. He reminded him that he had received God's word. And in God's word we have the promises of God. We have directions for the way to go, but we have the promises of God that are all yes and amen in Jesus Christ and they're for us as they were for Timothy. And in this fight, that's where we find our encouragement, is right here. It's all that we need for life and for godliness. This word reveals Jesus Christ to us. And it's to him that we've been joined by faith and we can know that as we hold fast to faith in Christ, we can stand. Remember Ephesians chapter 6, Paul talks about the full armor of God and all that God's provided for us for this warfare. And what's his point? When all's been said and done, stand firm on Jesus Christ. this word also shows us that God has given us all that we need to wage this warfare at the very least it's given us faith that holds on to Christ and a good conscience a good conscience that works a good conscience that guides us according to God's will that we have found in his word a good conscience that can be exercised that can be practiced that can be strengthened we've also heard that this warfare takes place not only in the world but even in the church among willful sinners sometimes even ourselves therefore this warfare like any warfare requires discipline as Christians we're called and equipped to learn self-discipline self-control is the fruit of the spirit did you know that's what the Christian life is all about that our sanctification is all about learning self control to hear what God says to do and to trust him and to do it and to more and more do it without somebody else having to tell us to do it that's the goal that's maturity that's growth and grace and toward that end as brothers and sisters in Christ we are all called to help one another to help one another to see and repent of sins. You will see things in me that I cannot see in myself and I need you to tell me so that my conscience can be trained and I can grow in grace. And likewise for you. There are things in you that you do not see. You need brothers and sisters to help you see. That's one of our greatest loves for one another is to help one another to grow. Not pretend. Not hide. not deflect, and speak the truth in love to instruct and restore. And also in the church, those ordained to serve as elders and ministers are called to sometimes exercise church discipline, as we saw here this evening. And that only comes into play with members who refuse to discipline themselves. When someone comes to help and they refuse, When two or three come to help and they refuse. When they tell it to the church and the church comes to help and they refuse. And even then, if it goes all the way to the extreme remedy, it's always for the same purpose. That they'd be brought to their senses. They'd be set free from the snare of the devil. And they'd be restored. as members of the church and children in the household of God. May God grant us grace to embrace and to be thankful for all of these things that he has given to us to brace us for the battle that is our life. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word tonight that has pulled back the curtain to the reality of our lives to let us see what is actually going on Lord that so many times we divert ourselves and distract ourselves and lie to ourselves that it's really there. Help us to remember day by day that we are involved in a battle in the warfare of the Christian life that all that we're called to do to grow in grace and to grow in our conformity to the image of Christ you have given us in Christ by your spirit through the word. and help us to know that we can go to your word at any time and find encouragement on our way. Help us, Lord, to love each other enough to grow in this way. To help us speak the truth and love in a way that helps to build up, expose sin, bring repentance, and foster growth. Lord, help us not to be proud and to resist those helps that come. Help us to receive your help when it comes and to know that even though it may be uncomfortable, may expose what we don't want exposed, and call us to change what we don't want to change, that we would hear your voice and we would know that you are here to instruct us. Help us, Father, as we leave this night to remember that we're still on the battlefield. Keep us in your care, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.