Never Forget the Good News of Jesus

This morning we begin a new series. A series on One Timothy. It's, I think, something that I've been looking forward to the last few weeks, preparing and thinking through. One Timothy is a very practical book, and as we'll soon see, it is written in pretty challenging circumstances. But because they are challenging, and because they are circumstances in many ways very similar to ours, I think we're going to find them very helpful.

So we'll be doing this for the next few months, in fact, until about midway through the year. And I hope that you'll be able to join us either physically or online. One Timothy. What is the purpose of Paul's writing to Timothy when he writes this first letter to him? Well, if you have a quick look at One Timothy, if you have your Bibles open, we can turn to the last paragraph, the last sentence really that Paul writes to Timothy, which gives us a really great summary, a really great reason for this writing.

Paul writes to Timothy in One Timothy 6:20, "Oh Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Guard the deposit entrusted to you." As we'll see today and throughout the next few months, Paul writes to encourage Timothy to stand watch, to look after the good news of Jesus Christ, simply explained originally by Paul to Timothy that Timothy now must continue to declare. Don't let anything happen to this message, Paul says to Timothy, because this message has lots of work to do. And we'll see all the implications of this message, what work it does over the next few weeks.

But ultimately, this message must save souls. But more than that, we will see Paul explain to Timothy that not only will this message need to be guarded, but Timothy, this message will teach the church how to live to the glory of God. Specifically, this letter that we will study tells us how the church will conduct itself if it lives according to the gospel, according to a certain order. There is therefore so much practical advice in this letter for how Christians are to live. So over the next few weeks, God will be telling us how our church must look if we are to glorify God.

So we're going to be challenged. Do we want to glorify God? And hopefully we say yes. And One Timothy will give us all that we need to do so. Let's start this morning by reading One Timothy chapter 1, and we're going to read all the way through to verse 11. One Timothy 1:1.

"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by command of God our saviour and of Christ Jesus our hope. To Timothy, my true child in the faith. Grace and 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 swerving 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. Understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practise homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine. In accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted." So far our reading.

Paul begins his letter to One Timothy, explaining the reason for writing in these opening verses, but giving first and foremost the authority by which he can encourage Timothy. Paul begins in verses one and two with a very carefully phrased introduction, where he says, "Paul introduces himself: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by command of God our saviour, 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." Very carefully worded introduction, and he does this for this main reason. Christian, listen to these words that I give you and be encouraged.

Commentators are very quick to point out that Paul's framing of his introduction, and he always has a similar sort of start where he introduces who's writing it, it's Paul writing it to so and so, and he gives an opening blessing. But commentators are very quick to point out that there are a few unique words or phrases being used here. Firstly, this is the one time where Paul claims that his position as an apostle was due to a divine command by God Himself. Paul is telling Timothy, and through Timothy to the church, that he regards himself as sovereignly dispatched by God. And therefore, Paul is emphasising to instruct Timothy, and through Timothy to the church in Ephesus, Timothy was a pastor: listen to these words I'm about to tell you.

They carry weight, because God has placed me in such a position so that I may tell you these things. But for Timothy, the confidence doesn't really necessarily lie with Paul's position as apostle, or it shouldn't lie merely with that. But it lies with what Paul says about God. Listen to how God is described to him. God is our saviour, verse one, and Christ Jesus is our hope.

From the outset, Paul's letter to Timothy is encouraging. Take heart. Chin up, Timothy. What I'll tell you soon, I write because you're doing it tough. The situation which you find yourself in in this Ephesian church is hard, but God is our saviour.

Jesus is our hope. And then finally, Timothy is further encouraged by Paul's kind and fatherly description of him. He says, "To Timothy, my true child in the faith." Many scholars believe that Timothy was a very early convert in Paul's missionary journeys. In fact, they believe that he was a convert in Paul's first missionary journey in the mid to late forties AD.

And at this time, Timothy was maybe a teenager, came to faith through the preaching of Paul. Timothy would later join Paul in his entourage as they journeyed and travelled throughout that Asia Minor, Middle East area, as they proclaimed God's word, proclaimed the gospel. John Stott actually calculates that when Paul is writing to Timothy here, which is towards the end of Paul's life, and Timothy has now become a pastor of one specific church, the church of Ephesus, Timothy is about in his mid-thirties at this stage. He's about as old as I am. And Paul writes to Timothy who is struggling.

But he calls him a true son in the faith, a true child in the faith. Now, we know that Paul was a bachelor. He never married. He therefore never had children. And he views Timothy as something of an adopted spiritual son.

On the one hand, Paul's description to Timothy as being a true son in the faith is therefore deeply emotive, deeply caring, but it is also something that the church needs to hear. The church needs to hear that Paul thinks so highly of this man who is their pastor, a pastor that they are treating poorly, and that Timothy has Paul's stamp of approval. He is my true son. I know this man. I know his character, and he walks and breathes the same message that I breathe and live out.

He speaks with some of my authority as well. And then finally, in the introduction, Paul prays a triple blessing for grace, mercy and peace to rest on Timothy by the will of God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul asks that God would give Timothy the grace, the mercy, and the peace to teach these Ephesians how God's people ought to conduct themselves in the living church of God. And it is through grace, mercy, and peace that Timothy will be strengthened to do so. So for us reading this today, this introduction, these two verses, what are we to make of this as Christians?

Well, that the words that we are studying today and over the next few months are God's words. They come therefore with authority to us, and they come through the servant Paul. But also, they come to us with God's authority who encourages us because He is God our saviour, and we have Jesus Christ as our hope. And as Paul sends these words off to Timothy, he gives us a triple blessing as well because the authority, the purpose here is laced with the triple blessing that grace, mercy and peace may accompany these words. In other words, the God behind these words is a God who is good, and He wants good things for His church.

He wants grace and mercy and peace. So this leads us to the next question. What are these words that are so important for the church to hear? Well, what are the main issues at play? Firstly, we see in verses three to seven, the danger of gospel mathematics.

In verses three to seven, Paul begins to tell Timothy to charge certain men, certain people to stop teaching any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. That's how Paul begins his letter. Charge men to avoid those things. Now it seems that there was a very serious problem in this church of false teachers, of influential men, who were starting to confuse that little church. They were starting to sow confusion among these members by teaching things other than the main message of the good news of Jesus Christ.

These teachings seem to be based, it seems, on obscure Jewish genealogies, on obscure Jewish myths, speculations. And Paul says, the danger of these speculations, these conspiracies, are that they are detracting. They distract and at worst conceal the most important message that every human being must know. Now, we're not given much information in One Timothy to really know what the content of these teachings were. But we do know throughout history that certain rabbis and teachers and certain Jewish leaders had taken to very mythical, very superstitious readings of the Old Testament.

They would take obscure passages and read into them all sorts of weird and wonderful meanings. In fact, we know that today, this is a real possibility. Christians can do this. Take the Bible, find numerical patterns throughout it, find astronomical or astrological alignments of planets, find mystical meanings to names, and they can build entire theologies out of thin air. And something of this was happening in the Ephesian church.

Something of this was bubbling away and was actually quite severe. People are being confused and Timothy is now stuck in the middle. He has to sort out this mess. He has to correct these sort of teachings. And Paul tells Timothy, tell these people to stop.

They are a danger to the church. Why is this dangerous? Isn't a bit of superstition or a bit of speculation just a little bit of fun? Isn't it just nice to play around with these thoughts and see how far they can go, and then maybe put them down, hopefully? Conspiracy theory here or there doesn't hurt anyone really, does it?

Well, yes it is. It can, and it does. Perhaps not so much the theories themselves, but in the distracting nature of those speculations. The danger that Paul is expressing here is this danger of losing sight of the simple message of the gospel. Now, we find in life, don't we, that this danger doesn't come from messages that stand diametrically opposed to the gospel, like something completely different to the message of Jesus Christ.

The danger is in messages that sound almost right. The danger comes from listening to teaching that begins to tell you, "Yes, knowledge of Jesus is nice. Knowing Jesus is good, but have you heard how you can know more? Have you heard how you can have more? Do you want more of God?

Do you want more of Jesus? Well, let me tell you, I have some insight. And if you would only learn to add this bit of wisdom or this bit of knowledge to your knowledge, if you would only commit yourself to this theory or this speculation, then you could also become as enlightened a Christian as I am." And this is what seems to be happening here. If you read Paul's letter to the Ephesians, this is a word that crops up again and again, and it is the word "mystery".

The word "mystery" comes up again and again. Paul uses it so often. Why? Because there is a cultural fascination in the Ephesian society, and in the Ephesian church with this idea of secret knowledge. And if you were the ones, if you could only be the ones that had this secret knowledge, you belong to the elite.

And Paul, in his letter to them, attacks that idea in the church, and he says, "Guys, I will tell you a mystery. Jesus Christ came to die for sinners. End of the story. Mystery over. The revelation has come and His name is Jesus.

Stop claiming that there is a secret mystery that must be solved. It is now a knowledge that must be shared." But it seems this secret knowledge issue is raising its head again, and Paul tells the church through Timothy to stop indulging in these silly myths because it is far more dangerous than they realise. Why is it far more dangerous? Why is it bad for Christians to speculate?

To find secret ideas and meanings. I'll tell you why, because we are playing gospel mathematics. What is gospel mathematics? Well, it is trying to add to or subtract from the message of Jesus Christ. Let me explain to you, what does it mean to be involved with addition in gospel mathematics?

It is where we are tempted to add to the gospel message. Time and time again, I hear of Christians who find magical formulas for getting more out of God in their Christian life. Time and time again, weird minority views operate around and are attempted to be validated by pointing to weird and obscure Bible passages. Why do we do it? For the same reason the Ephesians did.

Because it gives us some special insight that others don't have, and we are that much more intelligent, holy, spiritual. We love that. Today we can see it when Christians claim some special knowledge about the end times, and how many people are doing that. We claim to know special knowledge of how to be more blessed financially, physically. You see it when people claim to have prophetic insights and positions of claimed authority to speak on behalf of God, to claim things like we know which president is going to win.

It's the Ephesian cult of mystery all over again. Paul tells us if we add anything to the gospel, it ceases to be good news. And in this context, whether you add the law of Moses to the gospel to say, "Yes, Jesus is good, but now, while you have Jesus, keep the law so that you can keep Jesus." Or whether you add to the gospel by claiming some obscure secret knowledge that proves that you are a better Christian. Paul says that if you add anything to the gospel, anything to the message that Jesus Christ has saved a helpless sinner like you and I entirely by His sovereign grace, if you add, then you destroy the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You can do gospel mathematics the other way, subtraction. What does subtraction look like? Well, it is removing central parts of the gospel message for whatever reason, often the reason of trying to make it more appealing. Perhaps remove the offensive nature of the gospel. You might try to subtract the need that God will judge everyone one day.

You hear gospel subtraction happening when you hear some people say, "Well, God doesn't do things that way anymore. Things have changed since the Bible's times." You hear it when people say the Bible is misunderstood or outdated in some of these areas. Subtracting from the gospel today happens when Christians deny the existence of hell. That God has no right to punish eternally those who defiantly have resisted Him their entire lives.

Gospel subtraction happens when people deny God's holy expectations, and tell the church to soften on things like gender or sexuality. That is a gospel subtraction. Subtraction happens when we reject male headship in the church, that God has expressly told us that men and men only shall lead the church through the preaching of His word. But by subtracting from some of those fundamental aspects of the gospel, like the reality of hell and eternal punishment itself, or softening on God's holy expectations of people. By pulling those things apart, we undermine the very foundations on which the gospel is built.

Because if I am not crushed by the law that I cannot keep, then the law does not apply to me. I am not compelled by the law anymore. Then I find no need for Jesus to save me. And then I am lost. If my rebellious sexuality, if my desperate greed, if my intense idolatry does not warrant my eternal damnation, then why should I flee to Christ and cling to the cross?

Can you see how adding or subtracting from the gospel destroys it? And yet we can play gospel mathematics all day long. Paul says to Timothy, tell people in the church to stop fussing, to stop entertaining this useless speculation, and to return to focusing on the most important things we need to know. And so, Paul says in verse five, do this because you love them. Have a look at verse five.

"The aim of that charge for them to stop is love, which issues, which comes from a pure heart, from a good conscience and a sincere faith." This is not a power play, Timothy. This is not so that I can show that I have secret knowledge. No. They are lost without the gospel.

Tell them with a sincere faith, with a pure heart, that they will be lost if they do not return. Do it out of love, Timothy. For us, witnessing to Christians that may be walking on these little goat tracks off the gospel path, do it out of love. Bring them back out of love, nothing less. And then lastly, our third point, Paul wants Christians to understand that moral behaviour is never enough.

In verses eight to eleven, we get a bit more clarity as to what this mysterious speculation was concerning. It seems to be centred on a weird and wonderful reading of the Old Testament laws. This is why Paul, it seems, wants to remind Timothy and the church that the law of God is not inherently bad, but he states it is being used unlawfully. Rather, Paul wants us to understand what God's good law actually does. God has laid down the law not for the just, not for the good, but for the ungodly.

Not for the good, but for those who realise that they are not, so that they may see their great need of a great saviour. The issue in Ephesus that was confusing Christians was that if they might believe or behave in a certain way, that that would save them. It somehow revolved around adhering to certain behaviours, which they said were based on God's law. But the whole foundation to this is rotten, because God's moral laws, whether it was the Ten Commandments that was at play here, or the other six hundred laws, or even Christian ethics, these moral codes could never be used to validate moral superiority. As Christians, we get this wrong all the time as well.

Christians, we will never win by pointing to the law of God and telling people, "See, I don't do this, but you do, and so you must better change." Paul says, God's law is never used to justify the just. God's law will never save those who think that they have it all together. God's law never justifies the just. Why?

Because the law's first purpose is to slay us. It is to kill us. It is to so humiliate us to realise there is no way that I can do this. Verse nine: "The law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and the disobedient." The law must utterly humiliate us, so that it leaves us without an excuse and causes us to realise, "I am a terrible sinner, and I need Jesus Christ.

One day, God will judge me according to this law, and I would receive correctly the fullness of His wrath." As Christians, we have to be so careful not to lose sight of this. We so often move on from our desperate need and our inadequacy before God, and we come to the law and too quickly say, "Yeah, yeah, I know I'm a sinner, but have you seen the next guy? What a degenerate." You don't realise it, but you are using the law to justify yourself.

You think the law's purpose is therefore to justify the just. Paul says, "It is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and the disobedient." Why? Paul ends his sentence in verse eleven, where he says, "In accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God." In other words, the law's purpose, which is to condemn the sinner, might be done so that the glorious grace of the gospel will be shown to them.

So that they will see and that they will marvel the grace of God. And so these influential leaders in Timothy's church were claiming that they had some intriguing new teaching on the law of God, and that this message was a message worth listening to. But Paul says, anything that moves us away from the gospel, anything that dethrones the gospel as the centrepiece of the church, not an important teaching, not something on par with anything else, the centrepiece of the church, moving away from anything that is not that is disastrous. That is why the gospel is the ultimate expression of, Paul calls it, sound doctrine.

We can scrap our theology classes if we don't know this. We can only understand the gospel therefore, to be the good news it claims to be, when it is set against the backdrop of the bad news of us breaking God's law. And the gospel says, "You and I are these ungodly sinners. We're the ones listed here in verse nine who are unholy and profane. We're the ones who strike our fathers and our mothers.

We're murderers at heart and in mind. We are sexually immoral. We've entertained homosexuality, whether it's thought indeed, enslavers, liars and perjurers. That is who we have been proven to be." And Paul says, "But Jesus died for law breakers and rebels like us."

Gresham Machen, quoted in Kent Hughes's commentary on One Timothy, wonderfully sums up the power of this message to change, to actually change people. He says, "What good does it do me to tell me that the type of religion presented in the Bible is a very nice type of religion? And that the thing for me to do is just to start practising this type of religion now. I will tell you my friend, it does not one tiniest little bit of good to tell me that. What I need most of all is not exhortation, but a gospel.

Not directions for saving myself, but the knowledge of how God has saved me. Have you any good news for me? That is the question I will ask you. I know your exhortations will not help me, but if anything has been done to save me, won't you please, won't you please tell me the facts?" When we feel the urge to call a society, to call a neighbour, to call a family member, to change their behaviour, let's never give them even a hint that changing their behaviour can somehow bring them anywhere closer to God.

For a time, that changed behaviour might lead them to experience the blessing of God, but it cannot save them. Inconsistently holding to God's laws, which they will do then, will not bring them anywhere closer to God. And friend, we know this because it didn't work for us. So why do we tell that to them? Let's be careful friends that we don't add or subtract from the gospel because our demands will not save our friends or family.

They need to know, they need to believe the simple good news that Jesus saves sinners and He saves them by simply trusting in Him. Let's pray. Father, as we embark on this journey through One Timothy, where the deposit of the gospel is held in such high esteem by Your servant Paul, where the centrepiece of His encouragement to Timothy, and through Timothy to the church, rests on the good news of Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to so prioritise our thinking. The gospel is the centrepiece of our lives as well.

Help us, Lord, when wonderful and intriguing theories and speculations come across our paths. Help us, Lord, to see very quickly how Satan, how our eternal enemy will seek to take it and change our thinking and bind us again to the things that lead to death. Father, we pray that we will be Christians who will make a difference, and that we won't be muzzled, and we won't feel powerless. That we will graciously and consistently hold the law of love, hold the law of life out for those who need to hear it. But Lord, help us to understand that that law must first kill our neighbours before it will ever do anything other than.

Help us to see, Lord, that it must first bring them to the point of repentance and faith before it can do them any good. Father, as we explore more of these things and as we come to passages, Lord, where our lives must now live in humble gratitude to what You have done for us, Lord. Help us to see these things over the coming weeks. Help us to be encouraged by them, and Lord, help us to live as a church that glorifies God who is our redeemer. Our God who is our saviour and Jesus Christ who is our hope.

In His name we pray. Amen.