Character Counts

A particular company, well-known company in our country, was interviewing a junior executive, a young vice president in the company in his thirties who was destined to rise to the top and they were interviewing him to become the CEO of this particular company. They had had a morning of interviews. They had listened to presentations that he had made and they were interviewing him and ready to announce that he would become the new CEO of the company when the board decided to break for lunch and they would come back and finalize all the paperwork and so forth after lunch. The young man who was being considered walked across the street in this major city in our country to a cafeteria on the other side of the street and went through the line and began to pick up his food. Unknown to him, several of the board members were a little ways behind them and they watched him as they went through the line. They noticed something very interesting as he got toward the end of that line. They noticed him take two pads of butter and slide them under his napkin so that he would not have to pay for them. Well, when they got back to the board room, the tone had drastically changed. Not only was he not hired to be the new CEO, he was immediately dismissed from the company. He protested, angrily protested. Wondered what had happened and when they told him what they had observed, he said, are you kidding me? Are you serious that you would not only disallow me becoming the CEO of this company, but fire me over 10 cents worth of butter? And one of the board members said, if we cannot trust you with 10 cents, we can't trust you with $10 billion either. The government does count. We need to learn that in the public square. We need to learn that in government circles. We need to learn that in church. We need to learn that everywhere. That government, politics, church, school, home, marketplace, wherever we are, character counts. And that is exactly what Paul is addressing in the second chapter of Second Timothy. Let's find our way to Second Timothy chapter 2. We've been in Second Timothy a few weeks now and we've found that this is a very personal letter, a passionate plea on the part of Paul. As he knows that his life was at an end, he will soon pass off the scene. He knows he's going to die and he's in prison in Rome ready to be executed and he writes this passionate personal letter to Timothy, one whom he had won to the world. He has a lot of the Lord and trained for ministry and sent to pastor a very significant church in Ephesus. And he writes this letter to him much unlike the first letter that he wrote, which was more of a church manual, a how-to letter as to how to conduct himself in the church. This is more personal. This is what I've entitled for this series, Last Words to a Son. He's writing to him, he calls him a couple times in this book, his dear son and he's writing these last words to him. This is the passionate outpouring of his heart for this young man who will take the mantle from Paul and carry it on into the next generation in the ministry there in Ephesus and beyond. And so he's challenging him very personally about what he needs to be as a man of God. And so I've dedicated this series of messages on this book as what I believe it is intended for to young men in ministry, to those who are coming behind, to those who will take the torch into the next generation, not only here, but in other places. I've dedicated these messages to young men that I've had the opportunity to have some part in their lives spread across this country and but also to this church because you need to know what Paul is saying to this young pastor. You need to know what God's expectations are. And the same expectations he mentions for Timothy are also true for all of us. In some form, to some degree, these character qualities are necessary for all of us in our Christian life. We have already seen in the first ten verses of this chapter that Paul challenges Timothy as a dear son about his character saying, Timothy, we must be strong. We must be strong to guard the truth and pass it on to others. Secondly, he told him, we must be single-minded. Like a soldier, he said in those first few verses, single-minded in that you must be willing to endure hardship and avoid an entanglements of the world and please your commander, the Lord Jesus. So you must be single-minded. Then thirdly, he told him, Timothy, you must be strict. Strict on yourself. Like an athlete, follow the rules. Follow the rules and how you prepare. Follow the rules and how you minister. Follow the rules and how you live. The standards of God's word. You must be strict on yourself, Timothy. And then fourthly, we saw last time we must be self-motivated. Like a good, hard-working farmer, he says. We must be self-motivated to know what we should do and when we should do it because nobody is going to be telling you, maybe no one even checking on you. You've got to be self-motivated to realize you will answer to God. All of those things have to do with these characters. Today we examine two other character qualities necessary for pastors and also for the Christian life. Two other character qualities that are important. The first of those is we must be secure. We must be secure. In verses 11 through 13, Paul deals with several things that I believe can be grouped under the topic of security. Now, there are a couple of ways to approach this. Paul really is talking about our eternal security, our security in our position in Christ. And I think that has great bearing and great impact on our personal sense of security or feelings of insecurity. Let me just say this. A lot of ministries have been ruined by the insecurities of pastors. A lot of Christian lives, a lot of believers are stymied in their walk with God and their growth for the Lord because of personal insecurities. Some people find that their security is all wrapped up in a job and if that job is gone, they lose every sense of self-esteem, begin to have personal insecurities in their lives. Some people feel like their whole security is wrapped up in relationships. If they lose a relationship, it's devastating to them. Some people feel like their security is tied up in their self-worth in what people think of them. So a lot of people deal with insecurities because their sense of security, their confidence in who they are is being put in the wrong places. Our security is found in our relationship with Christ. That's where the confidence to live, the inner security and confidence to face life, no matter what it may throw at us, that is found in a deep-seated understanding of our security in Christ. So that's how I want to approach these verses because they're talking about eternal security. They're talking about how secure we are in Christ, but that has great implications for how we live in this world. Versus 11 through 13, you'll notice, he begins by saying here is a trustworthy saying, and then he says, if we four times and you may find that in your Bible, these verses are kind of set off like they're a poem. There is a rhythmic flow to these verses that leads many students of the Scripture to believe that these verses were an early church hymn and that it was a form of poetry that was often recited in the early church or sung in the early church. For that reason, they kind of set them off in kind of a poetic fashion. There are four parts to this poem, four couplets, if you will, and that's part of the poetic structure. He says, if we, and then he gives a first part and then he says, if this is true, then this is true. Four times he uses that particular style. And in these four couplets or four parts of these verses, he gives us four different shades of truth that all bear on our security. And I want us to approach our eternal security and our personal security from this biblical perspective. The first part of our security has to do with our union with Christ. This is so very important to understand. We are secure in Christ. We are kept eternally secure. Once you are saved, you will never lose your salvation. And that's because of your union with Christ. Notice what he says there in verse 11. Here is a trustworthy saying, if we died with him, we will also live with him. That he's not talking about dying with him in the sense of martyrdom, of giving your life like Paul was ready to do. This is actually a verbatim quote from one of Paul's earlier letters in the book of Romans chapter 6 and verse 8. Look at that verse on the screen. Romans 6.8 says, now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. So he uses that same thought. And in Romans 6, he describes more fully what he's talking about by that concept. He's talking clearly in Romans 6 about the fact that God sees us in Christ. He sees those of us who've trusted Jesus as being crucified with Christ. We've died with him. We've been buried with him and we've been raised with him to live a new life. So this is not talking about physical death. This is talking about our spiritual death and resurrection in Christ. If you've trusted Christ, God sees you as being united with him in his death, burial, and resurrection. And that is pictured in baptism as is described in Romans chapter 6. But Romans 6 and this passage, I believe, are clearly talking about our union with Christ. So my friend, your security is bound up in the fact that you are united with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. Your security is not based on your performance. Your salvation did not come to you by your performance. You did not do anything to earn the merit of God and get yourself into heaven. And you can't do anything to keep your salvation either. Your salvation, your security is found in the fact that you are in the solubi, impossible to dissolve this union with your life in Christ. You are united with him. You've died with him and you will live with him. So your security is found in your union with Christ. And then notice he addresses something else that also touches on our security and that is enduring with Christ. He says in verse 12, if we endure, we will also reign with him. Now what does he mean by endure? Well interestingly enough, he has used that very word just a couple verses earlier. If you'll look back at verse 8, middle part of the verse, he says, this is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal, but God's word has not changed. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect. And so the very next couple of verses he uses the same word again, but obviously he's using it in the same way. So what he's talking about here is being faithful to the Lord even through suffering. No matter what life throws at you, you stay faithful to Christ. Now if you stay faithful to Christ, even if it means you suffer, then the Bible says you will reign with him. Notice it does not say like it said in verse 11, you will live with him. Your eternal life is based on your union with Christ, but to reign with him is a part of the reward that we have in heaven. Jesus said in Luke chapter 19, in one of his parables, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. So if we're faithful to him in our Christian lives and walk with him faithfully, even through suffering, then we are rewarded with responsibility in his kingdom. And we reign with him. Listen, my friend, your eternal destiny, your eternal life is not based on whether or not you live a faithful Christian life. Your eternal destiny is based on whether or not you're saved, whether or not you've trusted Jesus as your Savior. You are eternally secure because of your union with Christ, but your reward in heaven does depend on whether or not you're faithful. If you endure, if you live faithfully for Christ, then you will be rewarded with him in heaven. And in his kingdom that looks like responsibilities to serve, to reign with him. So your eternal security is not based on your performance. Your security is found in your union with Christ, but your performance, your living for Christ, does determine what you'll receive by way of reward when you get to heaven. Then he says a third thing about our security, and that is having to do with disowning Christ. Now here the tone changes drastically. The middle of verse 12, he says, if we disown him, he will also disown us. Now that word disown is a very strong word. It's not just like, well, we need to be faithful, we need to endure, we need to press on even in the midst of suffering. No, no, this own is something entirely different. To this own means to reject Christ and the gospel, to walk away from Christ purposefully and completely and finally. What he's talking about here, and especially in this context of chapter two, where he'll talk more about false teachers. What he's talking about here is what we call apostates, men who have turned away from the truth and teach false doctrine. And because of that, show that they are never, they've never truly been saved. They're not saved. Now look at these verses that show us how this is true. Second Peter, chapter two in verse one, Peter addresses men like this. He says, but there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, they will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord that bought them, even though Jesus died for them. They deny him. And what happens to them? Bringing swift destruction on themselves. If you read the rest of second Peter too, you'll find out that means they will end up in hell. They were never truly saved. Even though they may be religious, they disowned Christ. So he rejects them as well. First John 219 has one of the most helpful statements of this that I know of in the New Testament. John is talking about antichrist, false teachers. And he says, they went out from us. They left the Christian faith, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, if they were really one of us, really a true believer, he says, they would have remained with us. But they're going, showed that none of them belonged to us. Do you see what he's saying? He's saying a person who rejects Christ, disowns him, begins to go into false doctrine and teaches it, shows that he really didn't belong to us to begin with. He really was not one of us. He really was not a true believer. And that's what Jesus is talking about in Matthew chapter 10, look at this third verse. Matthew 10, he says, whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my father in heaven. But whoever, and here's that strong word again, whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my father in heaven. That word disown means to reject, turn your back on and walk away from never to come back. It is a decision to reject Christ. If you live that way, even though you may be a religious person, then Christ disowns you. He rejects you. So a lot of people have trouble with eternal security because they talk about someone who, oh, I know this person used to go to church and used to be a deacon or a preacher or whatever, and look at their lives now. Well, first of all, my friend, you never base doctrine on what you see by the experience. You always base doctrine on this book, on the Bible and what it teaches. A person who walks away from the Lord, we don't know the heart, and that person may be temporarily unfaithful, as we'll see in just a moment, and come back. But sometimes a person who's made a false profession, an insincere profession of faith ends up rejecting the Lord walking away from him, never to come back. And my Bible says that person is just showing he never really belonged to us. He never really was a part of God's family. So don't get bent out of shape on eternal security because of someone's experience you see. Interpret that experience by the Word of God. Your eternal security is certain if you have been united with Christ by faith in Him. People who reject Him will be rejected by Christ, but not true believers. And that's the reason why Paul gives us this fourth perspective on security in verse 13. He says, if we are faithless, he will remain faithful for he cannot disown himself. This has to do with being secure in Christ. Now he's just talked about people who are not true believers, even though they may be religious, maybe even religious teachers, but they're not true believers and Christ will end up rejecting them when they stand before him. But now he comes back to true believers. He uses a different word here. If we are faithless, and the idea here is if we become unfaithful to Christ in our walk, if we as believers become unfaithful, if we sin, if we go through a period of our lives where we kind of walk away from the Lord, but that's not a permanent thing. We come back if it's like Simon Peter, for instance, who denied Christ, but immediately felt the conviction of the spirit and deep remorse and regret and ended up repenting. What did Jesus do with him? Did Jesus disown him? No, no. Jesus told him before he ever did it. I prayed for you that your faith would not fail. And he said, and when you have returned, then you strengthen your brothers. Jesus knew that he would come back because he was a true child of God. A true child of God may be unfaithful for a period of time, but will eventually return. And in that case, show they are a true believer. How does Jesus interact with those folks? Well, we are secure in Christ, even though we may stumble and fall and be unfaithful for a period of time. He says, if we are faithless, he will remain faithful. Even though we may disobey him sometimes, he will never turn his back on us. He remains faithful to us. And I love the reason why he cannot disown himself. There again, he uses that strong word of rejection, eternal condemnation. He cannot reject himself. Wait a second, John, I thought you were talking about him rejecting us. Ah, here's the beautiful thing. If you are truly a believer, if you've trusted Jesus as your Savior, been united with him in his death-barrel resurrection through faith in him, then you are a part of his body. It's one of the figures the Bible uses of our relationship with him. We are his body. He's the head, we're his body. And in that sense, I think Paul is saying he can't reject his own body. He can't reject himself. We are a part of him. And he can't reject himself. I love the way he says that. So here, I believe, is Paul's way of expressing our security in Christ. You are eternally secure if you have been united with Christ through faith in his death-barrel resurrection. You are eternally secure. You will never lose your salvation. If you endure with Christ, if you live faithfully, you'll receive rewards. On top of your salvation, you'll receive rewards when you get to heaven. But for the person who disowns and rejects Jesus Christ, he will face rejection from Christ when he sees him in eternity. For the true believer who just for a period of time or maybe for an instance in life commits sin and is faithless, you are still secure in Christ because you're a part of his body. You just need to confess your sin, get it right with God, start walking in obedience again. That, I believe, is a beautiful summary of what the Bible teaches about eternal security. Now, let me make it personal. Again, I want to emphasize your personal sense of being secure. You're dealing with feelings of insecurity. The courage to step out and live for Christ and not be thwarted and stymied by feelings of insecurity or lack of self-esteem. All of that is tied to seeing yourself in Christ. Your security comes from being in him, not from the job you have, not from the relationships you have or may have lost, not from your own view of yourself, your self-esteem, your security, your confidence in life, your ability to move out into life and serve God, live for him faithfully, comes from a clear understanding that you belong to him and you are one with him and he loves you enough to never turn his back on you. That's where your personal security lies. So Paul is telling Timothy, Timothy in your ministry in this whole section of indicating to him what his character must be. He says, Timothy, we must be secure. As pastors, as people of God, we must be secure and we must find that in our relationship with Christ, not in anything else in this world. But then he goes on, a second character quality that he emphasizes for Timothy is this actually a seventh, sixth character quality and the list of all of them here in this chapter. We must be steadfast in verses 14 to 19. He talks about what it means to be steadfast, to be faithfully, earnestly, diligently working for Christ. Be steadfast, don't give up. Stay at it, Timothy. So he describes, first of all, what a good workman is like, what a good worker is like. And he's again speaking to Timothy as a pastor, he says in verse 14, keep reminding them of these things. Timothy, you've got a flock of people there in Ephesus. You have a church that you minister to every week. Keep reminding them of these things. Keep preaching and teaching the word of God. What I have just shared with you, which would be inspired by the Holy Spirit and recorded in scripture for us, you keep teaching, you keep reminding them of these things. Be faithful to that. And then he says, warn them before God against quarreling about words. Now what does he mean by that? Certainly he does not mean that we should try to ascertain the real meaning of the words of scripture. That's a good part of understanding the Bible. He is actually warned about this kind of quarreling about words three times in first Timothy. First Timothy 1, first Timothy 4, first Timothy 6. And all of those have to do with false doctrine. These are people who take the words of scripture and then twist them to mean something God never intended them to mean. They take truths of scripture, twist them to teach what they want to teach, what they want to believe. Maybe something entirely different from what God intended in his word and thus destroy the faith of many people. Paul says it is of no value and only ruins those who listen there in verse 14. He's talking about false teaching here and the quarreling, the debates about words that are used to twist the clear meaning of scripture into something that I want to make it mean so that I can I can support my own beliefs. That's what he's talking about. False teaching. He says Timothy, you remind people of the truth and warn them against false teaching. That's part of your responsibility as pastor. And then he says the real challenge, verse 15, one of the most familiar verses in all the book, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved of workmen who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. We probably know this verse best in the King James version. We probably memorized it if you were in a wana as a kid. I'll wait a second. Most of you in this service didn't even have a wana back in those days. But some of you have memorized this verse. Study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. And we know that verse. We've heard that verse. It's the theme verse of a wana. But this verse really goes far beyond a wana programs and children's ministry. Although it's wonderful for that ministry, really Paul is telling a pastor what his responsibility is. Clear in the context. That's what he's saying. He's saying to Timothy and I want to take this apart for just a few minutes because it is a powerful challenge to Timothy as a pastor. He says, do your best. The word study in the King James may lead us down the wrong path. The word study you think of, okay, a bunch of books and studying those books. And while that's a part of what he's talking about, this particular word he uses is best translated here in the NIV. Do your best. It's the same word that is translated back in chapter one and verse 17 of this of this book on the contrary when he was in Rome speaking of uniceferus. He searched hard for me. That's the word. Search hard. The word hard is the same word here. Do your best. He also uses it in Titus 3 verse 13 when he says, do everything you can to help Zina's the lawyer. The word really means do your best. Do everything you can. Work hard. That's the idea. Timothy, you give diligent effort. Be urgent about this. Be zealous in your work. Work hard, Timothy. Do your best. What for to present yourself to God as one approved? He's talking about Timothy when you stand before God. The goal of this hard work is that you will be approved by God. That you will see his smile when you stand before him. And really that's what all of us want, isn't it? That's what all of us want to see. When we stand before Jesus, we want to see his smile that we've been faithful to him, that we lived our Christian lives in a way that pleased him and honored him. Present yourself before him when you stand before you stand approved. He smiles. He is approving of your life. And here he's saying of your ministry. So do your best to make sure that when you stand before him, you see his smile and he describes what it will take to do that. A workman who does not need to be ashamed. Workman is an interesting word. It's used in the Bible both of farmers and builders. And both of those ideas are true in pastoral ministry. You're farming, you're sowing seed, you're watering that seed, you're trusting God to take the seed. The word of God, 1 Peter 1, is the seed of the Holy Spirit that he uses to bring new life into the hearts of people. So your farmer, if you're a pastor, you also build your part of God's work in building Ephesians says, building up the people of God, edifying them, encouraging them, strengthening them in the faith. So a workman, farmer, a builder, who does not need to be ashamed. That word ought to linger in our minds for a few moments. A builder who is ashamed has built with inferior workmanship, inferior materials, shoddy work, and it's not acceptable. So there is, if we do that in God's work, a loss of reward. We will be ashamed. And the Bible talks about that several times when it talks about standing before Christ that we don't want to be ashamed. So, okay, Timothy, do your best. Work hard at this with the goal of seeing the smile of God when you stand before Him and you won't be ashamed. But what do you want me to do, Paul? What are you talking about when you say work hard? That's the last part of the verse, who correctly handles the word of truth, correctly handles the word of truth. The word correctly handles is actually one word in the original language. It's a compound word. It comes from a verb which means literally to cut, tomato, to cut. And the first part of the word is ortho, which means straight. Actually, that's the word we get several of our English words from, orthopedic, which an orthopedic doctor among many other things, his main job is to straighten out the bones that we've messed up. You fell, broke a leg, broken arm, he straightens it out. The key idea here is to straighten. It's the same word we get our word orthodoxy from, which means straight or correct doctrine. Get your doctrine correct, straight. So the idea here is to cut it straight and the emphasis is on straight or correctness. What he is saying to Timothy is Timothy, you give the word of God without any deviation. Give it straight, give it undiluted. He's talking about precise, careful, preaching and teaching of the word. It's what he emphasizes over and over and over again in the pastoral epistles. We've seen it many times already. We'll see it again many times before we finish second Timothy. That is the primary responsibility of a pastor. To get it straight, study it enough to where you understand what it really is saying, and then give it straight. Cut it straight, he says. Make sure you get the meaning of the word of God and then give it to others. Study the text and get its meaning. Then when you preach and teach, explain the text, apply it to people's lives, illustrate it so that people see it, but stay with the text of scripture, correctly handle the word of truth. There's a lot of different kinds of preaching of the word today. Some people just read a verse and then jump into their own thoughts and pet peeves never coming back to the text of scripture. That is not biblical preaching. There are many who basically give the same sermon every week, end up going down the same path, no matter what text they're using. It's because they never really deal with what the text is saying. They just deal with some some truths that they want to get across. That's not biblical preaching. There are some who refer to the text often. They'll refer to the verse maybe that they've chosen to use, but no real engagement with it, no real explanation of it, no dealing with what the text is saying in its context. Don't really convey what Paul was saying or the writer of scripture was saying to the people who was writing to and what that means for us today. It's just keep coming quoting that text, but then jump off on something else. That's not biblical preaching. That's not correctly handling the word of truth. There are many who wrench a verse or more of scripture out of its context and misapply it. I'm going to give you an example. Look at this verse in Revelation 1110, which was used by a preacher, the first part of it to preach a Christmas sermon. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and make Mary and she'll send gifts one to another and he stopped right there. And he used as a Christmas text that we should have a Mary time at this time of year and it's okay to send one another gifts. He didn't read the last part of the verse because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth and he didn't look at the context. What this is talking about is unbelievers who were being preached to by the two witnesses in the tribulation and when the two witnesses were killed they were joyced because they no longer had to hear the Bible, no longer had to hear the gospel and if they were joyced so much they send each other gifts. Is this talking about Christmas? Have yourselves a Mary little Christmas with this one. Not talking about Christmas at all. That's not even close to what that text means but there's a lot of preaching like that. Pull out a little concept, a little phrase and use it to say whatever the preacher wants to say. That is not biblical preaching nor is it biblical preaching when you take a text of scripture and you view it through your favorite lens, the psychological lens. So I'm going to get psychological truth out of this passage where it may be the the therapeutic lens and tell people how to get better but I'm going to use a little bit of scripture to do it or it may be the the political lens. I'm going to preach politics every Sunday but I'll find something in scripture I can tie into it or it may be the social issue lens and every week you're hearing about a news social issue in the newspaper this week or it may be everything relates to the home. Listen what Paul is saying is if you're going to be a preacher preach the word and get it straight and give it straight that is biblical preaching the word of God. Now not every text of scripture tells us about the death-barrel resurrection of Christ and gives the gospel story although that gospel story is the essence of what the Bible is all about and that needs to be frequently before us but like Hebrews 6.1 says sometimes we need to go beyond those basic truths go onto maturity to the deeper truths of scripture there's a lot in this book and what we're seeing in 1st and 2nd Timothy is a lot in this book about what the church should be like and what pastor should be like and we are commanded to teach and preach these things Paul told us to do it so we can't neglect these passages of scripture either that is biblical preaching so what Paul is saying is Timothy you work hard in the word no sermonic laziness is allowed Timothy you work hard don't just find the verse of scripture to say whatever you want to say this week and come up with it up with the last minute on Saturday night you'll have to stand before God Timothy someday will you be a good workman that's not ashamed will you be ashamed of what you have presented to him will you be a workman who worked hard to get it right first of all and then to give it right and can you submit it to your lord with confidence i think every lesson every sermon every time a preacher gets up to to proclaim the word of God he ought to first lay that sermon before God and say God is acceptable to you I know I'm going to have to stand before you today or someday and give an answer for this text and how I handled it how I preach that I taught it I lay it before you is it good is it okay are you pleased that's what he's talking about same thing goes for every Bible fellowship teacher everyone who handles the word of God be a good workman now he gives some examples of the bad workman quickly look over 16 avoid godless chatter in contrast to getting into the text of scripture and explaining what it means applying it to people's lives illustrating it so that they see it as opposed to that there are some people who just chatter this godless chatter why is it godless because then do anybody any good this this book is what builds people up this book is what the holy spirit uses to save people and anything else is godless chatter so he says avoid that because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly there's a little bit of sarcasm here you see that the words become more and more the Greek word literally means to advance to make progress oh these people are making progress yeah but toward ungodliness it's progress down not progress up it's a little bit of irony a little bit of sarcasm there those who do our guilty of godless chatter will become more and more they will advance they will progress in ungodliness and then notice the effect of their teaching verse 17 their teaching will spread like gangrene you don't want gangrene you don't want tissue in your body to be so infected that it rots and you end up having to take a arm or a leg off you don't want gangrene but that's the way false teaching spreads and corrupts the church and then you mentioned a couple of people among whom are hymnaes who we heard of before in chapter one of the first letter and phyletists who have wondered away from the truth they say that the resurrection is already taken place and they destroy the faith of sun so these these bad workmen are teaching bad stuff and what they're teaching is that there's really no physical resurrection that's what they're talking about there's no physical resurrection in the future we already have all that god intends us to have in a spiritual resurrection this is a very early form of health and wealth gospel there's nothing to look forward to in a glorified body we got it all right now there's one thing wrong with denying the physical resurrection resurrection the body which by the way was an early form of heresy in the new testament built on Greek philosophy Greek philosophy started by Plato 400 years before this basically said the body is evil and only the spiritual what you think in your mind he meant is is right and that Greek philosophy affected some people in the early church and they were teaching that the physical body was evil so Christ certainly couldn't have had a physical body and there's no physical body in a resurrection why would we want a physical body the body is evil well that's what some of these people were teaching there's only one problem with denying the future physical resurrection of the believer Paul states it very clearly in 1 Corinthians 12 or 15 here's the problem but if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead if there is no resurrection of the dead speaking of our future resurrection then not even Christ has been raised and if Christ has not been raised our preaching is useless and so is your faith Paul's whole 58 verses of 1 Corinthians 15 is built on that concept you can't deny the future literal resurrection of believers well out also denying the bodily resurrection of Christ if you deny that you have no gospel you have no truth you have no faith everything goes with that that's why Paul warns about this kind of false teaching this is this is destructive but in the midst of warning about these bad workmen I love the way he ends in verse 19 by talking about the good work the defection of these two and their followers and other false teachers should not shake Timothy because God's doing his work and it will survive look at verse 19 nevertheless God's solid foundation stands firm sealed with this inscription beautiful building picture here he's talking about the church as a whole and he says it's going to stand because it's built on the right foundation it can take a few false teachers here and they're not going to destroy the church God's doing his work and he has this inscription on his foundation by the way in that time it was common on a central or corner foundation stone to write an inscription to dedicate the building it was very common in New Testament times it's sometimes done even today in in buildings where you'll find maybe a date or an inscription of something important or a person on a cornerstone of a building today it was very common in New Testament times and and Paul is saying God's foundation secure the church is going to be stable never the last even even in spite of these false teachers because the inscription God's written is this twofold first of all the Lord knows those who are his that's a direct quote from numbers 16 quickly the story to remind us of what Paul's thinking was when Kora and some of his followers challenged the leadership of Moses in the desert as the children of Israel wondering in the desert they challenged his leadership and said God done only speak through you he's speaking speak through us too who are you to think you're the leader and God said Moses you separate yourself and your followers from Kora and his followers because I know who's mine and you remember what happened the earth opened up and swallowed Kora and his followers over 200 people their tents their possessions everything God said I know who my who's our mind and and that's what he's saying here God knows who's who he is God knows those who are true to him God knows who the false teachers are and who the faithful proclaimers of God's word are so God is building his work this is a statement of of God's sovereign knowledge and work in building his church but the second statement is a warning to Timothy about his responsibility here's the second inscription everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness that's also a quote in the Old Testament several passages mixed into one here but the point is this God's going to do his work Timothy he's not going to let a few false teachers destroy his church he'll he'll take care of them he'll judge them and he'll take care of his church wait a second Timothy you got a responsibility too and that is you make sure you stay away from wickedness yourself you make sure that you stay in the word that you continue to get it straight and give it straight you cut it straight you deal with a the word of God as a faithful good worker approved by me you do that and you'll fulfill your responsibility I'm going to take care of my church but you've got a responsibility Timothy to do what I've told you to do wow what a challenge to do his best to be a good workman one who rightly divides correctly handles the word of truth stick with it Timothy so to be a good pastor to be a good Christian we must recognize the security we have in Christ and stay steadfast in the word that will form a good basis for your character find your security your sense of who you are in the biblical teaching of your security and Christ your union with him and then stay steadfast in the word and you will be a good workman you'll stand before God someday with his smile saying well done good and faithful servant may all of us hear that when we stand before him let's pray together Father thank you for the challenge of your word for those of us who are pastors as Timothy was as Paul was but also for all of us in our walk with you thank you for the challenge to find our security in you our relationship with you not in the things around us and to remain steadfast in the word stay faithful to your word may we always do that as a church as your pastors and as your people in Jesus name we pray amen