[0:00] And now on to our Bible reading. If you could turn with me to 1 Timothy 1,!
[0:30] To Timothy, my true son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
[0:42] As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies.
[0:56] Such things promote controversial speculations, rather than advancing God's work, which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
[1:13] Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.
[1:26] We also know that the law is not made for the righteous, but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound of doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
[2:00] And that's the word of God. And we'd like to invite Pastor Albert. Thank you. Thank you, Isaac.
[2:12] Right. How many of you actually have heard about this KK Park? It's hardly a park.
[2:26] It's more like a concentration camp. It's situated in Myanmar, but I believe it's more than just Myanmar. It's really a scam factory where there are cyber slavery, human trafficking, tortures, and actually thousands have been lured into it and promised good wages and prospects.
[2:51] But once you're hooked, you're there. No escape. And those are the ones that actually, they will call you or text you and about these sort of things.
[3:04] And once you're hooked into it, you got scammed and your all money gone. And actually, it's so real, I'm not sure if you, this first time you came across, we do actually have a PCBC member.
[3:17] He or she was not there, but the family of the particular member was there. And she was so scared that she would never come back out.
[3:30] But praise God, lots of prayers, and somehow, God did miracle. It was all because of this guy. It was thousands, thousands, and actually people were hooked into it.
[3:44] This is a high-profile Chinese movie star, Wang Xin. Have you heard about that? And because it was so high-profile, and the Chinese government had to act.
[3:57] And you could see. Once, I don't know, some people said it was different countries' government was actually, it had something to do with it. Can you imagine? And once the Chinese government kind of acted, many got released.
[4:14] And the press, the press was putting a lot of stress onto, onto these situations, and yeah, that particular family member got released.
[4:27] Now, this, you know, once you, we got scammed, and we got trapped in there, it's horrible.
[4:38] Get tortured, and yeah, it's pretty, pretty grim. But I think, what the passage, which I just read, it will be even more, devastating.
[4:50] It's not just physical life, our spiritual life, eternal, yeah, bondage, and spiritual scam, would even be more, devastating.
[5:03] So, let us be, very, very careful, what the Lord, what the Word of God, is teaching us. Eleven, first, eleven verses, from the first Timothy, chapter one, Paul, charged, Timothy, to stop, there were leaders, actually, they were in the church.
[5:24] We're not told, who were those leaders, and how many of them, but, they were teaching, false doctrines, right? And, but that, that doctrine, those doctrines, were contrary, what Paul described, they were contrary, to the glorious gospel.
[5:44] So, how do we, identify, these things, today? I believe, that this passage, teach us, teaches us, to, really, to resist, false teaching.
[5:58] We need to identify them, to resist them, but to persist, in the truth. Okay, passively, we are to resist, the false teachings, but, actively, proactively, we need to, know, and persist, in the truth, so that, we won't, be led astray.
[6:20] All right? So, this is, the, you don't need to study it, but, I just wanted to, let you know, where Paul was, when he was writing, this letter. Okay?
[6:30] He was here. Okay? He was here. That was, kind of, near the end, of his life, in the ministry. He's written a few books, he's been to places, all right?
[6:41] It was first, second, third, journey, and he ended up, in Rome, and somehow, he had a couple years there, after that, he got released, and, he was, he was trying to, he was going to visit Spain, and then, around, 66, 67, 67, 68, he wrote, the, pastoral epistles.
[7:05] That's why, when you read, second, Timothy, he says, oh, I fought the good fight. I've kept the faith. I've ran the race. Right? So, he knew, that, that's about the end of his life.
[7:18] So, he, but still, he knew, he had something to do. So, he charged, Timothy, before I die, before I finish, I finish my race, do this.
[7:32] And, something, I really, it's on my heart, you know, stop these men, in the church, in Ephesus, teaching, false, doctrines.
[7:43] So, yeah, so, this is the first chapter, of, Timothy, 1 Timothy. And, he started off with, greetings, and then, 3 to 11, is the church, to, to identify those false teachers, and the fallacies.
[8:04] And, verses 12 to 7, he gave his own testimony, how, he was, once a persecutor, and now, being persecuted. And, then, he encouraged, Timothy, to be strong, to, to be strengthened, by God, to carry on, the ministry.
[8:23] So, passively, we are to resist, false teaching, but, I believe, we need to, be proactive, in persisting, in the truth.
[8:35] we don't need to, identify, all these falsehoods, because, so many of them, around. But, I think, the best thing, for us, is to know the truth.
[8:47] Once, I know the truth, and, we'll be able to, know, if they are not. Okay? But, anyway, this is the first, point, I want to share with you.
[8:58] Paul, was, charging, Timothy, I urge you, when I was in, Macedonia, stay there, in Ephesus, so that you may, command, certain people, not to, teach, false doctrines.
[9:13] So, those, he, and then he mentioned, in the verses, that, the characteristics, of these, false doctrines. First, what are, what are the, false doctrines?
[9:25] And, that word, is actually, um, it's, hetero, the, tusker, lin, right? So, this is not English, of course. But, you, you can, you can, you can identify, identify the first, few characters, right?
[9:41] Hetero, means, different, right? Different. The, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, is really, about teaching. So, it's, different teaching.
[9:53] Different doctrines, come, contrasting the gospel, that Paul was preached, preaching to them. So, in Galatia, Galatians, he mentioned something like, um, there's another gospel you guys are talking about.
[10:08] It's not the same as what I've taught you. Right? It's a different Jesus, he said to, uh, Corinthians. So, anything is different to the existing truth that they have been taught.
[10:25] That's false. It seems to be that there's already an accepted, uh, acknowledged, kind of a set of truths that was been teaching amongst the early church.
[10:39] And, and these false teachers were teaching something that was different, that's already commonly accepted, acknowledged. That different gospel.
[10:51] And what, what were they? And then he carried on to describe those people stressed on myths and genealogies. What were they?
[11:03] It seems to be that some of the, um, some of the teaching about stressing on, oh, these, all these, uh, history of these early patriarchs in the Old Testament.
[11:14] These sort of things have been running around. Okay? But they're not, not in the Old Testament. And some scholars said there was maybe some, it was around 70 to 135 BC.
[11:27] That's before their time. There has been some sort of, um, ancient manuscripts describing, uh, all stressed on a lot of these, um, stories. And, and about all these family genealogies.
[11:41] And, and people got, got all hooked up into it. And it's somehow, um, the Pharisees really loved it. But putting all these things into focus is neglect, was neglecting the gospel.
[11:56] And people was arguing, was talking about this. And Paul said, these are meaningless, empty. What, what have they got to do with the gospel?
[12:07] And then in verses seven to 10, it mentioned about law. Yeah. And, and Paul was trying to say that, yes, the law is good in verse eight, but the law has, you have to use it lawfully.
[12:22] All right. I mean, the law has its purpose, but you can't just use law, the law in any time, anywhere. The, God said, said this law has boundaries, has purpose, but this purpose could not serve to save people.
[12:41] That's what Paul was saying. The law was, was for unrighteous, not for the righteous. Right. And it had, it does nothing in saving people.
[12:52] And that's why he said, it's the gospel that saves. All right. So, he, he identified these characteristics. So, he wanted the, Timothy and the people to know, hey, watch out.
[13:07] These people were talking about these, uh, false doctrines. These are the things you need to watch out. And the consequences was, it was controversial speculation.
[13:20] And people would start arguing, arguing, and debating, and, and neglected the, the real ministry of the church. Now, can you imagine, when somebody just raised these, uh, myths and genealogies about these, that's unrelated to the gospel.
[13:39] And people was trying to argue about it. You know, they spent all this time, was just, just talking, talking, but was, and people, we just don't have time to build up people in the truth.
[13:54] And, and no evangelism, no witnesses, no discipleship. And, it's not helpful for God's work. And that's what Paul was trying to say.
[14:05] And, and this, this, uh, God's work, actually, is talking about the management of the household affairs.
[14:17] Stewardship, as we, you and I, and the church, when we serve, we are, we are, managing the household affairs of God. Keeping one another in the faith.
[14:31] and, and promoting the, the ministry of the church to build up people, to discipleship, to evangelism, to teach, teach the truth.
[14:42] If all the times we spend time arguing about this, or genealogies, find out what are the good months, what are the, uh, are the, are the, yeah, the things that we want to, we got hooked into it, and people didn't like it, and we talk about it, and we argue, and just neglecting the real thing the church was charged to do.
[15:04] So, think about it, PCBC. Do we, have these kind of things? Are there people spreading false doctrines that, you know, that would, cause speculations, controversies?
[15:25] that's what happened in the church in Ephesus. It doesn't need to take too many people, just two or three, enough.
[15:40] So, I believe, praise God, we don't, have this, in PCBC at the moment, but, I believe there are, quite a lot, outside.
[15:52] But, we need to, be, firm, and, know, and we need to persist, in the truth, that we have been taught.
[16:06] So, next, Paul, identify, what, are the truths? He said, three things. First one, that, truth, that is to magnify, God.
[16:21] It glorifies God. So, in verse one, he said, it's, when he, he wrote to Timothy, he, his life, he said, I'm in the name, of our Lord Jesus, and, and, and our Savior, that I, write to you.
[16:40] It's not just, a, a, a greeting, but it's, it's from his heart. You see, Paul's life, is always acknowledging, the Lordship of Christ.
[16:53] If anyone, come, and, and, and, preaches something, not, to the submission of Christ, but, I'm the one, you just listen to me.
[17:05] I'm sure there's, I'll tell you what, there are some people around, just, telling you that, you just listen to me, that's fine. No. We are, servants, servants, of, the Lord Jesus.
[17:18] We need, our messages, our, our, our life, we are to bring glory to God, we are to magnify him. I'm not there to receive, all the focus, all right? The focus, is God.
[17:32] I'm just his servant. If, I'm, I stand, in front, in front of the cross, everybody, when they hear, and what they remember, it's just me. What I said, I'll be, I'll be a failure.
[17:45] If, if anyone who teaches, who preaches, all right, and at the end, people don't, don't worry about Albert, but what he said, if it's aligned with the word of God, what I hear is from Jesus, from the Bible, I'll be, I'll be a successful servant of God.
[18:07] I think this is a sober reminder. Secondly, what I preach, must be back up, with what I do. Authenticity.
[18:20] I believe this word, has something to do with authority. When we are authentic, you speak with authority. If we, we, we don't back up, to what we said, of what we said, people will know, you're false.
[18:36] Right? Good concept, produces good conducts. If my conduct, does not, back up, what I say, and there is a lot of falsehood in me, in me.
[18:54] Now, no, I'm not expressing, I'm not saying, perfections. No one is perfect. Right? But, let's exercise, that authenticity.
[19:05] When we speak, when we preach, about the truth, let us try, our heart, our best, to walk, in the truth. Thirdly, a focus, on the gospel.
[19:21] To the gospel, concerning the glory, of the blessed God, that he has entrusted me, in verse 11. I mean, I believe, yeah, the life, and the death, and the resurrection, of Jesus, 2,000 years ago.
[19:40] I mean, nothing new. If today, is somebody telling you, oh, I have some teaching, I have a new teaching, for you, beware. In this old gospel, there's nothing new.
[19:54] God hasn't changed, a bit, about, the way, how Jesus, bring us salvation, how this salvation, come. It's the old, old story, of Jesus, came, died, rose to life, and come back, and come back again.
[20:14] 2,000 years. I don't know, when Jesus comes back, until he comes back, this gospel, of old, will, never, change. So, I think, it's good, it's good, it's good to check, right?
[20:29] If, if anyone, who, comes and tell you, about this truth, teach us about these truths, does his life, or her life, magnify God?
[20:41] If it's not, hmm, let's think about it. Does his life, or her life, exercise, what he preaches? I mean, the truth, what he preached, may not be falsehood, but his life, doesn't compare, right?
[21:03] So, we need to beware. And, what he said, what he teaches, if it's not focused, on the truth, of the gospel, and, that's what, what the, actually, Paul would say, to these, these, teachers of the laws, they try to be the teachers, but don't even understand, the laws.
[21:27] The law has its purpose, but, you can't come, you can't use the law, to, to, you know, add on a bit, onto the salvation. I believe, in those times, these, these so-called, teachers of the law, they say, okay, it's believing, believing in Jesus, fine, but then, you got to do this as well.
[21:48] You know, the grace of the Lord Jesus, plus, your, your actions, equals, salvation. And, Paul said, no. No.
[22:01] This, truth, our faith, our salvation, comes from the grace of the Lord Jesus, alone. Of course, we need to have faith, to, to believe, but, not actions.
[22:14] Yes, actions produced, after we, became Christians, after we have received salvation, right? So, let us, think, and check, the messages, the, the teachings, we've been hearing, or, whoever, who, who think, they come and, and teach us, in church, outside of church, uni, at work, we need to, persist, in the faith.
[22:47] Okay. There is a, a Chinese, ancient Chinese, idiom. 差之好理,某于千理. Okay. A slight difference, that's millimeters, that's actually what, the Chinese idiom says, can lead, to a huge error, that's kilometers.
[23:08] You know, just a little bit, just three millimeters. But the way, the carry on, and woo, woo, and then, and, and you end up, kilometers apart. There's a story behind it, but I don't want, want to talk about it.
[23:23] Don't want to, spend too much time. It's like that, you know, just tiny, a little bit. And often, we can neglect. But, where does it, lead us?
[23:37] Okay. Okay. So, how do we, how do we identify? How do we discern? Does it mean that, everything, that's different from, what PCBC teachers, we have to check?
[23:58] I mean, what about CACC? What about Hollywood? Are they different? How do I know, they're, they're, they're, they're, you know, they're okay. What about, they're different churches?
[24:08] What about different denominations? How do I know? No, I, I think, I think, it's good, there are measures, okay, there are measures, but there are also, there are, there are differences, okay.
[24:21] I think, the truth, is not just, exactly, everything, look at the thing, exactly the same. I think, I think, there are spectrums, okay, of perceptions, of truth, but there, but there, there are boundaries, okay.
[24:42] I always liken, like, like, Isaac, or Julian, and she, we have coffee, okay, in a cafe, right.
[24:55] I mean, Juju, you like, latte, mocha, okay, hot chocolate, oh, that's fine. Okay, I'll, I'll take long black, okay.
[25:05] What do you like, Isaac? Flat white? Chihuah? Flat white? No. And somebody who come along, oh, I like, I like, I like Americano, okay. Oh, I like, I like, mocha, okay.
[25:18] Okay, we, we're different, okay, we're different, but as long we can actually, chat, and, and we, we're around the table, okay, we're focused on the same thing, but, if you say, oh, I like Hong Kong milk tea, away, you can't get it here, or, you, Malaysian Baku, Tay, right, um, anyone who, what, you know what they are, uh, Yuk Kua Cha, all right, that's not tea at all, right, yeah, I mean, you can't get it here, right, so, uh, it's not the best illustration, all right, yeah, but, you know what I mean, you know, as long we are, we, we don't need to be identical, all right, we're not, unity doesn't mean to be uniformed, but, unity must be agreed, onto the same truth, and that truth, is in, in the Bible, um, and there,
[26:23] I don't, I do believe there are different trends, and different denominations, maybe, different churches, maybe, focusing a little bit different, onto certain truths, based, on the Bible, okay, um, there's a book, I've read, I still, in, still have it in my, in my, in my bookshelf, it's called, The Streams of Living Water, it was, by this guy, Richard Foster, famous, in writing this, classic, celebration, of discipline, how many have actually, read the book, Celebration of Discipline, okay, good, it's a classic, it's, it's about 50 years old now, goodness me, it's, yeah, it was 80, it was, uh, written in, in 1980s, um, yeah, and the, in, in this book, he stressed, there are different streams, of God's people, all right, so he mentioned something like, um, there are, there are some, um, some churches, or some, um, denomination, that focus on to, contemplation, all right, so, they want to spend a lot of time, in reflections, retreat, and rest, okay, you heard about these people, you know, good, we need to bestow it, before God, we do that too, but somehow, we are on the different side, like, we are more, like, um, evangelical, okay, uh, we want to focus on to the word, which is important, very important, okay, and there are people who, who stress on to the holiness, and these holiness movements, of virtuous life, you heard about those, yeah, and there are some charismatics, nothing wrong with charismatic, but need to be balanced, right,
[28:25] I have some good friends, good pastor friends, who are in charismatic churches, they're, you know, not, not off the, off the cliff, I mean, you know, you don't teach people, you must speak in tongues, otherwise you're not being saved, I think a lot of charismatics, kind of repented from that, right, and, and there are, there are incarnational movements, social justice movements, all right, as long as they, they, they, they focus, the foundation is on the Bible, and God use different streams, so I think it's good, I think it's necessary for us, to, to, focus, and I think it's good, it's a good, thing to check, would, these people, actually, agree, with the Apostles' Creed, you know, different people read, the Bible differently, but, the creeds, they're not, they're not Bibles, they're not, they're not, yeah, but they collect, what common, agreed values, just like, during the, time of,
[29:35] Timothy, there are, already some agreed, creeds, beliefs, doctrines, that's circling around, the early church, and this, yeah, it was done in 4th century, I mean, I believe in God, you sung that just before, I believe in God the Father, I believe in God the Son, I believe in the Holy Spirit, you know, if, if, different denominations, churches, Christian, Christians, if they, we all agree on that, but we, somehow, we may be slightly different, in our practices, in our traditions, in our culture, that's fine, okay, but, always, we need to discern, all right, it's not to, not to scare us, you know, oh, it's dangerous, how do I, run away from this, how do I not, being, not trapped into it, now, I think, we believe, we trust that God can keep us, but, but we need to be vigilant, we need to know our word, the word of God, not just hearing what people says, right, so we need to study it, and,
[30:47] John Stott, he, contrasted, the first Timothy, he says, the false teachings, were speculations, and, and, and, ended up with controversies, but truth, that's based on, revelation, how, through the word, and, and, we exercise that, with love, I think that, these are the, yeah, some of the things, that will help us, to identify, what is false, and, what is truth, so, let us beware, when you hear those, those texts, when you see those texts, when you hear those phones, beware, okay, but, more importantly, we need to know the truth, and be prudent, don't fall into, not just the KK Park, don't fall into any satanic traps, that could lure us away, from, from, from salvation, so,
[31:55] I believe, later on, we continue to study, first Timothy, lots more lessons to learn, all right, lots of, lots of, lots of, pastoral situation, Paul was trying to, encourage Timothy, to address, and, yeah, and, and our church, will experience, some of them, as well, so, be good, to, to read, first, and second Timothy, also Titus, right, so, you'll be preaching Titus too, later on, yeah, so, yeah, just, may, may, the Holy Spirit, enlighten us, okay, be prudent, be watchful, let's pray, Father, I just want to thank you, thank you for your word, and, yeah, you've warned us, there are traps around, there are scams, but Lord, we know that, the spirit of truth, can lead us, into all truth, so, we want to trust in you, we need to be vigilant, but we also know, that you can protect us, so help us, to be, in good relationship, with you, thank you Jesus, in your name we pray, amen,