Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.pcbc.nz/sermons/79018/2-timothy-214-26/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] I'm going to read three passages today. The first is 2 Timothy 2, verse 14 to 26.

[0:10] ! Keep reminding God's people of these things.! Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.

[0:46] Their teaching will spread like a gangrene. Among them are Hermanius and Philetus, who have departed from the truth.

[0:58] They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription, The Lord knows those who are His, and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from weakness.

[1:25] In a large house, there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some are for special purposes, and some for common use.

[1:38] Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes. May the holy, useful to the master, and prepare to do any good work.

[1:53] Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

[2:05] Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.

[2:26] Opponents, leading them to a knowledge of the truth. Opponents must be gently instructed in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their sins and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

[2:54] Second, 1 Timothy 1, verse 3 to 4. 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.

[3:21] Such things promote controversial speculations, rather than advancing God's work, which is by faith.

[3:34] And the last, 1 Timothy 1, verse 20. Among them are Hymanus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

[3:50] Thank you. Good evening.

[4:09] Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for having us once again. And Pastor William, thank you so much for welcoming us. This is my second time to speak to your congregation.

[4:23] And about nine years ago, yes, as Pastor explained, that we went to Japan as missionaries, OMF, and since then your church has been partnering with us, supporting us.

[4:36] So I want to say thank you to every one of you. Thank you so, so much. Oh, sorry.

[4:50] Francisca. Francisca gave you some prayer points from today's passage, I think. Three prayer points? Four? I think, did you make those prayer points?

[5:04] Oh, who did it? Oh, Pastor. Those prayer points summarize today's message. Beautiful. So I don't think I need to preach from the passage, honestly.

[5:18] I mean, those prayer points did everything. Thank you so, so much. Verse 14.

[5:30] Verse 14. It says, keep reminding God's people of these things. Keep reminding. What are those things?

[5:44] That's what Pastor William preached last Sunday. I went to YouTube to listen to his message.

[5:55] It was very, very good. So if you want to know what these things Timothy was charged by Paul to keep reminding his flock of, just please listen to his message once again.

[6:14] It does not say, remind them. Keep reminding them. Which means reminding them again and again and again and again.

[6:24] Which means these things are so important. What Pastor William preached was so, so important. So please go back to verses 1 through 2 verses, verse 13 of 2 Timothy.

[6:47] Now, next. Warn them before God against quarreling about wars. What are wars they should not quarrel about?

[7:01] What are wars? What do you think? What are wars they should not quarrel about? Can you get 1 Timothy?

[7:15] Chapter 1, verse 3 and 4. Can you get that? Thank you. We can see the answer to this question. As I urge you, when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus, so that you may command certain people not to teach.

[7:36] Here we go. A word is here. False doctrines. Any longer. Then verse 4. To devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies.

[7:53] Three things here. False doctrines. myths and myths and endless genealogies.

[8:04] Those things are the words they should not quarrel about. One of the myths is that the resurrection has taken place.

[8:19] That in verse 18. Can we go back to chapter 2nd? 2nd Timothy of chapter? Yes. And verse 18. Can we see that? Can you see a myth?

[8:30] The resurrection here does not mean the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the cross.

[8:50] The resurrection of some believers. Some dead have risen. They proclaimed. And this is a myth.

[9:03] And the last Sunday, Pastor William, in his sermon, he talked about some myths in our church we might hear.

[9:16] Do you remember some of the myths Pastor William shared? Do you remember that? Any of you remember that? He said something like this. Jesus takes away all your trouble.

[9:30] Or if you believe in Jesus, he will give you the best life now, he said. If you hear these words, what should we do?

[9:45] Paul gives us an answer. In verse 14. Verse 14. The last part. Verse 14.

[9:57] Only ruin those who listen. Which means, if you hear those words, false doctrines, myths, endless genealogies, what we need to do is, we do not listen.

[10:22] That's our strategy. We do not listen to those words. Yes, sometimes there are times when debate is necessary about beliefs or practice.

[10:40] but more often than not, it's wise to avoid engaging in such conversations.

[10:51] If you have ever engaged in such conversations, can I ask you one question? Did you get a positive outcome out of it or not?

[11:04] Normally not. often you end up in a heated conversation, heated exchange with the atmosphere and often even the language deteriorating so quickly.

[11:17] Am I right? Yes? So we don't engage in such conversations. And verse 16. Verse 16.

[11:29] Paul says, avoid godless chatter. before he said, verse 14, don't listen to them. And now, verse 16, avoid godless chatter.

[11:43] Now, what is godless chatter? This is not just chattering about anything. Again, this chatter is false doctrines, myths, endless genealogies, et cetera.

[12:01] We don't listen to them. we avoid it. Then, verse 23. Verse 23, what does it say? Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, which means avoid them.

[12:20] Avoid it. Avoiding any heresy is the best strategy to guard us. God please notice that so far Paul is saying that avoiding those wrong teachings, but he does not say avoid those people.

[12:44] Can you see that? He said avoid those teachings, those words, chatter, but he does not say avoid those people who bring false teachings.

[12:55] please look at verse 25. Opponents are those who bring false teachings, stupid arguments.

[13:10] What does it say in verse 25? Opponents must be gently instructed. it. Who should take on this difficult task?

[13:26] Who should do it? Paul provides instructions about who is responsible for this very difficult task. That's in verse 24.

[13:39] And the Lord's servant must not be called awesome. and he is talking to the Lord's servant who should instruct opponents who bring false teachings.

[13:57] Who is the Lord's servant? Timothy. And the church leaders of the city of Ephesus.

[14:11] He is not charging everyone to instruct opponents different. This is most of us this is not our job to instruct opponents.

[14:32] This is Pastor William's job and some other leaders of this church. church therefore avoiding opponents teachings stupid arguments but also most of us should avoid those people who challenge us.

[15:03] This is a strategy. but we pray for them. We pray for those opponents and we pray for Pastor William or some other leaders who can instruct them.

[15:20] So we do not abandon those people but we do not engage in conversations. A few years ago a lady approached me.

[15:32] somehow she found out my contact and she sent me a text. Hey Kame and Grace I want to see you. And she gave me some fantastic promises.

[15:47] Do you know what those promises are? It's like I'm going to be a big big pastor one day. And I am going to have authority over my church and even a part of the world.

[15:59] So appealing to me. I want to listen to this lady. And she was quoting lots of passages from the Bible.

[16:11] But those passages almost always from the book of Isaiah, book of Ezekiel, book of Revelation, those prophetic books.

[16:23] Or sometimes parables because parables are easy to manipulate. she was able to quote lots of Bible passages showing or trying to prove that I am going to be a big pastor and I'm going to lead a number of people.

[16:47] And later she suggested, hey, K-Mei, Grace, let's meet. Can you come to my house? I want to have nice lunch with you, she said. And I said, no, we are not coming to your house, we meet at my church.

[17:05] If you want to meet me, come to my church and bring your husband with you, I said. And she did. She came to my church and we met her in the office of my pastor.

[17:21] So who was in present? Me, my wife, Grace, that lady and her husband and my senior pastor and one elder.

[17:33] Six of us. And we heard her, sorry to say, silly arguments, stupid arguments. Therefore, even her husband was a witness of her belief system.

[17:49] her husband was so shocked to hear, her husband thought, you know, her husband thought wife was sort of crazy.

[18:04] Her husband didn't know anything about religious involvement. And later on, at the end of meeting, I said to her and her husband, we are happy to meet you again, but in this church, not anywhere.

[18:23] and you are most welcome to come and attend our service, but you cannot spread your beliefs or arguments in the church, but otherwise you can come.

[18:39] And I deleted her account from my phone, WhatsApp. Meeting people like her at the coffee shop is not a great idea.

[18:53] Don't go to their houses. Avoid not only their foolish arguments, but also their geographical turf.

[19:05] This is so important. Avoid their turf. And you don't never invite those people to your house.

[19:16] You don't need to show hospitality. meeting at your church with your pastor. This is what you can do. Second, handling the word of God and conduct.

[19:31] We just don't avoid false teachings, but we actively need to do something. That's in verse 15. Verse 15.

[19:44] Do your best. Did you hear that? do your best. There are only four verses in the New Testament in NIV that say do your best.

[19:59] And those four lines were all uttered by Apostle Paul. Three of them in the second Timothy and one in his letter to Titus.

[20:15] And out of four, three of them go like this. Timothy, do your best to come to me quickly. He said to Titus, do your best to come meet me.

[20:28] But only one time he said this. That's in verse 15. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved.

[20:40] You do not hear this phrase do your best in the Bible. Even maybe your parents may not say that much. But isn't it important? Do your best.

[20:53] Do your best. Let's see what we need to do by doing our best. Two things here. Do your best to do what?

[21:03] Two things. First, the last part of verse 15. Correctly handles the word of truth.

[21:17] Which means we do our best to become a person who correctly handles the word of truth. Which is the gospel.

[21:30] That means you have the right interpreter of the gospel as opposed to the distorted interpretation by the false teachers.

[21:44] This often involves daily Bible devotions, regular attendance at the Bible study classes, participation in Sunday services.

[21:58] Can I ask you one question? Are you doing your best to handle the word of God? Furthermore, without a correct understanding of the gospel, we cannot distinguish between right and wrong interpretations of the word in the first place.

[22:22] And the second, we need to do our best to be a worker who has nothing to be ashamed of.

[22:35] That's the first part of verse 15. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed.

[22:51] A worker who does not need to be ashamed. That's what we need to do. We need to do our best to be a worker who does not need to be ashamed.

[23:04] Which means having a correct understanding of the Bible is not good enough. we need to live by it.

[23:19] We need to live and practice the Word of God. Can I ask you another question? Are we doing our best to live by the right interpretation of the Bible or not?

[23:40] Are you not ashamed of your conduct as Christians or not? Avoiding false doctrines is not good enough.

[23:54] We need to do our best to have the right understanding of the gospel and the right conduct without shame.

[24:06] I learned from my experience lives are not in order.

[24:42] Often their families are dysfunctional. Kids are not obedient. They may speak loudly about what they believe, but they are not workers without shame.

[25:00] a while ago, I shared a story of a lady who approached me and my wife in Tokyo. I tell you, her life was very, very messy.

[25:16] Number three, false teachers from the church. Let's talk about this guy, Hymenius, in verse 17 and 18.

[25:28] Hymenius. This is interesting character. Verse 17. Their teaching will spread like gang ring.

[25:41] Among them are Hymenius and Philetus. Let's talk about this Hymenius. And verse 18, who have departed from their truth.

[25:58] this guy, Hymenius, is mentioned in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 20. Let's see. 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 20.

[26:13] Among them are Hymenius and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

[26:26] in the first letter to Timothy, Paul said he had handed Hymenius over to Satan to be taught.

[26:41] This is not a punitive purpose, but restorative purpose. But yet, still this guy, Hymenius, is mentioned in 2 Timothy as a false teacher.

[26:59] It seems like he hasn't learned a lesson Paul gave him some years ago. Some people sadly never learned lessons, or they are very, very slow to learn lessons.

[27:21] And Hymenius was from the church, it says. Those who advocate false teachings may come from within your church.

[27:39] And verse 19, back to 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 19. Nevertheless, verse 19, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with his inscription.

[27:56] Lord knows those who are his. Who are his? Who are his? Yes, we are. We are Christians are his.

[28:07] We are God's elect. Then we may be tempted to ask this question. Wasn't Hymenius God's elect or not?

[28:23] As he was part of the church before. Did God abandon him or not? Did Hymenius lose salvation or not?

[28:36] Now, this discussion is a topic for another day, and I don't have time today to dwell on that. thought. If you want to know the answers, please talk to Pastor William.

[28:53] He will be glad to answer your questions. You cannot talk to me. However, I want to offer my advice. A matter of Hymenius is not our focus.

[29:12] Our focus is to do our best to have the right understanding of the gospel and the right conduct without shame.

[29:25] That's our focus, not Hymenius. Some of us are occasionally preoccupied with Hymenius and other believers and often ask questions like this.

[29:47] Is he a born-again Christian or not? Is she allowed to act like that if she is a Christian? We often talk about others, how much they should change and how far they are away from the truth.

[30:15] So, was Hymenius got the elect? My answer is this. Mind our business. That's my answer. Let's not lose our focus.

[30:31] My family, we often play tennis at Mount Edom. And while we are staying in New Zealand for two months, we often go to Mount Eden. Beautiful tennis facility for public use.

[30:47] And anyone can use it. And it's not free. Some slots are free, but most of the slots are not free, and you have to pay about $5 for 30 minutes.

[31:00] And you can play up to two hours, which means you need to pay $20 for two hours. And I discovered, after visiting this facility for a few times, that many people, I tell you, many people just booked and paid for 30 minutes, and play on and on and for more than two hours.

[31:26] And we said to each other in our family, they are not paying for that, clearly, you know, they just keep playing. But I said to my family, let's do what's right.

[31:42] That's our focus. Mind our business. We don't need to talk about those people. That's not our business. Verse 20.

[31:55] verse 20 is a metaphor, and verse 21 is an interpretation of the metaphor in verse 20.

[32:07] Let me read the metaphor first. That's in verse 20. In a large house, there are articles, not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay.

[32:26] Some are for special purposes. Some are for common use. You can see in this metaphor, there are good articles of gold and silver, and others of wood and clay.

[32:49] Who do those articles of wood and clay refer to? What do you think? Do they refer to Christians?

[33:06] Christians, but not so active, not so faithful Christians? Or people like Hymenius, who are false teachers and attack the church?

[33:21] There are different interpretations by different commentators, as I read more than four or five commentaries, different interpretations. Christians. But let me offer my understanding of this metaphor.

[33:38] Paul uses the articles of wood and clay only to emphasize the importance of the articles of gold and silver.

[33:54] His focus is on the articles of gold and silver, not of wood and clay. That's my understanding.

[34:07] Let's read his interpretation of his own metaphor in verse 21. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes.

[34:20] May the holy, useful to the master, prepare to do any good work. Have you noticed something? Have you noticed anything in this interpretation?

[34:36] He only, Paul only gives the interpretation of what the articles of gold and silver mean. Not the articles of wood and clay.

[34:54] he only explains that those articles of gold and silver are Christians prepared to the good work for God, useful to their master.

[35:16] This fact suggests that Paul is focused on the articles of good and silver. He wants us to be like them, useful to the master.

[35:33] Therefore, we do not focus on who are unfaithful Christians or who the articles of wood and clay are.

[35:49] remember that our focus is not false teachers like Hymenius but our master Jesus.

[36:02] Our focus is not false teachings but the gospel. Our focus is not who is not practicing the word of God but our focus is whether we are practicing and living by the word of God or not.

[36:31] Our focus is to be useful to our master and to do any good work.

[36:43] Let's pray. Lord, thank you Lord for this second Timothy written by Paul.

[36:56] We keep hearing the word avoid or have nothing to do with those false teachings. Sometimes it's tempting for us to get engaged in such conversations.

[37:12] But Paul is urging Timothy to avoid those conversations. And most of us maybe need to avoid those opponents but pray for them.

[37:29] We need to pray for them and pray for our church leaders who can instruct them. Help us not lose our focus.

[37:43] Our focus is not who is not practicing the word of God. But whether we are practicing it or not.

[37:55] Whether we are having the right understanding of the word of God or not. Whether we are having the right conduct or not.

[38:09] Lord, you are urging Timothy and even us to do our best for those things. In the name of Jesus, we pray.

[38:21] So help us. Give us strength so that we can pursue our focus in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you.

[38:33]  Thank you.