How to Handle Truth
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.
When we began looking this wonderful and enriching book, we said to you that the main verse in the passage is:
But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
I appreciate how the NASB translates this verse.
but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
It is without question that the support of the truth is found in the church.
The church is the living organism that God has chosen by which to reveal and defend the truth.
And Paul is calling on Timothy to perform that action.
I do not believe that is coincidence that the book of 1 Timothy begins with a call for the defense of the truth and it ends with a call for the defense of the truth.
Remember what Paul said immediately following his salutation?
As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
In fact, the first part of that verse is verbatim to what he told him in verse 20.
“Committed to your trust,” chapter 1 verse 3.
“Committed to your trust” chapter 6 verse 20.
This is a call by Paul to Timothy to be on the look out for the truth.
It begins with that imperative and it ends with that imperative.
And sandwiched between those two verses are all the things that it is going to take for a leader to be able to fulfill that.
Pilate asked Christ a question during one of His illegal trials:
Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
Now, Pilate meant that sarcastic sort of way, but I fear that we have a lot of people, clergy and laity alike, that are suppose to be guardians of truth that are asking the same question, “what is truth?”
It use to that we lived in a “modernistic” world; meaning that, only science and philosophical knowledge had truth.
Now, we live a “post-modern” world; meaning, that truth really cannot be known.
Truth is truth as you see it.
Your truth is different that my truth because we see things differently.
There is no absolute standard and to be dogmatic in anything is to be considered uncharitable and arrogant.
And what you have is men standing the pulpits of church across the world denying the reality of absolute truth in order to fill their coffers and attendance records.
Because you see, the stand for absolute truth will cost you.
The history of redemption is filled with countless thousands of martyrs who have paid the ultimate price rather than abandon or compromise the precious truth’s of God’s Word.
And believers today have received the legacy of such devotion and are blessed by the them.
One such legacy was beloved William Tyndale.
Tyndale lived from 1494-1536 and is sometimes referred to as “The Father of the English Bible.”
Tyndale wanted to have the Bible is the language that the people could understand, but that was forbidden by the “Holy” Roman Church.
Tyndale is attributed by some to have said to churchman:
A Concise Dictionary of Bible Origins and Interpretation Tyndale, William
If God spare my life, ’ere many years I will p 199 cause a boy that driveth a plough to know more of the scriptures than thou doest’.
He began his own translation and when he was opposed by the king and church he left England in 1524 for Wittenberg, Germany.
Tyndale began printing in Cologne, Germany but met opposition by Johannes Cochlaeus, who was a bitter enemy of Martin Luther and the Reformed movement.
Cochlaeus and heard of a the new successes of the reformers in England and that a new book was being printed.
He invited the printers over to his house for dinner and once they were “well filled with wine,” they revealed to him that they were printing 3,000 copies of Tyndale’s English Bible.
Cochlaeus immediately informed the authorities in Cologne and they put a stop to the printing, but Tyndale escaped with the printed sheets in Worms where he finished one edition of the English Bible and 6,000 copies were made.
By 1534, copies began to reach England, many of them smuggled in bales of cloth or sacks of flour by friendly merchants.
There were many additions one which he was working on when he met a man that became a good friend, John Rogers.
He also met another man by the name of Henry Phillips.
Phillips came from a very respected, wealthy family, but as an adult squandered his estate to the degree that even government officials were after him.
He tried to write back home asking for forgiveness and help, but, unlike the Prodigal Son of Luke 15, received none.
His life was a mess, and being broke he became the ideal candidate the Catholic Church needed to kidnap Tyndale.
With a brutal agenda and a fist full of money, Phillips set out to get Tyndale.
Phillips went to Antwerp where Tyndale then was resident, and through golden speeches gained the trust and friendship of the English merchants and Tyndale himself.
The decision to befriend Philipps became Tyndale’s worse mistake.
It was during the time of the “friendship” that Phillips won the trust of Tyndale, shared meals with Tyndale, and even stayed the home of Thomas Poyntz.
And while he shared the hospitality of Tyndale of Poyntz, Tyndale shared the work of his new edition of the English Bible.
When Phillips knew the location and the work of Tyndale, he went straight to the authorities and on May 21, 1535 Tyndale was arrested for translating the Bible into English; his way of being a guardian of the truth that had been lost in the hands of Rome.
Tyndale was in prison in Belgium where he spent his closing years under the control of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor; the same Charles V to whom Luther stated, “I cannot and I will not recant, here I stand, I can do no other, God help me.”
Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII tried to secure his release but Charles was not in a friendly mood, partly perhaps because he was the nephew of Catherine of Aragon whom Henry had recently divorced.
You know, it does help it you send the right people.
Tyndale was found guilt of heresy in August of 1536, he was strangled and burnt at the stake on October 6, 1536 at Vilvorde.
The final prayer that was on his lips:
A Concise Dictionary of Bible Origins and Interpretation Tyndale, William
‘Lord, open the king of England’s eyes’
Some months after his death a version of the Bible in English, based on Tyndale’s work, was circulating in England with Henry’s permission.
That was brought about from the man known as John Rogers.
John Rogers was born in 1500 and died on February 4, 1555.
He was a Protestant preacher, Bible translator, and became the first martyr in England under the reign of Mary I (Mary Tudor), affectionally called “bloody Mary.”
Rogers came to embrace Reformed theology until the tutelage of William Tyndale.
Rogers, who helped Tyndale with his work and who was himself an outlaw, had the English published after Tyndale’s death.
In 1537 under the name of Thomas Matthew, he completed Tyndale’s work and published the first complete version of the Bible in English, known as the Matthew’s Bible.
For preaching protestant doctrine at Paul’s Cross in London at the beginning of Mary’s reign, he was first confined to his house.
And then he was taken to Newgate prison, where he was kept for a year.
In January of 1555, he was charged with heresy.
He was against the Roman Doctrine of Transubstantiation and denied the authority of the Pope.
He was excommunicated and taken to Smithfield to be burned at the stake.
Just before the flame was kindled, Rogers was offered a pardon if he would recant his views.
He rejected the offer and was burnt alive at the stake in full view of his wife and children.
The history of redemption is filled with people who have given their lives for the truth.
And I suppose that is one of the reasons why it should bother any believer to see truth misused and misaligned.
And is why Paul so strenuously at the beginning of the letter and at the end of the letter, urged Timothy to defend and fight for the faith.
Notice, quickly, the fight the truth for which the believer is to engage.
Timothy, as the Man of God, and every believer by virtue of your election has the calling to:
I. Defend Doctrine (vs. 20a)
I. Defend Doctrine (vs. 20a)
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
Timothy was to “guard” the truth.
The word is φυλάσσω and it means to stand watch over.
The word is used twice in this first letter to Timothy.
The first time that it was used was in 5:21, where it is translated “observe.”
The idea is that Timothy was to take the truth that was committed to his trust and stand in guard over it so that the truth could continue.
Paul says to Timothy that this truth has been “entrusted” to you.
That is the word “παραθήκη” and it literally means that something has been entrusted to you that you now take responsibility for it.
It is a financial term and speaks of something being deposited to your account.
“Timothy, you have been entrusted with the truth, and now you are responsible for it.”
Now, Paul was not telling Timothy that he was responsible for the results, but he was telling him that he is responsible to stand guard over it and to make sure that nothing happens to that truth.
We are living in a day when this is becoming more and more important.
And the Man of God, the people of God, we need to stand strong and guard the truth that has been deposited to us.
People that have discipled us and taught is the Word of God have deposited that truth in us and not we are responsible for what we do with it.
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
Listen, one of the ways that we are responsible to guard the deposited truth given to us is to give it to someone else.
Believers need never to live their lives having not poured themselves into someone else.
The best way to safeguard the truth from error is to teach the truth deposited to us to someone else.
The best to not guard the truth and propagate the false it to let someone else do the teaching.
Let the latest “Christian” best-seller do the teaching instead of the Word of God being taught by someone who has had the Word of God deposited in them.
Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
II. Disregard Deception (vs. 20b)
II. Disregard Deception (vs. 20b)
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
‘Avoid” is “ἐκτρέπω” and it carried the idea of standing away from something deliberately.
Listen, false doctrine must be avoided like a deadly plague.
“Profane” is the word “βέβηλος” and it was originally used to refer to everything outside the sacred grounds of the Greek Temple.
It describes what is outside the realm of truth, and hence those things that are unholy and profane.
God’s people must avoid things that are profane.
Things that are “empty chatter.”
Things that consist of useless, vain arguments that only lead to ungodliness.
And notice what Paul says next:
Timothy was to disregard those things that were falsely called knowledge, but were only deception hidden within the trojan horse of attacking the Scriptures.
When someone attacks the truth, they are attacking the Scripture.
So that is where the battle must rage.
Not with useless, empty talk but with the Scripture.
How are we to handle the truth as God’s people?
We are to Defend Doctrine.
We are to Disregard Deception.
III. Deter Defectors (vs. 21)
III. Deter Defectors (vs. 21)
Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.
The dangers of false teaching is so pervasive and so subtle that Paul says that some have already deviated from the faith that they once professed.
This is a warning against apostasy.
The abandoning of the truth.
But sadly, it is so common.
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
Paul pleads with Timothy not to be like the false teachers, but to guard the deposit of truth that has been entrusted to him to protect.
And part of that protection is to pour truth into others; thereby, protecting the truth and deterring defectors.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Paul ends this letter to Timothy:
Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.
Grace.
That is what it will take for God’s people to rise and protect the truth.
Grace.
That is what it will take for God’s people to be able to live the truth faithfully themselves.
Grace.
That is what it will take for us to be able to pour truth into someone else and thus protecting the truth.
Grace.
That is what it will take for someone not to defect from the faith.
It is all of Grace, folks, from the beginning to the ending of our lives as slaves of Christ, it is Grace.