First Timothy lesson 35 start

Alright, we are in lesson 35 and Mike got through question 4. I'll go over the verse again, I always like to go over the section that we're studying. The verses for this lesson are 1 Timothy 6, 13-16. So I'll read those. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without staying or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. which he will bring about at the proper time. He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings, Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

A very good portion and again the end basically just Paul giving Timothy the final instruction in this letter as he is winding down this first letter to Timothy. I like the portion where he just pours out this Very heartfelt expression of the Lord and God the Father, the Sovereign, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords.

And again, it's just a very, I guess, a very nice ending to what Paul has taken through this whole first letter of Timothy. There's been a huge amount of instruction in here, and he's just ending with kind of a strengthening comment to Timothy. So, this is the concluding portion of Paul's letter to Timothy as he ministers to the church at Ephesus. As the previous questions have pointed out, Paul is encouraging his young minister.

All of the previous chapters in 1 Timothy have stressed important aspects of his leadership and teaching as directed by Paul. especially about maintaining pure doctrines of the faith and to vigorously reject false teaching. Paul reiterates this in verse 14 where we begin with these questions. Again, most of this has been talking about maintaining pure doctrine and again vigorously rejecting false teaching.

Especially in 1 Timothy 1, the verses basically say, reject it. don't even get close to it, don't even start it, because if you start deviating off the truth, it's very quick that you get very far off the truth. So don't even start, don't even engage or think about all this poor doctrine that was coming out and he was warning about. Because if you start, and you see this in James too, where the eye starts in lust and then it goes through the progression to where it become sinful. It's a progression here with false teaching. You start and you just deviate a little bit, and then it begins to go further and further and further off. Paul is saying, don't even go there. Stick to the pure doctrine. Get the pure doctrine out.

Here in question five, is there value in presenting the good news without spot or reproach? We see this in verse 14, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, first of all, what does without spot or reproach mean? Without spot. Let's get our references back to the sacrificial lamb of the Old Testament with no spots. As I say, purity is, spot is not pure. As you said in the lamb, purity was an unblemished lamb, one without spot, one without any blemishes. It's pure.

I always go, of course, what do I do for words? Go to the ultimate authority, Webster's Dictionary. I guess without spot is easy. What does reproach mean? I was going to reproach. What is without reproach? What does reproach mean? Without spot or reproach? What does reproach mean?

I'll give you the Webster's then. An expression of rebuke or disapproval, the act or action of reproaching or disapproving. Again, it violates my premise that you don't use the word in the definition. So an expression of disapproval or an act or action of disapproving, cause or occasion of blame, discredit, or disgrace. So it's basically reproach and unrebukable and Tim, I should have you give the Greek word for it, an epileptos.

No, you get one shot at it and that's it. That's the best I'm going to do. It's only going to get worse after that. Which in turn comes from the alpha-derivative prefix epilembano, not apprehended, that cannot be laid hold of. Hence, it means that cannot be reprehended nor opened to censure, irreproachable. So we're to do it without anybody being able to challenge the word.

It's unreproachable. You didn't make a mistake. You didn't get off track. You want it so it's true. And there's nobody who can pick it apart because of some untruth. So without stain or anybody being able to censure or say, challenge that word. That's what he's saying. Bring it forth that way. Without spot or anybody can challenge it because you've deviated or there's a disparity.

There are two different things you've taught. So it's really saying just keep it pure. Again, this reiterates what Paul has been stressing to Timothy regarding maintaining the purity of his teaching and rejecting false teachers. Paul at the very beginning of this letter to Timothy stresses these things and now at the end of the letter closes with the same instruction. So if we go back to 1 Timothy 1, 3-5, it says, I urge you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus, this is where Timothy is, so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies which give rise to mere speculation, rather than furthering the administration of God, which is by faith.

So again, reject anything about strange doctrines. So he started with that and now he's ending with it. End with pure doctrine. Don't get pulled off by false doctrine or strange doctrines. genealogies, myths, all these things that distract. Stay pure to the word.

So Paul is concluding his letter to Timothy by the same thing he started with. He's just re-emphasizing what he said in this whole letter is about administering at the church at Ephesus and maintaining pure doctrine. And so you see this also again in 1 Timothy 6 and 7. For some men straying from these things have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

So again, the warning is, Don't pay attention to these people who are not strictly adhering to what Paul's teachings were. Again, the admonishment is keep the word pure. Don't get distracted. Anything else as far as their value in presenting the good news or spot without spot or reproach? I think it's basically the thing is maintain that. Does that apply to us today?

I mean, this is to Timothy, who is leading the church at Ephesus, but all this can be brought to us. If we get distracted, and I look at and I hear some people who I know who are not following God's word and get distracted and get pulled over, and I just see how they get further and further away from what the truth is.

And it's hard to bring them back once you get out away from God's Word and you start trusting in other things. It's very hard to reel them back in, which I've found. As opposed to somebody who hasn't heard the Word and you present it, they don't have that bias. So it's really important to keep true to the Word as we grow as believers. Because as you deviate, it's awfully hard to bring it back.

And that's what I think Paul is really emphasizing here. Stay true to the word. Don't get distracted. Don't get over here because it just gets worse and worse. So that's kind of the value of keeping it, is that we maintain our growth in the word if we are following the truth of the word. If we deviate, we don't have growth, we cause problems within the body, all these different things. Any other thoughts? All right, question six.

Why does Paul give Timothy a time frame for keeping the commandment? So from verse 14, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. So first, what is the event or commandment that Paul is instructing Timothy about? What event is he talking about?

That's not that hard of a question. Come on. What event is going to happen until the appearing of the Lords? So when is that? Any second. That's true. I like that answer. In fact, I wish that was the answer right now. I wish that would occur. Getting rid of a whole lot of things. Yeah.

It's at the rapture when he comes, because the church is removed at that point. So up until that point, you're to maintain the word, the purity of the word, because after that, we're with him, it doesn't matter. We are pulled out of the sinful body and we have a new body. So again, it's at the rapture.

So what is the time frame? We're to do this until the rapture. So does that include us? We haven't been raptured that I know of. So that falls upon us too. Paul's command is directly to us also to maintain the Word without spot and without reproach. So we're to maintain God's Word just as much as he told Timothy to do it. He's telling us the same thing. It applies to us until the time of the rapture when he comes and takes the church home.

Again, this is a time frame that applies to us. I thought this was kind of interesting. I thought about this. When is the appearing of the Lord? It's during the rapture. When is that? God's timing. It's kind of interesting, which I think I get into it a little bit later. Nobody knows. Right, and that's where I'm going to get into that a little bit, which is kind of interesting when you look at the verse on that. found an interesting aspect of that. So the appearing is an appearance.

It was often used by the pagan Greeks of a glorious manifestation of the God and especially, well the word for it is epiphania. And it was often used by pagan Greeks of glorious manifestations of the gods and especially of their advent to help. So that was calling out to their gods. Here it is used as the second advent of our Lord.

His coming to the earth to reign over the Millennial Kingdom, so the rapture and then the tribulation into the Millennial Kingdom. As a Christian, Timothy would be looking not for the advent, but for the rapture of the church. Doubtless, the latter was blended with the former in the mind of Paul when he wrote this. Basically, the rapture in the Millennial Kingdom is what he's talking about.

Maintain it up until the rapture. Again, that applies to us. And that this faithfulness is to continue until Christ's appearing shows that the charge is equally applicable to us as well as Timothy. So that's what I was saying. Until the rapture, we haven't hit the rapture yet, so all of this instruction applies to us.

So, now in question 7, what does the word which refer to? So it says, which he will, in verse 15, which he will bring about at the proper time, he who is the blessed and only sovereign, the king of kings and lord of lords. Actually, in verse 14, that you keep the commandment without staying in reproach until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the proper time, he who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings. So what is the which? What prompts the which? That's why I read 14, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of the Lord, which, so it's based on the appearing of the Lord, which, what?

He will bring about at the proper time. He is the blessed and the only sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. So, which is a relative pronoun in the Greek text referring back to the word appearing. The connection is as follows, which appearing in his own time he will expose to the eyes he who is the blessed and only savior. So, the which points back to the appointed time of his coming.

So, kind of moving forward on question eight, the word time could mean time in general or could mean a specific time. What do you think it means? Is this general times? Like when it says, until the appearing of our Lord, which He will bring at the proper time.

Is that general or is that a specific thing? Do you mean like a dispensation? A dispensation such as? Such as going from grace to the millennial kingdom. Well, yeah, from our mortal bodies to, well, when the rapture comes, when he takes the church home. That's a specific event. You can look at it from the Greek.

Basically, there are two different words for time, which is chronos, which is general time, a period of time. Here it's Kairos, and it's critical because it's a specific time. So again, we're going back to what is happening until what time. The time is of his return. So do this until the proper time, and the proper time is when he comes back. So it's a time within time. It's a specific time. Again, Kairos is a specific event time. Valentine's Day. It's a day this year. That's a specific time. Not like February. It's when Valentine's Day is. That's a chronos, a time, a period, a generality.

This is talking about until the proper time, which is a specific time, which again goes back to the reference of when is that? When he comes again for his church. So we're to maintain this until the proper time, which is when he comes back for us. Just comparing this to So that's where we're from. Here's where we're from. So there's a time, or the fullness of time, in general, Christ being here is titled The Time of His Return. It's a very specific time. If we knew, so we know. It's like I said, I'm going to get to that. It was like I said when I was studying this, I get to a verse and it's like, wow, I have to think about that. So I'll get to it. It's in this next question. I'll get to it.

But yeah, that's the real difference. And it's kind of funny. You don't need to know Greek, but it really helps in a lot of different things. When you pull these words apart, you really help specify what the proper time is. you know, during the church age, is that what he's talking about? No, that's a chronos, that's a time period. But an event is this kairos. So again, the Greek really does help you, you know, kind of help you study, I guess. So, yeah? Oh, I'm just waiting for the red. I think we all are. So, this is where I get into kind of the interesting part. Question nine, who is he and what are his titles?

So, that you keep the commandment without, starting in verse 14 and 15. So, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the proper time. He, who is blessed and only sovereign, the King of King and Lord of Lord. So, first, who is he in this verse? Who is the he in this verse referred to? God. Is it God or Christ? Interesting. What do you think? Well, I'll get to it. I was getting more from you, whether it's God the Father or the Lord Jesus. Any other thoughts? The pronoun is implied. It's referring to the names that follow, right?

The Blessed Only Sovereign, the King of Kings. Lord of Lords. The King of Kings, which is a reference to Jesus. So what is a Potentate? And that's what, add the Greek, that word for sovereign is Potentate. So it's interesting. He is idios, a word referring to one's own particular private personal possessions.

It will be in God the Father's own personal time, only to know, Father's own personal time, only known to himself that the Lord Jesus will come in glorious manifestation. So, in the proper time, he who is blessed, so, is he talking about God the Father in this one? Even though it's Lord of Lords and sovereign, it's interesting that yours is God and your version is God. I kind of fall on that it's the Father, even though, Miles, it has the Lord of Lords, but it's the sovereign and who knows the proper time.

If you refer back to the proper time, this is where it gets a little interesting. At the proper time, he the sovereign, king of kings, lord of lords. That, I think, refers to God the Father. The reason is because of the timing. At the proper time. If it's referring back to the proper time, I think it's God the Father. Because, as we'll see, which is interesting. in Mark 13, 32.

But of that day, or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. So if it's referring to this proper time, the only one who knows that is God the Father. So I think this reference to God, you know, sovereign, the King of Kings, even though Lord of Lords, Miles, I think it refers back to God the Father because of this. The interesting fact, when you think about that, think about that verse, but today no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. Now, is he talking about the Day of the Lord there? Yeah, well, there's one. I and the Father are one.

And yet, in his humanity, he certainly didn't access his omniscience in the same way. Well, it's just interesting. In the Trinity, only God the Father knows. I thought that's kind of interesting because you think they're all one, the Trinity. They're different personalities, people, and the Holy Spirit is a person, and the Lord Jesus and God, and yet only God the Father knows this time, not even the angels. I thought that was interesting. When we think about the Trinity and the unity, I and the Father are one and all this, but the Father is the only one who knows that time. And so I was kind of like, I never even thought of that, that the one thing that God the Father knows that the Son doesn't is the time when He's going to return. Why is that? I have no idea.

It's God's sovereignty. Yeah, I thought there was a fulfillment there of the unity of not only Christ but the Church and the All-Knowing Father. Well, this gets into, Miles, our discussion of what we talked about a little bit about sovereignty and who makes the rules. God made this up. I can't question Him. And I don't understand it. And I think of the unity of the Trinity. They're all one.

The Lord Jesus only does what the Father says, and they're one. But in this instance, what's really interesting is that the Father is the only one who knows when the Son will return. It's one of those things where I don't understand it, I don't know why, but that's the way it is. It was just kind of an interesting thing that in all of this, the one thing that I think the Son doesn't know is the time of his return. When I studied this, I thought, wow, that's really kind of interesting. I never thought about that before. He's the God-man. He's also man. Oh, he's man, but he's God, fully God. In Colossians, you see he's full deity as well as man. He's fully God and fully man. Any other thoughts on that?

It kind of, you know, it's something that Jesus demonstrated in his ministry in that he always, he would often tell people, oh my hour, I'm getting up. And he was fully dependent on the Father to reveal to him when his hour had come. John's Gospel now on Wednesday nights. It's like now his hour has come and he's like, OK, now I'm going to the cross. In the same kind of way, he's just waiting for the Father to work. When you say go, I go. But Jesus' whole life is just summed up in that only doing the will of the Father. He's committed to His time now, His timeline, His program. Yeah, I'm wondering that, though, that it's His time.

I'd have to study it more, but I think he knew what the time was and when it was coming. I think that's more he knew. He knew he was going to go to the cross. He knew all that. I think he knew when it was going to happen. He'd take this cup from me. He knew all that. I think he knew when it was coming. As this one says, he doesn't know.

Only the Father knows. I just thought that was different because he'd done all of the will of his father. Everything that I speak is from the father. Everything was from the father and the father. And yet in this one, the father knows best. Old TV show.

But yeah, it was just an interesting concept. I hadn't really thought of that, that only the father knows. When I was studying, I thought, that's just different. But again, I think it's one of those things where God is God, God is sovereign. That's how he planned it, and that's how he wants it, and that's what he did. Now, for his titles.

He who is the blessed and only sovereign. Sovereign. What does sovereign mean? The only sovereign. Fifteen. He was the blessed and only sovereign. Verse 15. So what does sovereign mean? I mentioned this in a sermon months or so ago. Americans don't really know what sovereign means. It's a king, right? Americans haven't had a king for a long time. But it's one who has, at least on paper, the word on it is real, but it has a final say. The absolute and final say. So, of course, I go to Webster first to see what the English is, so what we would normally get.

As a noun, it's one such as a king or queen possessing or held to possess supreme political power or sovereignty, using the word in there. The adjective, having unlimited power and authority. Unlimited in extent. Absolute. Having independent authority and the right to govern itself. I think all of those fit very well into what sovereign is. And I think it's unlimited power and authority. That's when I think of a sovereign God. He has ultimate power. He has ultimate authority. He's omnipotent, but he's sovereign, which is ultimate authority. Which is why America was so wise to divide the powers. Because when you invest all that power in one man, you're in trouble. Nothing ever gets done. In a human sense, but that's why sovereignty is godly.

I've taught many times, I think the Lord's beating into me two things, His sovereignty and His eternal love. If you have those two things, you know He's sovereign. Anything that happens in your life, He knows about it. He knows about it. He's allowed it. Whatever happens, you understand that He's allowed that in your life. He's allowed the contract to expire for JD, but he already has an answer. He knows. And if you tie that to the other, which is Romans 8, the end of Romans 8, he has an eternal love for you. Eternal, never ending. So in anything he's bringing forth in your life, it's not out of a bad attitude or malicious intent. It's always out of love. You know, that's one of the hardest things to learn. It's because I look at myself and there's nothing but love in me. But the thing is, I think we have to look at is the sovereignty part.

If you tie that with the love, that gives you peace, rest, and everything that He promised you. Because if you understand that, if you understand that whatever's going on in your life, He's allowed it. If you understand that, I have great peace through that.

It's one of my isms I had. God never says, oops. He's never uttered that word, oops. He knows. He knows exactly everything that's going on with you, and He allows it. He uses everything. He uses all things. That's the Romans. He uses all things, all things, people, events, inanimate objects, everything. He uses all of that. He's a sovereign God.

And when you tie that to a love, I can get through anything. I can get through anything because I know He loves me. And if you know that, again, the peace of heart that He promised. He promised that in Thessalonians about bring all your prayers and supplications to Him and what is in my prayer. And He will guard your heart. He doesn't say He's gonna give you the answer that you wanted, but He's gonna guard your heart and strengthen you and comfort you. That's what he promises. And if you understand sovereignty and love, I think you can get through anything, anything in life, if you understand those two principles.

At least that's what he's beaten in my brain these days. A lot of times it comes down to, do we really rest in his goodness? Do we really believe that he is good? Well, again, the other witch of my memorization problems, in James, consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete. But what is that? I always thought it was a bucket up. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter testing of your faith, It's testing of my faith. It's faith that's the challenge here.

Do you believe what God said about you? You have his very life. He's a sovereign God. Do you believe he's a sovereign God and he's in control? Or do you think you're randomly going through life? He's using everything in this life to conform us to the image of Christ. That's his goal and purpose, and ultimately for us to glorify God. That's what he's doing. And it's the challenges of our faith. It's like we said in the previous lesson that I got on my soapbox. Fight the good fight of what? Faith. That's the battle we have. Do you believe what he says? Do you believe he's a sovereign God? Do you believe he has an eternal love for you? Do you believe that?

That's the fight we have. So, again, off my soapbox. I'm looking at verse 14 and 15 together. And I'm like, this is a pattern. So, first of all, that you keep the commandment. So he says, I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you what you need to know, and that's the commandment.

And mind you, Timothy is in a trial of false teaching. So this is trial talk. In the sense that Timothy was dealing with those who were, and you know how uncomfortable it is when somebody comes at you. I want to remember, a young guy with a bunch of old guys. That's right. Telling you stuff. He's got... He's got his own trial. Yeah.

Here the Lord is saying, or Paul's telling him, I'm going to tell you, keep that commandment and here's how you do it. And then I'm going to show you. I'm going to show you your Savior, and that's going to provide a hope for you. I'm going to do it in the right time.

You don't know when that is, but guess what? You hope, because this is the blessed Son that I'm going to show you, and I do believe it is the Father here, because of the bring-about. Either Christ orchestrates His own manifestation in the return or in the rapture, or the Father does it and displays His Son. And I think that that bring about is directly in connection to the Father. I'll tell you I'll show you in the right time and hey don't forget.

I'm sovereign yeah Yeah, I'm sovereign. I think you know that's a he was blessed and only only sovereign That was another thing getting on this is the only server are there other sovereigns? Equivalent to him no only one only one there aren't multiples out there There's only one and then king of kings and lord of lords again a very a very descriptive and loving conclusion to Paul's letter to Timothy. The one you're serving is sovereign. He's the King of kings, Lord of lords. That's the one you're serving. That's the one you're ministering to at the church at Ephesus.

So again, it's a good ending to his letter, which has been very challenging. It's really encouraging to him, but very challenging to him about telling him about all the false teachers. And this whole letter has been talking about maintaining the purity of the word. and do not get distracted or diverted by false teachings. Timothy, you're a young guy. You have the word. Stay strong.

We can finish these titles next. We're at 46. So we'll finish with the titles, but Sovereign, I think, was an interesting one, again, with just what I think the Lord's been taking me through a lot, and the Blessed Sovereign, and Only. Two other adjectives that describe the Sovereign. that he is the only and blessed sovereign. Alright, let's close.

Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you again, Father, that you are the only sovereign and you are sovereign. You have all authority over all of the universe, all of heaven and earth. You have authority over everyone. And we thank you and we rest in that fact. We are thankful because you are a loving God. You are love. That is an intrinsic characteristic of you. And so with your sovereignty and your love, you minister to each and every one of us who are in your Son, in a way that is ultimately conforming us to the image of your Son. And we just thank you.

Even in the trials, we are comforted by the fact that you're allowing that, not maliciously to punish us, but to just have our dependency solely and totally upon you, and to rest in you, and to rest in the trial, knowing that you're sovereignly in control, allowing it, and that you love us. with an eternal love that in Romans 8, as we see, we cannot be separated from that love. There are a multitude of things listed there that we cannot be separated from your love. And we just rest in that fact. So Father, we just take these instructions as you've given to Timothy through Paul and what we have as we are to maintain the purity of your word. and to grow in the grace and knowledge of your son. And we thank you again for this time just to open up your word. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.