First Timothy end lesson 36 and conclusion

We're on question five. I think I'm up and running. I've been thinking what I'd like to do. Are we okay? What I'd like to do is to coordinate the end of this class with the end of that class, there are about eight weeks they're gonna be done with Galatians May 10th. So I looked at Second Timothy and we can't teach it that fast. So I think what I'm gonna do is do eight weeks on a class we did about seven or eight years ago called Grace. So I think starting next week we'll teach the Grace class, and I think we can do it in eight weeks.

It's a really good class. Originally, all the information came from a book that Lewis Barry Chafer wrote called Grace, which is a very complicated book. You know, when I look at Grace, that's his life. Well, Grace is a principle. Yeah, but it grows into the law of the spirit of life.

Yeah, they go together. So I thought it might be a good thing to do, and then we'll go to Second Timothy after that. But the reason I'm doing it is that I think if we don't end our class fairly close to when they end the class, then those people think, well, we don't have a choice. I've got to stay there because I'm going to follow along with what they're doing. So here comes Courtney.

He's been home watching the hockey game. By the way, we won the gold medal. We won. We won. The USA did. Yeah. That's my geopolitical statement for the day. Courtney, I was just telling everybody that I've been looking at 2 Timothy and wanting to finish about May 10th. There's no way. There just isn't any way.

So here's what I think we should do. I think we can teach the grace class in eight weeks. What do you think? So instead of Second Timothy, do Grace? And then we'll do Second Timothy. Because if I can do Grace in eight weeks, we end about the same time they do.

So then everybody gets a choice about what class they want to come into. It's like church hopping. Yeah. Because I've had a couple of people in that class say, well, when this is done, we'd like to have a choice. And so that's what I'm trying to accomplish. OK.

Where are they going to after Grace? I have no idea. Well, they already know where we're going. We should find out where they're going. Why? Well, maybe we want to go there now. Okay. You know what you're really good at, Mike? You know what you're really good at? Making things complicated. Okay, prayer request today. We've got to keep praying about Malinson.

It's a mess. I think what we've got is we hired a law firm to do this for us, and they have forgotten that we're the client. And I also think that they've gotten the court to do some things that they shouldn't do. which is control the money and that kind of thing, and have to go through them for everything. So it's slow, slow, slow. And we can't find out information we need to know to move ahead, because the law firm says, well, check here, check there.

Well, they know that they've already checked there, and it isn't there. They probably have it. So anyway, we'll keep praying about that. So do you think it's a lack of money? I don't know what their motives are. You can see the results. Well, you know, law firms are not famous for being... Yeah, but you're their client. I think I know that. They should have your best interest in mind. I think I know that, yeah. Well, and you know, Bob Eckel is a scientist, not a lawyer.

So he gets really frustrated trying to deal with them. Kathy, we keep praying for her. And Jackie Maloof, I think has, she might get out of rehab this week. Which has been Mike says her Her recovery is coming along, but it's you know strenuous Cheryl's all moved and set into her new place, which everybody's happy about that I Got JD on the list Yeah Yeah And Roger is, I think, going to have a back surgery in June.

Anything else? You mean I covered it all? Welcome back, by the way. I got a new guitar, so I need to learn how to play. I'm not praying about that. I mean, guitars are so different that you need to learn to play one and this one and that one and that one? Don't they all have the same? Well, no. There's a difference. I wish I had your worries. Well, I'm not worried about it. I'm just stating a fact.

And the other thing we're not going to pray for, but you need to be aware of, that the Dredger children all got chickens this week. One for each child? They want the neighborhood. They'll have fresh eggs. That's what they do. See, chickens don't have to learn to play a guitar, they just lay eggs. Well, let's go.

Dear Father, we love you today. We praise you. We thank you for all your blessings towards us and your son. We thank you for this opportunity to be together to study your word. We rely on your spirit to teach us. We don't really know anything unless your spirit does show us exactly what he meant when he wrote these words and so we're dependent and asking that you will and we know that you want to so make us receptive.

So we pray for Kathy today for her recovery from chemotherapy and radiation. Hopefully it's moving in the right direction that she can going forward that maybe she can avoid some future medical treatments, but we'll see. We pray primarily for you to comfort her in the middle of these circumstances. And we thank you for Jackie Maloof's recovery. It sounds like she's coming along and you would continue to comfort her. And Tom Mallinson, I guess, as I read The Hungry Heart this morning, Father, I thought You're teaching us to trust You in time and be patient about how things go in certain circumstances. We pray for Cheryl.

We're thankful she's in her new place and she is comfortable there and will prosper in that environment. We pray for JD as he's going through his prepares to find a new job in the tech field. Hopefully just the right thing for him is there, and through this process he would trust you. And lastly, we pray for Roger as he has surgery scheduled to hopefully take care of some of the pain that's in his back and down his leg.

Again, we thank you for the grace we live under. We pray in your son's name, amen. So we are in lesson, what lesson are we in? 36, and we had finished, I think, question four. And let me read some. Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share. storing up for themselves treasures of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. So we talked about how does one make, how does riches make one high-minded and we talked about What does the hope of uncertainty of riches teach us as believers? I guess you have to live in a creaky house to realize that you need a strong foundation.

And so the riches of this present age are not, how do I say this? They're not forever. They're not forever. You know, I made a comment last week, I kinda thought it was funny. You don't ever see a U-Haul tied up to a hearse, because you're not gonna take it with you, okay?

So, question five, is earthly wealth a sign of God's favor? What do you mean, no? Gotta explain. Yes, okay, I got a yes and I got a no. Now, if you were born in 500 B.C. in Jerusalem, the answer would be yes. Because earthly riches were assigned to a Jewish man, people that God favored you.

Now, coming to Christianity, God doesn't favor rich or poor. That's not the point with Him. So if the Lord has conformed you to the image of Christ enough so that riches don't matter, that you recognize that everything you have, you're a steward, and you know, you being rich isn't for you, it's for you to give to somebody else, then yeah, he favors you. If, as we've talked about, if you have a real problem with the desire to be wealthy, the desire is your problem, not the wealth.

You see that? Now, you can be Bill Gates, and desire for more, or whatever riches brings you. Or you can be a homeless guy downtown in a tent with the same desire. He wants to be wealthy. I heard Bill Gates has given everything away. You don't believe everything you read. No. But you can't take anything with him anyways. You know, one of the problems with being rich, you know, people buy the lottery tickets. What if you hit one of those things and you got, I don't know, a hundred million dollars?

As a believer. If I got it, or Courtney got it, what would happen is, over a short period of time, we'd be figuring out how to give it away. And that becomes a job in itself. Then you have to go through the whole process of vetting everybody that you're going to give money to. Are they godly people? Are they this? Are they that? And you have to investigate. And it's really hard to do.

Because there's judgment involved. Well, if I get a couple of million bucks, I'm not giving you anything because you're dangerous. So My answer was wealth is not a mark of special divine favor only when this is kept firmly in mind Will one be free of conceit? in a believer humility and wealth should walk hand in hand and And you occasionally run into a very wealthy Christian person, and there's no arrogance about them, but they're not foolish either.

I also think it goes back to what we've said many times, if something masters you, that's the problem. Yes, it is. The desire is one thing, but even if you do have the will, if it masters you, if you can do without it, yes or no, then it's fine. But if you live or die by it, then it masters you. No, that's exactly right. So if the wealth is, you know, if you got taken away and you're changed, then it mastered you. Yeah.

But if it doesn't, it's fine. Give it away, lose it, and it doesn't affect you. Then that's fine. But if you're worried about it and losing it and all that, then... And, you know, I think spiritual growth, you don't strive so that you arrive in an attitude like that. The attitude comes from the conformity to Christ. The more I'm like him, the less I have problems with.

Rich or poor, like Paul said, I've been rich, I've been poor. It doesn't matter. Where a worldly person would say, I've been rich, I've been poor. Rich is better. No, it's not. No, it's not. To live dependent on the Spirit of God for everything in your life is a really cool thing. Well, how about the guy that says, I'd have to talk to him further about his motive. You're not poor. Compare yourself. He's very proud about it. Yeah, I know. He's very proud about being poor. Be careful what you say, Mike. OK, so. I don't think we need to spend any more time on that question.

So question six says, what are the principles given in verse 18 and 19 for the proper place of material things? There are two of them. You see them? Do good. The first principle that you see there is the principle of right use. What do you do with it? You enjoy material things by sharing them with others.

To us, that seems reasonably simple. But we all know people that are a lot wealthier than you are that it's all about them. I earned this money. I'm not giving it away to some deadbeat. and generous points to a lavish flow of good works and ready to share.

So it's an attitude that comes with the life of Christ. I mean, if there's anybody that didn't have anything materially, it's the Lord Jesus. Yet he was willing to share, including his life for you. everything he did. And Paul the Apostle was the same way. You know, there's characteristics of this resurrected life of Christ that show forth, and one of them is being ready to share whatever the Lord gives you or makes you.

And you know what's interesting? Everything that has your name on it, you don't own. You're the custodian for somebody else. You know, every nickel you have, that's not your nickel, it's the Lord's nickel, and whatever He wants to do with it is okay with you. It's life, that's the way the life of the Lord Jesus works, you know. Listen, I don't have any trouble realizing how difficult it is When you went from two nickels to one nickel, I'm hanging on to that one nickel. When in fact both nickels, you're the steward of them. So the next question is hopefully gonna give us some discussion.

How do earthly treasures transformed into heavenly treasures. How does that happen? Because the verse says, storing up for themselves treasures of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. So that's the question again. How are earthly treasures transformed into heavenly treasures?

I think it's the follow on to verse 18, instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, and generous and ready to share. Those are what transfer a good foundation of the future. It's how you use it, that if they do that, It's a real simple equation. You're willing to share it. That's really what it comes down to.

And how does that store up treasures for you in heaven? That's the hard part of the question, isn't it? Well, whenever you get stuck, then you say, well, you've got to answer the question. If earthly treasures are transformed into heavenly treasures by sharing them, then what's the treasure you get?

That's the right answer. You know, there are a lot of people who like to talk about what goes on at the beam of judgment. I think the beam of judgment is a place of rewards. And it isn't so much that, like my son John was an Eagle Scout, and he had this thing with all these badges on it that he earned. And when you earn enough, they give you a designation as an Eagle Scout. Well, you can't share that other than the fact that what you've learned acquiring all that qualifies you to help people in different circumstances and situations. Because every one of those merit badges has to do with how you deal with life.

But that's merit-based. It's merit-based. Yeah. So you live under grace. How are you going to... I mean, when you go before the Lord Jesus at the beam of judgment, and He says to you, you know, because you were willing and you did share what I made you a custodian of, I'm going to bless you more now. Did I earn that? No, that's merit-based. Not merit-based. Well, then why is he rewarding me? Because you obey him. Then I earned it. No. It's based on love.

So far, it's just rhetoric. You haven't explained anything. Right. Oh, wow. We love him because he first loved us. J.D. Yeah, I guess the question is, which man is he blessing? I don't know how to turn you, turn up the mic here. Okay. Let's try this. Okay, try it now. Yeah, can you hear me? Yeah, can you guys hear him? Better. Thanks. Yeah, the question I asked was, which man is being rewarded? Great question. Great question. I think both. No way. No way. I'm just being disruptive today. But I could see how a person could take that. Oh, well, sure.

Because like in Hebrews, he rains down good on all mankind. Well, he shows favor, but we're not talking about God raining down the good. We're talking about man's response to what God has given him. And how does that translate into heavenly treasures? I don't know. I always have to go back to my father's house. Where is that? Narvada somewhere? because I screwed up, or made a mistake, or listened to the wrong man. Let's stop chasing the rabbits here for a minute. J.D.' 's absolutely right.

As we grow as believers, we begin to understand that we came from Adam, sinful Adam, and that made us a sinner, and we are not acceptable to God as coming from Adam. But by being born from above, we now become a spiritual man in Christ Jesus, and Christ Jesus is totally acceptable to the Father. Anything and everything that has to do with Him is acceptable. So, to answer J.D.' 's question, when you go stand before the Lord, it's in the new man, who is the acceptable man, who is actually the only one capable of giving earthly things away because he recognizes he's not an earthly man anymore. Does that make sense? If I really understand who I am in Christ, then the cares and woes of the world start to get dimmer and dimmer. The value system changes.

And it goes to the things that, you know, It blows my mind that the Lord Jesus, every second of his existence on the earth, never, never did anything for himself. Ever. He only did what the Father wanted him to do. That's it. Well, that's how that man functions and operates.

I don't think we can ever arrive at that perfection, but this conformity process that goes on, we're more and more like that. where we begin to live spiritually rather than earthly. And that's where the reward comes from because I gave away what the earth valued in exchange for the glory of the Lord Jesus. I look at the beam of judgment from the standpoint of every Christian is a vessel, you know, a jar. and the jar is designed to contain something, and the something is Christ himself. And the only difference in all of us is our capacity. Some of us have greater capacity to contain Christ than others.

Well, that's okay. If we get there and all of you have way more capacity than me, you know what my attitude's gonna be? Oh, that's wonderful. Look what God did through you. And the beam of judgment is gonna be the least amount of capacity you have through all eternity. We're gonna grow through all eternity to contain more and more of Christ, each one of us, each one of us. And he's inexhaustible. Can you imagine a life like that?

It's awesome to think that I'm not ever going to be in a position where I'm gonna have an impediment to walking with the Lord. And He's going to reward me for doing that. And it's not a merit-based thing, it's a grace-based thing. Do you see that? And so here we live by faith. We trust Him in what He tells us and shows us.

So by walking with the Lord, by understanding who you are in Christ and being willing, because of your position and the riches you have in Christ, to let the earthly things go or be a steward of them however the Lord wants to distribute them, that's how you earn. That's how you expand your capacity when you get to the bimah, maybe is a way to look at it.

Any comments about that? Oh yeah, he just went up here somewhere. Is that right, JD? Yeah, I think so. I mean, there's two men here in these verses, but they're believers. So Timothy's talking to the believer walking in the old man and saying, hey, you can invest in this way and riches on earth can provide you with just that, but they're not a comfort, they're not an investment that the new man makes. The new man makes a different kind of investment in his riches. And that is the Lord Jesus, right? So each time you or I walk in the new man we are Storing up treasures in heaven Because we are manifesting the life of Christ and that is our he is our reward, right?

Right, right. That's good There you go There you go So this next verse and the questions have to do with answering Mike's question that he says he was geopolitical. Okay, watch this. Oh Timothy, I could say, oh Michael, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter, and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge. So, what's to be guarded against? Well, listen, let me back up. The question eight is, what is to be guarded that has been entrusted to Timothy? What has been entrusted to him?

When we went through the class on faith, four kinds of faith, remember that? There's personal faith, there's faith itself, the definition, and then there was the faith, specific faith. What's a specific faith? It's the whole Christian doctrine that was delivered to Timothy.

So his protection is to stay resting by faith in what he knows. You realize that the faith that you have or the understanding that you have of the Lord Jesus Christ is a gift, right? But that gift brings a responsibility. And the responsibility is to guard against any deviation from that.

Because there's always, you know, there's always a voice. There's always somebody saying, well, I'm not sure whether I like what you're saying or not. Or it ought to be this way. And those people are around everywhere. It's like Paul said, don't be looking for people to come into your church with false doctrine. They're already there. So.

Faith, the body of doctrine, is what has been entrusted to Timothy. As sturdy and lasting as truth, it slips away if not zealously guarded against. I think one of the great things about, which I've enjoyed about Holly Hills is there are guys like Courtney and others that will challenge me about stuff. What do you mean by that?

And so we talk about it. And we do our homework, you know? And my mind can be enhanced or changed because he knows something that I don't really know yet. So I can't sway it one way or another. Well, if you get off the geopolitical thing, maybe you could. Yeah. I don't know. I just turn on the channel and there's the news. That's your first mistake. I know. I know.

I think, Mike, this is really the culmination of this whole letter. 99% of this letter is talking about staying true to the Word, avoiding all the people who have false doctrines, who are trying to lead you astray. All of this whole letter has been for him to guard the truth and to avoid getting tied up with people. Again, I go back to the first He says, avoid him like the plague. Don't even engage it. Don't even start there. Don't go there.

And the rest of the letter is still just amplifying that whole thing. And now, in the end, you know, in this entry I was going to look at the Greek, because it's really like, oh Timothy. This is like a pleading to him. Like, oh Timothy, please. Please guard it.

This whole letter has been that guard the truth, guard the Word, stay true to the Word, avoid these false teachers, avoid these people who want to distract you and lead you astray, or to get you tied up in the knot, all this stuff. Stay true to the Word, stay true to the faith that he, Paul, had relayed on to him. So this is the culmination of this whole letter to Timothy.

I think that's such a great point, because I don't think we at least initially, recognize how incredibly precious and valuable the truth is. And when we know it, you don't know all of it, but when you know what you know, and it lines up with the Word of God, you hang on, you build your wall around that.

It's not that you're stubborn. It's not that you like to argue. The point is that God's word says what it says. And if he's shown you some things, then you guard against, because there's always opposition. I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but you might be reading or studying and the Lord shows you something that you never saw before. And boy, you get excited about it. It isn't 15 minutes. when something opposition shows up to what you just learned.

You know, the saying I love is, did God really say? And the answer to that question is, yeah, he did. That's what he said to Eve. Did God really say? And she should have said back to him, yes, he did. You know? And that's exactly how Satan attested Jesus when he took him into the desert. What was he trying to get him to do? He had one goal. What was the goal? To get him to think for himself. That's what he was after. And if he did that, he had him. Because that's what he did to Adam. And once Adam did that, Satan had him. And he made him a self-centered person. where Christ is not self-centered, and he couldn't be tempted that way.

So when you learn something or you have a doctrine, the zealous... The zealousness that you have against that, you should not only be strong on it, but you ought to be able to understand it and explain it, so that there's no doubt in your mind. There's no place where an opposition can say, well, you don't really believe that.

Yeah, I do. I do believe that. Isn't this some of the things that the Holy Spirit takes a person through? Well, and what He shows them. Shows you that? Shows you who you are in Christ? Shows you you live in a world that's opposed to Him? Shows you thing after thing after thing, you know? I'll read a couple things to you.

The word world here is aion, A-I-O-N. and I think I read this last week, all that floating mass of thoughts, opinions, maxims, speculations, hopes, impulses, aims, aspirations, at any time current in the world. which it may be impossible to seize or accurately define, but which constitutes the most real and effective power, being the moral or immoral atmosphere which at every moment of our lives we inhale, again, inevitably to exhale. We don't think the world is that pervasive, but it is. Another quote. It is the subtle informing spirit of the cosmos or world of men who are living alienated and apart from God.

So, you know, we joke about television. You ever watch television and it was spiritual? Never. He was what? Well, your mom's the biblical authority in our... So the point is that the world system is there, it's powerful, it's operating, and it's not spiritual. And why do you think this metaphor that the Lord Jesus came on this planet above the earth. He's a spiritual man. He's not from the earth. He's not from this cosmos. And so when you become a Christian, your position leaves the earth and goes into him. And what your Christian life is really all about is educating you about who you are and where you are and what you have. And it's not on the earth. It's so difficult because we want to modify, we want to go into the earth and fix it. You can't fix it. No, you just ignore it. Okay, last question. We're going to do this. I got one minute.

Verse 21, which some have professed and have gone astray from the faith. Grace be to you. My question is, in verse 20, who is Paul thinking of who have gone astray? That's 21, Mike. Huh? 21? Yeah. A typo on my part. Is he talking about the lost? No, these are believers. They're believers. But it's a profession.

So could I say that Christian truth and wisdom of this world are mutually exclusive? Can I say that Christian truth and the wisdom of the world are mutually exclusive? There's no neutrality then. There's no middle ground viewpoint. It's one or the other, okay? So he's saying you turn away from the world system, viewing it realistically as a virulent, v-i-r-u-l-e-n-t. How do you say that word? I can't say it. Enemy of the faith. It takes half your Christian life just to learn that principle. And so we're not talking about Gnosticism necessarily of the first century, though there's a lot of references historically to Gnosticism. It should be taken to be any anti-Christian philosophy found anywhere at any time. And let me tell you where I saw it on the news this week, because I was watching the world. I'm watching Fox News, and you know who Laura Ingram is?

And she's got a guy on, and they both got the ashes, right? Ashes. See, if you'd have come to my house on Wednesday, we were giving ashes away for free. But she makes a statement that It seems like the young people are all going back, and she used the word religion, into the Catholic Church and other places.

You know what the problem with that is? It's earthly religion. Yeah, it's not the Lord Jesus. They use the terminology, you know, Christianity is not a religion. The word religion comes from a Latin word which means regulation. How tough is that? Just because you go to church on Sunday and have a sticker on your car that says clergy, that's not what we're talking about.

There's a whole new resurrected glorified life in the Lord Jesus Christ above the earth. spiritually and that's, now put it this way, I'll close with this. Christianity is Christ. See that? It's Him. And if they get saved, what do you get for it? Well, you don't do that unless you get a reward. People, your motives don't work. Your old man doesn't do anything without thinking it's about me. It's like how many times is the word I, me used in Romans chapter seven? 27 times. How many times is the word I, me used in Romans eight? Four times.

So it turns out. Donna? I was thinking, too, you know, seminaries today, where you have to write an original thesis to graduate, goes directly against those last two verses. Absolutely it is. There's no question that it is. You understand what Donna just said?

If you get a Ph.D. from Dallas Seminary, You have to write a doctrinal paper that's unique in its subject matter. So these guys that write this stuff leave Dallas Seminary, and that becomes their religion. They over-educate the natural intellect. Well, like a lot of truth gets shared, probably shouldn't be shared because it's too much for... That's not that. That's not it. The problem is that we as believers are to have the mind of Christ, not the old Adamic mind, educated. Do you understand what I mean by that?

God doesn't care if you have a Ph.D. or nothing. Okay, what if you just went to study the Brethren writings? That's alright, as long as they lead you to Christ. But if you walk out of that being what Miles Stanford used to call the frozen chosen. I wanted to go to Stamina when I was first saved. Well, you should get a website and we'll pay for it. All right, next week, and I'll get it out to you this week, we're gonna do eight weeks on grace, okay? Let's close. Father, we thank you again for your word, and we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ who is our very life, and we pray in his name, amen.