2 Timothy 2:16-23 (KJV)
But shun profane and
vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
And their word will eat
as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
Who concerning the truth
have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the
faith of some.
Nevertheless the
foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that
are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from
iniquity.
But in a great house
there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of
earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
If a man therefore purge
himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for
the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
Flee also youthful
lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on
the Lord out of a pure heart.
But foolish and
unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes
You might remember that
last week the lesson had to do with Hymenaus and Philetus, whose false
teachings had overthrown the faith of some.
I dealt a little bit
with what to do about those like Hymenaus and Philetus; we have to separate
from them.
This morning’s lesson
will go into a bit more detail.
There are a number of
things the wise Christian will separate from, but how we separate from each of
them will be different.
In order to help us
remember the important warnings Paul gave Timothy in these verses, I created
this acronym:
D.E.E.D.
*I. DISCARD
2 Timothy 2:16-18 (KJV)
But shun profane and
vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
And their word will eat
as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
Who concerning the truth
have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the
faith of some.
The word Paul uses
concerning our separation from false teachers is “shun.”
It’s a pretty harsh
word.
It denotes a pretty
harsh response.
These are false teachers
of especially false doctrines.
Hymenaus and Philetus
taught that the resurrection was already past.
Exactly what they taught
is a bit vague.
They somehow taught that
the resurrection was a past event and that no future resurrection could be
expected.
It removes all of the
hope of from Christianity.
If there is no
resurrection and our only hope is in this world, Paul told the Corinthians, we
are of all men most miserable.[1]
It reminds me of the
doctrines of those who believe that the rapture happens either after or
sometime during the Tribulation period; it removes from our faith the blessed hope
of the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.[2]
I am not recommending
hatefulness against them, but I am recommending decisive and even harsh
separation from them.
The Bible goes further
to tell us that we ought not merely discard them but then,
Secondly
*II. ELIMINATE
2 Timothy 2:21 (KJV)
If a man therefore purge
himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for
the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
In context, we are still
referring to these false teachers.
· We are to shun them and then
· Purge ourselves from them
At the risk of being
tacky, the word refers to what we would do with our bodily waste.
You don’t just set it
aside away from you, you remove it from your presence.
We even have special
equipment to get it:
· Out of our house
· Off of our property and
· Sanitized for good
To let it hang around,
even if it is somewhere you can’t see it, is dangerous.
Did you know that poor
sewage disposal killed either two or three of our presidents and probably
several of their children?
Listen, you shouldn’t
toy around with false teaching.
I am firmly against
trying to “eat the meat and spit out the bones” of the false teachers.
Too many people choke on
those bones!
Thirdly
*III. ESCAPE
2 Timothy 2:22 (KJV)
Flee also youthful
lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on
the Lord out of a pure heart.
All right, the Bible
here has changed circumstances but not subjects.
We are still talking
about separation, but here it is from “youthful lusts.”
John Gill writes, and I
think it is worthwhile to consider, that youthful lusts are, “not
lusts of uncleanness, lasciviousness, and filthiness; nor any of those follies
and vanities which the youthful age usually lusts and desires after, to which
Timothy was not inclined; but such lusts as are apt to prevail with young
ministers of the Gospel, such as vain glory, popular applause, seeking to have
the pre-eminence…”
Remember that the whole
point of the chapter is that we are looking for men who can “teach
others also.”
We are looking for
people who will preserve the doctrines of the faith just like they were
delivered to the first believers.
Then for the personal
application, every Christian ought separate from those things too.
Notice the word “flee.”
The idea is escaping capture.
Who isn’t captured by
youthful lusts?
Who doesn’t desire to
be:
· Popular
· Important and
· Praised
These are things that
already have us.
We have to break free of
them and flee from them.
Lastly
*IV. DODGE
2 Timothy 2:23 (KJV)
But foolish and
unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.
The word here is
“avoid.”
Whereas the youthful
lusts is something we are born in captivity to and we have to break free,
foolish and unlearned questions are things that can trick and trap us and we
have to avoid them.
Years ago we had an
evangelist come to our church who liked to give a question and answer time
after his messages.
As can almost always be
predicted, someone asked a question that was sure to create conflict.
The evangelist never
tried to answer it. He just smiled and responded, “God bless you!” and moved on
to the next person.
He had learned how to
avoid foolish and unlearned questions.
By the way, did you notice?
The passage suggests
that we avoid questions asked by people who have not learned how to properly
frame and ask a question.
D.E.E.D.
· Discard
· Eliminate
· Escape and
· Avoid
*What we are trying to do as Christians is
· Grow in grace and
· Preserve sound doctrine
We need to separate from
anything that prevents those from happening.
No comments:
Post a Comment