Shipwreck

Hopefully, we can make some sense of that. So all of that said, in verse 18, I say to you, hear the Word of God. This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping the faith and a good conscience which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I have handed over to Satan, so they will be taught not to blaspheme when it's pray. Jesus, I pray simply now that you would come and you would be in my head and in my thinking and in my hearts and in my understanding, and especially in my voice and in my speaking, I pray that you would open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf so that they might see and hear the gospel freely offered to them. And so we pray all these things in your name, my men and amen. If this is your first time at Grace or your first time in a while, I'm preaching through the book of 1 Timothy, a letter that the apostle Paul wrote to someone he called his son, Timothy. And really to give you some context for today's text, the big picture in the book of 1 Timothy is this, his Paul writes this sort of book of church order, right? He writes in chapter 3, he says, I write this so that one may know how to conduct himself in the household of God, right? He says, here's a book of how people, how church ought to look and how people ought to function in church, and that's a general purpose, and it's a very sort of positive purpose. It's just like here's a book of order. Now the specific and sort of negative purpose is that something mandated that this book be written in the first place and the specific negative purpose is that certain men came along teaching strange doctrines. You remember this book among all of Paul's letters, only this book in Galatians sort of have no foreplay, right? The Paul does not open up by saying, I thank God for you. He doesn't open up by saying grace and peace. He opens up in Galatians, remember, he says, Paul and apostle by the will of God, you foolish Galatians, right? In Timothy, he says it's basically the same thing, and then he says, Paul and apostle to Timothy, my dear son, Timothy, I urge you to command certain men to stop teaching strange doctrines. Period. He just starts right into it. There's a grievous problem in the church at Ephesus. Certain men are teaching strange things, right? And if you remember that what makes them strange is that they're all speculative, right? They have to do a Jewish law and mythology and all these things, and they're all speculation and Paul says that's the problem, right? That they're teaching only comes up with questions and no answers. So they're teaching ends with speculation, but Paul says, our teaching ends with love, right? And love is always outwardly faced, love towards God, love towards your neighbor. And he says, Timothy, in fact, these guys want to be teachers of the law, but they don't even understand the law. Now, right, if you're Jewish, the worst thing that someone could possibly say to you is that you don't understand the law, especially if you're a rabbi, and so Paul has told a bunch of rabbis, these guys want to be teachers of the law, and yet they don't even understand the law. And remember, they would object and say, well, Paul, you don't think the law is useful for anything. And Paul says, oh, contrary, right? There are two things he points out that lead up to this week's text, and the first thing he points out is the purpose of the law, right? He said that the law is not made for the righteous, but the unrighteous, right? That if you do the right thing all the time, why would you need laws anyway? And he said the laws made for the unrighteous, or the lawless, and in fact, if you remember, he said that the law was made, really, to diagnose our sin, to show us where we are sick and where we are not. And you can use the law one of two ways. Paul would say, you use it to diagnose, and you diagnose your sin and you come up wanting, and that leaves you in need of something else, desperately, grace. Paul says, I thank God that he poured his grace out upon me abundantly. The other way to use the law to deal with your sickness, that is your sin, instead of using it to diagnose your sickness, you can use it to treat your sickness, right? You can use it to treat the symptoms of your sickness, and for those of you who, like me, have been in bed with the flu, cold pills only go so far, right? Things that treat the symptoms only help a little bit, but they can't cure the illness, right? And that's what Paul says over and over in the New Testament, that the law can't justify, it can't make you better. And if you use it to treat your symptoms, it only helps a little bit. And he said, because of that, you look at the law, and it shows you that you're wicked, right? We hate to hear that. On the other hand, it's incredibly freeing. Remember, he says, this is the glory of God, he lifts all these wicked sins. Why is it glorious? Because if you realize who you are, you don't have to fake it anymore. You don't have to fake. You go up. And remember, I told you I'd use it weddings all the time, Jeremiah 179. The heart is desperately sick and beyond cure. Who can understand it? He's brought about to be your life first, why? Because you don't have to fake it when you come before God. You don't have to fake it anymore. You don't come in now. Nice, you come in and say here's who I am. And he says, that's why I want you. That's how I came to get you. Right? And so Paul says, I thank God that he chose me. And so Paul on one hand explains the law and the gospel to these guys. On the other hand, he very wisely inserts his own apostolic authority in there. He uses his own testimony as evidence of the gospel, right? He says, I was the worst of sinners. That was a blasphemer and a persecutor of the church. And basically he says, if God can save someone like me, he can save anybody. And it's really his glory that he would take the worst nastiest sinner like me and put me in front and tell you guys about Jesus, right? And I told you last week that behind Paul is probably me, right? Did someone like me, if he could save someone like me, certainly you have a shot, right? And so that's what he does. He sort of establishes his authority. And the reason he establishes his authority is an apostles for this. Because in this week's text, he transfers that to Timothy, right? He's laid out the gospel and he's laid out his authority. And this week he says to Timothy, now I'm giving this all to you. I entrust it to you. And so that's what we'll look at this week. And I was in the army for quite a while. So the sailing metaphors might be stretched for me. But basically we'll look at the anchor of Timothy's faith. We'll look at the shipwreck of faith, but also we'll look at what it means to rescue those who are shipwrecked. So if you look at verse 18, excuse me, the anchor of Timothy's faith, he says, this command, I entrust to you Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you that by them you may fight the good fight. There's a couple of things that you need to notice here. First is Paul says, this command I entrust to you, and he's probably talking about the command to tell certain men to stop teaching strange doctrines. He says, this command I entrust to you Timothy, my son. In other words, Paul's saying, I am giving you this authority, Timothy, I'm just be stowing it upon you, which means you have the authority to walk in and tell these guys to just stop it. Remember Paul doesn't debate with them. He says, stop. Now the problem is, is you can have the authority, but if you don't have the courage or the foot spot to assert the authority, it's useless, right? It's no good. And so that's really what Paul deals with with Timothy. He says, I entrust this command to you. On the other hand, you need something that's going to give you the courage to actually assert this authority, and what does he tell them to do? He says, in accordance with the prophecies made previously, made concerning you that by them you may fight the good fight, right, that something having to do with these prophecies are the thing that are going to enable Timothy to deal with the battles that he has to face. Now what is it? It's very interesting to me, right? My job in large part is to read during the week, and it's fun. Many weeks to read what people do, what they do with certain parts of the Bible, right? So if you read commentators that are more charismaticly leaning, right, they're all excited about this passage, because it's prophecy, it's new words from God, that God is coming and he told Timothy some special word about the church in Ephesus, and that by that, Timothy is going to be victorious. Now, of course, on the other hand, you have good conservative Presbyterian commentators who would point, if you look at, you don't have your Bibles, but in chapter 4, 414, Paul says, do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through the prophetic utterance with a laying on of hands by the Presbyterian, right? That the Presbyterian, some would say, laid hands on Timothy and made prophetic utterance, and really what they probably did was just read to him his ordination vows, and reading him his ordination vows, he was then endued with the power to fulfill his ministry. Who cares, right? That's what I say, and that's why I'm not a Bible commentator. However, what's important here to get is not whether or not the exact nature of the prophecies what exactly were these. You're wasting time, if in my opinion, on the other hand, you're wasting time if you just are trying to get rid of it because the point is if the Paul says buy these prophecies, you fight the good fight. Now, the problem is, is no one really understands what prophecy is, and what prophecy is, get this, prophecy is never prediction, prophecy is always promise, right? You've heard me say this before in the Old Testament, there are no predictions in the Old Testament, there are only promises in the Old Testament. God doesn't predict that a Messiah will come through the line of David. He promises that a Messiah will come. And he honors his promise. And so what God is saying to Timothy, according to the promises made to you, so whether someone read scripture at Timothy's ordination or whether the Apostle Paul, there was no buy new testament, the Apostle Paul said some prophetic, authoritative words to Timothy. Either way, Paul is saying Timothy, by the promises of God made to you, fight the good fight. The Timothy, you're not made to confront these guys because of your skill or your wisdom or your power or anything. You are going to make it through this fight, you're going to make it through this battle by complete and utter reliance upon the promises of God made to you. And that's where it becomes relevant to us, because you and I as well are called to fight the good fight. And what does that mean? Well, for some of us, fighting the good fight means as much as avoiding having a drink, right? That every day you go by trying to avoid having a drink or looking at pornography or something, right? Fighting your addiction every day. You're trying to fight the good fight, right? For others of you, it's trying to find a spouse, it's whatever, it's dealing with your past, it's dealing with guilt, it's dealing with darkness, it's gloomy, you've lost your jobs, you're in middle of conflict, trials, tribulations, all these things. How do you fight through that? You can only do it in complete reliance upon the promises of God. It's as simple as that, right? Paul says, believe the promises of God, right? You feel guilty, right? You've listened to the promises of God. He saved me not because of the righteous things I had done, but because of his mercy, right? Anything separatists from the love of God know. Remember Paul says, I'm persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, or principalities, or powers, or height, nothing can separate me from the love of God, right? That anywhere in the New Testament, once the New Testament was finished, you read that, and then the Old Testament, you read it, and it says, you, that means you, right, that you appropriate these promises. You know, and I came here, it's interesting, when we were going to the Assessment Center to see if the PCA pressed here in church wanted us to plant churches, I went in and it was very clear that Tommy Allen has no skills, right, at least that's what I tried to make clear to them. I said, guys, I've never, I've only preached ten times in my life. I've never planted a church. I've certainly never been a senior pastor. I've never been to a meeting, an elder's meeting. I said, the only thing I have is Jesus, and they said, oh, see, that's all you need, right? If I had told him I could do it, they would have not have sent me. But the point is, is I think every week for the first two weeks, or first two years we were in Seattle, I read the book of Joshua, why? Because I needed every week for God to say, as I was with Moses, I will be with you, if you do not tremble or be dismayed, I will never fail you or forsake you, I'll be with you wherever you go, right? This whole thing of the promises of God, and we talk about that all the time here, preaching the gospel to yourself, right, why are you downcast, though, my soul, hope, thou, and God, why are you downcast, though, my soul, he is the help of your countenance, right? That's what Paul is telling Timothy. Timothy, stop relying on your ministry skills to get through this with these guys, start relying on the promises of God, and God promised he would never fail you or forsake you, that he would guard his church, Timothy rely upon that, and as soon as you cease to rely on that, that's when you begin to shipwreck your faith, right, and that's where he goes next, and he talks about shipwrecking of one's faith, and it's very interesting looking verse 19. He says, fight the good fight in verse 19, he says, keeping the faith in a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. There's two things on one hand, they're basically two things having to do with faith, and there's a linchpin, right? You have keeping the faith on one hand, shipwrecking the faith on the other hand, and right in the center of them both is good conscience, or conversely, bag conscience, right? He says, Timothy, believe the gospel, keep the faith and the good conscience because some have rejected good conscience and therefore have shipwrecked their faith, right? In other words, Christianity is not an intellectual enterprise only, right? Christianity was only about intellectual argumentation, everyone would be a Christian, right? I mean, it's so well documented, you could not miss it, right? You have a wandering tribe of nomads, the Jews, who come up with the greatest moral code, and the most comprehensive system of law and sacrifice ever to be instituted. There made promises that a Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, right? He's born in Bethlehem, and then this guy Jesus comes, and then this Messiah will die, and that he will raise from the dead, and he raises from the dead, and he's seen by hundreds of people, not only that, but remember the Romans pay people to say that he was stolen by these people in the Pharisees. All of this stuff, it's so well documented, how could you miss it? Well, because if you're not a Christian, most people reject Christianity, not on intellectual reasons, but on moral reasons, right? Because it's well documented, right? That at least it's well documented that this guy named Jesus came, and you've got to deal with him one way or the other. But this guy Jesus comes and says, will you follow me? That's the question, right? People come up to me all the time. You know, think of anything, and they say, you know, Tommy, I remember one guy, I think I told you this, he was a pornography salesman, and he said, can I still be a pornography salesman and become a Christian? And I said, you know what, you're asking the question in the wrong order. You see, Jesus asks you the first question. He says, will you follow me? And depending on your answer, if you say no, then the conversation's over, and if you say yes, then you ask him that question. Don't ask me. You see, you're trying to qualify something that Jesus doesn't qualify. Jesus doesn't qualify the call to follow him. He just says, follow me. Submit to me. Turn from your sim and turn unto me. Will you do it? Right? Now, just if people reject Jesus for that, Christians lose their faith because of bad conscience. Right? Christians lose their faith. If you want to lose your faith, start having a bad conscience. How do you get a bad conscience while by doing things that you feel that about? Right? And what do I mean by that? For example, it happens all the time. Let's say, you know, the Bible is very clear about the fact that if you are a Christian, a follower of Jesus, you should not date nor marry as someone who is not a follower of Jesus. And that's not because they're evil. It's just because it's like mixing oil and water. Right? And so it's very typically the case that someone is a Christian. They'll start dating someone who is not a follower of Jesus. And then the person who is not will force their hand. It's me or Jesus. Right? Oftentimes they pick me. Right? You've lost Jesus. However, if they break up, then they break up. And then they come back and say, why did God do this to me? Right? God's in this catch-22. Right? He sort of damned if you do and damned if you don't. Right? And you end up losing your faith that way. It happens all the time. Right? People know and has ever gone out and committed adultery as a result of a Bible study. People just don't do that. They don't study the Bible. And then say, you know what? I think I should go out and commit adultery. What they do is they begin an affair and then go back and start trying to justify it. It's amazing. Right? Flannery O'Connor said that before the age of 12 that she did stop having life experience, she would have still had enough to write about for the rest of her life. And I've only been a pastor for five or six years. And I think if I ended my pastoral career today, I could write novel after novel after novel about stories that I've experienced already. Why? People come to me all the time. It's pretty amazing. And right, this is a warning. People come and they ask very nitpicky questions about theology. And often I'll say, are you in section three of girlfriend? That'll be my response. And they'll say, how did you know? Because people don't really start questioning their faith on intellectual reasons. It starts with a moral thing. And they ship wreck it. And so the question is, how do you not ship wreck your faith? You don't ship wreck your faith by getting it out and being a good person. It goes all the way back to believing the promises of God. Do you want to spouse? Do you want all these things? Trust Jesus. Right? Jesus has trust me. Now the question is, what about someone who has already ship wrecked their faith? Right? Are they just out? Are they gone? That seems to be what Paul says. Right? I turn these guys over to Satan. But that's really not what he's doing. He's rescuing these guys. He's rescuing them. Look at the last verse. Dave, did you hear my word? Excuse me. Look at verse 19. He says, or 20 rather. Paul says, among these who have ship wrecked their faith are Himalayas and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan so that they will be taught not to blaspheme. Rescuing those who have ship wrecked already, Paul does something here that he almost never does in the New Testament and he names names. Right? Remember that time, Paul? You name names, Venice, right? Paul names names here. He usually doesn't. And first Corinthians is perhaps the nastiest man. The man is sleeping with his mother-in-law and Paul won't even name a name there. He's very oblique, but apparently this situation is so grievous that Paul names names. He says, I'm an A.S. and Alexander. The situation with them is so grievous. They've so ship wrecked their faith that I've turned them over to Satan. Now, that sounds horrible, doesn't it? Now, for one, turning someone over to Satan in the New Testament is a technical term for excommunication. Right? They were members of the church, probably elders, and they have been excommunicated. They have been made to be non-church members. They've been kicked out, if you will. However, the language is very instructive. Right? He says, I've turned them over to Satan. Why? Because in the Bible there are two kingdoms. There's God's kingdom, the church, there's Satan's kingdom, everywhere else. Now, imagine if you're Hymenace and Alexander and you at one point have professed Jesus and now you have to go back to the kingdom against which you are a traitor. Right? They're being sent back to the kingdom of Satan as traitors and Paul says, I hand them over. Now, the question is why does he hand them over to Satan? Right? Is it because he wants physical harm to come to them? Is it because he thinks ill of them? No, he wants to restore them. He wants to restore them. Right? What does he say? He says, I turn them over so that they will be taught not to blaspheme. And it's very instructive because what is the sin that he wants them to be taught not to do? It's the same sin that he was delivered from. Remember Paul says, I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor and I was delivered. And so Paul was knocked off a horse. So these guys have to be turned over to Satan. Paul, I think, would say, yes. Why? So that they can see what they're missing. Remember the Twilight Zone episode with Rocky Valentine? Rocky Valentine was his name. Rocky, because he's at a hard uphill life and it's about to get harder. Remember that it pans away Rocky Valentine? Rob's a jewelry store and he's shopping and alley and he wakes up and paradise, at least paradise for a gambler. He's in a penthouse apartment. He's surrounded by women and roulette tables and Mr. Piff. Remember Piff? He's Mr. French actually from Family Affair. He's a big guy. Mr. Piff comes and Piff walks up to Rocky Valentine and says Rocky. I will be your host while you are here. Anything you want, you let me know. And for the whole episode, Piff is completely pandered too. Not only does he get every woman that he looks at, but he wins every single game that he plays. He cannot lose. Every dice is seven. Knowing it by the end of the episode will even disagree with him and he is sick of it. And finally Piff shows up and he looks at him and says Piff, I don't want to be here anymore. I want to go to the other place. I want to go to the other place. And Piff starts laughing and he said, this is the other place. This is the other place, which is exactly you wonder if Sirling was reading CS Lewis because that's Lewis said, right? Lewis said the hell is the enjoyment of your own way forever. Right? Pulse of the goal of our instruction is love and the goal of his instruction even with these false teachers was love. And what we tend to miss in America and in the American church and even in American culture is that we think when you confront someone and you discipline that it is an unloving thing. And Pulse says the most loving thing I can do is step in and tell them to stop. And if it's so grievous, I will discipline them. I'll turn them over. I'll let them have whatever they want and hopefully they will see that it is not nearly what they had when they were with Jesus. Remember, I told you when I was seven getting caught smoking. And I just got a spanking, but my buddy, Brett, his parents made him smoke a whole carton of cigarettes. That's what Paul's doing here. He's doing the theological equivalence of making these guys smoke a carton of cigarettes. If you want to be apart from Jesus, then I will let you be apart from Jesus. Now, the beauty of the gospel that's different from the twilight zone is this is that when you've come to a realization of that now and you say, I don't want to be here. I want to be in the other place. Jesus says, then come, come back. You see, the goal of discipline, the goal of turning you over to yourself is so that your eyes will be open and that you will come back. The goal is that you will be restored. And so some of you are living under sort of guilt and discipline, whether your discipline yourself or the church has, and Jesus has come back. Some of you are living under discipline because you never even became a Christian, right? The church doesn't need to discipline you because you're already out. And Jesus says, come, please come. Think about that. Let me pray. Jesus, we pray that you would come and that you would help us all to believe your promises that we would walk from this place in the power of the promises made to us and not under the power of our own ability to do good. And that our consciences would be good because we have trusted in the one who cleanses our conscience from all guilt, not because we have made them that way. I pray that even this morning you would write your word upon our hearts. I pray as we prepare our hearts for the Lord's table that you would consecrate these elements and set them aside to the end that they would build those who trust you up in their faith. And so we thank you for all of these things. Amen.