Skip to content From the Inside Out Part 1 Jun 17 · 43 min ...more
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The Authority and Power of God's Word 0:00 Hello and welcome to the men's global livestream. My name is Dusty Davis, and I'm a member of the teaching team here at Everyman and I'm excited, to be back with you and I'm excited to be jumping into a brand new0:12 series with you. In this series, we're gonna be studying through the book of first Timothy. This series comes to you as part of our greater catalog here at Everyman, which is known as the Bible for Everyman.0:23 And the hope of the series is that through it you would fall in love with the Word of God. That you would choose to encounter it every single day and through your time spent0:35 reading God's word, prayerfully considering it, that the Lord Jesus would begin to inform your heart. That he would even correct parts of your life that need to be corrected. That he would encourage you to live as God's0:47 man in the places that God has placed you in his divine wisdom. Culture is constantly seeking to tear down and erode our view0:58 of the scripture. Right? It's relevance to our lives today. But our lives, all of the habits that we have show whether or not we have a high regard or a low regard for God's1:10 word. I mean, the way that we value God's word is proven by the way that we choose to encounter it every day. And as God's man, we absolutely must reclaim, protect, and1:22 decide that God's word will have the highest place of authority in our lives. We have to see the Bible rightly. It's so important how God's man views1:34 God's word. And what better place to go to get the right view of the Bible than the Bible itself. What does the Bible say about itself? I mean, from the very beginning starting1:46 with Moses in the book of Deuteronomy, God's word says this concerning itself. It says that nothing is to be added to it or taken from it. Well, from that we learn that God's word is complete. But1:58 we see this all throughout scripture. Isaiah said that the word of God is eternal. He goes on to say that it's effective, that it always accomplishes the exact purpose for which it was sent2:09 forth. The Psalmist says that the word of God is pure and perfect and precious. That's how we have to see it as God's man. Psalms also says that the word of God is a2:21 life guide as in something that will lead us, that we can build our lives upon, that we have to surround our lives with. Jeremiah said that the word of God is food for the soul. How good2:33 is that? That it nourishes the inner man. He also says that it's both a hammer and a fire. A fire that purifies, that burns away the impurities and a hammer that pounds into2:45 correctness, but it doesn't stop there. The word says that it's true, that it's helpful, that it's flawless. Luke says that the scriptures are to be obeyed. The gospel of Luke also says2:57 that through the word of God and in the word of God, we have everything that we need in order to know God. The book of Acts says that the word of God is the standard by which3:08 all teaching and truths have to be tested. Romans says that the word of God is faith building for every single person. We've already gone through a handful of the books of scripture through our Bible for every man3:20 series. I hope that you go back and check those out if you haven't already gone through them. In the book of Ephesians, we studied and we saw in our series identity issues that the word of God cleanses us from3:32 all sin, that it is the sword that we carry into the spiritual battle. Together, we also studied first Thessalonians in our study as 1. We saw that the Bible is the very3:44 word of God. And in our series in Timothy, we're gonna see that the Bible is God breathed and is equipping for us as God's man. You all know Hebrews says that3:55 it's life changing, sharper than a 2 edged sword. James says it's life giving, and Peter says that it provides all spiritual nourishment. That is why we study the Bible. That is why4:07 we will never get beyond it. That is why it will never become irrelevant. That's why it has to be the source of all truth. That is why the series, the Bible for every man exists.Guarding Against False Teaching 4:19 And in front of us today is the book of first Timothy, and I'd love to say to you that it's 1 of my favorite books. But if you've if you've listened to anything I've taught, you know that the sentiment is becoming4:31 somewhat redundant because God's word is a lot like my children. I'm especially fond of whichever 1 is in front of me in that moment. So I'm just gonna caveat it like this. I love the Bible.4:42 K. I especially like first Timothy because it's a beautiful book of both correction and encouragement. And too often, we think that those things are at odds. That we can either4:54 be correcting or encouraging, but we're gonna find that correction comes in the form of encouragement and then encouragement comes through correction. The book of first Timothy is a letter that Paul5:06 wrote to Timothy. Now Timothy has been, as Paul said, like a son in the faith to him. They had a deep loving relationship. Paul looked at him and cared for him as a father would a5:18 son. That's how Paul often addresses him. Paul mentored Timothy for many many years and he had even begun at this point to send Timothy out on missionary trips to other churches.5:31 And so Paul gets a word that a group of leaders in 1 of these churches was beginning to spread false teaching. He sends Timothy to confront these leaders and to5:43 restore the church to correction. So this this letter arrives to Timothy while he's in the middle of that assignment, of that deployment. He's on a5:54 mission to correct and to restore. And so that kind of helps us get a framework that helps to set the tone as we see to understand what's Paul's purpose all throughout the letter that he6:06 wrote to Timothy. So it gives us some context. It gives us a little bit of a framework. So if we jump right in, Paul opens first Timothy with some some encouraging, words and some kind words to6:18 Timothy. But by verse 3 of chapter 1, he's already getting into some deep spiritual meat. Check this out. This is God's holy word, first Timothy chapter 1 beginning in verse 3. This is the new living translation. When I6:30 left for Macedonia, I urged you to stay there in Ephesus and stop those teaching what is contrary to the truth. Don't let them waste their time in endless6:42 discussion of myths and spiritual pedigrees. These things only lead to meaning speculations which don't help people live a life of faith in God. So right away6:53 Paul identifies that there is a group of people who have started to teach things that are contrary to the truth. Their teaching does not line up with the truth of God's word.7:05 And brothers, I wish that it was different today. It seems like every week I get a message from a friend that shows me some reel or a post of some kind where7:18 a follower of Jesus has sadly fallen off the rails of truth and landed in untruth and is now preaching some type of a false gospel that runs contrary7:30 to the gospel that Christ called us to. It's it's so prevalent. It's so discouraging. False teaching is becoming more and more common. And if not outwardly and7:42 obviously false, we're seeing more and more and more just watered down blended truth. It seems as though there's little hope for us to preserve the truth, but7:55 we have to be encouraged because this was nothing new. I mean, we have to recognize that at the time this letter was written, this sort of thing was already a problem. It's all it's easy for8:07 us to think that nowadays we we've derailed, that we're so far gone. And while there certainly is a great argument for how far away from God's design we're living, The reality is God is still8:19 moving powerfully. He is still building his church. He is still restoring and redeeming men. But since the beginning of the church, there have been those who have sought to change the nature of the true8:30 gospel, and they typically pervert the gospel in 1 of a few ways. And we see similar patterns playing out today, which are important for us to recognize if we're to preserve and speak truth.8:43 But over and over again, we see sort of a pattern emerging. False teachers will always try to widen or narrow the path to salvation. Make it wider and more all inclusive. Make it much8:54 narrower and keep people out. Neither is consistent with God's word. False teaching always has at its core false ideas about the person of God, the person of Jesus, the9:06 nature of sin, and how we are saved. Or what does salvation look like? I'm not talking about subtle differences in tradition or subtle differences between denominations.9:19 I'm talking about what we can call the mathematics of the occult. You ever want to hold up teaching against scripture and test it? Here's a pretty simple formula. It looks like this. False9:30 teachers will always add to God's word. They will always add to God's word. We see this in any tradition that has a secondary holy9:42 book or magical plates or new documents or brand new revelations from God that just somehow didn't make it into the original scripture. Man, as if God's word is not exactly as he9:54 intended it to be. As if somehow his plans to reveal himself through his word were thwarted by mankind. And unfortunately this is true of the Book of Mormon, the Quran, any other10:06 religious document that is inconsistent with God's word. All the way since beginning of the Bible, the book of Deuteronomy. This is God's instructions. This is the law to his people. Deuteronomy chapter 410:18 verses 2 says this, do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you today. Just obey the commands of the Lord your God that I'm giving you. How simple10:30 is that? How clear is that? Don't add. Don't remove. Just submit. The temptation is always when something we desire is in conflict with something in God's10:42 word, we're forced with a decision. Do we submit to the word or do we alter our interpretation of it? And ultimately, it's a question of authority. If the book sits in authority over my life,10:54 I submit to its truths even the ones that are hard for me to agree with. False teaching always begins by introducing some type of new wisdom.11:06 And this this encouragement to protect ourselves from it, it's literally throughout scripture. It bookends the Bible. We saw it in Deuteronomy in the very beginning. We see it all the way through and even into Revelation11:16 in the end where in chapter 22 verse 18 it says, and I solemnly declare to everyone who hears these words of prophecy written in this book. If anyone adds anything to what is written here God will add11:28 to that person the plagues described in this book. We are not to add to the word of God. So false teachers will always add to God's word. Right? Back to our kind of mathematics11:40 formula here. Secondly, they will always try to subtract from the person of Jesus. They will seek to take away from the person of Jesus. Whether by adding, other other characters or their11:52 members to the team or somehow reducing Christ's divinity or questioning his humanity, false teaching at the core has to muddy the picture of Christ because12:04 if the enemy can muddy our view of Jesus, they can lead us astray. Because everything in your life and in my life hinges upon seeing Jesus Christ as he truly12:16 is. He's the cornerstone of our faith of our lives and if we have him wrong then nothing is gonna stack up properly. Second Corinthians 11 3 and 4 says this,12:29 Paul Paul was concerned about a similar drifting in the church in Corinth. But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways12:41 of the servant. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you even if they preach a different Jesus than the 1 we preach or a different kind of spirit than the 1 you received or a different kind of12:53 gospel than the 1 you believed. Look at that. Guys, may that never be said of us. May we never be people who simply happily take in whatever is being told. May we be13:05 people who know God's word well enough that we can spot a fake. Children in the United States alone every year millions of dollars of false currency, funny money gets exchanged.13:17 Now the people whose job it is to to stop this, to to find where these are being produced and to actually pull them out of of circulation, the ones who are really really good at spotting a fake13:29 don't spend their time studying fake bills. They spend their time studying real genuine currency. They know the truth so well that they can spot a fake.13:42 The same has to be true of us as God's men. We will only be able to spot lies to the extent that we are steeped, filled up with God's word, the13:54 truth. But may it never be said that we are the kind that just takes false teachings. Right? About Jesus or about the spirit. Christ himself is the way. He himself is the14:05 truth and he is the life. So if we get him wrong, there's no way, there's no truth, and there's no life. So push back on any teaching that reduces the person of Christ, his works, or his14:17 word. So add to the words, they'll reduce from the man himself. Thirdly, false teachers will always seek to multiply the requirements of our salvation. I14:29 mean among those who follow Jesus guys, this is probably 1 of the most dangerous traps to avoid because it feels kinda right. I mean, this is probably the most common because14:41 it feels almost biblical. Right? Those other heresies set off signal flares in our hearts and in our minds. Woah. Woah. Woah. Do not reduce the person of Christ. Don't add to God's word. But this idea that maybe there14:53 are ways that I could earn or achieve or even deserve some things from God plays right into our flesh that loves earning and achieving and15:04 deserving. I mean, and in this false understanding of a gospel of grace, if I don't understand it properly and biblically, I can organize my life in order to try to15:16 earn God's favor thinking wrongly that I can earn God's favor. And so in this we start to add things that maybe aren't necessary. We start to emphasize certain spiritual disciplines not so that they15:28 enrich our lives, but because we start wrongly teaching that those things are required in order to be saved when scripture teaches us the exact opposite. This type of thinking, this good Christian bad15:40 Christian earning things from God somehow displeasing him was prevalent at the church in Galatia. Paul said this in Galatians 1 6 through 8, I'm shocked that you're turning away so soon from God15:52 who called you to himself. How? Through the loving mercy of Christ. They thought they could earn God's pleasure. Look what he says. You're following a different way that pretends to be the good news but isn't good news16:04 at all. You know why? If we have to earn our salvation, it's not good news at all. Says you're being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Let16:16 God's curse fall on anyone including us or even an angel from heaven who preaches a different kind of good news than the 1 that we preach to you. Do you hear that language? He says,16:28 if anybody gets the gospel twisted even if it's an angelic being that being is cursed so men. When people claim to have visions from angels or spiritual beings that teach them16:39 something that is in addition to or contrary to the word of God, we follow the teaching of Paul that being is cursed. That person is no 1. That teaching is nothing that we wanna be involved with in any16:51 way. We cannot adjust the requirements of salvation men because of this simple truth. Either the cross of Christ was everything or nothing. The only thing it can't be17:03 is something. It it was either everything with Christ achieved our salvation on the cross or or it was nothing. What it can't be is the cross plus. The cross17:15 plus our part. Because to add to the requirements of salvation is to remove from the power of the cross. So we need to step into those conversations when they come up in truth17:27 and in love with the goal being to bring understanding and unity and salvation. Guys, lastly in that in that kind of mathematics they called, false teachers will always seek to divide17:39 the loyalty of the followers. They want to create division. They always create division. They love us and them. You wanna get into this kingdom? Well, you have to go through our specific17:50 church, our specific affiliation, our specific traditions. But Paul will tell us in chapter 2 that there is 1. There is 1 way. There is 1 who connects us. There is 1 who stepped in. He says there is18:02 1 God and 1 mediator who can reconcile God and humanity, the man Jesus Christ. Period. Except no teaching that is contrary to the truth.18:14 So just like today, false teaching was wreaking havoc in this early church. And sometimes they were preaching outright lies. Other times it says, they were stuck. They were stuck in endlessThe Purpose of the Law and the Beauty of Grace 18:26 cycles of arguments. Paul says that the arguing wasn't fruitful, yet it's still prevalent today. We still see this maybe now more so than ever. Paul says that they were stuck in endless discussions18:38 and myths of spiritual pedigrees. He says it was a waste of time because it profits us nothing. And yet how often do we engage18:50 in this even within the church? Now I love studying and debating and conversing and seeking to understand God's word in a group situation. I love19:02 getting together with a wide variety of perspectives with men that love Jesus and unpacking God's word in a community. And then I love sitting in front of God's word filled with his holy spirit and saying, make us wise19:13 to the gospel. Reveal the true truth to us. But arguing with another believer about some arbitrary details of our faith causes division and never moves God's church19:25 forward. If Jesus Christ is what unifies us, what is big enough to cause division? Nothing when seen in the proper context, in the proper light of the cross.19:38 Scripture reminds us that it arguing, that winning arguments is not how God won us over. That's not how he drew us to him initially. Romans 2 4 says that it was God's kindness.19:51 It was his love that drew us into repentance. None of your friends, none of the people in your life are ever gonna be arm wrestled against their will, into believing20:03 in Jesus, I guess. You will not argue or crush or demolish or shoot people down in a way that would have them respond with soft hearts that want the gospel.20:16 That type of convincing might make them feel like you're correct, but it will not put them in a position to submit their lives or follow Jesus with everything they are. Losing an intellectual20:28 argument is not the same as recognizing the depth of your sin or seeing the beauty of God's grace, or understanding the depths of his love for20:40 us, and surrendering everything that we are to Christ. Only the kindness of God draws us into that. Because that moves us to repentance, to wanting to walk away from our20:52 former life. And that's the goal whenever we share the gospel. Now apologetics are wonderful. Being equipped to speak intelligently and truthfully about the hope that we have21:03 is a command that we see in scripture. We're supposed to always be ready to give an explanation for the hope that we have and the world needs men who are equipped. We need to send our kids out of our house21:16 equipped with the truth, but we need to remember what the goal is. The goal is not to sound impressive or to win arguments. The goal is to watch people give their lives21:28 to Christ. So at this point in the letter, Paul returns and kind of starts reminding them that they've lost their way, that they're they've gone off track from some of his21:40 original teaching. And so he wants to go back. He wants to go back to what he had hoped the people had gotten out of his teaching already. He says they've kind of spiraled into these arguments about21:51 silly things. There's now false teaching that's coming in. He rewinds the tape though and says, do you wanna know what my my hope was guys? Look at verse 5. The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be22:03 filled with love. Love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. Paul's going back to what he had hoped he would see22:15 as a result of the truth being planted in this community of believers. The purpose of Paul's teaching about Jesus, again, was not to win arguments or simply increase understanding. His22:27 desire was that people would be changed from the inside out. That they would be so filled with love. Not answers to arguments, not clever wordsmithing.22:38 Right? Paul's hope was was simple. When he preached, he didn't just wanna be impressive. He didn't want people to leave thinking, wow, Paul really has his stuff together. He wanted 1 thing. Paul's22:50 desire was to see hearts changed. That was his desire. Paul wanted to see that hearts would be changed. That from the inside, from the deep places where everything comes from,23:03 where our desires, where our motivations, where everything that we're aiming for in our life. If we could get deep down into those roots, if people could think differently, ultimately they would do differently.23:16 And all of that was based on a change at the core of their being. Because it's never just our intellectual understanding of Christ that moves us forward in powerful ways23:27 in real faith. I mean, Paul says it point blank. And he says that once we've been filled with love, it it has this progression. It doesn't just stop. Look, it goes from a a filling of23:39 love that creates a pure heart and a clear conscience that ultimately results in genuine faith. But there were23:51 people in this church obviously as there are in our world today who simply refuse. Their greatest aim was not to move out in love. Heck, love may not even been on their24:03 spiritual scorecard. I know oftentimes I'm checked in that. When I when I think about my walk with Jesus, it's easy to focus on things like how much time am I spending in his word and and am I in good relationship24:14 with godly men and how am I treating my wife and my kids and these sorts of things. But what about the simple and profound question, am I increasingly becoming a person who loves well? Who loves well24:26 the people that are hardest to love? And this church was not moving out in love with all these arguments. It seems like they were more clumping up in division. They weren't moving out. They were retreating. They24:38 were dividing. And that always is a hallmark of false teaching. False teaching, bad teaching always causes division in the truth. Good biblical teaching24:50 always brings unity. Always brings unity. False teaching creates division. Good teaching even when it points out sin, even the parts that sting when we read it, even the parts that is God's kind of25:02 spiritual sandpaper taking the rough edges off of our lives, when we're corrected and rebuked. Even when we face things that we need to change as a church family, the gospel always25:13 moves us towards Jesus and towards 1 another in restoration and in unity. And with regards to these hearts that have been changed. Right? The Paul desires to see25:25 them filled with love. He goes on in verse 6. But some people have missed the whole point. They've turned away from these things. They spend their time, again, in meaningless discussions. They wanna be known as teachers25:37 of the law of Moses, but they don't know what they're talking about even though they speak so confidently. Again, he gets to the people who have turned away from the truth, people that have let themselves get25:49 into these conversations that aren't going anywhere. He adds a news spin. They wanna be known as teachers of the law. They're in it for the wrong reasons. They're in it for fame. God is not interested in sharing his26:01 glory. Our God alone is to be worshipped. Everything is for him and to him. Everything exists to bring glory to the name of Jesus including us. It's not about us.26:13 And Paul's reminding them of this. And he says, you guys have missed the point. You've missed the point and you're stuck in these stupid arguments and we're not moving forward. I remember these types of conversations26:24 sadly going on at my alma mater. I went to Point Loma Nasrin University, loved the school, changed my life. I married my wife there while I was still a student. I was actually just there26:36 recently, teaching at a men's retreat, and it was so surreal to be back on campus such precious days in my life. But I could still remember some of the late night conversations that I'd hear in the dorm rooms.26:48 Deeply philosophical and spiritual conversations that were completely meaningless. And I'm not just talking about the banter of guys or are it fun conversation amongst guys who are studying. I'm talking27:00 about heated arguments about trivial parts of scripture and certain words that don't have incredible impact on the nature of our salvation. Different translations and problems and arguments27:11 and I got so fed up with it with 1 night that I left. I literally left. I got in my car and I drove away from the school. I drove over to my girlfriend, now wife's house and picked her up. And we drove to the grocery27:23 store and we bought groceries and we started to make sack lunches. And then we've made the lunches and we prayed over them and we headed out into the streets of downtown San Diego. And we just handed them out to people27:35 that were hungry and tried to get into conversations about Jesus, about his love for them, and about the hope of eternal salvation that he had for them. The faith I had in Jesus was compelling me to go do something that27:47 was an expression of love. Now don't misunderstand me here. I'm not saying that we shouldn't learn, that we shouldn't study, and I'm not saying certainly that all of those efforts apart from the gospel are where we27:58 should be going. This is never an either or. We always have a faith that informs how we work. It's not wrong to debate. Gaining understanding is a great aim.28:10 Scripture commands us to. But if we miss the entire point, what good is it? If it makes enemies out of the very people that we're trying to convey God's truth to, what good is it?28:21 Remember, brothers, we are not at war with the people of this world. We are at war with Satan for the people of this world. We're28:33 not at war with the people even who believe things currently contrary to God's word. They are our goal. The person in front of us is our hope. The hope in the conversation is that the scales28:45 would fall off, that lies would be dissolved in light of the truth, that they would repent and give their hearts to Jesus. The person you're arguing with is the person we should be arguing for. We28:57 want to see them transformed and Paul is trying to call us back to that in this passage. And I love it. It's like Paul can already hear the arguments and the grumbling starting to go up in the crowd. So preemptively he29:09 pens this to kind of go back against, okay, I know you're gonna be asking now, so the law doesn't have any benefits, the study doesn't have any benefit. Paul, you're saying that we should just be mindless people and go29:18 out and take care people's needs and that's no no no no. Look at verse 8. We know that the law is good. Right there, the law is good. When used correctly,29:32 then he unpacks the purpose of the law. For the law was not intended for people who do what's right. It's for people who are lawless and rebellious, ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is29:43 holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. Paul is laying out the very purpose of the law saying that it's good, but very clearly saying29:55 the goal of the law is not to teach us what it is that we're supposed to do in order to be saved. It's not there for those who are already on track with Jesus rather the law points to how much we need a savior.30:08 The law simultaneously points out my own sin and inadequacy while also pointing out how beautiful and purposeful and ultimate the atoning sacrifice of30:20 Messiah, Jesus is in my life. It points to both of them. How beautiful my salvation and how much I needed it. That's what the law shows me. And we have to understand30:32 that. We can't get used to our salvation. We can't gloss over it. We can't take it for granted because if we don't understand and remember the depth of our sin, we won't appreciate the beauty of the cross.30:44 If we don't understand how far off the mark we were on our own, how prone to sin we are in our flesh, how hopeless our situation before Jesus.30:56 If we somehow lessen God's holiness or or try to lower God's intolerance of sin or his desire to redeem us or his beautiful love. If we do any of that, then the cross starts to lose some of31:08 its beauty and some of its power. I mean look at it this way, if I said to you that I paid off 1 of my friend's debts you might think okay. And you have an immediate questionShow more In this video 0:00 The Authority and Power of God's Word4:19 Guarding Against False Teaching18:19 The Purpose of the Law and the Beauty of Grace31:10 Clinging to Christ and Living Transformed LivesComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
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