Our Guide amid the Denials of the Faith
1 Timothy 1:1-7, 1 Timothy 1:18-20
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
1. Will Christ find Faith on the earth? The question above has to do with the Second Coming of Christ, and the Second Coming of Christ has to do with the conditions which will conclude the age in which we are now living.
The Apostle Peter plainly told us, in the Spirit, of the advent of mockers in the last times. These mockers are men who deny the Faith, and particularly, who say, "Where is the promise of His Coming?"
The Book of Jude speaks of the advent of certain men who creep in unawares. These certain men deny the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. They utter hard speeches against Him.
These men are the complement of that which the Holy Spirit, in the Book of Thessalonians, calls "the falling away" a falling away that is marked by the apostasy from the Faith.
Along this line, there is an Old Testament Scripture which speaks of "a famine for the Word of God."
We believe that the day of apostasy is here. The denials of the Faith have come as a great stream overflowing its banks. Men are not ashamed to stand in the pulpit dedicated to the Gospel of God concerning His Son, while they defame everything vital to that Gospel.
2. The present-day apostasy described. The men who deny the Faith are wolves, dressed in sheep's clothing, professing to know God, they deny Him.
(1) The apostasy began by discounting the miracles. As we see it, the fad and fancy of evolution was no more than a strategic stroke of unbelieving and apostate men, intent upon side-stepping a miracle-working God.
If miracles were to be done away, the first miracle of creation had to be set aside. In order to defame that miracle, there must be some method by which the advent of man upon the earth might be established.
Skeptical minds were ready to promulgate a fable as a fact, a dream as a dogma, rather than to accept the plain and only reasonable statement of man's advent to being even the statement of the Divine fiat of creation as set forth in the Word of God.
(2) The apostasy continued by denying the need of the atonement. Salvation by the Blood of the Son of God was unpalatable to aesthetic minds. They wanted to be saved by the works of their own hands. They, like Cain, were willing to pass compliments with God; but they were unwilling, like Abel, to put their faith in a sacrificial offering.
(3) The apostasy deepened in the denial of the Deity of Christ. Jesus Christ, to the apostate, became no more than a man applauded for his virtues. He was only revered as a man who lived ahead of His time.
The fact of Christ's Virgin Birth; the fact that He came down from the Father and came into the world; the fact that He was God, manifest in flesh, was utterly repugnant to apostates. They were willing to place Christ on a pedestal of fame along with Elias, Jeremias, or one of the Prophets, but they were unwilling to acclaim Him Son of God and God the Son.
I. SWERVING FROM THE FAITH (1 Timothy 1:3-7)
1. Fads, fables, and fanaticisms. Our text says that we are not to give heed to "fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith." We believe that a safe rule for saints is to utterly ignore religious discussions which are not based upon the faith once delivered. It is so easy to step aside into the mists and labyrinths of speculation along spiritual lines. We must never become erratic. We must never become preachers of our own dreams. Even in our statements of doctrine, we must seek always to us Scriptural terminologies.
Christ said, "We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen."
2. Teachers, ignorant of the Faith. Verse seven tells us that some, desiring to be teachers of the Law; understand neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.
We need to study to show ourselves approved of God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.
The Book of Romans, in chapter one, speaks of some who profess themselves to be wise, but are fools. While we would class none of you with them, yet we want you to beware lest you speak of those things of which you know not. We do not believe that an intellectual grasp of Truth is all that is needed with the Christian. We need to know experimentally, the things of God.
3. Turning aside to vain jangling. Whenever we are unsettled in the faith, and are babes in knowledge of God and His Word, we will fall an easy prey to every false wind of doctrine that may blow.
Those who swerve from the Faith are those, usually, who have never been rooted and grounded in the Faith. Their faith was never an "unfeigned Faith," grounded in a pure heart, and a good conscience.
When the Faith is left and a professor swerves from the plain message of God, he will be turned aside unto vain jangling. There is a great deal of bickering and strife in religious circles; there are sects and divisions almost innumerable; and all of these because people are not established in the Word of God. When Christians follow men, and creeds, and sects, instead of a plain and positive "thus saith the Lord," they are bound to swerve from the Faith.
II. MAKING SHIPWRECK OF THE FAITH (1 Timothy 1:18-20)
1. The marks of a good warfare. Paul writes to Timothy, "That thou * * mightest war a good warfare." Timothy had known the Scriptures from his childhood. He had heard the Faith from his mother Eunice, and his grandmother Lois. That Faith was an unfeigned Faith. Timothy had been led to Christ through the ministry of Paul. We know this, because Paul wrote unto him, calling him "My own son in the Faith."
When the Apostle wanted a young man to travel with him he chose the young man Timothy. He chose him because, that from a child he had known the Holy Scriptures.
What then are the marks of a good warfare? They are certainly a warfare in the Truth holding the Faith, with a good conscience.
2. The marks of shipwreck. Verse nineteen reads, "Holding faith, * * which some having put away concerning Faith have made shipwreck." We have before us a graphic scene. It is the old ship of Faith sailing over life's sea. Not a ship of "faith in Christ," but the ship of the "Faith of Christ." The ship is a wreck. It is engulfed by the wild waves and about to sink. Here is a picture of what we have before us today. The old-time message of the Cross, and the old-time confession of the Faith has, in many instances, suffered shipwreck.
The Apostle Paul, in the close of verse twenty, speaks of the men who put away the Faith, and who make shipwreck, as blasphemers. This is a serious charge, and yet it is true.
3, The results of making shipwreck. The Spirit, through Paul, definitely mentions two men, Hymenaeus and Alexander who put away the faith; and then he says, "I have delivered" them "unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme."
It is no light matter to depart from the Faith of God and to preach another message than that which God has delivered. Such men are under a curse. As we have said once, we say again, "If any man preach any other gospel * * let him be accursed."
It is important to know the Truth, and to live it, and to preach it. If we hope to receive from God a "Well done, thou good and faithful servant," we must stand unfailingly for the Faith.
The idea that we may live as we list, preach what we please, and believe what we choose, and, withal, be well pleasing unto God, is sheer folly.
III. DEPARTING FROM THE FAITH (1 Timothy 4:1)
1. The pillar and ground of the Truth. By referring to chapter three, we find that the Church of the Living God is described as the pillar and ground of the Truth. The pillar is that which supports the roof. The ground is the firm foundation, the undergirding, upon which the whole superstructure rests.
When Peter said to Jesus, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God," the Lord immediately replied, "Upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
In Matthew seven, Christ said, "Whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock, * * and it fell not."
2. The perils of the last days. Young people need not become alarmed because so many have departed from the Faith. To be fore-warned, should suffice us to be forearmed. The Spirit described for us the very apostasy which surrounds the church today. They who know their books know that nothing has happened which has upset the Faith once delivered to the saints. They who have departed from the Faith are men who know not God in any vital and spiritual sense. Our text even says that they speak lies in hypocrisy. If they contend that they are conscientious in what they say, God quickly says that their conscience is seared with a hot iron.
It is still true that great men are not always wise; neither do the aged understand judgment. It is still true that the natural mind receiveth not the things of God. Men by scholarship cannot know God.
God has even said of the men who depart from the faith, that they are giving heed to the doctrines of demons. We should think such a charge would cause present-day modernists to stop and consider. They, indeed, are swayed by a power of which they may be unaware. They are carried on by winds of doctrine which sweep them from their moorings; yet, they may not realize their lot.
3. Nourished up in the Faith. We are sure that all who follow us, desire to be good ministers of Jesus Christ. If they do, they will put the brethren in remembrance of the apostasy which is now upon us. They will do more. They will nourish themselves up in the words of faith and of good doctrine. They will also refuse profane and old wives' fables.
The great need of the churches today is a testimony that rings true to the Faith. God give us many young men who will go forth in love and in courage, proclaiming the whole counsel of God.
IV. DENYING THE FAITH (1 Timothy 5:8; 1 Timothy 5:15; 1 Timothy 5:17)
1. He who denies the Faith of practical Christianity. The faith for which we are to contend includes the great doctrines of Grace. It asserts the Deity of Christ; it acclaims the Virgin Birth; it emphasizes the Substitutionary Suffering of Christ; it unswervingly advocates the bodily Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord: it faithfully teaches the personal Return of the Lord Jesus.
There is another viewpoint, however, in upholding the Faith; that is the practical side of the Faith. It is the Faith, in action; the Faith, in life. Our verse tells us "If any man provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the Faith, and is worse than an infidel."
We need men who not only preach the Faith, but who live it. The doctrine must he glorified, adorned, by our walk, and work, and way.
2. He who denies the Faith turns aside after Satan. This is the message of verse fifteen. Low standards of living, as well as low standards of doctrine may find their source in Satan himself. He is the one who, in the Garden of Eden, with the self-same breath sought to instil doubt of God's Word on the one hand, and to inculcate the spirit of disobedience to God, on the other hand. How many there are today whom Satan hath blinded, lest the light of the glorious Gospel should shine in upon them!
3. He who holds the Faith is worthy of double honor. In 1 Timothy 1:17 the emphasis is placed upon those who toil in the Word of God and in the teaching of Truth.
If we had dropped into any of the services conducted by the Apostle Paul we would have found him standing true to the Faith, and proclaiming it with all longsuffering and doctrine. Paul knew how to reason out of the Scriptures. He knew how to open them up in such a way as to confound the adversaries. He never sounded an uncertain note. He never placed a question mark around any "Thus saith the Lord." He believed all things that were written in Moses and in the Prophets; and, what he believed, he proclaimed.
Men who hold down the truth, or keep back the whole counsel of God, are worthy of double condemnation. Men who serve for human plaudits, and not for Divine approval are to be pitied.
There is a little verse that says, "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." God grant that at this hour a great host of stalwart sons may stand forth and wield the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, with unswerving loyalty.
V. ERRING FROM THE FAITH (1 Timothy 6:10-12; 1 Timothy 6:20-21)
We have found five distinct statements concerning the denials of the faith in First Timothy. (1) Swerving from the Faith. (2) Making shipwreck of the Faith. (3) Departing from the Faith. (4) Denying the Faith. (5) Erring from the Faith.
Just now we want to discuss the fifth statement.
1. He who errs from the Faith. Verses nine and ten tell us of the rich who fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. These men love money and covet after it. To such the Holy Spirit writes, "They have erred from the Faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." Once again we behold that the Faith once delivered, touches the practical walk of the believer.
There is a verse in the Epistle of James which says, "Have not the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, with respect of persons."
Faith, that is doctrine, touches the very vital walk and life of the inner man. Faith is not to be forever located in the head; it should lodge in the heart, and become the lord of the life.
2. He who fights the good fight of Faith. The Apostle Paul was not slow to urge the man of God to fight this good fight. Here is a contest, which is worthy of the best that is in any man. How is this fight summed up? Here it is, just as God places it: "Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." This is the good fight of Faith. It is to this we are called. It is in behalf of this that we have confessed a good confession.
3. The final warning. "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called."
(1) There is the positive warning to keep that which is committed. In another chapter we are told that Paul knew Him, to whom he had committed his soul, and he knew that He would keep it. God is true to His tryst. Now, however, Timothy is urged to keep that which is committed to him. What is committed? It is the "Faith" of the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2) There is a negative warning, to avoid babblings and the oppositions of science, falsely so-called. Of these the Spirit writes to Timothy that some, having professed these things, have erred concerning the faith. How important is this last warning word. Science is all right when it deals with facts. Human knowledge is all right when it lies in the realm of truth; but, when it goes out of its realm and puts itself in opposition to truth, it places itself along with profane and vain babblings.
AN ILLUSTRATION
FIRE! FIRE!
"When a fire is kindled in a city we do not say coldly, 'Yonder is a great fire, I pray God it do no harm.' In times of public defection we are not to read tame lectures of contemplative divinity, or fight with ghosts and antiquated errors, but to oppose with all earnestness the growing evils of the world, whatever it may cost us." "If men valued truth as they do their goods and their houses they would not regard error with such cool contentment. The cant of the present day cries, 'Charity, Charity.' As if it were not the truest charity to grow indignant with that which ruins souls. It is not uncharitable to warn men against poisonous adulterations of their food, or invasions of their rights; and surely it cannot be more uncharitable to put them upon their guard against that which will poison or rob their souls. Lukewarmness of love to truth is the real evil to be deprecated in these times. We have new doctrines among us, full of practical mischief, and against these there is need to raise an earnest outcry lest they gain so great a head that both Church and state should be set on fire.
"Lord, arouse Thy watchmen, and bid them arouse all Thy saints, for the times are full of danger.