 Timothy chapter 1 verses 5 through 11. Paul writes now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some having strayed have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. And so as is my normal pattern of teaching for those who perhaps are beginning to join us for Bible studies, I like to lay a foundation and that way as we go through the passage in front of us, we're able to understand what Paul is speaking about because every letter had a purpose, and as I've been sharing with you some things concerning this, Paul is writing to a young pastor by the name of Timothy who has certain situations and all in the church that he's pastoring that Paul is addressing in order that he might be able to help him to become the kind of pastor that he ought to be. So he's instructing Timothy concerning leading a church and the church that Timothy is actually pastoring is a church that's in an ancient city by the name of Ephesus. Now I mentioned in our introduction that Ephesus was what would be called the leading city in the ancient world. It was a huge city by ancient standards because it had a population of 250,000 to 300,000. Now that may not sound like much to you today, but the village that Jesus Christ came from up there in Nazareth probably had during his day, he could have had as little as 60 people in the entire village. So when you have a city of 250,000 to 300,000 by ancient standards, that was a huge city and it was what would be called a leading city in the ancient world. It was an intellectual center as well as a commercial center. It was also a center for occultism. Now when Paul had come to Ephesus on a missionary journey, God began to work through the apostle Paul and Paul came into the city of Ephesus and he began to evangelize. And as Paul was evangelizing, God was also doing miracles that were amazing, just different kinds of miracles, unusual miracles. Acts 19 speaks about it, how that people would take his sweat bands or his work aprons and they would take them and place them on people who were sick or even those who were possessed with evil spirits. And according to Acts 19 verse 12, the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. Those are what are called extraordinary or unusual miracles. In the same chapter, Luke records how that these itinerant, these vagabond Jewish exorcists had heard Paul as he was casting demons out of people and they heard that he was using the name Jesus. And so there was an individual who was demon possessed that these seven sons of Sceven attempted to remove the demon, exercise the demon from. And so they said, this is how they said it, we adjure you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches. And when they said that, there in Acts 19, the demons spoke through the man's vocal cords to these, these men and said, Paul, I know and Jesus, I know, but who are you? And the Bible speaks about how he leapt upon them and, and he fought against them and, and they fled from his presence and he had stripped them of their clothing and they ran out. And so this was such an unusual thing that it caused people to respond in an amazing way. In, in chapter 19 verses 17 through 20, it says, this became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus and fear fell on them all. And the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified and many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic, brought their book together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them. It totaled 50,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. And so there's an amazing work going on there in the city of Ephesus. It was known for so many things. Again, it was an intellectual commercial, an occult center, but it was also known for its worship of the goddess Diana, also known as Artemis. There was a temple that was built for her. It became what is called one of the wonders, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. And somebody wrote, the temple of Diana was not properly the home of the goddess. It was but a shrine. The chief one devoted to her service. She lived in nature. She was everywhere, wherever there was life, the mother of all living things. So the ritual of the temple services consisted of sacrifices as well as ceremonial prostitution. So in the midst of this prosperous cosmopolitan, huge immoral city, Timothy was pastoring a church. What do you do when you're living in a city like that? What do you do to reach them? How can you help people who are living in spiritual darkness? How do you do that? So Paul speaks to him and says, this is what you're to do. Expose false teachers. Develop leaders. Teach God's words. Exercise your spiritual gifts. Be an example. Fight a good fight. Organize the church. Refute arid. Encourage godly living. Enact church discipline. Safeguard the church's witness in this ungodly world. And therefore, his mission is to preach the gospel and to disciple believers. He's also to be on guard against the infiltration of false teachers. Let me develop that with you for just a moment. We need to remember that a person normally lives out what they believe. You behave according to what you believe. Your beliefs are going to instruct you in how to live. And the Bible tells us in Proverbs 20 verse 11, even a child is known by his deeds, whether what he does is pure and right. See, we're not supposed to just say, we're supposed to say and do. Jesus in Luke 6, 44 and 45 said it like this. He said, every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good. And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks, conduct always reveals character. And so healthy teaching, when it's received and applied, will result in a life that is blessed by God. Psalm 1 verses 1 through 3 says it like this. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper. Blessed is the man who stays in the word of God. Why? Because his life will be blessed. And so when you walk in the ways of the Lord, God says, I'll bless you, but bad teaching will always result in misdirected and poorly lived lives. And that's a truth that has been known for centuries. Give me a man's mind and I can control a man's life. Somebody said, the Christian church in the West now faces a set of challenges that exceeds anything it has experienced in the past. The revolution that has transformed most of Western Europe and much of North America is a revolution more subtle and more dangerous than revolutions faced in previous generations. This is a revolution of ideas, one that is transforming the entire moral structure of meaning and life that human beings have recognized for millennia. You see, the Bible teaches the message of salvation. The Bible teaches the way a person should live. And because it does so, it's attacked constantly. Early in the history of the church, false teachers began to infiltrate. And when you read your New Testament, you're going to see that throughout the Bible, throughout the New Testament, there are many warnings that various writers gave concerning being on the being on the alert for false teachers. Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 verses 13 through 15 spoke of false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. No wonder Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness whose end will be according to the works. In other words, Satan's ministers always appear to be truth tellers. They always appear to be loving. They always appear to be gracious. They always appear to be welcoming. They don't come and remove the mask. Listen, if we saw Satan in his pure evil, you would never follow him. So you will follow the one who disguises themselves with this beautiful face. And there was a book once written years ago now that just referred to it in this way. It said it was the beautiful side of evil. And so false apostles, false teachers will always appear to be righteous, loving, caring, truth telling when in reality they're deceivers. In 1 John chapter 4 verse 1, it says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. How do you test the spirit? You test the spirit by the word of God, whether what they say aligns with what Scripture teaches. You also test the spirit through the power of the Holy Spirit, who gives us discernment. But you don't believe it just because it's said. I mean, if you turn on the television set or very often, if you open up, listen to radio or teachings that you can get over the airwaves and all through the internet, much of what's being said is there, but many people still donate their money to it and believe it. They're not testing it according to the word of God. In 2 Peter chapter 2 verses 1 and 2, the apostles said, There will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them and bring on themselves swift destruction. Many will follow their destructive ways because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. So, we need to remember what a person believes is what he lives out. So Paul is writing to this young pastor there in the city of Ephesus, a very dark city filled with occultism and a center of pagan worship. And Paul is writing to this young pastor. We need to remember that Ephesus had some of the finest pastors and teachers in history. There was a man by the name of Apollos who ministered in Ephesus. The apostle Paul ministered in Ephesus. Aquila, who's known for Aquila and Priscilla. Aquila ministered in Ephesus. Church tradition holds that even the apostle John ministered in Ephesus. So the church was wonderfully taught and yet Paul is still warning the church about error through the apostle rather through the pastor Timothy. Three years before this letter was written Paul had spoken to the elders of the church of Ephesus. In Acts 20 verses 29 and 30 he had said this. He said, I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves. He's saying people, intruders, outsiders, infiltrators are going to come in and they're going to bring bad doctrine in. You know we've had that happen here numerous times. You know when you pull into the parking lot you have people out there who are helping to direct you and sometimes you say I don't want to park there, I want to park somewhere else. There are parking lot guys and you wonder why do we have them? Well in the past we have had people come here on our campus and they have put their brochures, they have put their pamphlets on the windshield under the wipers of people in our church and they've been brought to me and these are pamphlets that will have error. They'll have heresy and they've come right on the campus to do that. We've had people leaving their tracks and all in the pews there so that someone might pick it up and go oh I ought to follow this. We've had them come in to our bookstore where they'll walk in and want to debate and argue with our bookstore employees and all. They come on, they'll infiltrate, they want to bring their doctrine. Some of them will go door to door, knock it on doors and speak to you. They're wanting to give you their doctrine and so Paul said that to the church of Ephesus. He said to the elders listen they're going to do this, they're going to come and they're going to try and from the outside attack you. They're wolves but he said and some will rise up even from amongst you and try and draw away disciples after themselves and that's why he warned them for the space of three years with tears. That's why he did that because of the error. Now he's writing to a young pastor there Timothy who's ministering in this mighty city. So he encourages him. He encourages him to remain faithful to what he's received. He's saying you need to faithfully teach the Word of God and Timothy you need to safeguard the message. You know the safeguarding of the message and the teaching of truth is so important that Paul actually closed this letter with the command. We'll see it in chapter six verses 20 and 21 when he closes by saying to Timothy guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from Godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith. Grace be with you. So even in his closing of this letter he's still warning them and encouraging him to remain faithful to what he's learned. So make sure that truth is taught. Make sure that error is exposed and refuted and also use your authority to silence false teachers and rebuke them. Now what are they teaching? Well according to verse four what they're teaching would be very briefly legends and stories that have been manufactured by men. He says in verse 20 of chapter one that their teachings are blasphemous. In chapter four verses one through five he says they promote a false holiness. We'll see that and in second Timothy in chapter two he says their teachings deny the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he tells us these are doctrines of demons who are the originator of all lies. He had referred to them as myths that things are teaching in endless genealogies. And so by in referring to family lines they were attempting to gain prestige through them. And you think about that they're referring to those who've gone before them and trying to gain prestige by them, by their history. There's still a lot of people who do the same. Even to this day there are these shows that you see if you watch TV. There are shows where they have these celebrities who go to these genealogists and then they ask the genealogists to trace their family lineage. And some of you have seen these things on TV. I've seen a few episodes where this very famous person, a well-known person will go on and it's always interesting to me how they always seem somehow to be related to some amazing person. They always are. You know, oh, you're a descendant of George Washington. You know, they're, oh, really? Yes. You know, a lot of people like to get their status not by what they've done or who they are but by what somebody else has done in the past. And they associate with the greatness of somebody else. That's what these people were doing. They see themselves as being valuable if they're related to someone who's famous. So I was reading a family historian who was writing his family history was dismayed to find that an ancestor had been publicly hanged. In a moment of inspiration he wrote, he died during a public ceremony when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed beneath him. Another family historian finding that a relative had been sent to prison and was executed in an electric chair wrote at the time of his death he occupied a chair of applied electricity at one of our most famous institutions. So you can always change it around if you'd like. So what Paul is doing here is he's giving commands. He's giving commands concerning the things that Timothy is to do and he's saying you need a refute error and you need to teach the truth. So the question would be why would Paul waste his time giving commands? Why is he giving these commands in the first place? Is he simply a self-righteous judgmental, non-progressive, conservative, hater? Is that what he is? Well Paul tells us in verse 5 why he's writing this. Verse 5, the purpose of the commandment is love. From a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith. Why are you writing this? The purpose of the commandment is love. In contrast to the goal of false teachers, Paul reveals the purpose of the command. It's the development of a group of believers who are in love with God and love people. You see remember this, if you take notes you might want to remember this always. God's love is the distinguishing characteristic of a genuine Christian. God's love is the distinguishing characteristic of a genuine Christian. Loving God in truth always produces the result of you loving others. You love God with all of your heart and you love your neighbor as yourself. And that's because God's word teaches us how to love and the spirit of God produces that love in us. In 1 John 4, 7 and 8 it says, beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God. For God is love. And so love has always been the distinguishing mark of a believer. And love is the goal of all Christian teaching. Romans 13-10 says, love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. The reason we come to church, I would hope, is to be taught how we can love God and love others. That's what we do as we go through the word of God. And that's what Paul is saying to Timothy. This is the reason I'm writing these things. The purpose of the commandment is love. And the love I'm speaking about is called agape. When you read the Bible, the Bible was written in the New Testament, it was written in the Greek language. And in the Greek language, there are different words that are used that are translated by the single word love in English. You have what is called eros, which you don't really find in scripture, but it was a Greek word that was used that speaks of erotic or sexual love. You see the word phileo, and the word phileo is a word that we get the word friendship from. There's stargay. It's a kind of love that is really, it's not a higher kind of love, but it's used in reference to those kinds of things, love. But the word that is chosen to be used here is the word agape. And the agape love is a word that describes the kind of love that God has for people. And so Paul is speaking about agape. And this is how he describes it. Notice this. He says again in verse five, he said, the purpose of the commandment is love first from a pure heart. So love is to be from a pure heart. The word pure means innocent or blameless. It speaks of that, which is without hypocrisy. He said, love is to have a purity to it. In Psalm 51 verse six, behold, you desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part, you will make me to know wisdom. The love that you have has to be the genuine real deal. It has to be blameless. It has to be without hypocrisy, and it has to come from within. And Psalm 15, 1 and 2, it says, Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle, whom he dwell in your holy hill? And then he answers the question, he who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart. So love needs to be pure. It needs to be blameless. It needs to be without hypocrisy. Why are you teaching us that you might not be a hypocrite, that you might have a genuine love for people? God had love for you. And you should love others. He says love from a good conscience. It's the love of God that produces a guilt free life that can be lived for Jesus. A good conscience is the result of a pure heart. A clean conscience, a good conscience, doesn't have guilt, shame, or despair. One of the things, by the way, that about your heart when people say, well, I just follow my heart, it's just remember, it's deceitful, it's desperately wicked. And the question is asked who can know it? John said, if my heart condemns me, because the fact is, is my heart can condemn me, if my heart condemns me, God is greater than my heart. He knows all things. And so there are times that your own conscience, your own heart will condemn you. You got saved. And when you got saved, you had this amazing moment where the Lord awakened you to the fact that the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses you from all sin. And you embrace the promise of God where he says if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation, old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. And you don't refer to yourself anymore as a drug addict. And you don't speak of yourself anymore as an alcoholic, because that's part of the old life. Those things have been done away with. You know, you're no longer somebody who's going out on your wife or your husband, you're no longer of that nature. You did in the past, yes you did. But God washed you and cleansed you and he gave you a new life. And it's all under the blood of Christ. And you understand that because I am now a new creation, old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. But you'll have friends who will say, oh, no, you haven't changed. You've always been that way. And you'll be that way. Again, you have friends like that. I have my own family. David, you know, you're in a fad. I've seen you go through so many things. And this Christianity is a fad too. That was said to me by my brother. Because he had seen me go through so many things. Oh, once a drunk, always a drunk. Once a liar, always a liar. Once a thief, always a thief. You've heard that. Because people leave that. Listen, your heart can accuse you that's true. Before the Lord, I can say to you that many mornings that I have awakened since I got saved in 1970, I can tell you that many mornings I have awakened to a memory of something I did before I was saved. 46, almost 47 years. And I still can wake up saying, Father, I wish I would have done that. I still can feel bad about it. And then I remember, if your heart condemns you, God is greater than your heart. He knows all things. Remember that too. I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Old things are passed away. You hold all things are become new. God has made me into a new creation and he made you into one too. And you can have a clean conscience. You know, somebody has said, well, when Satan comes and knock on the front door, send Jesus to answer it. He may remind you of your past, but remind him of his future. See, the Lord has done a work in us through his grace and love helps you to have a pure conscience. In the book of Hebrews 10, verse 22, it says, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, our bodies washed with pure water. And then third, love, he said, from a sincere faith, a faith that is without hypocrisy. That would be a pure childlike trust in Jesus. That is unpolluted by false teaching. So carrying the theme of false teaching. He says in verse six, from which some having strayed have turned aside to idle talk. So that would describe the false teachers who are rejecting truth. And by rejecting the message of the gospel, they have, they have begun preaching unprofitable subjects. And the result of their teaching doesn't create unity. It doesn't create the things that Paul is speaking about. It doesn't create love from a pure heart. It doesn't create love from a good conscience. It doesn't create love from a sincere faith. What it creates is idle talk. It creates polluted speech. And that's because in their teaching, Jesus is not the center of the message. Listen, genuine gospel teaching and preaching always has Jesus Christ at the center of the message. When Jesus was speaking in John 539, and he was speaking to his opponents, he said, you search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. And these are they which testify of me. When you're looking and ransacked the Old Testament, he was telling his opponents, he was saying, you'll find me in those scriptures. Paul in 1 Corinthians 2, 1 and 2 said it like this. He said, I, brethren, when I came to you didn't come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. So when he's the center, love is the result. He speaks concerning their motives in verse 7, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. And so he says they desire to be teachers of the law, but they don't understand what they say. The motives was to be admired. These false teachers wanted to be admired by people like what Jesus said in John 7, 18 when he said he who speaks from himself seeks his own glory. And that's what they wanted. They want their own glory. They want to be, they want to have the appearance of being spiritually profound. But Paul's saying they don't understand what they're talking about. They desire prestige like the rabbis and they don't understand the purpose of the law. Paul in verse 8 says we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. He's speaking of the law of Moses. And he's saying that the Old Testament contains laws that are good if you understand the purpose of the law. You see the law is good if it's used for its intended purpose. And when you study the law and its purpose, there are so many things that you can discover that we really don't have time to look through all the things that you can discover through the law. But let me give you three things that can help us understand why Paul would say that the law of Moses was good if it's used right. One of the things you see in the law is that it establishes moral correctness because it defines what is right and defines what is wrong when it comes to our behavior. And when you know what is right and when you know what is wrong, well the law itself can establish what is called a moral tone in a culture. And as it establishes the moral tone in a culture, it helps people to live in relative peace. Once again, there's an attack. Let me share with you for a moment about this. There's an attack that is going on right now, an attack on the foundations of our nation. You know, and I'm not going to go into a real deep thing. This is just something I'll share for just a moment. But there is an attack. There's no doubt about that. There are rules, there are regulations and there are even laws that are being passed that are anti-biblical laws. And part of the reason why this is taking place is because especially we Americans, I can speak as an American, we Americans have a tendency of saying if it's legal, then it's moral. And so we establish our morality based on whether the law says this is good or this is bad. That's how we establish our morality. So if the law says that you can have medicinal marijuana, even though it is a gateway drug, but if the law establishes you can have medical marijuana, then people will ultimately say, well, that's the right thing. It's a good thing. It's a proper thing. It's a legal thing. And therefore, it's a moral thing. We do that. If abortion is regarded as the law of the land, then it can be regarded also as a moral obligation or a right that people have. We do that. We do that with laws. We do that all the time. That's what we do. We pass a law and then we convince people that that is the right proper and the good thing to do. And so there are laws that are being passed right now or are being presented even before our own California Congress that are intended not to simply be a law, but to shape or to direct the moral tone of our culture. So a little girl up in Northern California, not that long ago, sees one of her little classmates. She's six years old. She sees one of her classmates who she had known the year before and will say his name was Billy. So she sees him. Hi, Billy. Billy gets upset because Billy decided during the summer that he's no longer Billy. He's now Janie. So this little girl is reprimanded and comes home upset because she caused Billy to be uncomfortable because he now wants to be called Janie. And the mother and father are up in arms because how can you do this to my six year old? No, we're just training her to be sensitive. And what we have is we have people today who are being told that your eyes aren't telling you the truth. What they believe themselves to be is what is true. We know that. We see that taking place. So the California Congress has before it a law that can actually have passed. Find you a thousand, up to a thousand dollars if you speak to a woman when she thinks that she's a man and call her by a woman gender description. That's happening right now. That's happening right now. And what's going to happen? Well, see they're not, these laws are not intended really to be for us old people because they know that we're going to die. What we want, and this sounds, and I'm not a conspiratorialist, you know that. If you don't, let me say it. I'm not into conspiracy things. I'm just telling you the fact this is what actually happens. I'm just telling you this. This is what actually happens. It's not a striving after you. It's a striving for your kids. It's not a striving after you. You're old and you're going to die. We want the younger generation. So we'll begin in preschool. We'll begin by introducing books that have same-sex parents and things and make that normal. We'll put TV programs on where it's humorous because the characters, even if they're immoral people, they're really funny. And because humor is a great way to enter ideas into people's heads because it makes you seem like a hater if you reject the message. And that's what's going on. You know that, and I know that if you don't know that, open your eyes because that's what's going on. You know, everybody knows that anybody goes to a bar on a weekend and drinks. Everyone knows that those people are drinking light beer and they're always in good shape. They don't know any guys with beer bellies because guys have been drinking forever and their belly's so big that their t-shirt stretched and they're always trying to hitch up their pants. And they always do wear a 34. Yeah, on your hips. But what we do is nobody ever has to go to a drug rehab, right? Nobody ever has to go to a place to help them with their alcohol problems, right? Nobody ever has to go on a diet because they're all thin and beautiful, aren't we, right? I mean that's what we are. That's presented to us. That's American culture. We know that. I'm speaking to people who know that, but with the laws. With the laws. The laws are passed in order to get you to be a criminal if you don't agree with the general consensus as contained in law. That's what happens. The law is good if it's used lawfully. Listen, when people say you can't legislate morality, that's not true at all. That's an absolute lie. That's exactly what you're doing when you pass a law. You are legislating morality. That's what you're doing. So there are various ways that we think that are not natural ways but are actually ways that have been imposed on us from Scripture that have helped us to understand what is right and what is wrong. Let me ask a question. Is it wrong? Is it wrong to disrespect your parent? Have you ever seen some little bratty kid in the supermarket saying snotty things to mom and dad and eee and you're looking at them and you're thinking if that was my little kid, have you ever been there? Yeah, is it wrong? Is it wrong? Is it wrong for that child to disrespect the parent? How about is it wrong to murder someone? That, that's, I think that's wrong. Is it wrong to commit adultery? Is it wrong to steal somebody's things? Is it wrong to lie about a neighbor? Is it wrong? Is it wrong to harbor in your heart greed and covetousness because somebody has something that you don't have? Is it wrong? Where did you get the idea that it was? You got it from Scripture. You got it from the Bible. The laws that have been passed about divorce, the laws in the United States that have been passed about killing people, the laws that have been passed about all those things that I just mentioned, find their root in Scripture. The law is good when it's used lawfully. It restrains evil and defines for us what wrong is. Because I have heard some of the most amazing arguments to try and justify evil when Nambla, the North American Man-Boy Love Association, said, homosexual organization said that when small children are being raped, it screams a pleasure, not screams of pain. When they have tried to justify the evil that they do and their argumentation. We're living in very perilous times and we need to awaken to those things. What makes something true? What makes something not true? What makes something right? What makes something not right? We find that in Scripture. You see when we do the wrong thing our conscience can be touched because we have a foundation of what is true and therefore we know that it's wrong. Also when the law is used properly it exposes evil for identifying it for what it is and as it does so it defines for us what sin is and awakens within us an acknowledgement that that's part of our nature. In Romans 7 verse 7 Paul said what shall we say then is the law sin? Certainly not. Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said do not covet. A third thing is it leads me to a recognition of my need for a Savior. The law awakens in me an identification and awareness of what's going on and the need for help because I can say like Paul the old wicked man oh sinful man who will save me from this body of death. I did before I got saved. I started actually beginning to cry and say God I don't know what's wrong with me but whatever it is it's serious and I I can't make myself well would you help somebody's got to help me and that's how I heard the gospel I was ready to hear what God said was the answer and the law helps me to recognize my need for Jesus Christ. In Galatians 3 24 Paul said the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. So he goes on and he says in verse 9 knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous person but for the lawless and insubordinate for the ungodly and for sinners for the unholy and profane for murderers of fathers murderers of mothers for manslayers fornicators sodomites kidnappers liars for perjurers and if there's any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine and so he speaks concerning this he says the law is not made for the righteous but for the lawless the word lawless is is the one who ignores the law of God who ignores any standard of right or wrong so you're in line at a store and you turn around and there's a guy wearing a t-shirt with profanity or you're driving your car there's a bumper sticker with with profanity and and that's the lawless person the one who doesn't care he doesn't care if there's something right he doesn't care it's something right he doesn't care if you're your six-year-old who's just learning to read is reading that bumper sticker doesn't care if your little girl is reading the words that he has on his t-shirt he doesn't care that's the person who is lawless they ignore the law of God they don't care what's right they don't care what's wrong somebody said the law is not intended to police good men but rather to police bad ones the law reveals that we are insubordinate we hate discipline we hate authority it speaks of the ungodly the ungod ungodly are the deliberately irreverent they have no regard for that which is sacred they don't care if you like or dislike certain things doesn't matter to them at all and that that again that's that's revealed to us today here in the united states daily in our music and in the art and in movies and entertainment and literature it's very easy to mock god they're referred to as sinners they don't regard god they don't care about his law verse nine speaks of the unholy that speaks of the wicked or the empires that's a person who doesn't care about what is right and they have no sense of duty to god and therefore he's profane he's profane because he has no concern for the sacred and he is willingly worldly they they intentionally will mock god they will blaspheme him casually so these are pertain to man's relationship to god but the next descriptions describe man's relationship to other people he speaks of murderers of parents are in verse nine and murderers of parents all the way to perjurers will actually cover the fifth through the ninth commandments found in exodus 20 verses 12 through 17 so he speaks of murderers of fathers and mothers that means they failed to honor their parents that's breaking the fifth command they speak of manslayers that violates the sixth command they speak of fornicators that breaks the seventh command because the seventh commandment forbids sex outside of marriage Hebrews 13 4 says marriage is honorable among all and the bed undefiled but fornicators and adulterers god will judge without belaboring this point i'll say it quickly obviously sexual license is the prevailing attitude today you might find this interesting where did we get the word marriage to describe a man and a woman united we got it from the bible the word marriage is translated in the new king james the words that would be describing marriage i translated marriage in the old in the new testament 17 times the word marriage is used 17 times from the old in the new and that's a word that has been hijacked by the world listen prior to the enactment of laws pertaining to what are called homosexual marriages there have been what are called civil unions civil unions the legal establishment of a relationship that could be male and male or female and female but the community of homosexuals did not want it to be referred to as civil unions they wanted the word marriage they wanted to take the word marriage and use it to describe their relationship they hijacked the word bible nowhere describes the union of males or the union of females as legitimate nowhere as a matter of fact the bible consistently condemned sexual involvement outside of marriage and even if a man and a woman are living together and somebody refers to their girlfriend they're living together as a fiancee well that still doesn't legitimize fornication you need to remember as a christian that marriage is intended to be a picture of jesus and the church in Ephesians 5 30 through 32 it says we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh this is a great mystery but i speak concerning christ and the church marriage is a picture of the union of christ and his wife his bride the church by hijacking the word marriage and having it apply to that which does not portray christ is the undermining of scriptural teaching as it pertains to marriage and again he says the law is intended to reveal that for fornicators in verse 10 he uses the word sodomites the word sodomite is is a word that speaks of one who lies with a male as with a female it's also used to describe homosexual so again homosexuality is consistently characterized as a serious sin in scripture it's never condoned now some will say well Jesus never made reference to homosexuality as being sinful we need to remember one that all scripture is given by inspiration of god that means that if he did not specifically say it if it's in scripture it is still god's word but jesus did indirectly speak of it in luke 17 28 through 30 jesus said likewise as it was also in the days of lot they ate they drank they bought they sold they planted they built but on the day that lot went out of sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all even so will it be in the day when the son of man is revealed he made reference to the day that lot went out of sodom what was sodom known for well there's a variety of sin sodom was known for but jude verse seven says sodom and gamora and the cities around them in similar manner to these having given themselves over to sexual immorality gone after strange flesh are set forth as an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire jesus christ never condoned homosexuality but made reference to it as being as sodom sodom was proverbially known for homosexuality that's where sodom might the name sodom might came from and so those who are apologizing in such a manner are biblically incorrect it speaks of kidnappers a kidnapper is what would be called a slaver as well as a kidnapper of children this breaks the eighth commandment which is do not steal 600,000 to 800,000 women children and men bought and sold across the international borders every year and exploited for forced labor or commercial sick sex there are when internal trafficking victims are adam to the estimates the number of victims annually is in the range of two to four million 50 percent of those victims are estimated to be children it is estimated that 76 percent of transactions for sex with underage girls start on the internet two million children are subjected to prostitution in the global commercial sex trade there are 20.9 million victims of trafficking worldwide as of 2012 and there's an estimated 1.5 million victims in the united states he's forbidding kidnappers he speaks of liars a liar and a perjurer are those who swear falsely that breaks the ninth commandment and then he sums it up by saying if there's any other thing that is contrary or opposed to healthy teaching in other words not only what has been explicitly written here but in overall conduct again moral behavior is the result of sound doctrine and is a reflection of it and when he finally says in verse 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed god which was committed to my trust let's close with these things the glorious gospel what is that the glorious gospel is that which brings glory to god the gospel is intended to bring glory to god sin dishonored god sin robbed him of his glory the gospel provides for the total destruction of sin even in this world and thus brings back to god his glory and the false teachers were not bringing glory to him and he said this gospel was committed to my trust god entrusted me with his message and that inflames my conviction in 1st Thessalonians 2 verse 4 he said on the contrary we speak has been approved by god to be entrusted with the gospel we are not trying to please men but god who tests our heart so there's a passion he said in in my heart is inflamed god has committed to my trust a gospel that brings glory to him and thus i will be faithful to the proclamation of that and timothy you need to be so also a few years ago i was invited to a meeting with our uh local congresswoman it was held in a in a church building and pastors from this area were invited to to come and have a dialogue related to laws that were pertaining to homosexual marriage and so ministers were invited to come because they were concerned about what the what ministers and bible teachers uh were were feeling about such a law and so i was invited along with the number of others to attend this particular meeting and so i went and so as i was there in the meeting um there was conversation it went on for about two hours and at a certain point many of the pastors who were represented were represented there had given statements and all and and i normally remain quiet through most of the meetings that i attend well it was almost over and i felt that it was probably uh proper for me to at least share something and i did i i shared a few things mentioned the fact that my sister rebecca had lived for many years as a lesbian lived as a lesbian woman and and oh but she i closed it by saying you know we i don't have a hate for my sister i love myself sister with all my heart but i knew that there's a message called the gospel that transforms people's lives and i gave this gospel to my sister and i was telling the pastors and the congresswoman and and the host of this particular meeting and i said in the gospel is a message of salvation and transformation because my sister committed her heart to christ and came out of homosexuality and and and it got them upset there were people that were angry and including the hostess of this particular thing you know and uh and right and right behind me uh quote unquote pastor of a church here in chino said this he said um i don't see that this is any big deal he said um homosexuality is only mentioned a few times in scripture and i turned i couldn't contain myself and i turned that he was right here i turned and looked at him and i i said how many times does god have to tell you something until you listen to him as far as i'm concerned he only says it once he didn't like it but it's true it's true how many times does god have to say something if he says it once that's enough he he shut up he needed to because he was wrong listen if god's word says it i believe it that settles it god's word that's how it works that's what god has called us to and that's what paul is saying my convictions are inflamed with this glorious gospel that brings glory to our god and our hearts ought to be inflamed also because we want to bring glory to him he is worth it he's worth it he's worth it