 Here we go, 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 15 through 19. The apostle Paul writes, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And the message will spread like cancer. Hamanists and phyletists are of this sort who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection has already passed, and they overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal, the Lord knows those who are His, and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Now Paul is giving this young pastor Timothy instructions, concerning the truth of the gospel message. And he's been telling him to keep a firm grasp on it. And he also, when we looked at verse 2 of chapter 2, he had also said to commit this to others who were able to do so also. So it's important to exhort Timothy to teach the word. And it's important for Paul to exhort him to equip the leaders. And in order for Timothy, and in order for the leaders to be able to be faithful and successful in the things that they're doing, they need a firm grasp on the message. They need to have a thorough knowledge of the truth, because when they have a developed thorough knowledge of the truth, it helps them to recognize error. And so with that in mind, Paul has consistently been instructing Timothy to faithfully teach the Ephesians. We know that Timothy is the pastor of the church there in the city of Ephesus. And so Paul is instructing Timothy to faithfully teach those people, teach the Ephesians. Now we've seen this as we've gone through 1 Timothy. We see that as we've entered into 2 Timothy. Now what's interesting to me as I develop an introduction, a foundation here, what's interesting to note is that Paul had written a letter, Paul personally had written a letter to the church of Ephesus. And he had done so a few years prior to him writing 2 Timothy here. And in that book, Paul personally instructed the church concerning their need for teaching. Paul knew that error would creep in. He knew that attacks would occur on the church. And he knew that attacks would come from the outside as well as from the inside. And that's inevitable. There will always be attacks on truth. There'll be attacks on the truth that the church teaches. Sometimes they're outsiders. But oftentimes they're people who rise up from within. And so Paul had already written concerning that. And he had told the church why it's important to hold fast to the truth. In Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 through 14, Paul writes, he, speaking of Jesus, he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But speaking the truth and love may grow up in all things into him who is ahead Christ. So he's already written that. He's already said that the church of Ephesus has already received instruction from the apostle himself concerning the need for doctrine, concerning the need for teaching, and even said that God has in a spiritual way gifted the church with apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry in order that they might instruct you so that you no longer remain a child driven to and fro by every wind of doctrine. But actually that you'd be rooted, grounded in the things of the Lord and that way you would be safeguarded against deception. He's already said that. What's interesting is Paul's letter that was sent to the church of Ephesus more than likely was read to that church by the pastor, which means that Timothy more than likely is the one who read the letter of Ephesians to the Ephesians himself. And so he's already instructed through Paul's writings. Now Paul is specifically speaking to him as the pastor to continue being the teacher of that church. Timothy has taken the things that he heard from Paul and he is imparting to them what he received himself. We saw that in verse two and Paul had said, the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses commit these to faithful men. And so Timothy is simply doing what he's been instructed to do. He's teaching them. You see, when they're armed with the truth, they will be equipped to be able to not only recognize the error but to refute it with Scripture. And that's why Paul commands Timothy to remind them of these things. Notice verse 14, how he had said here in chapter two, remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord, not to strive about words to no prophet to the ruin of the years. He said, you need to remind them. That's why Paul commanded Timothy to remind them. He is to constantly remind the ministers and the church of the essentials of the faith. Why is that? Because that will safeguard them from being taken captive by false teachers. Because false teachers are entering in and rising up from amongst them and their undermining faith and the corrupting the walk of the believers. So a diligent teacher is to equip believers with correct and clear doctrine. And that's how God safeguards the church from error. That's how he develops maturity of faith. When I got saved, I wanted to make sure that my beliefs were built on something more than opinion or tradition. I wanted to make sure that my religious faith, my beliefs were built on something beyond what somebody was telling me. I wanted to have biblical faith. And so from the very beginning, I realized that in order for me to be able to walk in truth, I needed to know the truth. As Jesus said, it's His truth that sets us free. So from the beginning, I began the quest of trying to learn the things that would safeguard me and make me an effective Christian. And a diligent teacher is the one who is supposed to be training people to do that. That's how, again, God safeguards the church from error. And that's how he develops maturity of faith. So Paul is encouraging Timothy to remind them of the essentials. Timothy is to command the church not to strive about words that do not profit. He's to solemnly charge them before the Lord. And he says, I want you to clearly command them about this. Bad teaching will not deepen your faith. What bad teaching really will do is it will undermine it. And so the empty arguments distract the minds of the members of the congregation. And that eventually will shape the church into a group of very shallow, argumentative disputers. And that's what Paul is warning him about. That's why he said that they are not to strive about words to no profit. Why? Because it ruins the hearers. It isn't something that's edifying. It just is distracting. He's saying that the hearers of this garbage, the spiritual garbage, would ultimately have unsettled minds. Their faith wouldn't be rooted. Their faith wouldn't be grounded. And fruit would cease being produced. We have to be aware of that in these days that we're living because people have a tendency now, as a people, as a generation, as Americans. There is a tendency of believing what makes me feel good. It has nothing to do with my thinking process. It has nothing to do with me taking this proposition here and comparing it with this proposition and then coming to a settled understanding of what really is true. It's just if I feel good when I'm hearing it, if I like the person who's speaking it, it must be true. And so that isn't something new. That's human nature. And Paul was speaking about that from the beginning. He's saying, listen, bad teaching unsettles minds. Bad teaching is going to cause a disruption of the flow of the spirit in their life. Their faith isn't going to be rooted. Their faith isn't going to be grounded. Fruit that is good is not going to be produced. It actually subverts people. It ruins them. And what is happening is they're going to be turned away from the simplicity or the purity of the faith. Somebody once said, this would destroy their steadiness in the faith, drawing them into factions, the fruit of which is nothing but envy and contentions and different opinions in matters of faith. So Timothy, you're to be a model of a proper teacher. The false teachers are undermining believers, but Timothy, you're to addify the believer. Now, how is he going to do that? What was Timothy and his fellow elders to do in the face of this invasion? How would the church know that its leadership is approved by the Lord? Well, their work was to teach and influence the church to avoid vain and useless things. How are they going to do that? Well, verse 15, he tells us, be diligent to present yourself, approve to God a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. This is how it happens. Demonstrate by your life that you are a genuine spiritual leader. Discipline yourself and endeavor to present yourself as approved to God. Diligence is a zealous persistence to accomplish a particular objective. You are to be diligent to seek to please God. That's where it begins. Be diligent to present yourself approved. In other words, put your heart into pleasing the Lord. Now, when he says, be diligent to present yourself approved to God, the word approved is an interesting word. The word approved literally means to be acceptable. It means to have been tried and proven to be genuine. Somebody wrote concerning this word. In the ancient world, there was no banking system as we know it today, no paper money. All money was made from metal, heated until liquid, poured into molds and allowed to cool. When the coins were cooled, it was necessary to smooth off the uneven edges. The coins were comparatively soft and, of course, many people shaved them closely. In one century, more than 80 laws were passed in Athens to stop the practice of shaving down the coins then in circulation. But some money changers were men of integrity who would accept no counterfeit money. They were men of honor who put only genuine, full-weighted money into circulation. And such men were called dokemos, which means approved. That's what he's saying. He's saying, you need to be the genuine thing, the real deal, and approval results from being tried by God and proven genuine in your faith and in your love. So Timothy and his fellow ministers, they are to sincerely pursue the Lord. In their ministry, they're men of faith. They're men of integrity. They're to be consistently presenting what is true. The Apostle Paul knew about that. You see, Paul had been accused of many things, including being accused of changing the message to suit his purposes. When you read your Bibles and you read 2 Corinthians, it's been said that 2 Corinthians is a book that the Apostle Paul wrote that is his most open-hearted letter. And I believe that is true. There are very tender things that Paul says in that book that speaks to anybody who reads it, but especially would speak to a pastor like myself. He says, though I love you, he says, though the more I love you, the less loved I am by you. He had so many heartfelt concerns for that church, but they would accuse him. It's interesting when you read, I have noted no less than 24 accusations in 2 Corinthians, 24 accusations that the Apostle Paul dealt with in his ministry in one book. And I'll give you an instance of it in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 17. When you read this verse, you need to understand that he's actually answering an accusation. And in response to accusations, he will give his, he'll make a statement in 2 Corinthians 2, 17. It was an accusation that he was changing the message to suit his personal desires. There will always be people who will say that. There will always be people who will say to the pastor, you're just preaching that because it suits your personal desire. You taught on giving today because you want more money. They'll say things like that to you. And that's because when people get convicted, they have a tendency of lashing out at the person who spoke to them. They think that it's the person who's doing that. And they'll tell you, don't warn you, you shouldn't say things like that. I had a lady who came up to me after a church service once who said to me, what you had to say really applied to my son. And I said, oh, okay. She said, and he was here with me today. And I said, oh, that's good. She says, well, she goes, next time don't say those kinds of things. And I thought, okay, write to me and tell me what I'm supposed to say. But the Holy Spirit, how would I know? I didn't even know the lady, let alone her son. But people will say, oh, you said it for this reason or you want that from us. And people will always call into question, especially today, the heart and motives of the minister. Well, that's nothing new. The apostle Paul dealt with that. And again, 24 times in 2 Corinthians, he actually had to explain certain things. And one of those things was that his message was changed to suit his personal desires. But he said, in 2 Corinthians 2, 17, he said, we are not as so many peddling the Word of God. But as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ. We don't peddle. The word peddle means to change it for personal profit. We're not changing the gospel to somehow personally benefit from this. He said, we do so when we preach. We do so with sincerity as from God. And that's how we speak. We speak as in the sight of God in Christ. And so Paul is saying that that's the heart of a minister. He said, be a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. I mentioned that the word of shame was used various times in this letter. In chapter 1, verse 8, Paul told Timothy not to be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord or of him. In chapter 1, verse 12, Paul made it clear that he was not ashamed of his calling in ministry. Chapter 1, verse 16, he said, anisophorus was not ashamed of Paul's imprisonment. So now Paul tells Timothy that by diligently pursuing the Lord, he will not be ashamed. The word of shame, we know that word. It means humiliated or embarrassed. By diligently seeking to honor the Lord, you will have no cause for shame. Diligence will prevent unfaithfulness, unskillfulness, lukewarmness, and laziness. As a diligent workman, rightly divide the word of truth. When he says rightly divide, the word means cut straight. The thought is to present the Bible clearly, truthfully, without error, and with an exactness which cannot be refuted. Timothy, be a conscientious workman, properly dividing the word of God. And in doing so, you will give them what they're able to understand, and you will enable them to grow spiritually. To faithfully handle the word of God requires that the word of God be thoroughly taught. You do not simply give the parts that are so attractive to hear, the promises and the words of comfort and encouragement, and then leave out the rest of Scripture. There are whole ministries that are built on just saying the things that make people feel good. But that's not really giving them a full meal. My grandkids, one in particular, likes sweets. I mean, she likes sweets. I have found wrappers of sweets that she has dropped behind the couch. And when you move the couch to clean, there's all these candy wrappers. She's so stinking cute, my little tub. I love her, but she does that. She comes over and she'll say to her grandma, can I have some gum? And grandma will go, of course, I'll buy you a gum store if you want it. I mean, that's grandma. But then we find out that she's not supposed to have gum because she puts it in her hair. Well, we didn't know that. So we were celebrating Marie's birthday recently, and here's the family, and she likes pink bubble gum ice cream. And so that we only had one cone of it, and it was hers. But her mother says, you can't have that. Oh, she just starts to cry, and she goes in the other room, and she's, oh, you know, so dramatic, like her mom and her grandma. And as she's there, I walk in there, what's the matter, baby? I want the ice cream, but my mother says it's got gum, and I can't have gum. Oh, really? This is my house. So we go back in the kitchen and dry her little face, and I turn to her mama, and I say, baby, that's the only ice cream she likes. Well, dad, she puts it in her hair. And I say, okay, can we remove the gum from the ice cream? She says, you want to work at it, you can do it. So Marie and I get these forks, and we're pulling out all the gum, and I don't realize it, but my daughter is moved by that, and she takes a picture and puts it on her Instagram, and out it goes, and it says, these people have spoiled my daughter. You know? Well, it's true, and I don't care. I don't care. But here's the thing, you know, what I'm trying to do is get her all sugared up and pay back her mother all the grief she gave to me. That's just, there's wisdom in this. But you know what? She loves gum. She loves sweet. She would eat that all day long. But guess what? That's not good for her. And there are a lot of believers who are the same way. Just give me the sweet. But wait a minute. In order to have balance, there's also sour. There are things here that I like. Let's talk about the blessings of God. Let's talk about the encouragement. Of course I need that. I want to walk out encouraged. But at the same time, there are warnings in Scripture that are just as valuable, and sometimes it would seem even more so for the moment than the blessing, because that warning helps me right now that leads to receiving that blessing. And that's why it's important for us to go through the whole counsel of God. That's why the apostle Paul would tell the Ephesian elders that he didn't shun to declare into them the entire counsel of God. The A to the Z. The Alpha to the Omega. The blessings and the warnings. I gave you it all so that you would be equipped. When Paul was speaking to the Ephesian elders there, who came to meet him in the city of Miletus, and he was given last words to them, Timothy would have been part of that group more than likely, at least. He shared with them in Acts 20 verses 18 through 21. And these again were the Ephesian elders. He said to them, You know from the first day that I came to Asia in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials, which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews. How I kept back nothing, that was helpful. But proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly, and from house to house, I came to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. I kept back nothing that was helpful to you. That's the key to being a workman that needs not to be ashamed. Timothy, give him the whole counsel. Now as you're doing this, Timothy take into consideration the spiritual maturity and the spiritual state of the people that you're speaking to. Because as you're sharing, you may be speaking with those who don't have a relationship with God. Because in every church service, there are people who believe perhaps that they're saved, who in fact are not. There are people who have come sometimes who know that they're not. They're simply invited guests, or perhaps they're on their spiritual quest and the journey they're looking. And so there are people that are in every meeting like this who don't have a relationship. So take into consideration the people that you're speaking to. So unbelievers need to hear the salvation that's offered in Jesus Christ. Make sure that the message you give explains the need of salvation. It explains that need. We're lost sinners in need of a relationship with God through Christ. Explain that. It's kind of like what Paul did in Acts 19, verse 8. Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. He was speaking to people who did not know Christ, and yet he went to reasoning and to persuade in that particular place in that synagogue. Now when you look at believers, it's been broken down to really basically three stages of growth. In 1 John chapter 2 verses 12 through 14, John said it like this. He said, I write to you little children because your sins are forgiving you for his namesake. I write to you fathers because you have known him who's from the beginning. I write to you young men because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you little children because you've known the father. I've written to you fathers because you have known him who's from the beginning. I have written to you young men because you are strong. The word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one. So he said, I write to you little children. Little children know that their sins are forgiven because of Jesus Christ. Little children know that they now have access to God. They know him as their father. Prior to that they didn't, but that's really the beginning. To know that their sins are forgiven by their relationship with God is really the beginning and that's why they're referred to as little children. You know certain things. Once I was lost, now I'm found. Once I was blind, now I see. Once I didn't hear, now I can hear. Once I didn't care, now I care. I was going to hell, now I'm going to heaven. Basic things. And that's why he would say that to them. You know that your sins are forgiven because of Jesus Christ. This is your foundation. This is the God and you can now call him your father. But he speaks of the young men. The young men are described as warriors and these men have been battle tested and these men have been victorious. This has occurred because the Word of God abides in them. And he said, and because of that, you have overcome. You are strong to fight. You know the God of his word and you have won victories over Satan. You are the young men. You are warriors. Then he speaks to the fathers. The fathers are those who over the years have developed a settled knowledge of God. They've known the Lord for a long time. They have a deep and mature relationship with the Lord. And that's what's interesting how he puts it with them. He simply makes it very clear that they have a settled knowledge of the Lord. Fathers, you've known him who's from the beginning. Fathers, he says, I've written to you because you have a relationship with the Lord. You've known him who's from the beginning. Somebody gets saved. And you go through your time of maturing and as you're growing a little bit, yes, a newborn baby you desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow there by and you begin to become equipped. You begin to realize there's truth and there's error. And you begin to say, these things matter. This is something that takes some time. It's not something that you might automatically think because in a lot of ways you're not really sure of what you really know. You just know certain things. I remember when I first got saved. I mean, I'm talking about a week or two, maybe three at the most in the Lord. Brand new Christian. A friend of mine was having a guy who was doing some work at the house. And the guy came in, was working. I'm a brand new believer. I know very little. And I was told, do you want to share your faith? So I did. I didn't know anything. Again, once I was last time I found, I really don't know anything other than that. New believer, I'm a little child and I asked him. I said, do you know the Lord? Because I was taught that you ought to ask. So I did. Do you know the Lord? Well, he goes, I have religious faith. I said, oh, really? No, I don't know what that means. Oh, really? What kind do you have? I'm interested. And I am. I'm interested. He goes, I believe I'm part of the Self-Realization Fellowship. I had never even heard of that. Never heard of it. I mean, why would I? I was a doper until I got saved three weeks before. What do I know about self-realization? I thought self-realization happened to acid. What do I know? I didn't know any of that. See? And that was my, that's a fact. And you guys, if you're old, you know that. If you're not old, let me tell you. You know, we were introduced to higher consciousness to acid. See? So for me, I was, who do I know? You know, I thought you got that through being loaded or doing TM or something. I didn't know. So now I'm talking to this guy. He says, I'm with the Self-Realization Fellowship. He's a Hinduistic, this and that. And he begins to share with me. And he says, but what do you believe? What do you believe? He says, I believe that all the great masters were giving the same message. Now, we're talking about 40 some years ago. This message is, still, it's happening now, even more so then than then. People accepted more now than they did then. He's spiritual. And so I said, you believe in all the teachers? He goes, yeah, I said, like ooh, you know, Krishna and Buddha and Muhammad and Jesus. Now, he's a Jesus. I know who he is. I don't know who these other guys are. So I said, really? I said, you believe? I'm just having a conversation. So I said, really? He goes, yeah, I said, you believe everything they said, all of them? He goes, Jesus said, you believe? He goes, yeah. I said, when Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the father, but by me, how can you believe the Buddhas and the Muhammad and the others? How do you do that? How does that work? Because I was, like, curious. I wasn't even smart enough to be arguing. I just couldn't figure it out. I said, you know, somehow that doesn't make sense to me. I don't want to argue with you. I said, I'm not arguing. That doesn't make sense. It didn't then. It doesn't now. It didn't then and it doesn't now. They're mutually exclusive claims. Either Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life, or he's a liar. That's it. That's the bottom line, see? And that's what we preach because that's what he teaches. The enthusiastic overwhelming applause is almost driving me off of this stage. But with that said, it's true. It's just bottom line. And see the bottom line also is that we have grown from childhood, from being the little children. And you begin to take the sword of the Spirit and you begin to use the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. Your feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And your loins are girded by truth and you wear the breastplate of righteousness. And you go to battle with the word of God. That's your spiritual equipment. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty in God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations every, I think, that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing it into subjectivity, every thought into the obedience of Christ. By knowing the word of God. Right? And so you've gone out and guess what? You've had victories. You have battled. You may not even realize you're in a battle when you're in the battle, but you stand because having done all, you stand and you stand victorious and you say, hey, the Lord moved in this. How exciting is this to see how God moved? And that's what he's saying when he says, you young men. He said, you advanced from childhood. You know that you have a relationship with God and you have battled the enemy and you've been victorious. He says, the word of God is strong in you and you've had victory. And now he says, and you older men, there's something about being older in your faith in Christ. And you just settled. My mom used to say it like this. She used to say, I know that I know that I know. I said, mom, I know that you're repeating yourself. No. I know that I know that I know. What does that mean? I have a settled conviction that these things are true. And so you can't argue me out of my faith in Christ. You can't. You can't. Even if you had this incredible argument that said, God isn't real. You can't. I have this settled thing as a father in the Lord. No. I know him who's from the beginning. You can say anything you want, but you can't shake me from that. And that's a father. And that's what he's saying. You began as a child. You moved into that adulthood where you got into battles and you saw God move. That has settled in your soul. So there you just have known him who's from the beginning. And so whenever you're teaching the word, he's telling Timothy, remember that there are levels of maturity. There are those who don't know the Lord who think you're nuts, who think the things that you're saying are absolutely ridiculous. You persuade them, share with them, testify, give the word. There are babies in there. Just God save. Maybe a week, two weeks, three weeks. They don't understand what you're saying. They don't get it. They're not about to go out and have a steak. I mean, when my babies were born, I didn't say, you know, I like steak. Try this pops. No, no, he had to have milk. But after a while, his teeth came in. Now that boy eats steak. He likes it. But that's what happens, right? You grow. And that's what he's saying. There are people in every church service who don't know the Lord, who are new in the Lord, who are fighting battles with God on their side and then settled with their faith. And that's what you have to take into consideration when you're teaching the Word of God. Thoroughly teach them. There are young believers who need the milk of the Word. And then there are those who are of solid belief. Hebrews 514, solid food is for the mature who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. You give milk to the babies and meat to the mature. That's how it works. So be thorough. Be thorough as you teach. Be filled with God's Spirit. As you teach Timothy, do so with authority. Exercise wisdom. Be humble. Be gentle. Salt your words with grace. And let those who are being taught know that you love them. False teachers mishandle God's Word. They're careless in what they say. But a true workman is careful. Careful in what he says. Careful in how he lives. Careful in how he teaches. He handles the Word of God with reverence. He presents it correctly, properly, and accurately. So he says, be diligent. Be diligent. Be diligent in your pursuit of the Lord that you might be approved by him. Remember 2 Corinthians 10, 18 for not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends. And secondly, be a workman who does not need to be ashamed. Be someone who works diligently and accurately and painstakingly as you teach the truth. Like Paul in 2 Corinthians 4, 2 said, we have renounced the hidden things of shame, walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. So what else do you need to do? Verse 16, shun profane and idle babblings. Why? They will increase to more ungodliness. Vain and profane babblings are worldly human opinions and what is called empty chatter. The word shun means to stand a great distance away. It means to avoid it completely. Take a different route. You see, error produces ungodly lives because error will appeal to the carnal nature and the result of that is going to produce division. Bad teaching will always produce badly lived lives by those who practice the teachings. And it has a way of spreading. Notice verse 17, their message will spread like cancer. I'm an Eos and Phylides are of this sort who have strayed concerning the truth saying that the resurrections already pass and they overthrow the faith of some. It spreads like cancer. A while back now, I've been a few years now, I noticed on my nose that there was a it was bleeding on the tip of my nose. There was blood. And so I moved it off and I thought somehow I must have somehow scratched my nose without knowing. Didn't think about it. A week or two later, it hasn't healed. A month later, it's not even really a scab. It's like skin had grown on it, but it wasn't healed. So I told my wife, I said, you know, I think I probably ought to go in the doctor. And she said, okay. So months later, I see it again, because we didn't either one of us did anything about it. She was only thinking of my insurance, but that's another story. So we finally went in and I had the doctor take a sample of it and then he got back to me and said it's cancer. But it's a slow-moving one. No need for you to be concerned. And I said, great. So I wasn't for months. So we're talking about probably a year and a half or two years up to that. So I finally say, well, I probably ought to have something done. Well, when I went in to have something done, it was four over four hours of surgery. I had to go in for a treatment four or five different times where they sliced me from my forehead, straight down the bridge of my nose, removed a large portion because the cancer spreads. And pretending it doesn't, doesn't stop it from spreading. And eventually, you end up having surgery that you didn't want to have. So, one, if there's anybody in here who's getting little spots in your body, you might have liked being in the sun, but the sun didn't like you. And you might have liked being out there. We used to use baby oil and iodine and I would put on olive oil just because I like the Mediterranean smell. I mean, and that's what my doctor said. He said, you liked the sun. Do you know, I, you know, my friends make fun of me because I'm so white. But during the summer that I could put a chocolate bar on my stomach and it would blend in. That's how dark I get in the sun. I loved the sun. I would be in it every day, went to the beach, hitchhiked all the time, spent time in the sun. He said, you loved the sun, didn't you? I said, yeah. His son didn't love you because you've got all of these things and those things. So, if you have anything, take it from me, take it from a father. Go. Have it taken care of you because it's not worth the hours that I had to go through and the discomfort that you go through just saying be aware of that. But cancer spreads. It may not appear to be but it is. It doesn't go away by itself and it destroys what it comes into contact with. Keep that in mind. And that's a Paul is saying bad doctrine. Bad teaching will stop your life. Some people get bored because, oh, I don't want to hear that. It is the way to make you healthy. That's what God's word does to us. It's not entertaining enough. Really? Well, next time a false teacher comes to your door, take out the tambourine, sing, our God is an awesome God and see how that works. Because that isn't going to keep you from error. See? And that's what Paul's telling Timothy. Timothy, there are people from the outside and people even from the inside who are rising up, drawing people after themselves. Don't forget that I warned you for the space of over three years that this would take place. And it has. And it has. You have these men who have arisen and what they're doing is they're spreading their false teaching. You see that today on the internet. You see it on television. It's broadcast on the radio. There are CDs, magazines, books and these teachings are infectious. They're malicious and they destroy. Now, in this context, they have false teachers and they're saying that the final resurrection occurred. Two of them are named for us. Hymenias and Phyletis. This is the only place that you see the man Phyletis mentioned, by the way. But you saw Hymenias before in 1 Timothy chapter one. Hymenias had not repented from his error. He was actually excommunicated from the church but he hadn't repented from his error and he's still influencing other people. And Paul mentions him and says that this is one who has strayed. He's deviated from the truth. He's an unrepentant false teacher and he's continuing to influence people. And the people are still influenced by him even though he is a false teacher. I've already warned you, he said. And here it is. Now, when you think of this man here, he more than likely had a bit of a charisma about him. He was charming. He was influential. He went, because those things very often are used to establish the success of a false teacher. He's using Christian language. He's using Scripture. He's speaking of the resurrection. Paul had removed him under excommunication, but he's still influencing people. Why is that? Well, the people didn't submit to the command to distance themselves from him. They did not see the value of truth and the poison of error. But in 1 Timothy 120, he said, he spoke of Haiman and Alexander whom he says, I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. He had been excommunicated. He had been removed. And yet the people weren't willing to distance themselves. They didn't see the value of truth and they didn't see the danger of error. And they more than likely just really loved this guy. That's how it works, by the way. But I like him. And I think that you're harsh and unloving by saying things about this guy, whom I like. I watch him on TV. He edifies me. He builds me up. I get so much out of his message. How come you guys have to destroy other people? How come you have to speak down on other people? Well, Paul, you have just made a mistake because you mentioned Haimanius and Phyletus and you also mentioned a man named Alexander. Really? Or are you in love with the church and truth? And you want that church to be protected. Which is it? Is he a hater of people or a lover of God? And so, he warns him. You see, it's not unloving to warn people to stay away from bad teaching and to avoid bad teachers. As a matter of fact, it's our responsibility as pastor teachers to do that. Romans 16 verse 17 says, I urge your brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned. Avoid them. When he says, note those, mark those, it simply means keep your eye on them. Because they're the ones who walk in and they've got that shady little thing going where you'll see them and they're off in the corner and they're talking to people. And when you walk up to see how you're doing, they get quiet, kind of look at you sideways glances. I've had that. Where you walk up, you know, what's up? What are you doing? Nothing. When in fact, they're lying. They're lying to my people and I've caught them. They come in sometimes, they put, they say, leave them in the pews. Little things. We have people come in and throw things away. They put them on windshields in the parking lot. You say sometimes, how can we have parking lot attendants? I know how to park my car. I'm sure you do. But there are people who come from outside sometimes onto our parking lot and start putting their brochures and things on your windshields. We caught them. So we have people out there who see that when it takes place so they can pull them and they'll bring that to me so I can see what is it that somebody's doing. They've come into our bookstore and done that. I'm telling you, they infiltrate and they bring their doctrine and they try to undermine and when we confront them, they call me a hater. And guess what? I do. I do hate. I hate my people being lied to. I hate my people not being protected. I hate my people being deceived. So yeah, I'm a hater. I'm a hater of lies but I'm a lover of truth. I'm a lover of you and I will do that. That's what we do. That's what we do. That's biblical. That's what happens. And so he's saying, these things matter. Undermining faith by teaching that the resurrection has occurred is just giving some form of error concerning the resurrection. But what is happening in verse 18, they overthrow the faith of some. And that again is the fruit of bad teaching, the destruction of faith. In chapter 1 verse 19 of 1 Timothy, Paul spoke of having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected concerning the faith suffered shipwreck. So finally he says, and we'll close with verse 19, nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands having this seal, the Lord knows those who are His and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. False teaching produces false security. Some had received the error and were deceived into believing that they were saved but had embraced error. It is truth that sets you free. Clinging to error, even though sincerely still results in eternal condemnation. Matthew 7, 21-23, Jesus said it, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my Father will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Cast out demons in your name. Done many wonders in your name. I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. You see the Lord knows those who are His. That's the solid foundation. He knows who belongs to Him. 1 Corinthians 8-3 says if anyone loves God this one is known to them. So he says let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. People argue all the time saying I can live a sinful life and still love God. But the fact is when you love God you depart from iniquity. When you're in love with the Lord you don't make excuse for sin. When you make excuse for sin I like the way someone once said it. It's like kissing the tip of a nail that was plunged into the side of Jesus Christ. When you say you love him and love sin you can't love both. You have to love one. And so he'd say depart from iniquity. Don't use sin as your way of life and then say it's okay because of God's grace. God's grace wasn't given to me to continue in sin. It was at great cost to be freed from it. Depart from iniquity. Don't be ashamed of the truth because those who love it will live by it.