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FAITH and FALSEHOOD. I Timothy 6:17-21. Aug 21, 2022. #22.
17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. 20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge— 21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.
1. Self-sufficiency and salvation
a. Paul warns Timothy of 3 things as he closes
a1. Self-sufficiency brings independence from God and godliness
a2. Guard the truths that are entrusted to you, rejecting vain babblings
a3. Beware of false knowledge (science)
b. The temptation to depend on self comes in many forms (ruin of Adam and Eve)
a1. Having enough $ and possessions that you feel no need to be grateful for your “daily bread”
a2. Having great authority and independence to be lifted up in pride (Saul, Nebuchadnezzar)
a3. Feeling absolutely secure in your situation – invincible (David on palace roof)
c. Paul returns to the theme of riches – let the rich not be haughty in their wealth (need of nothing)
a1. You don’t have to be fabulously rich to feel self-sufficient and independent
a2. Independence leads to self-reliance
d. Paul admonishes the rich to use wealth for God
a1. God grants wealth to be used for his glory as stewards of the gifts of God
a2. Luke 12 much responsibility and accountability before God when given much
a3. Store up treasures in heaven (great blessing when able to do great good)
2. Faith fortress
a. Timothy again challenged to guard truth given him
b. Just as Jesus invested much in the apostles, Paul had invested much in Timothy
a1. Timothy = hold onto great truth and teach it
a2. Timothy = pass on this truth to others
c. Timothy was to resist and oppose deceptive rhetoric
a1. Evil and deceived men will use false statements and fancy philosophy
a2. Paul calls falsehood “profane” (“to cross a threshold”, go where forbidden or corrupt) and empty (vain, useless)
d. Many profound sounding truth claims that are false, deceptive, and destructive
a1. Use “evidence” that is not true at all
a2. Use “logic” based on false premises
e. Only solid truth can oppose falsehood
a1. TRUTH NEEDS NO DECEPTIVE CLAIMS
a2. Truth = not need to hide, hedge, or hit
3. False science
a. Paul warns of false knowledge (gnoseos, our word “science” comes from this word)
b. Prophetic – as if Paul saw in time the advent of naturalism, evolution, conceptual science…)
c. Bible men caved into this “false science”
d. Timothy is to hold onto the truths of creation, the Incarnation, atonement, resurrection,…
e. II Peter 3:1-13 faith will be vindicated and all that opposes God’s truth will be exposed as folly
Key verse: 2 Peter 3:1-131 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.