It's white. It opens like this, and it says, write stuff. Not as in, you know, r I, but w r. Yeah. Kinda makes sense.

Alright. Well, it's gonna stay up here and eventually, nobody claims that it becomes mine. Alright. So, okay. First Timothy chapter six.

Paul continues his instructions to Timothy. He dealt with servants and masters, in particular, last week, a passage that we find a little bit difficult to deal with, seeing as our economy is different than theirs, but one which largely applies to employers and employees today in our society. And now, he is going to deal with disputers. So, Timothy, here is how you deal with those who always want to argue with you and always want to argue particularly with clear cut doctrines of the word of God. And so, there will be those.

There will always be those. It begins with well, we we ended verse three or verse two actually with these things teach and exhort, okay? So, Paul ends with that brief imperative to Timothy, teach these things and exhort those that are under your ministry to follow them, okay? Now, this could refer to just the section above on servants and masters, but I rather think it probably pertains to most everything he has written in the letter so far, okay? These things that I've told you, teach them and exhort people to follow and do them.

If verse three, any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, skip down to verse five, the very last phrase, from such, withdraw thyself. Okay? So that is the instruction here that he's giving to Timothy. We will catch the in between material here in just a moment. So, Timothy, you teach these things.

If there are others that teach otherwise, then you are to withdraw yourself from them. Do not embrace them as a brother or sister in Christ. Do not spend long hours debating their doctrine. You set forth what is true, and if others refuse it or teach that which is contrary, you must withdraw or separate yourself. This is sometimes called the doctrine of ecclesiastical separation.

Okay? And that is regarding the church and the ministry of the church and the teaching of the church that is, I. The word of God. There are times that we must separate ourselves particularly as a church from those who teach otherwise and withdraw from them. That is necessary in order to do as Jude commanded and to contend for the faith.

We must do our very best to contend for the truth of God's word, to keep it pure, to not allow false doctrines to eke their way in. And sometimes that that does demand that we separate ourselves. Many denominations have suffered greatly in their teaching and doctrine because they did not withdraw themselves. They allowed the false teaching to continue. They embraced the false teachers as brothers and sisters in Christ.

They gave them opportunity to teach their doctrine in their churches, and now the doctrine in those churches is no longer clear and distinctly biblical because they did not do that. And so, it is vitally important that we do. This has caused at times groups of churches to break off from Baptist denominations, from Methodist denominations, from Presbyterian denominations, and to form their own smaller association or affiliation because they could no longer remain in the same fellowship with these other churches even though they shared the same name. In some cases, churches basically went independent. We are an independent baptist church.

Though we do have some fellowship at least I in particular with other some other baptist churches and pastors in the area and it would not be an entirely bad thing to have more of that. We are an independent baptist church. We do not have a hierarchy that tells us what to teach. We do not have a bishop looking over our shoulder. Telling us what we can and can't do.

We have a head and the head is who? And the head is Christ. And the instructions on what to do are found in here, and so that's what we follow. It's not altogether bad at all to have affiliations with other churches as long as it is clear who is the head and the head is Christ, okay? And we follow the word of God.

So, having said all that, let's get back to our passage. He starts out with the word if. If any man teach otherwise. There are different conditional clauses in Greek. This particular conditional clause in Greek assumes that there is or will be.

It assumes the affirmative. When Paul says, if any man teach otherwise, he is assuming that there will be some. You can almost put in the word since. Okay? There will be others who teach otherwise.

Okay? Then, you have to deal with that situation because as Paul is writing these letters to these different churches, one of the impetus for these letters is Paul is hearing that there are false teaching being pushed by some in these different localities with these different groups of believers, and he writes these letters in order to make sure that the churches have the truth, that they know the truth, and that they follow the truth and the word of God and not the false teachers and so, that's one of the reasons for Paul writing these letters. So, so, he says, if or assuming that there are or there will be, teachers, those or men that teach otherwise, okay? That teach another another doctrine, okay? Other than the word of God and the doctrine of Jesus Christ and his apostles.

Assuming that will be the case, that there will be others who will teach contrary to what you teach. Paul deals with that in Galatians, that otherwise, depiction, describer there. In Galatians one six, Paul writes to the church at Galatia, I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Is there actually another gospel? No.

There's really only one gospel, but there are those that teach something, that is different. Similar but different. Paul writes, but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. So Paul says, even if I come back to you and I preach something contrary to what I told you before, and I say, this is God's revelation from heaven and it's contrary to God's revelation from heaven that I told you five years ago, don't listen to me because there's only one one truth. Okay?

So, he said, if an angel from heaven tells you, he comes and in your midst and says, thou shalt and it's contrary to God's word, don't listen to him or even me. As we said before, so I say now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you, than that you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men or God? Do I seek to please men? For if yet I pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Paul says, I'm not here pushing my own opinion or my own agenda. I'm here simply teaching you Jesus Christ and his words and his truth and his doctrine. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. So, Paul says, I got this from who? I got this from Christ.

These are Christ's words. If you look back in first Timothy six again, he says, if any man teach otherwise, consent not to wholesome words or even the words of who? Our Lord Jesus Christ, okay? So, if they teach something contrary to what I've told you, if they are teaching something contrary to the words, the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, the wholesome, right, good teachings, even the words of Christ, and to doctrine which is according or promotes godliness, withdraw yourself from them. So, if they teach something otherwise, if they advocate for another doctrine, if they will not consent to the doctrine that I have taught, that the apostles have taught, that Jesus Christ has taught because really, they're all what?

They're all one. K? One of the things that Paul was dealing with is the false teachers will try to drive wedges between Peter and Paul, between Paul and Jesus, between John the Baptist and Jesus. They did that in John three during Jesus' ministry. They came to John the Baptist, they said, don't you know what he's doing over there?

He's he's baptizing people too. Aren't you upset at him? And John the Baptist said, he must increase and I must, what, and decrease. He didn't allow them to drive a wedge between him and the Lord. And Paul is saying, we're we're not just independent thinkers out here doing our own thing.

We all get our message from the same place, the holy spirit and the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter two, it says, of the first church that they continued in the apostles doctrine because the apostles doctrine was the doctrine also of who? Of Jesus Christ, okay? So, if you oppose Paul and Peter and John and their teaching that they received from Jesus as they walked with him in person or they received from Jesus by direct revelation from heaven, then you were opposing who? You're opposing Jesus Christ.

It's it's all or none. Okay? It's really, it's all or none and so Paul isn't distinguishing between the two. He's actually equating that the two are the one and the same and they and they deserve the same respect and honor and belief. And if there comes in one who's driving wedges, there comes in one that's not considering consenting to sound teaching.

If there is one who comes in and promotes doctrines that do not promote godliness, the true teachings of Christ, they promote godliness. The false teachers' doctrines often often promote ungodliness. And the test is watch them. Watch them. The Pharisees.

What did the Pharisees do? Well, the Pharisees walked around in in robes and with long you know, a lot of pomp and circumstance, we are the leaders. We are your spiritual guides, the Pharisees and Sadducees and and they walked around and they looked down their nose at everybody and say, you are doing this and you are doing that and you Why did Jesus say, judge not that you be not what? Or the the judgment wherewith you would judge others, you yourself will also be judged. Why are you walking around with a log in your eye trying to pick the splinter out of other people's eye?

Get the log out of your eye. The log was pride and power, and then you can see to take the splinter out of the eyes of others. In Matthew seven, later on in the same chapter, Jesus said, by your fruit, you shall what? By their fruit, you shall you shall know them. And ungodly teaching results in ungodly fruit.

And often hypocrisy as in the case of the Pharisees. There is much teaching going on in the church today that promotes worldliness rather than exposing and encouraging Christians to deny worldliness. And clearly, James said, to be a friend with the world is to be at what? Enmity with God. Clearly, the Bible says, be holy as I am what?

Holy. So, as Christians, we should want to be and strive to be as much like Christ as we can be, which is gonna pull us away from what? The the worldliness and the sinful ways of the world rather than the other direction. And sadly, there's a lot of teaching that encourages people. You can have your cake and you can what?

Eat it too. Just, you know, be Christian. Be happy in the Lord. Hey, live like the world. It doesn't matter.

It matters. It is a terrible travesty that so many Christians have been taught by their elders that it doesn't matter to God how they live. Because as Jane puts it, faith without works is what? It's dead. It's lifeless.

It can't produce anything of value if we choose to follow the ways of the world and not the ways of the Lord. Now, there's a lot of application gray area in there that Christians don't entirely agree upon, and that is okay. We need to do our best to apply God's word to our lives as the Holy Spirit and the word of God leads. We're not going to all agree on every little thing that the Bible does not clearly say, but that is not to say that we just ignore, that we just neglect to apply the standards of God's word to our life, to be more like who? To be more like Jesus.

God saved us, he says, in Romans eight twenty nine, to conform us to the image of his what? Son. In Romans chapter 12, Paul says, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. How are we to be salt and light if we're just like everything else? We're just like everybody else.

And so it is important that Timothy teach and exhort these things and that he watch out for those that teach otherwise that who cannot consent to sound doctrine, the doctrine of the apostles, and of Jesus Christ, and whose doctrines lead toward ungodliness rather than godliness. Secondly, we see what they are. That's what we've discussed in these first in this first verse, verse three here, what they are. They are contrary teachers to the word of God. Next, who they are, okay?

In verse four, we find out who they are. Paul describes them in this way. He says, they are proud, knowing nothing. They think they know everything but indeed, in respect to that which is of true value and worth, they know what? They know nothing.

Okay? So they're proud, yet knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words. And so they like to ask tricky gotcha questions. Okay? What's that moral moral what is that?

They taught in morality clarification. Anyway, that I'm not quite got the right phrase there. You know, if so any I can't think of that phrase. But they doubt about words. They like to argue about words.

The the strife of words can actually be translated here word battles. Okay? Doting about questions and strifes whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings, so forth and so on. Many many not good things there. They are proud.

They are without understanding. In Proverbs, I mean, Timothy. Second Timothy three one to five. If you're in second Timothy still, turn to chapter three and we'll look at the proud conceited part. In particular, While you're turning there, I'll read from the screen here.

Romans one twenty one and twenty two. Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations. Their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves to be what? Wise, they became fools. Okay, this is definitely the case in the lost world and the the world outside of Christendom But also, it ekes its way into the what?

Into the church. And if we're not careful, it can't eke its way into our own own mindset. And so you end up with what we read about in second Timothy three. This know also that in the last days perilous time shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves. Covetous boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedience to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such what?

Turn away. Same same imperative here from such from such turn away from this list and it's a list of those again who are first of all, lovers of themselves, covetous boasters, proud. Who having a form of godliness, they preach something but it it's not the thing that saves the soul. It's not the thing that changes the life. It's not the thing that leads you to God.

It's something that leads you on another path. They are without understanding, Particularly, the unsaved world is without understanding because as Paul says in second Corinthians two fourteen that the things of the spirit, spiritual things, are discerned by those who have the what? Who have the spirit and if you don't have the spirit, you're going to have a hard time understanding what? The word of God. So, they obsess over words and they obsess over who like for instance, we were studying Daniel in Sunday school and I mentioned in Sunday school, Daniel chapter eight and another passage in Daniel combined with it, they describe events that took place around February with the ransacking of defiling of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, a Greek ruler, and its deliverance via the Maccabean rebellion that led to the cleansing of the temple, the beginning of sacrifices again, and the time that the Jews celebrate as Hanukkah.

Because Daniel so clearly presents that in his book and tells even how many days the temple will be taken over by the Greek ruler, the skeptics, some of whom call themselves Christians, will say, well, the latter six books of Daniel must have been written after those events. Why? Well, because he clearly describes them in much detail. So, therefore, he couldn't have known that ahead of time. Therefore, he wrote it what?

He wrote it after. They have a hard time with the book of Isaiah. Why? Well, because Isaiah wrote about the coming of a king named Cyrus who would send the Jews back to rebuild the city of Jerusalem after their captivity under Babylon, a Medio Persian king named Cyrus. A matter of fact, Isaiah names him.

He says, my servant Cyrus. And he says it hundreds of years before Cyrus was ever born, and he names him. And therefore, I have a, bible up in my office that divides Isaiah into three different authors because they simply can't believe that Isaiah could tell them ahead of time the name of the guy who would send them back because they're skeptics and they don't understand and they don't know. And yet, they commentate and make study bibles. So so this is this is the case.

They're without understanding. They obsess over words and and they try to catch well, you know, it says Judas hung himself and then in in Acts, it said, Judas fell and spilled his guts out and that's how he died. And so they say, well, one of those must not be the the actual historical account of what happened to Judas because it's giving two different accounts. When it is entirely possible that Judas hung himself and after a time, because nobody would touch him because he was the traitor who betrayed Jesus, the rope broke. And when the rope broke, his body hit the ground.

And when his body hit the ground, what happened to his guts? Yeah. Okay. The two are very conceivably describing the same thing. But if you don't want to do that, if you want to bring up debate, as some like to do, they will they will try to catch the Bible in what they perceive as contradictions.

Proud without understanding, obsessed with debating over controversial questions and words, What does this word mean? What does that word mean? Corrupted minds devoid of the truth. Okay? And yet often parading as being the arbiters of what?

Of being the arbiters of of the truth. Seeking to use religion as a means for personal gain. Look, if you would, in verse five, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is what? The gain is the gain is godliness. Okay?

Well, what does that mean? Well, that could mean one of two things. Some commentators take that to mean that they are in it for their own personal what? Gain. Okay?

And that is clearly taught in other passages of scripture. To watch out for those who are in it for their own personal gain. That gain could be literally money or that gain could be power or prestige or it could be all of those mixed in together, which often it is. But also, it could be the teaching that gain is godliness. In other words, the teaching that is if you get the desired effect, then the cause must be what?

The cause must be okay. It's the ends justifies the what? The means. So if doing this results in my my gain, if it results in my success, if it results in my prestige, if it results in my in my monetary gain, if it results in things being easier and and better for me in life, if that is the result, then what I did to get there must be what? Must be godliness.

Must be good. And I don't know how many times I've listened to people talk, particularly on the Internet or on the TV giving an interview, and basically, that is their that is their belief or that that is what they present is everything ended up so well over here that my decision to do this must have therefore been what? Been right and good. But that is not always the case, is it? We can't measure godliness by how much gain it brings us.

Right is right and wrong is what? Wrong. And sometimes, the wrong thing may seem to result in someone's gain. But if it's gain that is that is brought about there's a better word for that brought about by doing that which is questionable or wrong, then it probably isn't the gain that you want because the gain that we want lasts for how long? Forever.

So lay not up treasures on earth where moth and rust hath corrupt and lay up treasures where? In heaven. How do we lay up treasures in heaven? By doing that which pleases who? God.

And not by doing that which only which which first and foremost brings us gain. How many times in scripture did people do things that did not bring them gain but yet it was right? Joseph, he he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. His brothers sold him into slavery. He served Potiphar and he would not commit immorality with Potiphar's wife.

He did the right thing and what happened? He got thrown in prison. So sometimes doing right results in what? Results in pain, results in in trouble, in adversity in our lives. That's why James says, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations knowing this that the trying of your faith work with patience but let patience have its perfect work that he may be perfect and entire wanting or lacking nothing.

In other words, don't judge your actions the rightness of your actions by the seeming result. And we could show many other verses like that. But that often is the teaching. If it turns out good, then it must have been right and that is obviously not always the case. So, this is who they are, what they do, who they are, what they do is they teach things contrary to the word of God and to the Lord which results in not godliness but the other.

Who are they? They are proud without understanding, obsessed with debating over words, and and arguments. They are corrupt in their mind and they seek to use religion for for gain or they teach others that godliness, that gain is godliness rather than godliness is gain. Okay? So you gotta get them in the right what?

In the right order. Okay? And what do they produce? What do they produce? They produce whereof cometh.

Verse four, the end of the verse. Whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings. So, these are the things. This is the fruit that they bear. So Paul writes Timothy, he says, you teach these things.

Those that are teaching contrary, you withdraw from them. Those who are proud, arrogant, without understanding, are always argumentative and contrary, and in it for gain, you withdraw yourself from them because their teaching and their way will produce what? Good or evil? Evil. Okay.

Envy, strife, infighting, distrust. That's the kind of things it will produce. In in James chapter three, just a few pages over, the other side of Hebrews. In James chapter three and verse beginning in verse 13, James puts it this way, who was a wise man and a dude with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation that is integrity and character of his works with meekness of wisdom.

But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not in line, not against the truth. This wisdom descended not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, ease of being treated full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. So one produces these like the fruits of the spirit and the others tend to lead to the works of the what? Through the spirit, Paul compares with the works of the the flesh.

And Paul tells Timothy, you have to withdraw yourself. You cannot allow these false teachers into the church to to get a foothold in the church to corrupt the pure doctrine of the gospel and to lead people astray, they will cause envy. They will cause strife. They will cause infighting, and it will result in destruction to your ministry, to your testimony, and to the doctrine of Christ. Couple passages in closing.

Romans sixteen, seventeen, and 18. I beseech you, brethren, mark them which calls divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. What does he tell him here in Romans 16? Avoid them.

Philippians three seventeen, brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you have us for an exam an example for many of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. And second to Thessalonians three six, now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after tradition, which we which he received of of us. Of us who? Of the apostles who wrote largely the books of the New Testament, the word of God that we hold by God's miraculous preservation in our hands and in our language so that we can gather today, we can study it, we can rightly divide it, we can tell the true from the false. No.

We're not going to agree on every little thing which the Bible does not clearly declare. But the things that the Bible does clearly declare, we must be in agreement on. And those who teach that which is contrary, we must at times separate from them. Absolutely ecclesia ecclesi astically as a church, and sometimes even personally. Thus, second Corinthians six, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

And one who is an apostate, who is teaching that which is clearly against and in opposition to the scripture cannot be defined as a believer. So, for instance, the president, and I've looked this up a couple times to make sure I've got it right, the president of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. I forget his name at the moment, but he was the president when I was there, when I was youth pastor. He wrote a book, and in the book, he made it clear that he does not believe in the virgin birth of Christ, that he believed that Jesus was the son of a German soldier. That was what he wrote in his book.

Okay? Now, is that a difference of opinion on how you should wear your hair or whether you should wear, your pants all the way to your ankles or or whether you should listen to this song or that song? No. That is a matter of distinct doctrine put forth by the word of God. So the Georgia, the Southern Baptist Assembly of the State of Georgia gathered together to vote on whether to fire him from being the president of Mercer.

Sadly, they could not get enough votes. He continued as the president of a Southern Baptist University, even though he was clearly denying the faith on which that university was was established to stand. And so many things like that that have resulted in not good things. And sadly, when you send when Southern Baptist and many Baptists, not just Southern Baptist parents send their kids off to a Southern Baptist school assuming that they're going to be taught things, not maybe, you know, some, you know, things in the gray area that are different, but at least the fundamental doctrines of scripture, and they're being taught something different, that is indeed an evil work and not a good one that is being perpetrated in the name of who? In the name of Christ.

And so it is paramount that we take to heart not the words of pastor Rick or not the words of of theologian so and so, but the words of Paul and the words of Christ and that we find in the word of God and that we are careful not only obviously to keep ourselves grounded in the truth, but as it relates to our ministry and to the teaching of God's word that we do the same. Because if we do not do so, then the next generation or the next generation will not hear the truth nearly as much. And that is exactly what has happened in The United States Of America. The buck stops with us. We have the responsibility on our shoulders for the next generation, So we must do our best as Timothy to contend for the faith.

Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for your word. Thank you, Lord, for your mercy. Lord, there are many all of us who were on the Broadway, who did not know or understand and someone brought the truth and shared the gospel with Jesus Christ that we might become the children of God. And Lord, there are those our friends, our neighbors that have been deceived.

Many that are ignorant that need to hear the truth. But Lord, also give us discernment that we do contend for the faith, that we do stand for what is right, that we do not succumb to convenient doctrines that offer us heaven and the world altogether. Lord, may we stand for the things of eternal value. May we choose to love the Lord and not the world. And may you use us mightily in this place bring glory to your name and souls to the savior.

In Jesus precious name, we do pray. Amen.