1 Timothy Episode 5: The Power of Mature Pastoral Leadership In Combating False Doctrine

Paul warns Timothy concerning a specific threat of false teaching that will attack the church, and how he should conduct his ministry to combat it.

- Podcast Transcript - 

Wes

Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This podcast is just one of many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you're interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now, on to today's episode.

This is episode five in our 1 Timothy Bible Study podcast. This episode is entitled The Power of Mature Pastoral Leadership in Combating False Doctrine, where we'll discuss 1 Timothy 4:1-16. I'm Wes Treadway, and I'm here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we're looking at today?

Andy

Well, Wes, today we come to one of my absolute favorite and most influential passages in the New Testament, teaching me what I should think about when I preach, how I should consider my pastoral ministry, but especially my preaching ministry. At the end of this chapter, at the very end, it says that the ministry of the word should enable me to save both myself and my hearers. And so that's pretty vital. The public reading of scripture, preaching and teaching, the development of my gift, my ability as a preacher, all of that flows from the exhortations that Paul gives to Timothy here.

So, you have here a very clear statement of the importance of good preaching and of sound doctrinal instruction, but in a larger sense, also, of pastors, like young Timothy back in the day, watching their life and their doctrine closely, setting a good example. And all of that to combat the false doctrine that is touched on at the beginning of the chapter, what Paul calls the doctrines of demons. And there's all kinds of doctrines of demons here. It has to do with asceticism, with a forbidding of marriage, of forbidding of eating foods that God designed to be enjoyed. So, an anti-asceticism aspect here, and yet there are other false doctrines, doctrines of demons that pastors have to be alert to as well. So, this is a great chapter for pastoral ministry.

Wes

Well, let me go ahead and read 1 Timothy 4 as we get ready to discuss these verses today:

Now, the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciousness are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather, train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end, we toil and strive, because we have our hopes set on the living God who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

What do the words the Spirit clearly says, by which Paul introduces the false teaching addressed in this passage, teach us about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church?

Andy

Yeah, I would say specifically here, I think the speaking or the teaching of the Spirit is through the apostles and prophets. Back in those days, that was the pipeline of new information and many of those doctrines were written down by the apostles, including Paul. And so, I think he's just exercising here his prophetic gift as a prophet, as apostle. The Spirit clearly tells him what's going to happen and warns the church through Paul's writings. And so that's what I get out of the statement that the “Spirit clearly says.”

Wes

How do we harmonize “abandon” or “depart from the faith” with our understanding of the eternal security of the believer?

Andy

Well, the faith here, I don't believe is their personal saving faith. I think the faith here is that body of doctrines known as orthodox Christianity. It's a body of teachings, and they abandon it by becoming heterodox, by becoming heretics.

And so, then you have the question, well, were they ever saved? And we think if they actually do reject the deity of Christ or other things like that, they turn after false doctrines, they never were saved at all. So, I don't think it is a problem really for the issue of personal security and once saved, always saved doctrine. I think their "turning away from the faith" means away from orthodox Christianity.

Wes

Now, what does verse one teach us about the origin of false doctrine?

Andy

Yeah, it's doctrines of demons. And here's the thing, I believe that demons are able to insinuate ideas into human minds. I think it's very clear in many, many respects that demons do have access to our minds. They do not, however, have access to our wills. They can suggest thoughts, but we are able to identify them as evil thoughts and put them to death. “Take every thought captive,” as it says in 2 Corinthians 10. "We're going to take every thought captive, make it obedient to Christ."

And so, the idea here is they do insinuate ideas, but those ideas are not refuted by those that hear them, the false teachers, et cetera. And they take hold of them, and they move ahead with them. Now, I believe every false religion there is in the world, every non-Christian religion that there is, is a doctrine of demons. I think it all came from Satan/demons, all of them. All the false religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Mormonism, all of them began in the mind of Satan, in the mind of demons and was insinuated to human messengers who then wrote out those doctrines of demons.

"Now, I believe every false religion there is in the world, every non-Christian religion that there is, is a doctrine of demons."

Wes

In verse two, Paul describes the human puppets of the demons as liars whose consciences are seared. What does it mean to have a seared conscience?

Andy

Well, a conscience is the writing of God's truths on our hearts. It's part of the original equipment, and we have, as Paul says in Romans 2, gentiles, by nature, do the things the law requires. They show that they're a law for themselves, and they demonstrate that the laws of God are written in their hearts, on their consciences. All right, so you get this original wiring of "do right and don't do wrong," et cetera. Now, we still need the Bible, there are details and all that that are not part of the original equipment, the conscience. But these individuals sear their consciences by not listening to them. The consciences push them toward moral behavior, and they resist enough so that I think the idea with a seared piece of flesh is after a while it doesn't feel anything, like the nerves have been killed. And so, the individual does not feel anything anymore. They don't feel any pangs of conscience. They don't feel guilty at all for what they do. Their conscience has been seared as with a hot iron.

Wes

Verses three through five lay out the specific content of this demonic teaching. What is it, and what do verses three through five teach us about how Christians should view blessings, like sex and food?

Andy

Right, so this is asceticism, they forbid marriage, and they forbid people from eating foods that Christ has declared clean, like in Mark 7. All foods, anything God physically made that you can eat is made by God with its distinctive flavor. Now, some flavors we like, some flavors we don't like, but as long as it's wholesome food, you can eat it and it has no effect on you at all, as we saw in our teaching in Corinthians on food sacrificed to idols. There is no spiritual contagion on a food. It's just food. And God created all these foods to have different flavors that are appealing to us and to be received with thanksgiving. Well, these individuals come along and say, you are forbidden by God to eat these things, and that forbidding of something that God permits is a doctrine of demons.

Conversely, a permitting something that God forbids is also a doctrine of demons. So, you have asceticism on one hand, which is forbidding as a matter of right religion things that God permits, like marriage, like eating of these foods. And on the other hand a permitting of things that God forbids, like adultery or fornication or other forms of immorality, that would be license. That's I think also a doctrine of demons. They're going to push either way.

In this case it's an asceticism. Now, there have been sects, that's religious S-E-C-T-S, that have forbidden marriage. I think for example, historically the Shakers who are among those, they didn't allow the men and women to physically touch, ever. They had these ritualistic dances in which the men were in one part of the room and women on the other part of the room, and the men danced with the men and the women danced with the women, and they forbade marriage. Well, I've said before, rather humorously about that group, they better be good at evangelism because they're not going to have any next generation believers. They have no children.

Then you've got the Roman Catholic Church, which forbid their clergy, their priests, from marrying, which I think is a doctrine of demons saying that none of their pastors can marry. Here's Paul giving instruction to a young pastor Timothy, and he's not forbidding marriage. He actually says the forbidding of marriage is the doctrine of demons. Makes you wonder how the medieval Roman Catholic Church missed that. But they went too far on the issue of sexual purity and went so far as to say no touching at all is ever good. So that's what I consider the doctrine of demons.

Wes

What then do verses three through five teach us about how Christians should view blessings like these?

Andy

So, let's take for example, marital relations, sex. It's clearly created as a good thing by God. Adam and Eve were naked in the garden, and they felt no shame. And the two became one flesh and that was all designed by God. That's the biology. It's very clear that God intended it. It's very clear that God intended it for pleasure, the pleasure of the couple. He just put clear boundaries around it. One man, one woman in covenant relationship called marriage for life. And then sex is not just permitted, but it's actually commanded, as 1 Corinthians 7, the husband and wife are not to defraud each other, deprive each other, and so they're openly commanded to come together and something that is very pleasing to God. It's how he wants the next generation to come along. And he also, it's how the husband and wife draw together in pure delight.

And so, it's interesting, the Puritan movement is seen to be anti-sex, and nothing could be further from the truth. They're just anti-adultery and anti-fornication. They were pro-marriage, and actually there's even poetry and other things in which there's open delight in the marital relationship, godly marital relationship between a husband and a wife and the mystery, the picture that it is of Christ in the church. So that's how Christians should view marriage. It is not the Puritans who were prudes or anti-sex and all that, it was really, again, the medieval Catholic Church and other doctrines, other groups that forbid marriage. And so, we should look on these things as good gifts, but they have boundaries around them, similar to wine as given as a good gift of God with a clear boundary that you should not be addicted to it or become drunk. Same thing with foods. Everything that God created is good, but we shouldn't be gluttons, et cetera.

Wes

So, having laid out the false teaching that Timothy is facing as a young pastor, as you mentioned, what does Paul tell Timothy about his role in refuting this false teaching, and how is sound doctrine a sufficient answer to these kinds of ideas?

Andy

I think the way that we should live our lives is get the truth from God's word and then live accordingly. And so, he says very plainly, "Everything God created is good as long as it is received with thanksgiving, consecrated by the word of God in prayer." That's how we are to do it. Also, we need to follow the rules. There are boundaries. We can't say it's natural, we really loved each other, all this kind of thing. I want to say this one thing, it's somewhat related here. Here it's asceticism, but there's license as well. And I worry about young Christian people in fornication. It seems like there's just a hookup culture that is clearly immoral, and I would call it every bit as much a doctrine of demons as well.

And so yes, things that God made are good in their proper boundaries. One man, one woman in a covenant relationship for life, that's called marriage. Before that, all sex is sin. Anything apart from that is sin. We need to be very clear about that. Now, this passage is against forbidding marriage, but another passage to be very clear against forbidding fornication. So just wanted to say that.

So, to answer your question, a good pastor will seek to point these things out to the people. Talk to the people about them. What I just said to you a moment ago is a burden that's been on my heart. I think it's very important for young people to be sexually pure and to not be deceived into thinking they're weird if they're virgins when they get married. They're not weird, they're healthy. That's exactly the right way to do things. And so, the mocking of the culture and the expectations of the culture, and that should not move us one moment. "If I'm a good pastor," Paul says here, "I will point these things out to the people. I will teach them. I will bring them up in the truths of the faith and the good teaching that we have followed." That's what he says.

Wes

What warning does verse seven give and what patterns of behavior does it commend?

Andy

Yeah, I have a very different translation than yours. Read your verse seven, then I'll tell you mine.

Wes

"Have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths, rather train yourself for godliness." (1 Timothy 4:7)

Andy

Mine says, "Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales." (1 Timothy 4:7) So, I guess that's not the way people... maybe it's not politically correct anymore. This is NIV 84. But at any rate, so I guess the idea is there's some frivolous ideas and doctrines that are floating out there, they don't have any basis in truth, they don't have any basis in reality, have nothing to do with them.

I do want to say this thing about the word myth. It is very, very important that we understand the creation account, Genesis 1-2, is not a myth. Genesis 3. These are not myths. This is history. So, creation, fall, and now redemption is being worked out in actual physical space and time and in history. It's not a myth. But there are religious myths, there are irreverent tales and all that. You have to be discerning and say, look, none of that's true. We're going to stick to the word of God.

Wes

So he warns against these myths and then sets before them this pattern of godliness. What additional insight does verse eight give concerning training in godliness, and how does training ourselves in godliness hold promise both for this life and the life to come?

Andy

Yeah, I want to commend a book by a good friend of mine, Don Whitney, called Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. And this is key verse is 1Timothy 4:8, "Physical training has some value, but godliness..." Or verse seven says, "Train yourself to be godly." And then he elaborates in verse eight. So the idea of training yourself for godliness is there are certain repeated patterns that you do in the gym, lifting weights, running on the treadmill. For me, I like cycling out on the road. That's how I get exercise. You, brother, are long distance runner, and there's certain repeated patterns that enable you to build up your strength, build up your capability. You just ran a 50K race, so that took a long time to develop, didn't it?

Wes

Yes.

Andy

Long time. But I mean when you started, you didn't begin at 50K.

Wes

Certainly not.

Andy

You built up to it.

Wes

Certainly.

Andy

And so, the idea with godliness is it's something that happens by repeated patterns, by habit. There are habits that lead to godliness. So, I would say scripture memorization, Bible intake in general, the daily quiet time, patterns of prayer, confession of sin, regular confession of sin. As soon as you're convicted of sin, you confess it and repent from it. Church attendance, being involved in corporate worship and other such patterns, these are repeated patterns that enable you to grow in godliness. You train yourself for godliness.

I think this is exactly what's taught in Romans 6:19, just as you used to follow habits of wickedness and become even more wicked, in the same way now, follow habits of righteousness leading to holiness. It's the same concept here. So there's this training of godliness. And training the body, Paul says, is of some value. It gives you energy, it gives you strength, it makes you feel good about yourself, makes you feel more mentally sharp. It is some value, but godliness has value for all things. It holds out promise both for this life and for the world to come. So that's really interesting. There is a godliness that we develop by habit that actually will improve our heavenly life. It holds promise for the world to come. That's pretty exciting.

Wes

How do verses nine and 10 connect with what Paul has been saying, and what does it mean that the living God is the Savior of all men and especially of those who believe?

Andy

Well, Paul will do this from time to time. It's similar to Jesus saying, "Truly, truly I say to you.” “Amen, Amen," is what he says. "Truly, truly I say to you," he's like, “By the way, what I said is really good. What I just said is that it's a trustworthy…”

Wes

Don't forget that.

Andy

Yeah, this is a trustworthy saying. All the others, not so much. He's not saying that. But when he says this is a trustworthy saying, he generally is saying something that's worthy of paying close attention to. So, the things he's been saying about asceticism and about doctrines of demons and then right doctrine, the role of right doctrine and training for godliness. All these things are good. Focus on that, it deserves full acceptance, and we're laboring and striving for this, and we're ultimately putting our hope in the living God.

Now, once he says the living God, he then makes this statement which is a little perplexing. "He is the Savior of all people and especially of those who believe." Now, we know that universalism is just not true. It is not true that in the end no one will be in hell, and everyone will be in heaven. That's universalism. We don't believe that. So, in that sense, we know God is not the ultimate Savior from eternity in hell of all people.

So, the word Savior here must mean something else. And I think what I would say is, Savior is someone who delivers an individual from danger. God does that for all people at some point. He delivers them into the world at birth, and the danger there is of being a stillborn or dying at birth. And then he, again and again, in a hidden way, in a providential way, rescues them from many dangers. And he does that to people who don't even acknowledge him, who aren't even aware that God saved their life then. On the battlefield it could be. Some things happen. Or on an icy road during a snowstorm and you start skidding and you starting to head toward a telephone pole and then you just mysteriously stop at the last possible moment. You'll find out later, God did that, God saved you.

So, he's the Savior in that sense of all people, and he saves them from starvation, by feeding them, by bringing rain and crops in their seasons and filling their hearts with joy and good things. So, in that sense, in a general blessing sense and a deliverance from death, he saves people who are sick with serious illnesses like cancer. He heals people who don't acknowledge him at all. They're not believers, they're atheists, and you'll heal them from cancer. He's the savior from cancer. But he's especially the ultimate eternal Savior of those who believe in Jesus Christ. So that's how I understand this verse.

Wes

Now, verses 11 through the end of the chapter, in verse 16, are ones that, as you've mentioned, are so helpful in ministry thinking through the role and responsibility of a pastor. Paul says that a part of a pastor's responsibility is to command and teach things. How should Christians learn to submit to godly leaders, and what are the limits to a pastor's authority to command the people of God?

Andy

Well, I don't personally have any authority, but God has all authority. Fundamental to being a Christian is submitting to God's authority. It's stopping rebelling against God the King. It's to put your rebellious stiff neck under Christ's yoke, and his yoke is easy, and his burden is light, but he has a yoke, meaning he has a right to command us.

My job as a pastor to tell people what God is commanding them to do or not to do, that's my job. So, I am commanding and teaching things the word of God commands and teaches, and I'm under it every bit as much as they are. I don't have any independent authority. I would put it that way. Although I will say I have certain things that are entrusted to me as a steward. As a senior pastor of this church, I have certain things that I'm responsible for, and I have the right to spend money along with other individuals along the lines of the budget. I have certain responsibilities that are given to me.

But I think here we're talking about doctrine and the word of God and all that. The commanding we do is really in the place of Jesus, as though Jesus himself were standing here saying to husbands to love their wives like Christ loved the church. As though Jesus himself were standing and telling all citizens to pay their taxes because rulers, governors, are God's servants who do you good. I have the right to stand there in front of people and tell people to not, as I did earlier, to not fornicate or commit adultery. This is clearly God's command. It's not my authority. So that's how I take command and teach these things.

Wes

Now, it seems that verse 12 is written as much as a warning to the church, not to reject young men who have been specially gifted by God to be leaders as it is a command to Timothy. But Timothy does have a role to play in the church's willingness to accept young leaders by his living an exemplary life. How is setting an example for the believers a vital part of pastoral ministry, and what are the areas in which Timothy must set an example?

Andy

Yeah, I like how you set that up. I mean, verse 12, "Don't let anyone look down on you."

Wes

Yeah, how's Timothy supposed to obey?

Andy

Yeah, he doesn't have any control over that, but I think what it means is, first of all, you, Timothy, don't take it to heart if they do. Just ignore it. You have a call from God. But it is a general warning, as you said, to anyone who reads this epistle to not look down on a young spiritual leader just because he's young. Now, he must not be a recent convert, but Timothy could have been, he could be a young man and not a recent convert. He could have been a Christian for 15 years by then, even though he's still, relatively speaking, a young man. So don't let anyone despise you because of your age, et cetera.

But he says to Timothy, speaking to Timothy, "Set an example for the believers in the way you talk and the way you live in your love, your faith, and your purity." These are exemplary moral virtues. So, if you see older people just mocking, and who is this young guy and all that, don't take it to heart. They shouldn't do it, but don't take it to heart. But just live your life. Carry yourself with dignity, carry yourself with authority, the authority of the word of God. And he says in another place to treat older men a certain way, treat older women a certain way, treat brothers that way, just there are rules and how you do it, but carry yourself with dignity. Be very, very careful how you live. Set an example for the believers in the way you talk, et cetera.

Now to answer your question, a lot of pastoral ministry is role-modeling. You're saying, follow my example as I follow the example of Christ. So, if you live a godly lifestyle, people will want to follow you even though you are young. So set an example in all these areas.

Wes

In verse 13, Paul outlines some of the practical duties to which Timothy should give attention. Why is teaching of the word of God the centerpiece of pastoral ministry, and why is the public reading of scripture also so important?

Andy

Yeah, this is very, very vital. This whole section is incredibly important for me, especially verse 16, which I'm looking forward to. But right here he is saying, look, devote yourself to these things, the public reading of scripture. Keep in mind back then, this is before the Gutenberg press, this is back when every copy of scripture would've been hand done, hand copied, and so therefore only really wealthy or influential important leaders would have them.

So, most people would not have their own copy of the Bible. We should just stop right in the middle of that and just thank God that we all have our own Bibles. We have smartphones with scripture on them. We have constant access to the word of God anytime. And so that's pretty amazing. But back then they didn't. And so, the only way they would've known the epistles, the only way they would've known Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John or Deuteronomy is the public reading of scripture. So that's going to be very important.

However, in our day and age, we have scriptures, and we still need this. We still need the public reading of scripture. Something very sacred and special about the times we read scripture in our corporate worship. Our pattern is right before I get up to preach, we have the entire church stand up in honor of God and of the reading of his word, and then the reader will read the scriptures. A sense of very great seriousness to that, very much so. And so, I think that public reading of scripture is vital.

Now, as you asked, what's so important about teaching? Well, the scripture's not always easy to understand. Some scriptures are hard to understand. Peter said that about Paul's writings. Some of Paul's things are hard to understand. And so therefore a pastor teacher's job is to think deeply about scripture and unfold it to rightly divide it. I remember thinking about that years ago. I thought this is really, really interesting. We're called on to rightly divide the word of truth, to cut it straight, orthotomeo, 2 Timothy 2:15 says that, to cut it straight, rightly divide it.

But we're also told in Hebrews that the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. So, are we cutting scripture or is scripture cutting us? Both. So that's how I look at it. I cut open scripture so scripture can cut us open or pierce us to the heart, bring us to conviction, et cetera. So, that's what I think of rightly dividing the word truth.

I remember I had the idea, I was making fresh spaghetti sauce, and I used fresh onions, and I had a big round white onion, and I took a sharp knife, and I sliced right through that fresh onion, and within seconds I was weeping, weeping tears, tears rolling down my face of the chemicals that the cutting of the onion had unleashed.

And I think good preaching is like that, you're going to unleash the power of the word when it's cut open and explained, when it's unfolded and unwrapped for people, and they're like, man, I never knew all those things were there. And they're cut to the heart. Like in Acts 2, they said to Peter and the other apostles, cut to the heart. They said, “Brothers, what shall we do?" And so, I think that's the power of teaching. It just cuts open the word so that it can cut us open as well.

"Good preaching is like that, you're going to unleash the power of the word when it's cut open and explained, when it's unfolded and unwrapped for people."

Wes

What do verses 14 and 15 teach us about spiritual gifts and how people should develop those gifts?

Andy

Yeah, the gift is given, but then it has to be developed. Paul says, watch these things closely so that everyone can see your progress. So, you can make progress in a spiritual gift, and I think that's true of any spiritual gift. You can make progress in every spiritual gift. If your gift is giving, you can be better at giving 10 years from now than you are now. If your gift is administration, you can get better and better and better at it.

I have preached, I don't know, maybe 1100 sermons here at First Baptist Church. That's a lot. I would hope that I'm better at it now than when I first started. I think I am. I know that I can continue to develop. I do study other preachers. I study my own sermons. I study my approach. I'm not going to try to be somebody that I'm not, but at the same time, I want to learn. And so, you can make progress. And actually, it's important, Paul says to this young man, Timothy, that everyone can see your progress. They can see that you're growing and developing and getting better and better at your spiritual gift.

Wes

Verse 16 is a powerful verse for us to meditate on in pastoral ministry. How does verse 16 give a timeless exhortation to pastors? And how is a pastor able to save both himself and his hearers?

Andy

Yeah, actually, I could begin this entire podcast with this statement. Maybe we should. Every time I get up to preach, I think about this verse. If you were to ask me, what is your purpose today, as you walk up the six steps to the pulpit, what are you trying to achieve? One answer I could give is this, my goal today is to save myself and my hearers. And that's a very important statement, isn't it? And how are you going to do that, O preacher? It's by the ministry of the word, by the power of the Spirit. Saved from what? Saved from sin. That's what salvation is, isn't it? Isn't that Matthew 1:21? What the angel said to Joseph as he was dreaming, he said, "You'll give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

And Jesus came to save us from sin in all of its respects, from sin’s penalty through justification, from sin’s practice, through sanctification, from sin’s very presence through glorification. That's what I want salvation from. And I'm in the middle journey now, as most of my hearers are. I'm being saved from the actual practice of sin. I want to put it to death little by little, and I want to be saved from that. I want to work out that salvation with fear and trembling, and I need it. I need the text I'm preaching on today. I need to hear it. And if I haven't been cut to the heart by it, then I'm not likely to cut anyone else to the heart.

So, I'm going to have already cut myself to the heart with the text and be convicted by it and strengthened by it and encouraged and exhorted, and then I can deliver that same to my people. And my desire is to get up there and make it an urgent time, an immediate time, a sense of the immediate presence of God through the ministry of the Word. My goal will be salvation.

Now, I do believe that every time I preach, there's about 500 people that come, sometimes more, sometimes less, to our church. But I always believe that there's a good number of lost people, people who are dead in their transgressions and sins. I want to save them from hell. I want to save my hearers from hell. So, I want to make sure that the simple, clear gospel of God, man, Christ, response, the simple, clear gospel of a Holy God whose laws we have broken, who sent his Son to be our Savior, who died on the cross and rose again. And through repentance and faith, we can have full forgiveness of sins is clearly preached every week.

But I also want to preach on other things. So, I want to save my hearers from their sins in marriage or in parenting or in prayer or with their money or with their time, or with any... whatever the topic is in the text, I want to save myself and my hearers from sin. So that's my goal. And by the faithful ministry of the word, I believe I can achieve it.

Wes

Andy, what final thoughts do you have for us today on 1 Timothy 4?

Andy

I love this section. I would commend verse 16 above all to all preachers. But I would also say in general, there's so many good truths in here. I would go back to verse seven and say, train yourself to be godly. Get Don Whitney's book on spiritual disciplines. I would exhort people to work hard on that. I would look carefully at our life and our doctrine and watch it closely. But above all, zero in on the word of God so that you can save yourself from sin. And that's my goal, to save myself and my hearers.

Wes

This has been episode five in our 1 Timothy Bible study podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for episode six, entitled Direction for Shepherding God's Flock, where we'll discuss 1 Timothy 5:1-25. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.