Dedicated To The Men of God Who Preach the Word of God As It Is To Men As They Are

















"Preach The Word"

We have already seen how Paul the Apostle was called by God, enabled by God, counted faithful by God, and put into the ministry by the Lord. Timothy was very dear to Paul, since Timothy came to God as a result of his ministry

Two men are mentioned in verse 20. Their names are Hymenaeus and Alexander. They are two that definitely shipwrecked.

HYMENAEUS- was a heretical teacher at Ephesus who was an opponent of the Apostle Paul. He is also mentioned in 2 Tim. 2:17 with Philetus. 

He taught that the resurrection was a past spiritual experience, having occurred when they were raised from ignorance and sin, as they came to know the true God. The teaching of a future bodily resurrection was illogical and inconceivable to him. That is a teaching of error. The Bible clearly teaches there will be a bodily resurrection in the future.

ALEXANDER- There are mentions of other Alexanders in the Bible, but this appears to be the only place where this one is mentioned. Little or nothing is said about him, except the fact he had blasphemed the work of the Gospel.

"Blaspheme" (blas-phe-meo) which means "to speak reproachfully to or to speak evil about someone."

These two men were such troublemakers and even apostates.

What did Paul do in regard to them?  He turned them over to Satan. He had that kind of authority as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have no right today to deliver a person over to Satan, but Paul did have that very special authority.

Peter exercised that kind of authority over Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11. You remember they lied to the Holy Ghost and kept back part of the money that was to be laid at the Apostles feet. They trusted the apostles so much that the church brought money and laid it, not at some committee’s feet, but at the apostles, the spiritual leader’s feet. Right after Peter confronted Ananias, Ananias fell down dead and became a corpse. Three hours later Peter confronted the wife Sapphira and he said, the feet of them that buried your husband are at the door and shall carry you out. Then, she fell dead. That cause fear in the church.

Turn them over to Satan certainly does not just mean "church discipline." He literally turned them over to Satan for the devil to torture and afflict the men. Why? Was Paul cruel? No he wanted them to come to their senses. Discipline is not given to do harm to others but to stop and make them think about their wrong doing. The purpose of turning them over to the devil for a while was to make them realize they had no business blaspheming. Paul handed these men over to the devil for a while.

So many today "shipwreck" spiritually speaking. It speaks of destruction or ruin.

Paul seems to mention this again in 1 Cor. 5:3-5:

2. How long will God live? Forever.

3. Will God ever have an ending? Sooner would all the stars fall from the sky or the sun or moon fail to give their light.

4. If God ever began or ended, He would not be God. That is how we think of human beings. God is far transcendent above human beings. He is in a class all by Himself. There is none like Him.

Exodus 8:10 And he said, To morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God.

Deuteronomy 33:26 There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.

Isaiah 46:9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

Are you convinced that our God is eternal? I have no doubt whatsoever about the matter. I am settled, sure and steadfast in my belief that He is.

Man began but not God. He was before anything that was made.

Indissoluble

2. He Is Immortal (17b)

That simply means He is not liable to decay or corruption. There is an aging process going on in our bodies that will one day end our earthly existence.

Illustration:

I heard on ABC News the other evening about scientists who say they can reverse the aging process. They claim men can soon live hundreds of years and some are crazy enough to think it might be indefinite. God said, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment".

These human bodies are going back to the dust where they came from no matter what the scientists do in the laboratories.

God does not decay. He never even has a backache or a headache. There is no aging process with God, He is what He was and always will be what He is. That is part of what the name "Jehovah" means. He is the self-existent God.

Indissoluble

Immortal


3. He Is Invisible (17c)

There used to be a TV series years ago called, "The Invisible Man." Can you imagine waging a war against an invisible foe?

God is unseen –one whose being cannot be fully viewed with human eyes.

When there were "theophanies" –appearances of God in the O.T. through pre-incarnation forms, man could see God manifested.

No one can stop my God.  He can go anywhere He wants to go.

Illustration:

Try sometime to go into a coke bottle and live there for a day or two. You can’t because you would have to become invisible or at least shrink to enter into the mouth of the bottle.

Can you imagine what an edge we would have over our enemies if we could become invisible? Just dream on, but God is invisible.

Though He be invisible, Jesus has revealed and declared Him.

John 1:18- "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."

4. He Has Insight (17d) "the only wise God"

He forms the best plans and brings about the best means for the execution of those plans.

The word "sophos"(wise) was used of:

Skilled craftsmen-

Greek philosophers-

Jewish theologians-

Christian teachers-

It can refer to being cultivated or learned.

God know everything but He did not have to go to school to acquire what He has. He just knows everything.

The Lord want us to adore Him. He is deserving of all of our praise.

Redemption- Purchased our salvation.

Rank- He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords- state or office

Riches -He owns everything in the universe.

"doxa" praise and worship ascribe to Him His worth.

We should say "amen" or so-be-it to all He says.

Paul said, "I have fought a good fight."

When the going gets tough the tough should keep on going.

"Holding faith and a good conscience"


A. Do Not Deviate From The Truth

A defiled conscience does not produce the right quality of spiritual life. Holy upright conversation is the result.

Conclusion:

There is no need for anyone who will hold to the truth

Look to the captain

Listen to the charge

And Stay By the Faith

Sermon From Dr. Tom Walker
 

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