Counterfeit Christianity (Part 2 of 2)

If someone gives you a counterfeit twenty dollar bill, the only way you'll recognize it as fake is if you know what a real twenty dollar bill looks like. Well, the same is true with Christian teaching. You have to know the truth to be able to spot the lies. Today on Truth for Life we'll learn how we can spot false teaching and false teachers. Alistair Begg is in 1 Timothy chapter 1.

All kinds of silly ideas. And loved ones. Do you realize what it took, for example, in the city of Ephesus? How soon after this there was mayhem and destruction, where there had once been a church that had been founded by the apostle Paul himself?

This is not an issue of marginal importance. These people were spinning all these kinds of yarns. The rabbis—I shouldn't say the rabbis in general, but certain rabbis—loved to find little hints in the law. And they would take these little hints, and then they would weave them into intricate, fictional embroideries. And they were then deposited in the Haggadah, which is part of the Talmud. And when you read that dimension of the Talmud, you can find, for example, that the book of Genesis is embroidered into all kinds of speculative things. And there, for example, you will learn that the archangels observed the Sabbath. There you will find out that angels practiced circumcision.

And when you read that, you say, Who says? Exactly! But what they did was, they said, Hey, isn't this a really kind of freaky idea? They said, Yeah. Maybe we should get together and call ourselves an institute and, you know, kind of beef this up. I think we could make it a chart, a diagram, a video.

Yeah. Timothy, command these characters to cut it out. Why? Because they only produce controversy. Because they only engender confusion. Because they only ultimately mangle the church in their own quest for their self-serving desire to be known as somebody who knows something that someone else doesn't know.

And in our own day, the same is true. People in every generation love to engage in a mixture of truth and error. Instead of studying the infallible Word, people resort to all kinds of fancies and fictions, and they prefer to see a kind of human embellishments over biblical history. They begin with the sacred truth of Scripture, they mix in a little bit of fiction, sometimes for theatrical effect, sometimes just for personal enjoyment, for an intoxicating thrill, sometimes to satisfy vain curiosity. But in doing so, they tamper with the very essence and the purpose of the inspired Scripture itself. And before you know what you're dealing with, you're not actually dealing with a Bible, you're dealing with a concoction. And the result is, he says, controversy, promoting speculative fancies which do not set forward the work of God. There you have it in verse 4, these promote controversies rather than God's work, which is by faith. Now, he says in verse 5 that there is a goal to this command. This may seem very harsh, and it certainly sounds that way in our relativistic age, in our politically correct environment, where you can never, ever say anything is wrong.

Nothing's right, and nothing's wrong. Therefore, anybody who would be suggesting truth, the existence of truth, must ipso facto be in error, and who is taking the high ground of being right must inevitably, by very definition, be wrong. Well, says Paul, I need you to understand that the goal of this command is love. Unlike the false teaching, the speculative rambling, which results in strife and unhealthy debate, the goal of the command given to Timothy is love—a love which springs from the work of God, the work of redemption, in the lives of those who trust his Son.

Because ultimately, the work of God is the work of redemption. You think of Jesus in John's Gospel, it is right for me to go on and to finish the work. This is the work that he has given to do.

I am at work, and my Father is at work. And then finally, as he anticipates Calvary, he says in a prophetic perfect, I have finished the work that you gave me to do. What is the work? It is the work of redemption. And so therefore, anything which confuses the centrality of the work of redemption, which is the Gospel, has to be stopped. You see, when—and look at these things, the command is love—you see, when God's love is implanted in the heart of an individual, then their heart becomes a loving heart, becomes a pure heart. And this good conscience, a conscience that is cleansed of guilt and made obedient to God's law, ultimately only approves of the things to which the law of God finally points—namely, the love. And genuine faith, to which he refers here in verse 5, sincere faith, is the faith which embraces Christ and all of his benefits, and which reveals itself in a genuine love for Jesus, and a genuine love for all those who in turn have been embraced by his love. In fact, we would do well to pause and assess our condition against these three elements in verse 5. The goal of this command is love, which comes from, notice, a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Do you have a good heart, a pure heart, a good conscience, a sincere faith?

How will we know? Well, when these things are interwoven in the life of an individual, in the life of a church family, then they produce the most beautiful jewel of all. That is a genuine love. And that, again, notice, is in distinct contrast to these would-be teachers of the law who fail to realize the meaning of their own words, and yet, nevertheless, they remain confident in their affirmations. It's the kind of thing you see when you're in conversation—and sometimes we've been guilty of it ourselves, I'm sure—where somebody lobs into the conversation a piece of vocabulary that you can tell by looking in their eyes, they haven't a clue what they just said. And they're hoping that it won't come out of their mouths again, because they're not sure that they could use it in a clarifying sentence. But every so often you find these people, and they just ramble and scramble and go on.

And the only people that they gather around them are equally silly ramblers and scramblers. Now, says Paul, the big issue with these folks is the law. They're big on the law. They want to be teachers of the law, but they abuse the law. Now, having mentioned their abuse of the law, he wants to make sure that his reader, namely Timothy and indeed the church, understand that the fact that he has said something negative about their use of the law should not be construed as a negative statement about the law itself.

Very, very important. And so, as something of a digression, he clarifies, in fact, what you have here are two digressions. From verse 7, it really picks up again at verse 18. And between verse 8 and verse 17, you have two digressions. He mentions the way they're treating the law, and then he says, Hang on a minute, and let me say something about the law. And then having dealt with the law, as he comes to the end of verse 11, that points him to the gospel, and then he says, Hang on, let me say something about the gospel. And then when he has said something about the gospel, he says, Now let's get back to what I started with, and let me tell you about Hymenaeus and Philetus.

These are the characters that I was referring to, along with others as certain men. So I'm going to spend the remaining few moments that I have making some statements concerning the law of God. Now, notice verse 8. We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. Now, you could say that a lot of things. For example, you could say, We know that preaching is good, provided preaching is proper preaching.

Provided it's not somebody just running off their mouths, speculating about their own theories, provided it is governed by, constrained by the truth of God's Word. If it is that, then it's good. If it isn't that, then it's frankly bad.

So we know that the law is good, he says, when it is used properly. Of course, the implication is that these would-be teachers are using it improperly. How were they using it? They were using it as a springboard for their fanciful interpretations. They had missed the whole point.

They couldn't see the wood for the trees. They studied the law of God with all of its injunctions and all of its precepts, but they never applied it to themselves. They studied the law of God, which condemned a man in his unrighteousness, but they were never prepared to acknowledge that they were unrighteous. They strapped the law of God to their forehead, they wrapped it around their wrists, they proclaimed it on the corners, they gathered little groups around them to talk about the law of God, and all the time they failed to understand the point—namely, that the law was to show them their need of a Savior.

But they were so stuck on how well they knew the law, and how they had these theories about the law, and how people were interested in listening to them, that they missed the whole point. And Paul says, listen, the law is good if you use it properly. We know that the law is not made for the righteous.

It's not made for people. This is really a correlative statement to Jesus' words to the Pharisees. He said, I didn't come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. So there's no point in me preaching to you guys the law, because you're so convinced that you're keeping all the law, until you get to the point where you're prepared to recognize that this sorry list with which these few verses conclude, that this sorry list is descriptive of you.

Until you get to that point, then you are of all men most miserable. Instead of their being crushed by the law, they simply adopted a spirit of Phariseeism. How could the law of God prove to be a guide to those who in their arrogance were unprepared to acknowledge that they were lost? And these people were so sure that this map that they had in their hands was a springboard for all of these ideas and notions that they were unprepared to see themselves as condemned by the very law they proclaimed. And the list here, which is a graphic list, largely follows the line of the Ten Commandments. He says, this law is for lawbreakers, rebels, the ungodly, the sinful, the unholy, the irreligious.

Now, what they should have said was, this law is for us. Because this actually describes us. We're the ones with the murderous thoughts. We're the ones with adultery in our hearts. We're perverted. We tell lies.

But no. They simply continue to take this, and as Lenski says, as with all pretending law teachers, they stand condemned by the very law they pretend to teach. You see, the law was given primarily to bring sin to light, to bring sinners to the point where they would feel utterly crushed under the load of their sin, and that in turn would lead them to the glory of the gospel.

That's what happened to Paul. Look at verse 15, when we anticipate it. He says, here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Now notice how he finishes. He doesn't say, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners like you, you bunch of scumbags. He says, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and just in case anyone's in any doubt, I am the worst sinner of them all. Now, that is the message that people do not in the streets get. And it's largely because of the spirit of the Pharisee sticking out in too many of us. Because the image we present is the got-it-together image, the no-need image, the triumphant image, the nothing-hurts image, as if somehow or another we were upholding a standard which had never, ever been given to us in the Bible. But when we learn to acknowledge what these fatuous individuals refuse to acknowledge—namely, that the law crushes me—then we will be in the position to convey the good news. Because when I am crushed, then I know somebody's going to have to pick up my pieces.

Somebody's going to have to put me together again. Did you see the lady in the car that was getting washed away? Did you see that picture on the news? The car over on its side, wheels up, lying on its back, the water's up all over the car, and just her face seen in the window, just screaming in agony, saying, Help me! Get me out of here! Now, what did she—you imagine somebody coming along and saying, You know, a car's not supposed to be upside down like that. I don't understand what you're doing with that thing, Mrs. You should have got that thing up on its wheels. Look at you!

Oh man, are you in a mess! I'm glad I'm not like you. I'm glad my car is parked and on its wheels. See, we've got to go to people and say, Listen, the car of my life is upside down.

It's off its wheels. And it was when I understood that, that Jesus came, turned the car back up, put the wheels on the ground, put me on a narrow road that leads to life. See, some of you have come out of a background that has been very rigid. I know that because you tell me all the time. You tell me, All you ever heard about was sin.

All you ever heard about was the Ten Commandments. All you ever heard about was how bad you were. Listen, thank God for that.

You should be very thankful for that. Because that was the precursor that crushed you. That was what made you feel the way you feel. That sense of emptiness, that sense of lostness, that sense of being unable to do it.

What you were missing was the final piece. The law is good, the gospel is glorious. He says here, the law points us to the glorious gospel of the blessed God. What is this glorious gospel?

Well, we'll come to it next time, but let me just give you a little flavor of it. It's the kind of thing that takes a man who absolutely flat-out denies that Jesus Christ is alive, who hates anybody who says that they know Christ, love Christ, or want to follow Christ, who is prepared to cuss the air blue at the very thought of the existence of these people, and who is prepared to take his whole life and the lives of those in his care and commit himself unreservedly to extinguishing the existence of the church of Jesus Christ. It is the glorious gospel which takes a guy like that, the most unlikely person in the whole world, and makes him the very champion of the church that he was prepared to destroy. As a result of what? His being able to fix himself? No.

As a result of him being crushed and hearing the voice of God saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Isn't it awful hard for you to keep kicking and screaming and scratching in your rebellion? A final word for an individual. You maybe were invited here. Somebody told you you should come. It's this or it's that or it's the next thing. Well, you didn't think it was this. And actually, you feel pretty dreadful right now. Now, that might be for a number of reasons. It might be the person you're sitting next to. It might be what you had for breakfast. It might be that you had no breakfast.

I don't know your physiological condition. But let me tell you this. If you feel in any sense the dreadfulness of the dawning awareness that you are outside of Christ, then you should be very thankful. Because there are a number around you who have now heard me for the nth time, and they don't feel dreadful at all. They've never felt dreadful.

They just don't understand why I get worked up. But they're prepared to keep coming back. They've never been crushed. They never fell off the wall. Therefore, they see no need of anyone to pick them up.

They are in the worst condition of all. But to those of you who feel dreadful, the reason you do is in order that you might hear the glorious news of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will grab you and take you to himself so that you may be relieved of that burden. And that, you see, is the good news. It's not the good news, which is a superficial stuff like, Oh, thank you for coming, everything's wonderful, super duper on we go, diddly diddly doo doo doo, three little stories, one little joke, da da da da da. It's none of that stuff.

A pox on all of that stuff. It is, you'll never feel good until you feel dreadful. And I am committed to making people feel good.

But only after God made them feel dreadful. That is Alistair Begg showing us how the purpose of the law is to point us to our need for a Savior. You're listening to Truth for Life.

Alistair will be back in just a minute. Like the Apostle Paul, our aim at Truth for Life is to never hesitate in proclaiming God's word. In fact, our mission is to teach the Bible and only the Bible every day so that you will be grounded in God's truth and prepared to recognize and reject counterfeit Christianity. If you'd like to share today's message with a friend that's easy to do, go to the Truth for Life app or go to our website, truthforlife.org.

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You can do that through our mobile app or online at truthforlife.org slash donate or call us at 888-588-7884. By the way, Sunday is Mother's Day and of course, mothers have a unique and sacred privilege that is not always appreciated. Find out more about the value and primary concerns facing mothers in a special article titled The Bible's Priorities for Godly Mothers.

You'll find it at truthforlife.org slash articles. Now here is Alistair to close in prayer. Lord, if our zeal was undiminished in our desire to do good things and make ourselves acceptable to you, if we cried tears to somehow convey our humility, if we pulled ourselves up by our religious socks and endeavored to do our best for the rest of our lives, we would never be able to approximate remotely to the standard of your righteousness. And when we consider your law, you shall have no other gods before me. And we recognize how much we worship ourselves and our own ideas. We fill our lives with all kinds of imaginationings of a God that is small enough to be accommodated. And as we go through the list, a sense of dreadfulness dawns upon our hearts, and we find ourselves saying, What then can I do?

Where can I go? And we hear this wonderful news of the glorious gospel, enabling us to say, Nothing in my hand I bring, and simply to your cross I cling. And naked come to thee for dress, and helpless come to thee for rest. And so I and my foulness to your fountain fly.

Wash me, Lord Jesus, or I die. Father, write your Word in our hearts. Save us from speculative nonsense. Make us men and women who understand your truth. Manifest it in the purity of our hearts and the clarity of our conscience, the sincerity of our faith, and the expressions of genuine love. And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest upon and remain with each one, today and forevermore. Amen. I'm Bob Lapine. The Apostle Paul was one of the greatest preachers the world has ever known. So why does he call himself the Chief of Sinners? We'll hear the encouraging answer tomorrow. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.