The Confession and Conduct of the Church

I was glad when he said to me let's go to the house of the Lord spring and the father we do come due this evening in the name your son, we do sing songs hymns that point to your great attributes that we are the body of Christ and you are or head you are you are older brother who was gone before us under a heavenly father and you've made us brothers and sisters adopted into the family of God, you are one that has become our Lord and our Redeemer and has saved us from our sin. We sing of these truth this evening as we go into worship son of God and Son of Man. We pray that this evening. That worship would be honoring you and we pray that your truth would be communicated on the great and many attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ and his work on our behalf, sins, and we pray, amen. I like to turn your Bibles to first Timothy chapter 3. If you are visiting with us this evening. I've been preaching once a month on the book of first Timothy and we are now in chapter 3, starting in verse 14 will read to the end of chapter 3. I hope to come to you soon. But I'm writing these things so that to you so that if I delay you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth great indeed.

We confess, is the mystery of godliness was manifested in the flesh vindicated by the spirit seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world taken up in glory is unaided (again heavenly father please bless the preaching of your word.

Bless ears to hear and eyes to see the truth of your word this evening at us see the full Christ in his work and his redemptive work in this hymn to Christ and your son not sons name we pray. Amen. Finally, Paul is now telling us the purpose of this letter is that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God. This is a him portion. This is a song, and in this song it is confessing the faith of the Christian church we say confess we don't mean confessing sin will remain is declaring making a confession of faith declaring the truth of our faith.

So in this letter, Paul tells us the nature of the church, which in turn gives us instruction on both the conduct and the confession of the Christian church think in recent times.

I've been looking out at the landscape of the American church and I feel like we are chipping away at our own foundation. Entire denominations are starting to minimize and to reduce the Christian faith into a few ethical concepts give our youth and ethical teaching on how to live and give a few spiritual truths and I see it in the news I see it in social media that someone might say something to the effect of the real message of the Christian faith is to be like Christ is to be like Jesus and so they'll say good and write things like to love one another and to show tolerance and to have humility and acceptance and help others on the surface level. This sounds great. We should love and show tolerance and should be humble me in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ ought to humble us that it is nothing in ourselves is simply what Christ has done for us.

But what happens is this language is used in American culture. What happens is people minimize the truth of the Christian faith down to these small details.

These few attributes of tolerance and love that we start to deny the Christian faith. We do not given the full expression of the historic Christian faith is a minimization that comes when we start to look at these truths as basic and simple, we have to give it the full expression that the Bible gives the faith back in the early 20th century there was great discussion about whether or not the Bible was the word of God or the Bible contained the word of God. Now that might sound the same to you. What happens is when the Bible contains the word of God. You and I can go in and we can start picking and choosing the parts that we like and we can throw out the rest because it contains the word of God. We start selecting personally what we want the Bible to tell us.

Instead, what we ought to say is that the Bible is the word of God. Back in 1924, there was a statement is not not quite 100 years ago is a statement called the Auburn affirmation. This is work 1200 PC USA where the PCA that's a different denomination but 1200 Christian ministers came forward and they signed a document that denied the following. I'm not making this up inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture right there. The faith is gone, they have cut away their own foundation version birth of Christ, the substitutionary atonement. The idea that Christ died for you deny Christ real in historic resurrection. The concept that Christ conquered death and sin done away with in the idea of Jesus his earthly ministry containing miracles men in that denomination like Jay Gresham, mage and and Ned Stonehouse. They realized that they had to abandon this institution as they have abandoned the Christian faith, and when they left they say we are committed to the gospel have the buildings have the property have everything that goes with the PC USA. We will keep the historic Christian faith.

We will hold onto the truth. It's been handed down over generations and there were other men that came with them and said we want to join you in mage and Stonehouse spoke with them and they said we are called fundamentalists. We believe in the fundamental doctrines and we do as well. Creation incarnation of the death, burial, resurrection, ascension and enthronement of Christ. We believe these things, but they were known to commit just to these essential truths and it was a problem as they unfolded their theology. Mage and Stonehouse said we must be defined as a church that holds to a historic Christian faith.

We do not cut out 1900 years of Christianity. We must hold to this faith that is described in God's word communicated to us through the prophets and the apostles once delivered to the saints.

This is the church and this is what it means to be the pillar in the buttress of truth. We do not minimize creation.

We do not minimize a historic Adam. We do not cut away the resurrection to promote various social activism's and look at Christ is simply some social revolutionary.

We have to look at him with clear lens at the gospel in the Bible we have to go in and see that this is a faith that has been handed down to us and then Timothy is told by Paul Gard the deposit protect this message. We have to protect the message of the gospel.

It is our historic witness in the Christian faith, and there was a term we don't use it as much.

I think in history was much more embraced was a term of Christendom. Some of you might know that term meaning. It is the worldwide society of Christians is where nations were considered Christian nations. They were unashamedly Christian in their culture they dealt with some, like all of us do.

There was still sin throughout these nations, but they would claim to be a Christian nation, there would be local churches that preached and taught the gospel in anywhere. The word is faithfully preached.

I want to tell you that they are part of the church of Jesus Christ. Whether were talking about faithful churches in Canada, Anglicans in Nigeria Dutch reformed and Presbyterians in South Africa, we just sent off. Sean hurried back to South Africa well preached. Thankfully there we have friends in Burma, Burmese, Baptist, David and Henry Ling. These men and Yang gone man Mark. These men are part of the church of Jesus Christ.

Voting Baucom and Conrad in no way these men in Zambia, they are proclaiming the gospel truth and so we would count them among the church abroad, they would count them among Christendom that they are proclaiming the person and work of Jesus Christ and they with us are upholding the pillar and buttress of truth before we get there. We must look first at the conduct in the household of God starting in verse 14. I hope to come to you soon. Writing these things so that you things to you so that if I delay you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God. Paul hopes to visit his son in the faith Timothy and the congregation there in Ephesus. He is a pastor after all. Paul loves the church loves the flock. He loves his son Timothy in the faith, and he wants to encourage him and be among God's people. That is the real mark of the heart of the pastor as he wants to be with God's people. He wants to be in the congregation.

Paul is desiring to be with them and he goes ahead and he writes the heading says if I delay again, knowing that things can come up we see that sometimes Paul is providentially hindered or remember, Paul was brutally persecuted in Jerusalem, and Antioch meconium Lister and Macedonia. He is endured many delays as he is a missionary throughout Asia minor and throughout the world.

We see that he is been imprisoned and stoned and shipwrecked assaulted by government officials as man has endured much for the Christian faith.

He wants to write ahead in case I am delayed. I want to go ahead and have it in writing that you might know how to behave in the household of God.

This is this is God's household. Their house rules according to the master of the house. God in his wisdom sent Christ in the world who appointed apostle Paul to be an apostle in his writing. He writes to Timothy to hand this letter out to the churches is not a word just for Timothy but to the congregation that is present there in Ephesus and he establishes through this letter.

Leadership, consisting of elders and deacons establishes church discipline to the church courts in the in the house of God. There is food there is bread and wine to the Lord's supper and we have instruction throughout the church going back in chapters 2 and three. We have instruction on how we are to live or live quiet and godly lives. We in worship must be at peace with one another, lifting up holy hands were instructed even on modesty of dress were told how to dress in worship and the order of worship as it is described in God's word. Here we have leadership consisting of elders and deacons. We have the Lord Jesus Christ our great Shepherd appoints Paul to communicate these truths to the local church and so the privilege of being called out to live in God's presence to be in the church's and now we have a responsibility to live according to the one who has called us what that is. We are the church of the living God. This is in contrast again, you're in Ephesus there's a lot of paganism going on there is the massive temple of Diana in town. So many of that live in the church might've come out of paganism where they once were worshiping Diana and they are now living in the new temple. The temple of the living God. They are living in the church of Jesus Christ, which is the dwelling place of our living God. Thinking back to the tabernacle back in the day of Moses. Think of the time in the wilderness. This called the tent of meeting the temple later built by Solomon. These are earthly places where the people of God would get together as the local congregation and be present with the Lord just as the speller is described here in this in our verses here. The temple is being held up by a pillar and a buttress of truth is a powerful image that were given to describe us to describe the local church. This pillar and buttress our architectural metaphors. The pillars are standing upright and there upholding the roof there giving the building its structure and its beauty. The pillar support the roof but also giving the building its height. It's bring the church up that those see it on a hill that is lifted up in proclaiming this is the place that God dwells back in Jerusalem. The temple was up on a hill people would look up to the temple and say, where does my help come from their looking up to where God dwells with his people. The term buttress. You don't see this many non-often doesn't see this on buildings today.

It's often on old buildings.

Older cathedrals in a buttress is a structured that's outside of the building that upholds the walls. They some your translations might say grounder foundation. I'm sorry to break into the business is more of a external support wall it would run along the side of the building. Fulbright connotes a buttress is not a building's foundation is part of the supporting structure to be specific. A buttress helps to stabilize the walls and pillars of a large building a buttress is a support structure that reinforces the walls so this imagery is that we are the pillar and the buttress that is the support of the walls of the building and I don't think that Paul is mixing metaphors here when he also says in Ephesians 220 that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets foundation that is being laid here is on the prophets of the Old Testament, the apostles of the New Testament and then finally, that Christ is the cornerstone, but what does this make up where we have Old Testament, New Testament with Christ, we see the word of God is laid as the foundation, so Paul to call the church of Jesus Christ, the pillar and buttress of truth is to say that the church is to uphold the dwelling place of God and his truth. We are to be as God's people defined by the truth of God's word Jesus prayed for us back in John chapter 17.

Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth, and so the truth of the Bible. This foundation is to form and inform the church as we are, the pillar and support of that church and wherever the church is faithful.

That is the true church. I think Roman Catholicism makes this mistake where they call themselves the Catholic Catholic meaning universal. They claim to be the church.

When we say holy Catholic Church.

They say that's us and we don't know. It's wherever the truth of the gospel is communicated. That is the little see Catholic church as a denomination. The Church of Christ met a guy there. That said, yes, we are the church were called the church of Christ, as though we could change Grace Church to the true church and officially we are the only faithful church in the world know where ever God's word is faithfully communicated the gospel that is the person and work of Jesus Christ is clear that is the true church. What happens is we are committed to our denominations like the Roman Catholics who stay there whole lives of the Church of Christ, where the church drifts I think were in a good spot. I love the PCA and I think were in a good place and we do preach and teach the true gospel where a church might drift and start teaching false doctrine and heresy. They ceased to preach the gospel, and sadly ceased to be a church at all. So again, where weather and Presbyterian churches, Baptist churches, Anglican churches, nondenominational churches, if that truth is communicated. They are part of the truth of our older ministers. Harry Reeder said you want to be Presbyterian go to heaven. I wouldn't take any chances, but I made it though. You those men out there in the world and you go out in the mission field and you realize how minimal the Christian witness is in me on more you are thrilled to hear a clear gospel message from our Baptist brothers. They are our brethren where they are teaching these truths. They are with us and if we are wrong and we go to. Again we go to the word. We go to the foundation where we are denying the faith that is taught in Scripture, we must repent, we must correct our teaching aware we are correct and I mean we not just pastors and teachers, not just elders and deacons but I mean the church that is the congregation. We must stand firm on the foundation of God's word and we must herald the truth. We must teach the truth to those in our families and friend groups. We must be a witness to the truth but to those I'm thinking there might be a few on live stream and I know there are many in America that it's just them in the Bible. They don't have a membership anywhere in a local congregation might be here visiting this evening I want to encourage you even if it's not this church, you need to join the local church if you love Christ, you must love his bride. That is, the church need to be around other believers that can encourage you they can stir you up to love and good works that in can encourage you if you can stand with them on this foundation and you can hear the word preached and taught and administer sacraments and and have no the bread of life and receive this cup that is the blood of Christ. You have to have these elements and receive it by faith and be counted among those that are professing faith in Christ.

Ephesians 221 says the whole structure being joined together were called to be joined together as the local church growing into the holy temple of the Lord because we are in Christ, we are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the spirit. I imagine these pillars and these buttresses that are coming in. Buttresses are often made of bricks in this brick-and-mortar that are being fused together, they are drawing in their connectedness with the local churches.

We are connected together as individuals within the corporate body of believers. The greatest truth is that God dwells with us.

Can Hughes says because God dwells in us, we come together becomes the church of the living God. This is the great glory of the assembly of the Lord's day, all of us make up the assembly of the living God in the most important thing we are the temple of the living God. I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them.

I will be their God and they shall be my people. God tells us in his word that by his spirit. He will come and dwell with us.

He makes his dwelling among us. That is the greatest reason that we must be here locally. Second, we see the confession of the church in your Bible. Depending on the layout. It might have six individual lines. Again, this is a portion of a him but these six lines are divided up into couplets each every two lines go together and work in this phrase of, sort of a him together. Verse 16 starts off great indeed. We confess, is the mystery of godliness back in Paul's day godliness would would be a reference to just the content of the faith. We typically think of sanctification are growing in holiness. Godliness is a more expansive idea to refer to the faith only the faith itself, but also holiness personal holiness that comes with the faith. It was crucial for Paul to illustrate this, because back at that time there was a bit of the division between the faith that is the belief and the behavior that comes with it. So there is the doctrine the truth that we believe the orthodoxy, but there's also the or the proxy. The practice of the Christian faith. There was an effort by false teachers to divide these things and so Paul saying don't divide these things put them together. We start with faith in Christ, we have to have conduct that follows confession with no conduct is a false convert. They profess faith, but they don't show their faith by any works.

James warns of this will show you my faith. There will be evidence to my faith also conduct with no confession we have Pharisee is and that's people working hard and earning their way to heaven with no reliance upon God we have to have both a confession and conduct. We have to have both professing these truths and living life in light of these truths, but finally these six lines and Scriptures are divided up and so first the first two on the revelation of Christ. First, he was manifest in the flesh is pretty straightforward, but it refers to the incarnation is that Christ dwells with us God the eternal son before he was in the world and took on flesh he was creating in the beginning with the father he was creating the world he was creating the heavens and the earth.

But then John chapter 1 verse 14 tells us, he took on flesh and dwelt among us, and the word here is not just simply body, but it is flesh. It is this is flesh that the apostles could hug his neck.

Thomas could feel his hands. He was very much a real man.

There was humanity to this Christ.

And so even other other hymns within Scripture. The common Christie Philippians 2 emphasizes that no and though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross in the incarnation we see that God the son, the Lord Jesus Christ shows his power by coming into his own creation, clothing, human flesh dwelling among us, tabernacle, and among us John chapter 1 verse 14 were his Tabernacle in Maine to dwell with us so we see the incarnation.

Second, we see the vindication vindicated by the spirit. Some your translations might say justified by the spirit.

This is not justified in the sense of having his sins forgiven. Christ had no sin to be forgiven of. He was the man with without sin.

Rather, the resurrection serves to vindicate the claims that Jesus made about himself. People doubted him throughout his earthly ministry. They minimized him.

They told him you're just oh, you're just the sum of that carpenter, your Joseph son, Pharisees didn't believe him when he said, before Abraham was, I am there were these claims that he was not able to show them the full glory of his divinity.

So finally, with the resurrection. This is a big step in effect, the burial was important Christ burial prove that he truly died and he adored the curse for his people. You and I the ways the citizens and left the wages of sin or death, and we've heard this many times in indoor death on our behalf of Christ had not died, there would not be any assurance that truly that our sins and been paid for his death, his burial, and then finally his resurrection were essential for our redemption.

We needed the resurrection, because it showed that Christ could conquer sin and death. He overturns this unjust verdict that he endured on earth he accomplished the redemptive work by having power over sin and death. Romans eight tells us that the spirit of God raised Christ up from the dead, and it's through the spirit Romans chapter 1 the spirit of holiness was declared with the power to be the son of God by his resurrection from the dead. It was by the power of the Holy Spirit Christ to be raised up to this first couple of these first two lines are pointing to the supernatural power of Christ.

The divinity of Christ is incarnation in his resurrection, revealing that he is truly the son of God.

Second, we see the witnesses of Christ, we have one supernatural and one natural.

First, he was seen by angels.

Angels bore witness to who Christ was.

They saw him at the incarnation angels told Mary and Joseph about what was going on. Angels were their president Christ temptation in the desert they they appear to him and strengthen him at Gethsemane, angels came to him and attended him at the empty tomb. Now Lord of glory is in heaven and angels see that he is truly the son of God, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise is the same Jesus that we know will return again as our king and our deliverer. Second, we see the proclaimed among the nations is going back to Pentecost. Christ was proclaimed among the Jews, as well as the Gentiles. This was an absolute scandal, but Peter gets up in front of thousands and says the promise is for you and your children.

They hear the Abraham a covenant there. You and your children, but also those who are far off in those far off are you and I are the Gentiles. Those that would be grafted into the covenant say that we are offered this gospel and that alone was a scandal but then we see the reception of Christ is believed on in the world is not believed on by anybody. He's believed on by these these foreign unclean Gentiles. They are offered. This gospel message in Romans 11 says that we are grafted into the Abraham a covenant we are making up the Christian church being called out of the world called out of darkness, and the Christian church is now made up of people from every nation, tribe and tongue.

Galatians 3 Paul tells us there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

We are children of Abraham that expands this by his good pleasure because Christ came in the world to his own. He was in the world. The world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came into his own and his people did not receive him.

He came into the Jewish people and they denied him all who did receive believed on his name, he gave the right to become children of God that is us clear for the children of God. We are in the household of God. Now we dwell together as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Finally we see taken up in glory at the end of Christ ministry. Luke and acts both bear witness to the ascension of Christ.

Luke 24 verse 51. While he blessed him. He parted with them and each was carried up into heaven, they worshiped and returned to Jerusalem with great joy in acts chapter 1 the angels come to the disciples as he was ascended into heaven. They say this Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same as you saw him go into heaven, referencing his second coming in so we see and again these are fundamentals. It's a good thing. We see this birth, resurrection, proclamation, reception in the ascension of Christ, all in a simple fragment of a him I will encourage you while you're at Grace Church and not take the music for granted, but to read the words of the songs that we sing. Even before I came up here was underlining some of the lyrics to some of these hymns and the great truths that are being communicated through the worship music here. We want to write these truths on our hearts and prepare our hearts as we go in for worship we must sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to the Lord. In closing, I want to encourage you with a few things know that first.

This is our home. This is our household. This is the family of God. We, the church are a family we are brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers. This is where we dwell in unity and while we see more and more of a of hostile culture coming at the church. Are we see in the media more more resistance want us to prepare to give a defense to anyone who asks for the reason for the hope that is within us as we tell the truth of God's word. Let us do it with gentleness and respect. Let the word of God speak. We are the pillar and the buttress of truth, we uphold the truth we uphold this gospel message. Secondly, we must address hard subjects. Martin Luther said we must always address controversial topics. Some of you might think doing all we have to talk about gender roles. The cultures pushing a quality we really have to put such an emphasis on gender roles within the church LB GT plus to be really and go into that.

We have to we have to talk about heaven and hell yes yes we do.

Weird. Called by God to uphold the truth of God's word. We are called to preach the whole counsel of God, regardless of cultural or societal pressure.

If God's word addresses that we must address it. Finally, we must follow God's word as it is revealed, we must verify the truth. We must go to our study Bibles go to warm pastors go please talk to us, go to commentaries go to original languages go into the text.

Let us be good meridians and study and seek out the truth. Let us be defined by the truth obsessed with the truth.

Let us love the truth of God's word. I'm still praying that a visitor might come up to me one day and say y'all preach the truth here you really love the truth that Grace Church. I do not want my ears tickled, I do not want you to soft pedal the gospel. I want you to proclaim the truth. Let us be defined as people that love the truth above all else. As we know the confession of our faith. It will in turn continually sharpen us recruit recalibrated us and correct our wrong thinking. Let us shape our Christian conduct. So as you leave here not remember God's word is the foundation.

The foundation laid on the upon the prophets and the apostles, Christ, who is the cornerstone we must uphold the truth of God's word and a lost and dying world spring heavenly father we do look to Christ as our Lord is our Redeemer is our Savior, we ask that you would continue to write this truth in our hearts that we would love your truth and uphold the truth and bear witness to the truth in every opportunity that we have a snobby ill prepared when the moment comes for us to proclaim boldly the truth of your word. Let us be ready. Let us stand on the foundation and let us uphold the truth. Let us be strong let us bear the burden of being a blood bought disciple of Christ must be fully committed to your truth sounds and we pray