About this sermon
Paul’s final charge to Timothy is to guard the deposit entrusted to him and to avoid irreverent babble and the contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. The Levites guarded the tabernacle, and Adam was placed in the garden to keep it but let the unclean in. The deposit is the gospel, the Scriptures, and the flock, and the pastor is an under-shepherd. Christ, the true King and Shepherd, guards his church through faithful ministry. Paul’s letter ends as it began: “Grace be with you.”
Sermon transcript
First reading Genesis 2, 15 through 17. Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it. the Lord God commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.
Numbers 18 1-7 So the Lord said to Aaron, you and your sons and your father’s household with you shall bear the guilt in connection with the sanctuary. And you and your sons with you shall bear the guilt in connection with your priesthood, but bring with you also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be joined with you and serve you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.
And they shall thus attend to your obligation and the obligation of all the tent. But they shall not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary and the altar, or both they and you shall die, will die. They shall be joined with you and attend to the obligations of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent. But an outsider may not come near you. you shall attend to the obligations of the sanctuary and the obligations of the altar so that there will no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel. Behold, I myself have taken your fellow Levites from among the sons of Israel. They are a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to perform the service for the tent of meeting. But you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and inside the veil. And you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as a bestowed service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.
First Timothy 6, 20 and 21. O Timothy, guard that, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter, and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed, and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.
That ends the reading of God’s holy inspired word. May it be a blessing to us. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come to the end of this book, the end of this epistle. We thank you for the way that you have been with us, but we have a little bit more. Be with us, strengthen us, show us your word of truth. And cause us to long for heaven because of this. Cause us to know the Lord Jesus Christ. For truly, heaven is heaven only because of the Lord Jesus Christ. And because you are there, oh Father, and because your Holy Spirit is there. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Well, we come, as I said, to the end of 1 Timothy. And it is possible that these are the last words of Paul. The last inspired words that Paul will ever write. This could be Paul’s last letter. you might be thinking that seems really strange because this letter has a one in front of it and there is excuse me a number one in front of it and there’s a number two in the next letter so this is not paul’s last letter well it’s easy for us because hindsight is 20 20 we know that there’s going to be another one But Paul does not know that. And so this, in his mind, if we can push away against reading the Bible as a completed whole and read it as Timothy would have read it, read it as Paul wrote it, We understand that this very well could be his last.
He could be beheaded the next day after this, for all he knows. For he is not guaranteed another day. Well, we know that it is not his last. We come to this letter. We come to the end of this letter. We notice in this last year and three months, this last 15 months that we have spent in it, we see that this letter begins in the same way that it ends. And it ends in the same way that it began.
It begins by telling us to oppose error and to proclaim truth. And that is what we are told to do in this passage, to oppose error and to proclaim truth. 1 Timothy 1 verse 5 is a verse that really is a thread that works itself throughout the whole letter. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. It is love that causes the preacher to oppose error and to proclaim truth. We might review this letter, this epistle, just very briefly what we have seen in these last 15 months.
Chapter 1, oppose those who are false and who are teaching false ideas and false things. Chapter 2, deals with women, deals with praying for all people. even for wicked rulers and wicked magistrates. They are to be prayed for. Chapter 3, what did we learn there? We learned about pastors. We learned about deacons and how the church is to be set up Chapter four, we read about the latter days and we have another mixture of instruction that is given to us there. In chapter five, we have instruction on widows and how we are to deal with elders in the church And then chapter six, we have profession of faith, how to make profession of faith and the basis for making a profession of faith.
And we also have in chapter six, a glorious vision of Jesus’s second coming for he is coming. Oppose error and proclaim truth. In our passage though, the one that we come to 20 and 21, we have Paul telling Timothy that you must guard the deposit which is entrusted to you. Very particular language, very specific language. It is the same kind of language that would be used for a bank account. guard the deposit that has been entrusted to you at the bank. You might say that to your bank Second Timothy, which we know that Paul wrote later, has something else to say about this that really gets at the heart of it, of reaffirming what he says here.
Second Timothy 1.14, Paul says, by the spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit which is entrusted to you. We have to ask ourselves, What is the deposit?
What is entrusted to Timothy? What is entrusted to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? There are a couple of things. We could say even a few. That which is entrusted to the church is the gospel itself. That which is given to the church and deposited in the church is the scriptures by which we know and learn that gospel of Jesus crucified and raised for us. And that deposit, which is given to Timothy as well, is the flock itself. It is the church of which he is a minister. And we have in 1 Timothy a glorious picture of the gospel which is to be protected, which is to be deposited, and is entrusted, and is to be guarded.
In 1 Timothy 3.16 we have those wonderful words, that poem, that song. He, that is Jesus Christ, God, was manifested in the flesh. vindicated by the Spirit, Jesus was seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, and Jesus was taken up in glory. The church has the gospel, and the church must guard against error and proclaim that truth. So I’m not making it specific, you see, it’s the gospel, it is the scriptures and it is the flock of people, the flock of sheep that are deposited into Timothy’s care.
What does it mean to be a pastor? It really means to be a shepherd. Timothy was a shepherd, he was the under-shepherd. Ultimately, Jesus Christ is the true shepherd, and the good shepherd, the full shepherd. And everyone else who is under him is a minister, is just an under-shepherd.
And they answer to him. It is important that we understand the way that a pastor answers to the Lord Jesus Christ, and will answer to him on the day of judgment. Pastor Knox and I will give an account for our ministry among us, and so will any other pastor who has come before, and any pastor who will be in the future, whether you stay here, whether Lord and His providence takes you elsewhere, Wherever you grew up, every minister, every pastor will give an account before God on that day. Really, we must understand that the church of Jesus Christ is not fun and games. It is a serious matter, a serious matter of opposing error and of proclaiming the truth. How are we to understand guarding this deposit. It’s interesting as we look at the way that words are used in the Bible. You might think of what happens in 1 Samuel chapter 17. In 1 Samuel chapter 17, we have the precursors to what’s eventually going to be David and Goliath. Remember the story of young David during that time. Young David is just a shepherd, but his father Jesse sends him to go bring some things to his brothers.
Bring some parched grain and bring some bread, 10 loaves of bread. I want you to give that to your brothers, Jesse says. What I also want you to do is take this cheese, take this cheese and I want you to give that to the commander of the thousand. That is the commander of the thousand men that David’s brothers was in.
You can imagine him carrying this, this deposit that has been given to him. He has to deliver this so that they might be nourished. Can you imagine what would have happened if someone had tried to take that, if there were some marauders on the trail there? Surely he would have defended that with his life.
He wanted to get that to his brothers, to get that gift to the commanders. when David says that he wants to go face the giant, to face the giant where his brothers, his older brothers, all the thousands of Israelites, none of them were desirous to go to war with one-on-one against Goliath.
He says, I’m going to do it. I want to do it. And they say, Well, you’re a little young and we’re not sure you ought to do that. And he says, you know, listen, I have experience in these kinds of things. Do you understand that I guard my father’s flock? And there have been times when a lion comes or a bear comes. When that lion or that bear comes and tries to steal from the flock, you know what I do? I’ve killed them. I can kill a lion. I can kill a bear. That is how important it is to guard my father’s flock.
What a picture of the gospel and what a wonderful picture of guarding against error and guarding the sheep We are told, Timothy is told, Timothy, guard the deposit very serious. As we look in Genesis chapter 2, we see the idea of guarding as well. In Genesis 2, chapter 15, we see that Adam is told, as he is placed in the garden, to work it. and to keep it.
I think some people have a bit of a romanticized view of what Adam was doing there. As if he just has a leisure time to just garden. And he has just cut a little here, and plant a little here, and prune back a little bit there. He certainly was doing that.
When we come to that word, keep it, and then keep it, not just work it, but keep it, it is the same word in the Greek translation of the Old Testament as Paul uses for Timothy in our target passage. He has to keep it, but there is really a guardianship, almost a militaristic understanding of it, as if he were a security guard for the garden. We all know the story that the serpent enters, tempts Eve, and eventually he partakes of it too, Adam partakes of it as well. But what should he have done?
Understand that this was no regular garden. The Garden of Eden was a sanctuary. The Garden of Eden was a holy place and nothing unclean was to enter in because he was to guard against that happening. Adam was, among other things, a priest in the garden. What is a priest? A priest is one who ministers before the face of God.
How was Adam born? Adam was born before the face of God. God shaped him, molded him, and he breathed into him the breath of life. The Holy Spirit entered into him and he became a living being. He began his existence face-to-face with God. He was a priest in that garden. We could say, retroactively, he was a Levite in that garden. He was to guard it and to protect it. And if anything had come in would make it impure. He should have entered into a form of holy war against it. He should have destroyed whatever entered in. He allowed that which was unclean to enter into the holy place and defile it. And God kicked Adam and Eve out. He allowed the anti-Lord, to be his lord and his wife’s lord.
Interesting though, that same word, keep it, guard it, be a security guard. We turn to Numbers chapter 18, and guess what? The same word is used. Keep it, that is guard it, like a security guard. And that is what the Levites are in Numbers chapter 18. There was another place earlier on in Numbers that I would have been glad to read to you. Same idea. Guard the sanctuary. Guard the tent.
Do not let anyone or anything come in. Even fellow Levites that were unclean. Even fellow Hebrews, they were not allowed into that place. And especially Gentiles, for they have filth running through them ceremonially. They have pig and other sorts of creeping, crawling things within them. You cannot allow them to enter into the sanctuary, which is a holy place.
The Levites ministered before the face of God, but the Levites were security guards. We could say, Adam, Guard the deposit, that is the garden that’s been given to you. Levites, guard the deposit that has been given to you, namely the holy place and the most holy place, for they are to be holy unto the Lord. And if anything unclean or anyone were to enter into that sanctuary, that holy place, We see that they were to be put to death.
Really, it is holy war once again to go into defense mode and to go into attack mode and really show no mercy. You can’t enter into this place. You will defile it. Gives a picture of what Paul is telling Timothy. Now, don’t misunderstand me. In no way, shape, or form am I saying that Timothy ought to enter into a literal holy war. Not at all. Those are Old Testament concepts and they pass away with the land and with those people.
But as New Testament believers, we understand that the war that we rage is not literal, it is not carnal, but it is a holy war before our God. Ephesians talks about this at the end, talking about the sword, and the belt, and the helmet, and the armor, and the shield, and all of these things. And 2 Corinthians 10, Paul says similar words, with holy war in mind, but spiritual holy war. for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are divine. They have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. It is a holy war. but the tools of prayer, preaching the word of God, and even the sacraments.
And these are all to be protected, for they have been entrusted to the elders, entrusted to the pastors, entrusted to all of you. Now the ancient people, the Hebrews, they had these things entrusted to them as well, but they were unfaithful in them. That is what almost our whole Old Testament is about. The people who had something entrusted to them, and they were not faithful to them. Romans 3-2 tells us that the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. This is very serious. They had the oracles of God. They had the prophets, they had the scriptures, they had God himself and they were unfaithful.
Romans chapter nine talks about the deposit that was entrusted to the Jewish church and the deposit is to the Israelites. What is deposited to them that they did not guard the adoption of sons, the glory of God. The covenants were given to them. The giving of the law was given to them. Worship, the promises of God, the patriarchs, to the Old Testament church, all these were given.
And they failed to guard this deposit. As we sang Psalm 127, there we read about the guards, the guards of the city. guarding the deposit that was given to them. But notice that we sang in Psalm 127 verse 1, that unless the Lord guards, unless He is doing it, that they do so in vain.
Ultimately, It is not the pastors who are doing it. It’s not Timothy. It is the Lord Jesus Christ himself who is the King. Great David’s greater son who sits on his throne and he rules and he reigns. And through the means of the church, he is protecting and he is guarding these things, guarding the oracles of God. and the Lord Jesus Christ as the King. He is protecting his church even as he has told Timothy and Paul to do.
He says, Timothy, avoid irreverent babble. How does our translation have it? It has it differently. Avoiding worldly and empty chatter. before the founding of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, there was a little bit of irreverent babble. There was some godless chatter.
There were missionaries who came along and they said, You know, we need a new idea of missions. We don’t need to worry about the old reasons for missions. There was a missionary, a professor in China who also functioned as a missionary, and she said the old reasons for missions, original sin, the deity of Christ, the atonement, Christ’s resurrection, Those are the old reasons, and they’re worn out like an old cloak. We’ve moved into the modern age. People don’t need those things. new reasons for missions. All we need is medicine and agriculture and education and engineering. These kinds of things that will cause the Chinese people and other places that have a third world existence, if we can just help them to modernize. They don’t need this superstition. They don’t need this magic religion, she said. Well, certainly we are in favor of our missionaries helping out with medicine. I hope so.
Agriculture, education and engineering. But if it does not come with the gospel of Christ crucified, then even our medicine and our agriculture and our education and engineering will be a part of that irreverent babble. and that empty chatter. The gospel must be proclaimed, and error must be avoided, and at times it must be opposed. It must be guarded against. And Timothy ends.
Paul writes, grace be with you that is how our translation of the pew has it grace be with you now if you to read this you might think you have one minister just blessing another minister you could think that it’s simply me saying to pastor knox grace be to you that would be worthwhile if you read it that way But the Greek gives us something that the English does not.
It gives you in the plural. Southern speak would say, grace be to y’all. All right. Grace be to everyone. Now, you might be puzzled by that. You begin, and this is given to Timothy. This is a personal letter, is it not? So you would expect a personal one-on-one sort of greeting, and you would expect a personal one-on-one sort of blessing at the end. Why is it? that it’s not a personal one-on-one blessing at the end. It is plural.
The reason is because Paul knew that what he was writing was scripture. And it was to be read in all the churches. It’s not just the personal interaction of one minister to another. This is to be read in all the churches of Jesus Christ, starting in Ephesus, on throughout the world, all the way to Grace OPC in Swickly. Timothy knew this is the inspired, inerrant, God-breathed, Holy Spirit-wrought Word of God.
That’s why he is saying, grace be to you all. Or if I may, grace be to yins. This letter, Paul understood, and I believe Timothy understood as well, was part of the deposit that Timothy was to guard, that he was to keep. Grace be to you, Timothy. Grace be to you all, church of God. But understand this, there is no grace if there is not that deposit. There is no grace if there is no gospel. Grace be to you all. Grace be to Yenise. Let us pray.
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