LISTEN
This sermon was preached by Phil Biggs at the CCM Kingsway site of Christ Church Manchester on Sunday 28th January 2021.
SERIES
This message was part of the ‘SERIES NAME’ series, preached at Christ Church Manchester’s church in Burnage in EARLY/MID/LATE YEAR. The full series included the following sermons:
BIBLE VERSES
This sermon was based on 2 Timothy 2:14-26.
Dealing With False Teachers
14Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. 15Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 16Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. 17Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. 19Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”
20In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. 21Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
22Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
KEY POINTS
Truth Transforms
-
John 8:31 “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
-
Jesus knew that He himself was and is the freeing truth that would break the strangle-hold on them.
-
The great news of the gospel, the message about Jesus is this: by receiving and acting upon the truth about Him: that He is the Son of God, that his death dealt with sin and his resurrection brings new life. Receive this and your life is changed for all time.
Truth Brings Freedom
-
The freedom that truth brings means that our faith is not a series of works for us to complete but rather a journey of discovery into a Godly lifestyle resulting in the weak and simple of this world, you and I, being deployed into battle, holy and useful to our Master, prepared, then, for any good work that He may choose to give us.
-
There is truth, in the form of Jesus, that reveals the captivity imposed by the devil. Truth will also provide a way out from that captivity and establishes a new relationship that then starts the cycle over again. Meaning that you and I are now also ministers of this truth. That which we have received we freely give.
-
Our challenge today is this: having been given access to truth, hearing and understanding as we do, what will we do with it? Jesus opponents were the Pharisees, we handle our opponents with the same strategy, truth.
Truth is a Powerful Tool
-
Even the pursuit of truth can bring down governments, let alone the full revelation of truth itself.
-
The amazing part of all of this is that we have been given access to the greatest truth of all and our access is not just to hear it, but to do it, to use it, that sword has been placed in our hands. This is so important at a time when truth is distorted or invisible.
-
An example of that would be that we have to live with, so called, fake news, we must handle the influence of social media so, we each have to take some responsibility to measure the accuracy of what is being put in front of us.
-
It has always been in God’s heart that truth would be the standard by which He and His people are measured. Our Father has always known that Satan’s greatest strength is also his greatest weakness. Satan has used lies to manipulate and deceive, he has done that incredibly successfully for thousands of years. But lies are exposed with the simplest of acts, speaking the truth.
MORE SERMONS
To see more sermons from Christ Church Manchester, you can visit our sermons page, or why not consider subscribing on iTunes.