Page 84 - Pastoral Epistles student textbook

come to Christ. But on the other hand, “whoever” chooses to come will be saved (Romans
10:13)

John 6:44. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I
will raise them up at the last day.
We know that the Holy Spirit convicts of sin and righteousness and judgement (John 16:8)
Jesus went on to explain: “Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning
righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning
judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (John 16:9–11, ESV).

The world is a sinful place, and one of the Holy Spirit’s tasks is to convict the world of its sin.
No amount of preaching, pleading, or pointing of fingers will bring about the conviction of sin,
unless the Holy Spirit is at work in the sinner’s heart. It is the Spirit’s job to convict. And what
is the most basic sin of which the world is guilty? Jesus specifies it as unbelief. The convicting
power of the Holy Spirit is at work in the world “because they believe not in [Christ].” Once a
person responds to the Spirit’s conviction and turns to faith in Christ, the other sins he
practiced will be taken care of. It is the sin of unbelief—a refusal to trust in Jesus—that is
primary.
So, while God sovereignly chose those who would be saved according to his foreknowledge, every
man is responsible to respond in faith and will be held accountable for accepting or rejecting Christ.
Both God’s sovereignty and man’s free will are taught in Scripture!
Our duty is to share the Gospel with everyone!

When people are asked to rank their greatest fears, the fear of death ranks second after the fear of
speaking in public! I don’t know where the fear of confronting someone who is in sin would rank, but I
suspect that it would be somewhere near the top of the list.
2 Timothy 2:23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because
you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome
but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Opponents must be
gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a
knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the
trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

Many pastors are afraid to deal with sinning church members.
Whether we like it or not (and we probably should not like it!), we all need to learn
how to give biblical correction to those who are in sin or in serious doctrinal error.
Without correction, churches and families tend to fall apart. In our text, Paul shows
Timothy how to carry out the gentle art of correction. It applies especially to church
leaders, but it also applies to every Christian, because we all have relationships that require at times, if
we truly love others, for us to offer biblical correction. So, although it is never a pleasant task, it is a
part of biblical love.

Paul shows that we should not argue or quarrel, but he also says that we should correct those who are
in opposition to the Lord. He gives us three guidelines:

1. Correction must be done wisely
V 23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know
they produce quarrels.
2. Correction must be done with gentleness

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