So, obviously we know that Alexander and Hymenaeus are people who are known amongst the congregation,
they've been coming around, they're teaching some false doctrines, and so it wouldn't be
right for the Apostle Paul to come and say, hey, be careful with people who just teach
false doctrine, I'm not going to say who it is, you know, I don't want to say any names
because I don't want to offend anybody.
Well, that doesn't help anyone, okay, because then at that point the congregants, or Timothy
should I say, probably would have the response of saying, well, who are you talking about
specifically so I can warn people about?
Well what if Paul the Apostle just played it safe and said, well, I don't want to offend
anybody, I don't think it's right to call people out, I don't feel like it's right to
name the names, you know, he would be placing Timothy in a situation, a difficult situation,
where he would have to discern, well, who is he talking about, you know, is it I Lord
kind of thing, whereas where Paul is specifically naming these people, Timothy knows, okay,
I know who you're talking about, I'm going to, you know, call them out publicly, rebuke
them before all that others may fear.
And the reason I make that point is because of the fact that people get offended sometimes
when we preach a sermon and we call people out by name.
They think it's, you know, untactful or it's just not appropriate, it's not Christ-like
to call people out by name, you should call them up and talk to them about it, but folks,
if the Bible talks about or gives us examples of people being called out by name, we should
do the same if they're dangerous people, okay?
You know, we shouldn't beat around the bush and say, you know, there's this one guy out
there, I don't want to say who his name is, you know what I mean, but this pastor's teaching
false doctrine, you know, you got to be aware of this one pastor, I'm not going to call
out the church, I'm not going to call out the name, you're just going to have to figure
it out by yourself.
Now, folks, it's important for us to say, hey, it's Norm Diamante, okay?
It's important to say, hey, it's this pastor, it's this person or whatever, so that you
know who we're talking about, so you're not left in your mind doubting, man, I wonder
if he's talking about, you know, some other YouTuber or something like that, no, now you
know who I'm talking about, okay?
Because his name is called out.
So that's the first thing that I want you to notice is the fact that Paul does not beat
around the bush when it comes to warning the flock regarding bad people.
He says it's Hymenaeus, it's Alexander, it's Philetus, and in fact, he doesn't even beat
around the bush when it comes to people he just doesn't like, right?
Because he talks about homogenies and he talks about Alexander the coppersmith, who we don't
really know if they're false prophets or something, but he's saying, hey, they did
me much evil.
So I just want to warn you about this particular person because of the fact that, you know,
they did me much evil, the Lord reward him according to his work.
I mean, he is given an imprecatory statement regarding Alexander the coppersmith saying,
I hope God rewards him according to his work because he did me much evil.