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Amen. I pray this morning that you are
thankful for the leadership that the Lord has provided in our
lives, both through His word, through His Holy Spirit that
lives in us, that continually point us to Christ our Lord and
our Savior. You have your Bibles if you
would. Turn to 1st.
Timothy, as we continue our journey and looking at this
pastoral epistle covering for us biblical ministers and biblical
ministry. I can't think of a more.
Needed message for our culture than what we're going to see
today. A message that I pray would
cause men of God to rise up in this church, in the homes that
are represented here in the community that we live in.
I pray that the Spirit would prompt us, nudge us, convict us,
urge us, and being obedient to the things that we're going to
see today in this text. So today what?
Paul is going to do, he's going to continue teaching Timothy on
the heels of warning Timothy and in essence, warning the entire.
Church at Ephesus about the dangers of false teachers.
He's going to now give Timothy a lesson on the path of a true man
of God. What path should a man of God
truly walk? What path?
Should he follow, He begins to this section, as we'll see in a
moment, with a statement or a term Man of God, he says, But
you, oh man of God. He he juxtaposes the ungodliness
of false teachers with Timothy, who is a man of God.
And he says, But you, oh man of God.
Paul borrowing a term from the Old Testament, barring a term
that was used to describe the prophets of old as men of God,
people who live for God, true children of God, representatives
of God. This term man of God would have
spoken about a person's relationship to God.
A person would be a man of God, who of course has a relationship
to him. He belonged to God.
And he was loved by God, and he in return, because of the love
that he received, loved God as well.
This also speaks of his life unto God, his obedient testimony
characters as it's displayed in his life.
This. Term man of God, again, that
Paul borrows from the Old Testament.
It would have spoken volumes into the authority in which this
man would stand. He literally stood in the
authority of God and in the authority of God's power and
God's powerful word. It also would have pointed to
his message message. That these prophets would have
boldly proclaimed. They would have proclaimed the
Word of God, the Word of truth. It would have been bold in this
proclamation. And it's clear from all of
scripture when the term man of God is used, it's used for a
man. Who walked a different path, a
different path from the world, a different path that he once
walked. He walked the path, pointed
others to God, pointed others to the truth.
And Paul takes this term, a man of God, and he applies it.
To his young protege. Can you imagine when Timothy saw
that? Because the godliest person that
Timothy has probably ever known in his life is the apostle Paul.
And there's something about it when a person who mentors us
also encourages us with these kinds of terms.
Timothy, understanding Paul is probably one of the most godly
men that he's ever known. And then Paul to now turn the
tables and to write to Timothy and to refer.
To him as a man of God, I know that it thrilled his heart that
the man of God, the apostle Paul, who had set him such an
example, because he was following the example of Christ,
he now refers to him with such a term.
When they understood the weight of this term, it wasn't
something that was just being thrown around this this term
accompanied men such as Elijah and Elijah and Isaiah and Moses.
Many of the prophets of Old Paul now uses it to refer to this
young pastor here at Ephesus. But not only does he refer to
him as a man of God. What we're going to look at this
morning is the fact that he then.
Follows it up with several imperatives.
He's then going to command him. Because you are a man of God, I
want to teach you how to live up to being that which God has
called you in. Christ Jesus to be.
Well, this has application not just to those of us who are
pastors here today. It has an application not to
those of us who are men. It has applications to all who
are in Christ because it is his grace that has allowed us to be
called children of God, men of God, women of God.
And we have been made that through the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. And we are not yet perfect, or
at least I'm not, and I hope you don't think you are.
We are being conformed into that which God has already called us
to the image of Christ. Paul using that same idea here.
When he refers to Timothy as man of God, then he's going to
clearly define the path that Timothy.
And all who aspire to be men of God, a women of God, a children
of God, need to travel in this. Life let's read it together.
First Timothy chapter 6 verse 11 and I will go ahead and tell you
this. There's much to be covered here,
so put your listening ears on, he says.
But you, man of God. Flee from all of this.
All of what? All of the thievery, All the
conniving, all of the greed, all the covetousness.
Of the false teachers that we talked about last week and we
see in the Scripture above this, he says flee from all of this
and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the
faith. Take hold of the eternal life to
which you were called when you made your good confession, in
the presence of many witnesses, in the sight of God who gives
life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who, while
testifying before Pontius Pilate, made the good
confession, I charge. You to keep this command without
spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ. To which God will bring about in
his own time. God is the blessed and only
ruler, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, who alone is
immortal, and who lives an unapproachable life, whom no one
has seen or can see. To him the honor and might
forever. Amen.
Let's pray together, Father, in the name of Jesus, we come to
you now and we ask as we open your word that you would unfold
the truth that you desire for us to see in this, this day, and
that that truth would do what you desire for it to do in
transforming us. What if it be to grow the
believer who has already surrendered to Christ as Lord
and Savior? Lord use it to do that.
What we ask? Also, that you would use it to
draw the center out of the darkness of sin into the light
of Jesus Christ. That you would use it to bring
conviction and regeneration upon the life of the unbeliever
today. That they would be regenerated
to new life and faith, and that they would truly believe and
trust in Jesus Christ because of the words of Scripture today.
Lord, may we give you all glory for it.
May your will be done through it.
And we pray these things in the mighty name of Jesus.
And all God's people said Amen. I told you there's a lot there,
and as you've seen as you were reading this passage, I know
what you think you have said under my preaching long enough
to to ask yourself this question.
As I was. Reading that enormous section of
Scripture, how long is this going to take?
Well, it's going to take from the beginning to the end.
But I can say this, when you get to the end, you won't be sorry
that we took the time that we took.
We learned much about the true man of God, and I'm going to
refer to him as the man of God because that is what Paul
referred to Timothy as. You can, if you are a female
here today, insert the term woman of God for you, but we're
going to see that He puts Him on a path.
He says, I don't want you to be like those false teachers that I
just instructed you about, because the true man of God's
path will be this. He begins with this.
It will be a fleeing path. Verse 11, he says, But you, man
of God, flee from all this again.
Flee from the teachings of the charlatans, flee from the
conniver and the lies of the false teachers.
Flee from false doctrine in any way, shape or form.
Flee from these things. Flee.
Just as Christian was warned to flee from the City of
Destruction and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress to flee.
Just as the Corinthian believers were warned to flee from sexual
immorality and idolatry, Flee to flee.
As Joseph fled from Potiphar's wife when she desired to have
sexual relations with him, Paul is instructing Timothy that part
of being a man of God is to constantly be fleeing.
This term flee here in the Greek is a term fugo, and that term
fugo means to flee as a fugitive.
It is Speaking of the flight of that person who is running from
those who are trying to detain or to arrested them.
He's saying, Timothy, I want you to flee as a criminal flees from
justice with all your might, with all your strength, run in
the opposite direction to flee. To flee from what?
We're Speaking of fleeing from wickedness.
And I want you to all to understand that we as men of God
and women of God are called to constantly flee from wickedness.
One of you may say, that's why I don't see any wickedness around
me. It might not be around you.
It might be in you. Because when he begins to tell
him to flee from wickedness, he's not leaving out the part
that we all know to be true. He could be Speaking of his own
inward sinful desires. And don't we have those?
How many of you here today you know that you have been washed
by the blood of Jesus Christ, that you have been granted
eternal life, that you have the hope of heaven because your
faith has been placed in Christ and Christ alone?
To save you, how many of you would say, I know that and
therefore I will experience eternal life in the presence of
God forever because of what Christ has done for me?
How many of you can confidently say that?
Did you know this? No matter how confidently you
can say that. Inwardly, in your flesh, you're
still not yet fully redeemed. There is in all of us abiding
and inward sinful desires, and the man of God is to be fleeing
from wickedness that that begins at home, that begins inside of
us, to ask God to show us any remaining corruption that may be
inside of us. Why not?
So that I can play with it, or I can coddle it so that I may flee
from it. So I may run as that fugitive
runs from law enforcement in the opposite direction of where all
the blinky red and blue lights are coming from.
Flee from wickedness. Just as Paul said in First
Corinthians chapter 6 verse 18, flee from sexual immorality,
First Corinthians 10/14 flee from idolatry in any way, shape
or form. Second Timothy 222 Paul also
says flee A youthful passions or laws.
This is a theme that Paul preaches throughout his whole
earthly ministry, that we are to flee from wickedness.
Even inward wickedness. And if you're not fleeing from
sin, you're flirting with. Sin.
Now I want to say that a little louder so that you get that, so
that you process that if you were not fleeing from sin, you
were flirting with sin. You know what I'm talking about,
That inward desire that you've not yet mortified, that you've
not yet crucified, that that is your little pet temptation, that
you you, you might on occasion dally with, entertain, ponder
upon. If you're not fleeing, you're
flirting. And flirting is very dangerous,
isn't it? Especially when we're commanded
in Scripture to flee. He's telling Timothy don't.
Flirt with your inward desires. Flee from them as.
Born again, as all of you who were here a moment ago testified
to you still have great need for continual fleeing in your life.
Flee from wickedness. But not only is he Speaking of
fleeing from wickedness inwardly, any remaining and
abiding human corruption that may.
Still exist in your life. He's also talking about fleeing
from worldliness. Not just the influence of sin
within, but the influence of sin from without.
Now, if we were to be honest, how many of you would say I feel
the pressure of the world constantly.
It's pushing me, it's pulling me, it's straining me, even at
times wooing and drawing me attempting.
To cause me to lose sight of Christ and to focus on the
things of the world. And he's telling young Timothy,
we have to flee as a man of God. We have to flee from wickedness,
but we also have to flee from worldliness.
That's what fleeing means, Fleeing from the things that are
ungodly, wickedness and worldliness.
Fleeing from the sinful influences not only of our
corrupt flesh, but fleeing from the influences of this corrupt
world. James and James Chapter 4 says
it like this. He said.
You adulterous people. Don't you know that?
Friendship with the world. That means enmity against God.
Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of God.
Of the world, excuse me, becomes an enemy of God.
Anyone who chooses to become a friend of the world becomes an
enemy of God. Now what he doesn't say is this.
You become a lesser friend or not so good friend, or maybe a
distant relative. No, he uses the term enemy.
He says you have put yourself in a position that is kicking
against God. But to the man of God, he says,
flee from this type of worldliness, flee from the
things of this world, the influences, the darkness that
is. Without as well as the darkness
that is within verse John chapter 2.
John says it like this and verse 15 do not love the world or
anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in them.
For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of
the eyes and the pride of life comes not from the Father, but
from the. World, the world and its desires
pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
John telling those who would be reading his writing, telling us
today, 2000 years later, the importance of fleeing from the
world, fleeing from any love that you might have from the the
for the world. Dying to this, fleeing from
worldliness all together. And please know this, the man of
God doesn't flee from these things, Wickedness and
worldliness, the game Christ, He flees from these things because
he has Christ. And I want you to understand the
difference. I want you to understand the
truth. You couldn't flee from the
things of the world world and the things of your own
wickedness were it not for Christ.
So he's telling Timothy, referring to him as a man of God
first, who has been made a man of God by the grace of God, that
the responsibility of a man of God who has graciously been made
a man of God by a sovereign act of God.
He is saying now you have the responsibility to flee, to flee
from wickedness and to flee from worldliness.
So let us, people of God, stop entertaining wickedness and
worldly corruption, and instead let us run from it as a
fugitive, running from those who desire to restrain them, because
your own wickedness and your own worldliness desires to restrain
you. May we flee, just as the Word of
God says. So a true man of God will take
the path that is fleeing, fleeing from wickedness, fleeing
from worldliness. Secondly.
As we follow this text out, the true man of God's path will be
not only a path of fleeing, but it will then be a path of
following. He says in verse 11, the second
part he says flee from all of this, all ungodliness and
worldliness. And then he says and.
Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and
gentleness. It's very similar to what we
read in our scripture reading a moment ago.
Second Peter chapter 1, verses 3 through 8.
As we read that together, Timothy is being.
Taught here, he's being taught to make effort to follow after
godly things. I'm so thankful that you were
all here this morning. And did you know that you made
the effort to be here to follow after godly things?
At least I hope that's why you were here, that you are truly
fleeing as a man of God, as a woman of God from wickedness and
worldliness, and you are pursuing godliness.
This is exactly what he's telling Timothy, the man of God
that he is to do because he is a man of God, to flee, but then
to. Follow to pursue some things,
and I'll move rather quickly through these things, but
they're so apparent and so consistent with scripture.
He says righteousness. What is righteousness?
Well, many of you you love the idea of positional.
Righteousness. The fact that righteousness has
been imputed to you by Christ. You had to do nothing to gain
that righteousness. Your standing will always be
righteous, and we're thankful for that, right?
And shouldn't we be? And so we all want to embrace
that doctrine, but we give a not a lot of thought to practical
righteousness. The fact that what we have been
made righteous is to now be lived out in our lives.
Practically. This is what he's talking about
here. He's talking about right living
and right living before God and others to actually do the right
thing unto the Lord and do the right thing unto other people.
Proverbs 2121 says this. Whoever pursues righteousness
and love finds life, prosperity, and honor first.
John 37 says, Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray.
The one who does what is right is righteous just as he is
righteous. There are many who you would
claim to have imputed righteousness.
But the problem is there is no practical righteousness coming
out of your life. So you have positional
righteousness, you say, in Christ?
But make no mistake about it, those who have been made
righteous will practice righteousness.
That is that practical righteousness coming out of our
lives in a manner that others will see Christ and His work in
and through us. It is not an accident that every
week I tell the believers and this assembly to go out and be
light. Let your light shine before men,
that they would see or get deeds and glorify your Father who is
in heaven. Why is that important?
Because the righteous. Will live righteously.
They will do that which God has commanded them to do, He says
pursue it. Pursue righteousness in every
area of your life. The things that you say, the
places that you go, the activities that you participate
in righteousness should be. Something that you make effort
toward next, he says. Godliness.
And godliness is a term, again, that we just throw around in the
American church. We really give no true thought
to it, but godliness here means something a little deeper than
you would just believe or know on the surface.
This is talking about awareness of and reverence, obedient,
reverent obedience to God. It is being aware of who He is
and because of who He is, you willfully live a life of
obedience to Him out of reverence, out of true worship.
Isn't that what true worship is? It's sad that the American
church thinks worship is an hour time slot that you give God on
the first day of the week and that's it.
That's not what the psalmist described in Psalm 24.
When he describes the true worshipper.
He says this and verse one, the earth is the Lord's and.
Everything in it, what's happening there, this person is
aware of God, who he is, the world and all who live in it,
for he founded it on the seas and established it on the
waters. He has a reverent recognition
and an awareness of just who God is.
And when we have that, it will bring us to our knees.
He says, as we continue that Psalm.
Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place? Who can approach such majesty?
Verse 4 The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does
not trust in an idol or swear by what is false, they will receive
blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their
Savior. Such is the generation of those
who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob.
That is what godliness is. It is a man.
It is a woman who is aware and who understands just who God is
and simply. Because of who God is and who
you are not, you reverently lay down your life in obedience to
Him. You get to serve him, you get to
love him, you get to fellowship with him.
Oh, worship takes a whole new. Turn there if we understand it
properly, doesn't it? Godliness, meaning that you are
aware of God, you're reverent toward God, you were driven by
God, and it's all about him and nothing about you.
That's what worship. That's what godliness is.
He goes on and he says and faith, this faith that he's
talking about here is not saving faith.
We know that saving faith is a gift from God.
He's talking more than just. The salvific faith that you
receive at regeneration. He's talking about ongoing and
continual trust in God and His Word.
He's talking about the faith that the Old Testament says the
just will live by faith. He didn't say that just will
experience faith one time when they're saved, and then they'll
walk by sight the rest of their lives upon this earth.
No, he says you can distinguish the just those who have truly
been justified by God, those who are truly righteous, you can
distinguish them by their continual, ongoing trust in God
and His word. This is what he's telling
Timothy to do. Follow after faith an ongoing
and continual trust in God. Hebrews 11/6.
The author of Hebrews says this, and without faith it is
impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him
must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who
earnestly seek him. That is an ongoing trust in God,
trust in the fact that He is the giver of.
All good things that He is the creator and the sustainer of
life that He is sovereign over all that you can trust Him and
you can trust every single promise that you find in his
word that. Applies to you.
He's telling Timothy follow after these things, man of God,
righteousness, godliness, faith. He then says love.
So many times when we get to love in scripture, I've heard
people for the sake of trying to sound ultra wise, complicate
love. This love that he's talking
about here is no nothing new to the New Testament.
It is the same love that Jesus loved his disciples with.
This is brotherly love. This is agape love, and he is
saying this about this love. This is what we are to pursue.
None of us are perfect in how we love one another, but we are to
pursue this, to follow after it. What is the greatest example of
love? Jesus said this.
He said that I lay down my life for my friends.
What does brotherly love is laying down your life for
others. You want to love like Jesus?
Love. Sacrifice yourself for the
well-being of others. Do not only what the New
Testament commands over and over and over to consider others
above yourself. Do what Jesus teaches us in the
Gospels. To do What did he say to his
disciples? You said I lay down my life for
my friends, I lay down my life for my sheep.
It was known that he had this kind of brotherly love.
What did Jesus say about that love?
It will be what distinguishes you from everyone else.
They will know you because of your love for one another.
They will see that brotherly love coming out of you.
Paul's telling Timothy here. Pursue that.
Pursue that kind of love, the kind of love that we see in
John's first epistle, where it says in 314 we know that we have
passed from death to life because we love each other.
Anyone who does not love remains in.
Death when you see brotherly love in your life, you know that
you are loving the people that are sitting around you right
now, that you are worshipping the Lord with that you were
studying the scriptures with. When you're willing to lay down
your life for them, when you're really willing to sacrifice
yourself for their well-being physically and or spiritually,
you were then and only then pursuing the kind of love that
Paul is telling Timothy to pursue true Christ like
brother-in-law, he moves from love to endurance.
Endurance. And he's not just talking about
physical. Endurance.
He's talking about a spiritual steadfastness, an enduring
consistency in one's walk. He's telling Timothy to pursue
steadfast consistency in your spiritual walk.
Oh, how important this is for the American church culture to
hear this. Don't just be a bunch of hot
air. Don't say that you're going to
do one thing and then spend your life doing the opposite.
Of that he's saying, be consistent, steadfast, enduring
in your walk with the Lord. First Corinthians 1558 Paul
says, Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand
firm, let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to
the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the
Lord is not in vain. What is Paul telling the
Corinthians there? He's telling Pour it all out for
the Lord. Give all that you have.
Steadfast, enduring, consistent, he's saying.
Keep on, keeping on. No matter what you face, no
matter how many times you get punched in the chin, get back up
and keep. Moving forward, consistent
steadfast, steadfastness. Word that the hip and cool
Christian culture has left out of the equation.
Yet it is what the psalmist prayed for after he fell into
sin. He said, Lord, create a
steadfast spirit within me. What is a steadfast spirit?
That spirit is not affected by the things around them.
It's not affected by the struggles of this life.
It's not affected by the trials of this life.
It's not affected by the hurts of this life.
That steadfast spirit endures, consistently walking with the
Lord even through the fire. He then moves to this
gentleness. Isn't that kind of interesting?
Righteousness It seems pretty strong Godliness, very strong.
Faith, Love, endurance. And then he says gentleness.
What is he talking about here? He's talking about what Jesus
exemplified in his earthly ministry.
He's talking about meekness. Now I don't want you to confuse
meekness with weakness. What meekness is meekness is
humble strength. We would be fools to deny the
strength of the Lord Jesus. He is King of kings, Lord of
Lords, Sovereign and Almighty Lord of all, and he has always
possessed that strength. He has never laid down that
strength. It has always been at his
disposal, but he humbly demonstrated by his own will.
Meekness, gentleness to others, the fruit of the Spirit that we
see displayed in Galatians chapter 522 and 23 where Paul
reminds us how important gentleness and self-control are
in the life of the believer. Because you can be pursuing
righteousness and godliness and faith and love and endurance.
But if you do this from a haughty or arrogant
self-sustaining viewpoint, based on only your own strength and
your own will, not humbly trusting and strength from God,
you forget the last part here. Gentleness.
It's no accident that Jesus said blessed are the meek, they will
inherit the earth. The true man of God strives and
pursues after meekness. That doesn't mean that he can't
fight. That doesn't mean that he can't
overpower you. That means that he chooses not
to, and he chooses to go the way of the Lord and to lay down his
life for others, to do this with gentleness and meekness.
Ephesians 4. Paul begins that chapter with
this. He says, as a prisoner for the
Lord. Then I urge you to live a life
worthy of the calling you have received.
Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one
another in love. Oh, you see how they all work
together, patiently, gently loving one another?
Is that not how Christ loves the Church?
Is that not how Christ displayed His love through the Gospels?
Is that not how we should display our love as godly men
and godly women? So the true man of God here will
be fleeing, and the true man of God will then be following.
He will flee from wickedness, He'll flee from worldliness, and
he'll follow righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
endurance, and gentleness. As we continue on the past of a
true man of God, let us move to the third thing.
This morning. The true man of God's path will
be fighting, Fighting. He said, well, you just told us
to be meek and to be gentle. How can we also fight?
Let's ask Paul. Let's see what is he meaning by
this? He says in verse 12, the first
part, fight the good or the excellent or noble fight of the
faith. He's not talking about fighting
a fleshly battle. He's not talking about fighting
an earthly enemy. He's talking about the spiritual
fight that we as believers are all in, whether we want to
acknowledge it or not. Now I want to remind you as he's
reminding Timothy here. Christianity is not a call to
idleness or relaxation while we're on our way to paradise.
And I know what you're thinking. Well, it seems like it is.
Unfortunately, yes, it does for many.
But Paul is actually instructing otherwise here, instead of
idleness and relaxation while we're awaiting heaven.
He calls Timothy to warfare, a strange concept for a weak and
impotent church in this country who no longer has any fight in
them, who has joined in the liberals of somehow wedding out
any warrior instinct that may be left in any young boy.
But it's time we see the truth of the Word of God.
He's calling the men of God here to fight and to fight the good
fight. What?
Does he mean by this? He's talking about fighting
against the flesh. He's talking about fighting
against the devil. He's talking about fighting
against the world. Do we not have a fight to fight?
Of course we do, and if you ignore this fight, you're going
to be consumed by your enemy. Whichever enemy is more
prevalent in your life, be it the flesh, the devil, or the
world, and what the man of God is going to be doing, he's going
to be constantly agonizing. He's going to be constantly
contending for the faith that he has been entrusted to contend
for. He's going to fight in his life,
he's going to fight in the life of the church, he's going to
fight against the world. Because the true man of God is
going to fight. He's going to find himself
refusing to be passive. That's what he means.
By telling us to take a path of fighting, Refuse to be passive.
Oh, and it has inward and outward connotations, just as
wickedness does and worldliness does.
He's Speaking of fighting against and mortifying the
flesh, being intentional in this, just as Paul was
intentional in this, he said. I beat my flesh off.
I actually fight against my own self.
He's talking about that fight within, fighting against your
flesh, fighting against your sinful desires, fighting against
your humanity. But also, he's talking about
fighting toward being intentional in your discipline.
Again, Paul was a disciplined man and he's speaking to another
man of God. And you know what?
He wants him to be disciplined in the fight.
If you go into a fight untrained, you are certain to
lose. Amen.
Because you are only. As good as your worst day of
training in anything that you do.
And he's calling the man of God to be disciplined in this fight.
It begins inwardly, but then it is expressed outwardly.
How do we fight this fight? We fight against those inward
things that we all fight against.
And some of you are losing this fight because you have forgotten
that it is a spiritual battle. You're not fighting it with
spiritual means. This is a battle and a fight of
faith. You must fight it inwardly, but
also you must fight it outwardly.
What does that look like? Fighting the unbelief?
And how do we fight the unbelief of this world?
We share the truth with this lost world through the gospel.
Oh, don't. Dare say that you're fighting
the fight of the faith. If you're not sharing the faith
with the lost, you're not fighting the faith.
You're not fighting the good and noble excellent fight you're on.
Vacation, hoping that you make it to heaven Isn't.
Isn't that the sad state that we found the American church to be
in asleep instead of ready for battle?
We ought to be sharing the gospel, the truth of God's Word,
like an army overcoming the enemy of unbelief that comes
against us constantly. Instead, we cower in the corner
of our tents, balled up in the fetal position, asking that
Jesus. Would just take us home.
That's weak. That's not the fight that he's
calling Timothy too. He's saying fight's a good fight
with everything that you are and everything that you have, this
excellent and noble fight that you've been.
Entrusted to fight so fight inwardly in your life and
outwardly you just share the gospel with the hurting and the.
Lost. And as you stand against the
evil in our day, where are the Christian soldiers that we sang
about a generation ago? No, in fact, we would have to
sing it today. Onward, Christian sissies
running from our enemies with our tail tucked between our legs
because we've forgotten that we're in a fight, he says fight,
Fight the good fight. Fight of the faith.
Refusing to be passive. I wish that some men and some
women of God would refuse to be passive.
You know why? I'll tell you why?
Because there's a real enemy and he's coming for you.
He's coming for your marriages. He's coming for your homes.
He's coming for your children. He's coming from every single
direction. And you just want to get to
heaven safely so that you don't have to.
Endure any kind of suffering, Paul said.
May it not be so. Maybe March out into battle,
refusing to be passive. May we do this relying on God
for the strengths to fight well, That's the second part of this.
He doesn't expect Timothy to do this in his own power.
That's why he lets him know this is the the good fight of faith.
He wants him to rely on God for the strengths to fight.
He says be refusing to be passive but then rely on God for
the strength that you need in this battle.
Humbly depending upon God as a psalmist does in Psalm 18 verse
32, He says it is God who arms me with strength and keeps my
ways secure. He makes my feet like the feet
of a deer. He causes me to stand on the
heights. He trains my hands for battle.
My arms can bend a bow of bronze.
You make your say you, You make your saving help My shield, and
your right hand sustains me. Your help has made me great.
All the psalmist understood where his strength from the
battle comes from. Psalm 20, verse 7.
Here's what the psalmist says here.
Some trust in Chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the
name of the Lord our God, and they are brought to their knees
and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.
What is He acknowledging here? We humble ourselves.
We depend upon God in our enemies who once stood over us.
While we they're bowing to God, they now fall before us because
we humbled ourselves and we depended.
Upon God all the same, man of God, be a fighting man, refusing
to be passive and relying on God for the strength that you need
to fight. He's encouraging to be humbly
dependent upon God, but also to be biblically equipped for
battle. Ephesians chapter 6 and I don't
have time to take you all the way through Ephesians chapter 6
today, though I would love to in this context.
And we know that verse 17 refers to the Scriptures as the sword
of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
This is our offensive weapon in this battle.
This is the weapon that God has provided us to fight the good
fight of faith with and. Many of you don't know how to
use it. Many of you, it's only something
that you look at on a Sunday morning and how sad that is
because you're called to fight and you've been given 1 weapon
and you go out into battle every day whether you know it or not
and you are not armed, only a. Fool would go out into battle
unarmed. There's no police officer, no
soldier in the world who would report to duty without their
weapon. The Word of God is the weapon
that we've been given. To fight this fight and forsake
the Word of God in our lives is to walk out into the battlefield
every single day unarmed for the fight.
Most of you won't even leave your house on a Sunday morning
and come to church without some kind of firearm tucked within
your garments. Just this last week, we had a
meeting. One of the attendees in the
meeting said this about his church.
He said what our church on any given Sunday, there may be like
5 or 6 firearms in the building. To which Chance looked at him
and said that's cute and. Many of you today, because you
have the right, and I don't take away that right, I think you
have a right to defend yourself physically and it is a
God-given. Rite.
But I also think you are more concerned with that because if
you strap on that Glock or that Smith and Wesson or that Sig,
just don't drop it every single day.
You don't equip yourself with the Word of God to go out into
the spiritual battle that we are in.
You are a soldier who stepped out on the front lines
completely unarmed. You, ma'am, you Sir, are
foolish. We must rely on God's strength,
the strength that He provides us for the battle, the equipment
that He provides us for the battle.
That's why Paul spends so much time in Ephesians telling us
there in chapter 6 verse. 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord,
Trust in his strength and in his mighty power.
Put on the full armor of God that which God has provided for
you to go into battle with, so that.
You can take your stand against the schemes of the devil, but
the American Church has forgotten the reality of the
devil. You stand unarmed may not be so
for you, man of God, woman of God, under the sound of my voice
this morning, may you arm yourself to fight humbly,
dependent upon God's strength, biblically equipped by God's
Word. Arm for battle.
Because the church in America, for the most part, is asleep on
the front lines, unarmed and unaware of the enemy that lies
before them. Wake up.
Fight the good fight. The true man of God's path will
be a fighting path. It will be a following path.
It will be a fleeing path. Fourthly, the true man of God's
path will be a faithful path. Pay attention to this.
He says this in verse 12. Take hold of the eternal life to
which you were called when you made your good confession in the
presence of many witnesses. He's saying, Timothy, you have
been called effectually by God into eternal life and because of
that, not to earn it because of that.
Be faithful, he says, in the sight of God, who gives life to
everything, and of Christ Jesus, who, while testifying before
Pontius Pilate, made the good confession.
I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame.
What command? The command to be different from
those false teachers that he just told us about in the
previous verses? The command to be a man of God,
a man of God who is, as we have seen it, fleeing and following
and fighting. He's now calling for him to be
faithful, to faithfully continue and to.
Take hold of that which he has been called to take hold.
This context is to grasp the reality of what has already
happened. It doesn't mean, of course, to
try to earn salvation by taking hold of salvation.
Salvation is given. Eternal life is given.
But instead, it means to faithfully walk in that which
you have been given. You know what you're saying?
Live faithfully like you truly have eternal life.
Because there are many people who claim to have eternal life
who are not faithful to the Lord at all, and that is impossible.
Again, I've seen funeral after funeral after funeral of
unfaithful people who at the end of their life people will say
this, they're in a better place now.
No, they're not. Stop fooling yourself.
Because the people of faith will be faithful.
He's. Telling him, and he's making
clear to all of us, the held will take hold.
Those who are held by God will in turn grasp the hand, and that
grasps them. The held we'll take hold of
Philippians 3 verse 12. Watch what Paul says about it
here. He says, not that I have already
obtained all this, or I have already arrived at my goal, but
I press on to take hold of that which Christ took hold of me.
He says, brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet self
yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do forgetting
what is behind is stringing toward what is ahead.
I press on to the goal to win the prize for which God has
called me. There's that effectual call
again. Heavenward in Christ Jesus, he's
saying just exactly what he is saying to Timothy here.
He's saying take hold of the eternal life that has taken hold
of you, that life that which you were called when you made your
good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
You're saying be faithful to your confession of faith.
It's that simple. Don't just say you're a follower
of Christ and deny it by how you live.
Timothy was a man of faith being addressed by a man of faith.
He had faith in His Almighty Creator, the Sustainer of life.
This is what Paul is reminding him of in the sight of God who
gives life to everything and of Christ Jesus.
And we know Christ his Son, who gave himself as an atoning
sacrifice. He's saying be faithful in your
confession to believe in the one true God and to believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior you have
professed. This talking about his
confession. That good confession that he
made in the presence of many witnesses.
When would he have done this historically?
Well, just next week we will see it right here at Key Life
Fellowship where we fill up the baptismal tanks and those who
have followed Christ will give a public confession that they are
followers of Christ. They are identifying with his
death, his burial, and His resurrection through immersion
baptism. Paul is saying you remember that
when you did that in front of the church, in front of all
those witnesses, when you professed Christ.
He's saying live up to it, live up to your public profession.
Romans 10/9 is very clear says if you declare with your mouth
Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be. Saved, he's saying.
Timothy, if that's true, if your confession is true, you have
truly confessed the Lord Jesus with your mouth and believed in
your heart that God raised him from the dead and you are truly
saved. He says be.
Faithful to that confession. It is the same confession that
Jesus made in the presence of Pilate.
I know you read that Pilate Pontius.
Pilate part and you thought why does this belong here?
But in John chapter 18 we get some clarity there.
Jesus is there in a conversation with Pontius Pilate shortly
before his death, Pilate summoned Jesus.
He asked him, are you the King of the Jews?
Jesus asked him in verse 34 of John 18.
Is that your own idea or did others talk to you about me?
And did you get that information from something going on in you
or did you, did you just? Hear that Pilate then comes back
in verse 35 and he says am IA Jew and your own people and
chief priests handed you over to me.
What is it you have done right? Because he could find no fault
in Jesus and he couldn't really clearly answer the question.
Jesus wants to know, do you know I'm the king?
You know I'm king of kings and Lord of Lords.
Are you just hearing that down the wire?
Jesus in verse 36 does something that a lots of people say that
he doesn't ever do. He's going to claim to be God
here. Watch how he does it.
Jesus said my Kingdom is not of this world.
If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by
the Jewish leaders. But now my Kingdom is from
another place. You are a king.
Then said Pilot, and Jesus answered, You say that I am a
king. In fact, the reason I was born
and came into the world is to testify to the truth.
Everyone on the side of the truth listens to me.
What was Jesus saying? I am a king and I am the true
king, and I am the King of kings.
And those who listen to me are my children.
They are my sons and they are my daughter.
And because you're not listening to me, that's a good indicator
that you don't know who I am. But those who know who I am, it.
Will be more than just a confession of who I am.
Jesus making the same confession that at some point in time
Timothy made. What is that?
Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of Lords.
Paul's holding him to that. You know, it's sad we're afraid
to do that in the modern church, isn't it?
The whole people to their confession.
Do you know that's why we have baptism?
Did you know that we have baptism publican?
We have baptism at church. It is an ordinance of the
church, and the reason is because we can go to a brother
who's struggling and who's wandered off in the center, go
to a sister and say, hey, you made a public profession of
faith in Jesus Christ. Was that real?
Well, yes, it was real. Then stop living the way that
you're living. You're dragging Christ's name
through the mug mud. And I will help you and I will
pray for you in any way that I can so that you are restored for
the whole purpose is. Paul's holding him to it.
Be faithful to your confession of faith, but also be faithful
in your continuance in Christ, he says.
I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame.
To be faithful in continuing in Christ.
Don't let it just be this one time thing where you made some
decision at church and got baptized.
He's saying, Timothy, walk this path of faithfulness faithfully.
Live up to and live out that confession.
All that you say Christ has done for you live like that is true.
It's a sad thing is this hell is going to be full of people who
made professions that they never meant.
You know how I know that? Jesus says it in Matthew Chapter
7 verse 21. He says Not everyone who says to
me, Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the
one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Does that someone say is Jesus promoting work salvation, that
we have to do the will of the Father and in doing the will of
the Father then salvation will be credited to us, no?
He's not saying that that would be inconsistent with all of the
teaching of the New Testament. What he?
Is saying is this. That there will be many people
who just make hollow professions and who are not faithful to that
which they have confessed publicly through their baptism.
He's saying to us so that we can understand it.
They are not true believers. Perhaps that describes one of
you in the room today. Let it be known that God has
brought you to this point so that He can do something about
this false assurance that you've had for so long.
There will be a continuance in Christ.
He's saying keep holding on to the faith that holds you.
Hebrews 10/23. Let us hold unswervingly to the
hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful to only
profess Christ and then to walk away from Christ and live any
way that you want to live is just a hollow profession.
It is not true salvation. So the true man of God will be
on a path. That path will be a faithful
path. So he will be fleeing, he will
be following, he'll be fighting, and he will be faithful.
And try as I may, knowing that I was about to fit a lot into a
small block of time, there's one more.
And I want you to pay attention to this one.
And I promise you, when I'm done with this one, I'll let you go.
But I pray that Christ will never let you go.
The true man of God's faith will be fixated.
What do I mean by that? What does Paul mean by this?
Watch what he says in the second part of verse 14.
He tells him to be faithful for how long.
Faithful when it's easy. Faithful when it's convenient.
Faithful on Sundays. At church, How long?
Watch, he says, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which God will bring about in his own time.
He's saying don't worry about the time when it's supposed to.
Happen, it'll happen, but be fixated and faithful until the
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He's saying you long for Christ's return as you are
fleeing, as you are following, as you are fighting, as you are
walking in faithfulness. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the
Author and the Perfector of your faith.
Fix your eyes on the return of. Christ is the man of God.
He should be longing for the return of Christ, shouldn't he?
Paul makes no beans about this when he says that there's a
crown of righteousness that is kept for him, but not just for
him only, but for all those who long for Christ appearing.
Man of God should be fixated and longing.
For the return of Christ. Now I know it's not popular in
the modern church these days. Is it?
Because if we start thinking about the return of Christ, what
so many do in this worldly church that we have nowadays,
what so many do, they start thinking about all of their
worldly treasures being left behind.
All of those things shrink in comparison to the glory of
Christ. And Paul wants us to be so
fixated upon Christ that nothing else matters.
He says long for his appearing. Look for him.
Keep fighting, keep being faithful as Christ has promised
to return. And he is good for that promise,
no matter what the skeptics may want to say, right?
That's what they say about the Christian.
Oh, they've been waiting for 2000 years.
I am thankful that he delayed for 2000 years because in that,
in that 2000 years, he gave me a window of opportunity to be
saved. Thank you, Lord, that you called
me out before the foundations of the earth, that I had an
appointment with you to meet with you face to face, and I
would dwell with you forever because of that.
Thank you and thank you that you were patient and you were
long-suffering with humanity. Are you longing for?
Christ's return. Oh, you bear the title Man of
God, woman of God, man of God, and a woman of God.
They're longing for the return of Christ.
Why? Because with the return of
Christ, the full fruition of salvation will come with him.
It's not. All completed, yet those are
sacrifices finished. Glorification is not yet done.
And we should long for that, shouldn't we?
As we see in first Peter chapter one verse 13.
Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your
hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is
revealed at His coming. Oh, we should be longing for
that grace upon grace upon grace.
All the grace that we have received in this lifetime.
Oh, how that's going to quickly shrink in comparison when we are
graced with the presence of Christ.
Are you longing like that? Hebrews 928 So Christ was
sacrificed once to take away the sins of many, and he will appear
a second time not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those
who are waiting for Him. Some of you are content with
just having a better life in this world because you're a
Christian, and it is so much bigger than that.
He is bringing to us at His return an eternal salvation that
we can't really comprehend at this time.
Romans 1311. Paul says this and do this,
understanding the present time. The hour has already come for
you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation
is nearer now than when we first believed.
Are you longing? Are you looking for the return
of Christ? Is it just so old fashioned that
we don't even want to hear? About it anymore, Philippians,
Paul says this chapter 3 verse 20, but our citizenship is in
heaven and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring
everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies
so that they will be like his glorious body.
Are you longing for that day? Are you looking for that day?
You desire that more than anything that this world has to
offer you. Titus Paul says this in chapter
2 verse 11. For the grace of God has
appeared that offers salvation to all people, and it teaches us
to say no to ungodliness. And worldly passions and to live
self controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.
This is exactly what he's telling Timothy here now, he's
telling Titus, he says while we wait for the blessed hope, the
appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus
Christ appearing. Of His glory, the man of God,
the woman of God, will long for the return of Christ.
Not just so they can see the suffering of this world in so
they can see Christ, the Lover of their soul, the one who
offered himself in their place, He who knew no sin, but took the
wrath of God upon his back. That belonged to me so that I
can be made the righteousness of God.
Why would I not want to see the King who loves me like that?
He's telling Timothy to be fixated, longing for the return
of Christ, but also to be living for the glory of God.
Now, what Paul teaches him here is not by words but by example.
And I want you to follow this passage out, he says in 14 until
the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring
about in his own time. You see that big long dash
there? Paul leaves his thoughts for a
moment to Timothy. Why he talked about the
appearing of Christ. And when he fought for one
second about the return of Christ, what happens next?
He says God the blessed and only ruler, the King of kings and
Lord of Lords, who alone is immortal, and who lives in an
unapproachable life, who no one has seen or can see, to him be
honored and might forever Amen. He burst into a doxology mid
sentence mid thought to Timothy. What an example he leaves for
him. Timothy long for Christ.
While you're living for the glory of God, Paul stops
everything that he's doing and he's moved to worship the Lord
by his example. He's teaching us, and he was
teaching Timothy that when you ponder on the return of Christ,
you ponder on the grace of God, you ponder on the attributes of
God and who he is. You'll be moved to worship,
you'll be moved to glorify Him, worshipping him due to his
sovereign position, O Colossians 116, Paul says.
For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible by the Thrones or powers or rulers
or authorities. All things have been created
through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in
Him all things are held together.
Did Paul do there? All of his thoughts about the
glory of Christ moved him to worship, moved him to constant
worship in his life, in his ministry.
Not only did it move him to worship, he was also moved by
that worship. And isn't that what should
happen? We should be moved by our
worship, not only to worship, even the simple thought of being
able to approach the throne of grace in our time of need.
Paul reminding us of the glory of the Lord here that we get to
participate in. He says no one has seen him, he
can't be approached and him be honored and might forever.
Amen. Though we have never looked upon
the full glory of God, because at best His glory was shielded
by the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ while He was here
on this earth. One day, one day, we will see
His full glory forever, and we ought to be fixated on this at
that moment. I can promise you this, all the
little trivial things of this world will shrink in comparison
to the glory that will be revealed, just as the Word of
God declares. Let that drive you to worship,
that drive you to an obedient life of worship.
Because that's what worship really is, isn't it?
It's not the songs we sing. Worship is the sacrifice of our
life, the laying down ourselves for the glory of God, being
fixated upon Christ. So the man of God will be
fixated. He'll be focused, longing for
Christ, living for God's glory. Again, Paul teaches us by his
example here as long for the return of Christ and live for
the glory of God. So what do we do with this?
A believer, I pray that you would desire to be a man of God,
or for some of you, a woman of God versus all to be people of
God, to walk the path that has been laid out for us in
Scripture, to live up to these things that Paul passed on to
Timothy. You desire that in your life.
You desire to be a man of God, a woman of God.
We've seen what it takes to the unbeliever.
You can't be a man of God. You can't be a woman of God.
You're not a child of God, you're dead in your sin, you
were dead in your transgressions according to the word of God.
And unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of
God. My prayer for you today is this,
that a merciful God by His grace would regenerate you from death
unto life today, giving you the faith to believe and to trust in
Jesus Christ. That faith would be exercised by
you crying out calling on the name of Jesus, because for
whosoever shall call on the name of Jesus shall be saved.
You say well. Kirk, how do you reconcile the
whosoever's of that verse with God's sovereign grace?
Whoever God graciously and sovereignly allows by
regenerating them to life because they are spiritually
dead. Whoever He allows to call upon
the name of the Lord, they are the whosoever.
And the whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord.
I pray today that God would open your eyes and make known to you
that you are a whosoever, that he sent his only begotten Son to
this earth to die on your behalf, that he may forgive you
and wash you and cleanse you today.
That you, a whosoever, would call upon Jesus today through
the power of God, by the gift of the of faith that God has given
you today you would trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
and be saved. Let's pray together.
Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for giving us the time to look at all of this, to
ponder these things. God, I pray as your word has
gone forth, that it would accomplish not Kirk Hall's will,
but it would accomplish the will of God.
Lord, I pray that you would through it draw centers unto
repentance and eternal life today and faith in Jesus Christ.
God, I pray through it that you would convict the heart of the
believer here who perhaps they're not striving to be a man
of God or a woman of God. God, I pray that the convicting
power of the Spirit would bring them to their knees and
confession and repentance today. That we would all leave here
changed and transformed by the power of your word and the power
of your Spirit working through your work.
And we pray and we ask all these things in the mighty name of
Jesus. Amen.
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