May God be pleased to bless us
together this morning as we consider his word, and let's turn to the
first epistle of Paul to Timothy, chapter six, I'm reading verses
six, seven, and eight. The first epistle of Paul to
Timothy, chapter six, verses six, seven, and eight. But, godliness with contentment
is great gain. For we brought nothing into this
world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out and
having food and raiment let us be there with content. The Apostle Paul was writing
to his son in the faith Timothy and what wonderful instruction
he gave to him with regard to the situation which existed and
then those things which would come to pass on the earth. He
gave him wonderful instruction in those two letters that he
wrote when he was in Laodicea. And it is good and we are thankful
to God that we have a record of such things so that they may
be applied to our hearts, to our lives today because it is
true that the Word of God was not written just for that time
when it was when it was written but it applies to the Church
of God and everyone right down to the end of time. And so we
have these words which were spoken or written rather to Timothy
and how good they are and how important they are for us to
realise the importance of them. And so as he addresses Timothy
he tells him And he gives them instruction. And he says, if
any man teach otherwise, and he is, of course, referring to
those things which they should do, but rather do them service
because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit
these things teach and exhort. And he was, of course, addressing
how they should behave if they had believing masters and what
they should do. And then he says, if any man
teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is
according to godliness. And so if anybody we find teaching
contrary to such great truths, we should recognize that they
do not emanate from the work of the Holy Spirit. Wholesome
words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the
guide, isn't it? That's the way that we should
be concerned about the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and
to the doctrine which is according to godliness. So anything therefore
which is contrary to such a truth, contrary to such a way, we should
turn away from, realising that it is not beneficial for our
soul's good. It may be perhaps pleasing to
our nature, probably would be pleasing to our nature, but it
will not profit our souls. And that's the great and vital
and important thing. Surely that's the reason why
we're here this morning, to hear what God will speak to our souls.
Not to come and have our, just have our mind pleased with statements,
but to have come here to hear what God the Lord will speak
to our souls. And if that is so, then the condition we will
be found in is that we will be hungry and thirsty for the things
of God. They'll be very important to
us and they'll be very necessary to us and we'll understand therefore
why the Word of God speaks in this way to direct us to those
things which are good and those things which are true. Wholesome
words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the
doctrine which is according to Godliness. We live in a world
far from that today. The world's always been a wicked
place since Adam and Eve fell. My friends, today it seems to
be worse and worse. There seems to be so much evil
all around us. We can't really open our ears
or eyes without observing wrong and evil things. And so we need
to be concerned to recognize the truth of God's Word as it's
directed to us. Now those who therefore What
contrary to these things the word tells us what they're like.
He is proud knowing nothing. See the comparison. People strive
after natural knowledge of things which perhaps pass away. And there are those who are not
interested in hearing wholesome words the truth of God. words of the saviour and the
doctrine according to godliness are not interested and therefore
what is the truth in reality as we stand back and view it
in a spiritual context they know nothing he is proud knowing nothing
but doting about questions and strifes of words wherein cometh
envy strife railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of
corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that
gain, that's natural gain, is godliness, from such withdraw
thyself." Well that's what the Apostle speaks to Timothy before
these words which we read this morning. And therefore we come
then to this word but. Now that's the position We read
which we need to be mindful of. But then he directs us in a very
different way. And he says, but godliness with
contentment is great gain. Why is it great gain? Because
it has an eternal value. All those other things have a
passing value. The things of God, the truth
of God, the spiritual work of God has an eternal value. And that's what you and I need
to know personally. And so the apostle goes on, just
to complete the picture as it were, for we brought nothing
into this world. That's very obvious, isn't it?
And perhaps not quite so obvious, but it is true. And it is certain
that we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment,
let us therefore therewith be content. Well, the great blessing
for you and me, my friends, is to be content with the lot that
God has led us into and the spiritual life that God has given to us. Because this is the great statement. It's godliness which we need,
which we must have. It's so vital that you and I
possess Godliness. Godliness is that which the Spirit
gives to us, and it's that which the Spirit shows to us in an
understanding of our sinfulness, our evil, our wickedness, our
far-offness from God, and the need we have of the salvation
of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And then to be found
hearing His Word, walking in the way that he sets before us,
in the word of God, his words, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the doctrine which is according to godliness. God's word, his
doctrines, they show to us, they decree to us what true godliness
is. And that really means to be walking
and to be following the great and glorious example which our
Saviour sets before us. That is godliness. And how important
for each of us to understand what it really means and to have
that knowledge that we are amongst those who possess godliness in
our souls. And if we possess godliness in
our souls, that will lead us to that desire and that concern
to have a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, a personal knowledge,
as that one who has died on our behalf, that one who is now in
glory, and that one who is going to repair a place for us, and
that one who will one day receive us unto himself, that where he
is there we may be also. This really is what Godliness
means. Godliness does not mean living
in the world as much as we can and just ticking a few boxes
to try and pretend that we are a believer and we're a Christian
and we're doing those things which are right. The work of
God in the soul produces a wonderful change and that change is demonstrated
by a very simple illustration. It's a difference between darkness
and light. That's a complete difference,
isn't it? Darkness is one thing and light is the other. The complete
opposite. And so it is in the life of the
believer, those who possess godliness, they understand and they know
in their hearts what it was to be without light, to be in darkness,
to have no light. There are many today who sail
on, on a relatively calm sea, and they assume that everything's
all right. But they do not possess the light
of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. No, they remain in darkness. remain enveloped in their sin. There's no true seeking after
deliverance. There's no true desire to be
delivered from all the things in this world. There's no real
living concern to be found walking uprightly, to be walking a godly
life, They desire, they're concerned to do as much as they can to
enjoy all the pleasures of sin for a season. Well, Moses knew
what it was, to turn away from those things, choosing rather
to suffer affliction with the people of God, yes, than to enjoy
the pleasures of sin for a season. It's a very striking statement
by the Word of God with regard to Moses. And we should recognise
also that in Moses' life there was a vast change from that scene
in Pharaoh's palace of extreme comfort to that place in the
wilderness. Yes, a very, very different scene. But that was the path. That was
the divine path. That was the right path. That
was the path that God was leading Moses in. And so we should seek
first his kingdom, spiritual kingdom, the kingdom
of God, that it might be within us. And we may therefore know
that that light has shone, that glorious light of the everlasting
gospel. and that we therefore know that
we have passed from darkness to light, from death to life
and we have the evidence that it's the work of the Holy Spirit
of God because you and I cannot produce that change ourselves.
Be very clear, you cannot produce that life within and if we have
that life within If we have the evidence of it, if we know that
change, that light which has come, it's the work of the Spirit
of God and therefore we have this gracious statement, but
godliness with contentment is great gain. And what a blessing
therefore for you and me today to have the evidence that we
are amongst the godly and we are walking a godly life. Now I know of course, we should
of course realise what a failure we are and we are failures. But
it is the Spirit's work which shows us that we're failures. And we won't be content then
with our natural life. We won't be content with our
sinful life. We won't be content with the evil thoughts and words
which we may utter and the path perhaps we may have walked in.
We won't be content with that. Our hearts will cry out to God
for strength, for support. to be able to do those things
which are right. You see, we don't want to follow
this way of being proud and following perverse disputings, men of corrupt
minds and destitute of the truth. Destitute of the truth. If the
Spirit of God is working in us and we have that desire after
godliness, we will be concerned more and more to walk in the
truth. and not any wrong way. The truth, God's word is truth. The word of God is truth. My
friends, it's important we're concerned about it. To walk in
that right way of truth, the truth of God. It's a pure way. It's an upright way. It's a difficult
way. It's a hard way. But it's the
way that leads to eternal life. And so, godliness. Well, the
important consideration for us then is to have the evidence
that we are amongst the godly. And that we therefore do possess
godliness in our hearts. And the desire to be godly. That's the, again, a really important
consideration. A spiritual desire to be godly. to walk in accordance with God's
Word. And that means that we are concerned
that the Spirit of God will make us willing to forsake all the
things which are sinful, all the things which are evil, all
the things which do not profit. It's a testing scene, isn't it? All those things which detract
from the Lord Jesus Christ, all those things which take us away
from Christ. You see that's the important
evidence to be able to sum up our standing before God as to
whether that light has shone and reveals to us the desire
and the blessing of walking closely with our God. Really that means
walking in a sanctified way. It means walking in a holy way.
God's way is holy, isn't it? Our way by nature is unholy,
very unholy. That's why God sets before us
the way of holiness. That's why we should continue
to pray that we might walk in a holy way, that we might be
more holy. What does that mean? It means
being more God-like. doesn't mean being more worldly-like,
it means being more God-like. And if we're more God-like, the
result will be we'll be concerned to know and to realise the benefit
and the blessing of knowing more of the Lord Jesus Christ and
his great and glorious work of salvation. It will never be an
irksome thing to hear Christ being spoke about. Because those
words will be true, the hymn writer, how sweet the name of
Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. And I really think that's
a very good test of the reality of our religion. If when we hear
Christ's mention, we turn away from it, or when we hear Christ's
mention, it draws us. You see, that's a very relative
consideration, isn't it? Is the name of Christ sweet name
to you and me my friends if it's not be very concerned about it
and pray that it might be that name which is above every name
every name at the name of jesus every knee shall bow well do
we bow down then before our great and glorious sovereign lord that
one who is and may be as we read king of kings and lord of lords Is he your king? Is he my king?
Is he your lord? Is he my lord? Remember, actions
speak louder than words. It's not just pretending, it's
really obeying and desiring that it might be so in our lives.
For godliness with contentment is great gain. Great gain. There's no greater gain, is it,
than to possess life of God in our souls. We can possess the
whole world and die in our sins and be lost throughout eternity.
And we can be blessed by the Spirit of God with godliness
and enjoy heaven forever with the Saviour and with the living
Church of God. And so may we have the evidence
in our hearts that we are amongst those who are godly, and therefore
are concerned about our godliness. And remember, this godliness
is to be found walking closer to the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul
knew, didn't he, all about it. He explains it to us in the third
chapter in the Philippians, where he desired that he might know
Christ more and more and more and fellowship with him, fellowship
with his sufferings, unity with him and being made conformable,
made like unto him. Well there we have a good testimony,
a gracious godly man. My friends may our concern be
to have that light desire, you might think well I don't pray
anything like that because I'm fearful about all the awful trouble
I might come into. Well, we're not to consider that
at all, because God knows what you and I need. And whether you
and I pray it or not, God can bring trouble into our lives.
But my friends, because we pray it like that, it doesn't mean
God is going to bring you into trouble. But surely the greatest
blessing is to be more godly to live a life which is closer
to Christ and to desire that union and that knowledge and
that direction that we see in Him a great, a wonderful, a glorious,
a most necessary attraction. Well, I wonder whether you've
been attracted to Christ. Whether you've been attracted
to Him. and if he's meant something to
you. And if he has, you know what
Solomon said, draw me, be attracted to Christ, we will run after
thee. That's not just standing still,
is it? It's not just sitting still. In actual fact, it's not
walking. The blessed revelation The drawing
power of Christ, as the word tells us, draw me, we will run
after thee. Again, what a wonderful desire
to be found running after Christ. Godliness, godliness, running
after Christ. Godliness. Now you see, if we're
blessed with this knowledge of Christ, it'll mean that the things
of the world have little real value. We are still in the world,
we still have our flesh, of course. And that's why the Apostle says,
Godliness with contentment is great gain, because to be content
with the natural things that God has given us, realizing that
we possess the wonderful blessing of the knowledge of God, the
knowledge of ourselves, the knowledge of Christ in our soul, it puts
things in a right perspective. And we can see then the concern
that we should have, vitally, more and more, about the knowledge
of Christ to our souls. In all that he's done, that great
glorious work, that work of salvation, which was his, he brought about
when he did the will of his father, in dying, in being raised from
the dead, in being ascended into glory, and now succeeding for
us today. My friends, what a saviour we have. And so here we have
this statement by God in this, with contentment is great gain. You see, the Lord will grant
us any good thing which we need. So often we have our own little
want list, don't we? And, you know, we keep on, perhaps,
harking on and praying for that want list and determined to have
it. Well, it may not be God's will
and God's purpose for us. Never forget what the Apostle
Paul, again, had that thorn in the flesh. And he desired that
it might be taken from him, didn't he? And you think, well, surely
Paul, that great man, his prayers must have entered in and surely
it would be answered. Well, they were answered, but not in the
way that he thought. Because they were answered in
this way. And the way was this, God said, my grace is sufficient
for thee. Paul, you kept on praying to
be delivered from this. No, I'm going to bless you in
a different way. You're going to have to endure
it, but I'm going to give you grace to endure it. And that's
a wonderful blessing, my friends. Don't therefore have a little
want list and keep on praying and it doesn't happen in the
way that you thought it should. God sets forth in his word the
right way. It may not be in a way that you
and I think, because we may not have understood the true word
of God. You know, in the Psalms, we read,
34th Psalm, Psalm of David, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is
good. See, that will make everything
right, won't it? If you've been praying and the
Lord comes to you and you taste and see that he's good, perhaps
in correcting you, perhaps in bringing you to see that what
your wantonness has been for perhaps a long time hasn't been
answered. And now you realise, well, the Lord's been merciful
to me, hasn't cut me off. I deserve to, because really
I've been rebelling against God. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. When we come to trust in God,
when we're walking a godly life, we commit our way unto the Lord. We commit our way unto him. That
means we can leave the future. We can leave the result because
we can commit our way unto him. Trust also in him, and he will
bring it to pass, the man that trusteth in him. Oh, fear the
Lord, ye saints, for there is no want to them that fear him.
The young men, lions, do lack and suffer hunger, but they that
seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." What a promise
that is, isn't it? For those who are godly, those
who truly seek the Lord, will not indeed lack any good thing. Nothing lacking. And again, David tells us, a little that
a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. Do not, as I say often to you,
do not despise the day of small things. My friends, if God has
given you light, if God has blessed you, you may think, you may perhaps
despise it. Don't despise it. Anything from
God is a great work. It's a great blessing. Don't
look at yourself and think, well, I don't seem to possess very
much. A little that a righteous man hath is better and the treasures
of many wicked. Despise not the day of small
things. A little that a righteous man
hath is better than the riches of many wicked." Well, how necessary
it is that we understand God's ways. Because often we use our
own logic. We use our own ideas. We draw
our own conclusions. What it really means is we're
assessing things in a way that man does. ought to be concerned
to assess things in the way that God does. And the way that God
assesses them is this, everything should be for his honour and
for his glory. That's the way to assess our
lives, to assess our situation. So here we have this then, statement
here, but godliness with contentment is great gain. So if God, my
friends, has blessed us with the evidence of his life in our
hearts, then to be content with the things he's given us in this
life, and not to keep striving after natural things. You know,
we are to covet. You may say, well, the Word of
God tells us not to covet. Well, it does. But it also tells us
this, to covet earnestly the best gifts. And the best gifts
are that which are relative to that knowledge of Christ. That's
the best gift, my friends. To know the gift of eternal life.
That's the best gift. And that's what you and I are
to covet and to desire. And to have refreshed and renewed
again and again the blessing of Christ within. But godliness with contentment
is Great gain. Great gain, not little gain,
great gain. And the apostle, when he wrote
to the Hebrews, he tells us, let your conversation be without
covetousness. Without covetousness. It's very
difficult, isn't it? Because we always want this and
we want that. Have a little we've got, we always want more. Have
a much we've got, we always want more. Let your covetousness conversation
be without covetousness and be content with such things as you
have." And he gives us here a wonderful reason, a wonderful reason. For he has said, I will never
leave thee. nor forsake thee." You can't
ask for a greater blessing, can we? To know that God is with
us, walking with us, always with us, never leave us, nor forsake
us. So that we may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall
do unto me. I like the expressions that the
apostle uses often. Here we have this statement that
we may boldly say. How do we do that? Faith in God. Faith to believe that his work
in us is his work. Living faith so that we may boldly
say, the Lord is my helper. My friends, what is that? Honoring
and glorifying God, isn't it? I say that. It evidences the
godliness within us. Because we desire to exalt His
name. Let us exalt His name together. What a blessing it is when the
Church of God join together with that real desire that Christ's
name may be lifted up and exalted. He is worthy. Don't forget His
worthiness in all His great work of salvation. He is really, really
worthy. Four years ago he said, I would
never leave thee nor forsake thee. He said, we may boldly
say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man should
do unto me. The fear of man brings a snare,
and it does. And so often, you know, where
the old devil, he comes in, well, he says, you shouldn't say that,
of course, because that's presumption. You shouldn't say that, because
that will give a wrong impression. You shouldn't say that, because
this and that. My friends, forget all that. It's irrelevant. The devil will always shut your
mouth. He'll always shut your mouth. He'll always make you
say nothing at all. That's the devil's aim. And he's
pretty successful today, in the age in which we live. My friends,
what a blessing. If we understand this great word
about godliness, we possess it and be content with the things
that we have but also concerned to honor and glorify our God
as we hear this word our conversation be without covetousness but we
should boldly speak the things of God that he's been our helper
can you say that this morning can you say in those words yes
hitherto hath the Lord helped us is that true Or do you deny
it? My friends, if it's true, you
have reason to boldly say so, don't you? Oh yes, what a blessing it is.
How we need to be reminded to honour and glorify our great
and holy God as the Apostle tells us, for we brought nothing into
this world and it is certain that we shall carry nothing out. Yes, we're just as we are. with
nothing, and yet if God has given us the glorious gift of faith
within, we possess all things, don't we? We possess things that
this world cannot purchase. You and I cannot purchase faith.
We cannot purchase eternal life. God gives it. It's his gift. And it's that wonderful evidence
that we possess, possess it which shows forth in our life godliness
with contentment. We brought nothing into this
world and we are certain that we should carry nothing else. Again, the Apostle Paul, he has
many things to say really on this theme, but just mentioning
one more, perhaps in Philippians and the fourth chapter. And he
tells us, But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, tenth first, that
now at the last your care of me hath flourished again, wherein
you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity. Not that
I speak in respect of want, but for I have learned. This is the Apostle Paul speaking. I have learned. That means it
didn't suddenly happen to him. It means he had to learn it.
And we have to learn things. We're pretty slow at learning
sometimes. But the Apostle says, for I've learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content. And then he expands it. He tells
us, I know. Again, the Apostle is an honest
man. He doesn't operate under mock
humility. He's able to operate under honesty
and he says, I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. Yes, you see, whatever state
he was in, think of the condition in Philippi we've been speaking
about in our prayer meetings, all that evil situation that
existed there. I mean, he was beaten many times
and in prison many times. abased many times therefore."
And what does he say? He's content, he's learned to
be content with that situation. Everywhere and in all things
I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. And then he comes and says, I
can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Oh, that
you and I might have faith, living faith to understand the great
truth of such a statement as that. That we might think so
often we're feeble. Well, we are ourselves. So was
the Apostle Paul. My friends, his strength is in
the Lord. And may we know that today, that your strength and
my strength is in the Lord. Godliness with contentment, you
see, content. in that situation, whether we're
abased, whether we're on high, all the same, Paul was blessed
with contentment. And so he's able, therefore,
to speak from experience, to address Timothy and tell him
that godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing
into this world and it's certain we can carry nothing out. We
need to understand this more and more, don't we? I'm sure
it will influence our lives. better for the glory of God,
if we understood this more and more. We have food, we have raiment,
we all have don't we? Therefore really we should indeed
be content with these blessings, but you know we spend our time
don't we? Spend our time rather than concentrating on the things
of God, We spend much of our time, don't we, concentrating
on the things of this poor, sinful world, and the things, you know,
which perish with the using, perish away only there for a
very short time. The God's servant Solomon, he
wrote the Ecclesiastes, and very gracious words they are, good
words for all of us to read often and understand. And he said,
there is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely riches
kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. But those riches
perish by evil travail. And he begetted a son, and there
is nothing in his hand. As he came forth of his mother's
womb, naked shall he return. To go as he came, and shall take
nothing of his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. And this also is a sore evil,
that in all points as he came, so should he go. And what profit
hath he that hath laboured for the wind? Well, it's like it,
isn't it? We know what the wind's like,
don't we? It's gone. We don't know where it comes
from, we don't know where it goes. It's passing, it's passing,
it's gone. It's gone forever. So my friends,
for the things of this world, we leave them, they're gone,
they're gone forever. But how needful it is then to
be blessed with that godliness, the evidence of God's grace within
us, which shows to us so clearly the emptiness and the poverty
the things of this poor dying world well not only did of course
Solomon speak in the Ecclesiastes there were also others that spoke
in the Proverbs and we have God's servant Agar who spoke in the
30th Proverbs and he says this Add thou not unto his words,
lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. So we haven't
got to add anything to God's word, our own words to make excuses. Two things have I required of
thee. Deny me them not before I die. Remove far from me vanity and
lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food convenient
for me. And again, he illustrates the reason for this. Lest I be
full and deny thee and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor
and steel and make the name of my God, take the name of my God
in vain. What is he saying, therefore?
He's saying, give me neither poverty nor riches. Contentment,
just like this statement here. For godliness with contentment
is great gain. It's great gain. We often, you
see, don't recognize what true gain is. Our mind is so earthbound
so often that we add up, as it were, the things of time. And that's what we consider to
be gain. We should be far more concerned
about our treasure in heaven. Far more concerned about the
blessing of God resting upon our souls. Far greater concern
about what we know of Christ. Far greater concern to know more
of Christ. Far greater concern to be ready
when the Lord will come and take us from this earth and then we
leave absolutely everything behind. What do we take with us? we take
with us his work in our soul, that eternal work, that blessed
work, that valuable work of his grace, of his mercy, of his love. So this morning, may we be able
to examine ourselves to see where we come within this word, godliness. godliness, it's a far-reaching
word, has many avenues, has many considerations that my friends
may be able to trace out in measure that we are amongst those who
do possess the grace of God in our heart and numbered amongst
those who are the godly in Christ Jesus and who are found concerned
walking in accordance with this word, but godliness with contentment
is great gain. Amen.