One of the things that the Apostle Paul wanted to do in this letter, and it's obvious from the language that the Spirit inspired him to write, is he wanted to encourage this young man, Timothy. I don't know how old Timothy was at this time, but he was obviously younger than Paul. He was Paul's protege. He looked at Paul as a mentor. And it was all surrounding the gospel, the gospel message. And the apostle wanted to encourage Timothy, number one, to stand firm in the truth of the gospel, the truth of God's word. And not only to stand firm in that truth, but to stand firm in living a life consistent with that truth.

And that's why he tells him, look at verse 11, he says, but thou, O man of God, what a way to address a person. If you're a believer and you're a woman, you're a woman of God. If you're a believer and you're a man, you're a man of God. But Paul has a specific emphasis here, and it's Timothy the preacher, the pastor, Even as young as Timothy is, he's an elder, because he was taught the scriptures from his youth up by his grandmother and his mother. You read about that over in 2 Timothy.

But a man of God, what is a man of God? A man of God is a sinner saved by grace, endowed with the Spirit, evidenced by looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of his faith, But here it's one who's been given the gifts of ministry and knowledge and maturity, leadership. These are things that God gives according to His sovereign will. Every sinner saved by grace is a man or a woman of God, but not everyone is a pastor or a preacher or an elder. Those are gifts that God gives. And Paul recognized these gifts in Timothy. Other apostles did too. That's why he talked about them laying hands on Timothy.

And so he says, but thou, O man of God, and he says, flee these things. Now, what things is he to flee? Stay away from, run from, anything that is inconsistent with the doctrine of Christ and the life that we live in Christ. And Paul had mentioned so many things up there. I'm not going to go over all these things, but he talked about seducing spirits, false preachers. He talked about things that were disputes, envy, strife, railings. He talked about, in verse 10, the love of money. Nothing wrong with having money, but the love of money that takes a person away from seeking and worshiping and following the Lord is evil. You remember we talked about that in the kingdom parables where the thorny ground hearer, he heard the gospel, claimed to believe it, but the love of riches and the love of the world took him away from it, caused him to apostatize. And Paul's telling Timothy to flee these things.

And he says, flee these things, but follow after righteousness. Now you know, one of the things that struck me when the Lord first revealed the truth to me, and I was in religion now. I'd already determined that I was gonna be a good boy. And I was gonna try to work my way to heaven, you know, that kind of thing. I was already there, you know. I would sing, Jesus loves me, yes I know, for the Bible, all of that. But one of the things that I learned when the Lord opened my eyes to the truth is I never really knew what righteousness was. I thought righteousness was the determination and sincerity of human morality. In other words, if you tried to be good, you're not gonna be perfect, but God's gonna, you know, He feels sorry for you, so He's gonna accept that. But that's not true. So if I'm gonna follow after righteousness, the first thing I need to know is what is righteousness? And of course, the Bible is clear on that matter. Righteousness is the perfection, the perfection of the law that can only be found in Christ. for a sinner like me or like you. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. Christ himself said, unless your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

And I learned, and you've learned this too, if you know Christ, that the best I can do is not good enough to save me. Now it may look good to other people. Remember Christ said to the Pharisees, you do indeed appear righteous unto men. But to God, it's an abomination. Because God requires the perfection of righteousness that can only be found in His Son. And that's only right because that glorifies God. Doesn't glorify me. It'll bring me to glory, but it glorifies God.

And so when we learn that, that's why Jeremiah twice identified the Messiah to come as Jehovah Sid Canu, the Lord our righteousness. So to follow after righteousness begins with following after Christ and submitting to him as your only righteousness before God.

He's gonna be talking about godliness here, that's the pursuit of godliness. Well, you remember back in 1 Timothy chapter three, great is the mystery of godliness. Godliness is a mystery to the common man, to the natural man. He thinks it has to do with religion and morality. And don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with morality, but if it's aimed earning your salvation, it's evil in God's sight. But great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. There's the mystery of godliness. It's all revolving around Christ, the glory of His person, and the power and success of His finished work on the cross.

And that's why so many people who claim to be Christian have missed the mark. Now we read that verse, Romans 3.23, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's what it means we've missed the mark. So I need to find somebody who's hit the mark. And I need to look to them and depend upon them and submit to them, and that's Christ. He's the only one here who hit the mark.

So follow after righteousness. Now it involves following after the commandments of Christ, not in order to be saved, but because we already are. And it's to be motivated not by law, and when I say motivated by law, I mean two facets of it. You either serve God because you're afraid you'll lose it, that's law, or you're afraid you'll get punished, That's law. Or you serve God because you're a mercenary and you want to see what you can get out of Him. You see, we can't do that because that's evil. That dishonors God and denies Christ and exalts sinners.

So why do we serve Him? Out of love, grace, gratitude, Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation so rich and free. How about that? That's the noble motive of godliness.

So when he says, he says in verse 11, follow after righteousness and godliness, And you know, theologians, they wanna say, well, that's God-likeness. Well, okay. In other words, we want to do right by God, okay? And so we want to honor God. That's what that's talking about. He says faith, that's faithfulness. That's perseverance.

That's continuing in the faith. Timothy had already been given the gift of faith as has every true believer. If you believe the gospel, if you believe Christ, if you're following Christ, do you realize you're a walking, talking miracle? And do you realize that it was God who made the difference and not you? Because most people think that they make the difference now. They do. It's God that makes the difference. God makes us to differ. not only in spiritual gifts, but also in salvation. He said, I'll be merciful to whom I will, and I'll be gracious to whom I will. So then it's not of him that runneth, nor of him that willeth, but of God that showeth mercy. So you've already been given the gift of faith and what he tells us is to make a conscious effort to continue in the faith.

When somebody comes along and tries to take our eyes off of Christ for the completeness and assurance of our whole salvation, don't do it, don't follow it, continue in the faith, you see. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free. Don't be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. That's why this thing of, we call it lordship salvation or works-based assurance is so dangerous. Because it gets your eyes off of Christ and onto yourself. And somebody told me one time, they said, well, I need a lot of improvement. Well, so do we all. We all need a lot of improvement. I want to be a better person. How about you? I sure do.

But what does the Bible say? Man at his what estate? Best is altogether vanity. The best that I can be is not good enough. That's why salvation is by grace. That's why it's in Christ. Him crucified and risen from the dead. and not in me. He says love, well that's love to God, that's love to the brethren, sticking together, defending one another, helping one another in the faith with that fellowship of love that only God gives here in His love, not that we love God but that He loved us. gave his son to be the propitiation for our sins, and it's love to even our enemies in the sense that we want to see them saved. It's not a love that'll compromise the gospel for our enemies. It's not a love that will speak peace to our enemies when there is no peace, but it's a love that will seek their salvation if given the opportunity. This is godly love, this is not just mere human love. It's not an egotistical love, it's not a sexual love, it's a godly love. And it's the gift of God too. Just like every other grace and gift of the spirit.

And then he says patience, that's endurance, under trial. The faithfulness is also endurance, but it's just continuing, it's perseverance in the faith, you've heard that term, as we are preserved by Christ. Patience is endurance under trial. And we all have them. And you say, well, when is this trial gonna end? I got news for you, soon as the next one begins. Isn't that right? You know, Hebrews chapter 12 is a textbook on chastisement, trials that God sends his children out of his love to do us good for whatever reason. It may not be for a particular sin, it may be, we don't know. God's in control. But he does tell us this, that if we're without chastisement, And chastisement is not easy and it's not, it doesn't feel good. Remember he said no trial is pleasant. It's only afterward that it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. And what is that peaceable fruit of righteousness? It's being brought out of that trial by God, looking to Christ even more. Trusting him even more. And you all can testify to that, you who believe. So when that trial's over, another one's come. But if you're without those chastisements, and he says you're an illegitimate child and not a son, not a child of God.

Meekness is humility. It has to do with submission. And you know, we like, I know myself, we like to think we submitted to God, but we don't want to submit to one another, do we? It gets a little hairy there, a little bit. But you've got to think now, in this meekness, I've got to think what's best for me and what's best for the church. That's what I've got to think about. In other words, I'm not here just to push my agenda. Politically, now religiously I do because we have the same agenda. And it's God saving us by His grace. But it's not our personal prejudices, our personal preferences, our personal wants, or our personal agendas. It's submission. Submission to God's Word. Not compromise now. When Paul tells Timothy to follow after meekness, he's not saying, now you compromise. If he told him to compromise, how would he approach this problem here? When he talked about those who come and teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words. He told Timothy, don't bow to them, don't put up with them, don't let them go. You deal with it. But when it comes to God's word and God's way and the goodness of God's people, submit.

Look at verse 12, he says, fight the good fight of faith. Now what a fight. Are we in a warfare or not? Who are the three great enemies? The world, the flesh, the devil. And it's a constant battle. Now, the war is already won. Christ has already overcome the world. Christ has already overcome even the flesh. And what is the flesh? That's me. That's us. I'm at war with myself. You're at war with yourself. It's the warfare of the spirit and the flesh. Christ has already overcome that warfare. If he hadn't, you would not continue to believe the gospel. You realize that? You'd flee it because that's the flesh. That's the way our flesh is geared as far as sin and selfishness. The only reason that we continue to believe is because Christ keeps us, preserves us. But He's already overcome the flesh, and He's already overcome the devil. The devil's accusations towards God's people fall empty now. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yeah, rather He's risen again, seated at the right hand of the Father. which is in heaven.

Think about that passage, I believe it's in Revelation 12, talking about the devil shooting his arrows. And we turn him back. How we turn him back? How we fight the devil? By the blood of the lamb. Read it in Revelation 12. Isn't that precious? I'm covered in the blood of Jesus Christ. My sins are forgiven. And I have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and justice that cannot be taken away and cannot fade. It's the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel. He says, fight the fight of faith. Verse 12, lay hold on eternal life. Lay hold on it. That means it's kind of like grab hold of Christ and hold on for dear life. Don't let go. So that's perseverance again. Where unto thou art called. Now that's it right there. This is the invincible calling of the spirit that brings a sinner to Christ to the point where there's no turning back. This is the opposite of apostasy where people make a profession and then leave it and blah blah blah and rededicate a thousand times and all that stuff. Now hold on for dear life. Whereunto thou art called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

Now what is a good profession? Now think about that. I've heard all kinds, I've been in this thing 40 years now. I've heard all kinds of professions, haven't you? A lot of people, you know, they want to prove to you they're saved. And they'll come up with things, well, when I was 12 I went to a revival, Preacher stood down there and I walked the aisle and I got baptized. That's not a good profession. Not unless it's under the gospel, number one. A good profession, number one, comes under the gospel. Okay? If it's under a false gospel, it's not a good profession. I'm telling you now. We're talking about eternal life here now. And you can whip it up in your mind and finagle it and whatever you want to do, but it's not going to stand the test of the Word of God.

It comes under the Gospel. It comes by the power of the Spirit, which brings a sinner to faith in Christ. Now listen, as he is identified and established and distinguished in the Bible, the Word of God, and it brings them to repentance of dead works. God's not willing that any of his elect should perish but that all should come to repentance. That's a good profession. Like Paul said, everything that I used to think recommended me unto God, I now in light of Christ and his righteousness, his blood, I now count it but loss that I may win Christ. Do count it but dung that I may win Christ. That's a good profession.

But now this morphing into all kinds of different religions and ideas, that's not a good profession. I know we live and we grow, I know that. But we live and grow according to the scripture and it begins with truth, the foundation of truth, not a lie. A cursed tree, an evil tree cannot produce good fruit. And that's talking about a false gospel, a false Christ. But a good tree, that's Christ, always produces good fruit. Now that doesn't mean that everybody sitting under the true gospel will believe it. But it means if anybody's under the true gospel and God's pleased to save them, he'll do it. They may walk away in unbelief, but it wasn't brought about by Christ, the good tree.

So he says, profess before many witnesses. Look at verse 13. He says, I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. Now God is the giver of all life, we know that. Even the life of unbelievers, unregenerate, but that's the way we started off. But he's especially the giver of spiritual life to his people, his chosen people. And it brings them, that's a quickening, that's a actual resurrection from the dead spiritually. And he quickeneth all things.

And before Christ Jesus, who stood before the, at that time in Jerusalem, the most powerful political figure in that area, Caesar was more powerful, but he wasn't in that area, but Pontius Pilate was the governor. You know, Pontius Pilate could have let Christ go. in his own mind. He really couldn't have because Christ was determined to go to the cross. And the Father had determined that before the foundation of the world. But look at the boldness of this person. Follow that boldness. A good confession. A good profession. I'm telling you the truth. Pilate said, what is truth? He didn't know. He was that relativism, that's common today. Well, what's true for you may not be true for me, that's bull. There are absolutes in this book here concerning God and who God is and who we are and how God saves sinners. And we need to lay hold of those absolutes and profess them boldly without embarrassment, without fear.

And so he goes on, look at verse 14, that thou keep this commandment without spot, talking about fleeing these things and following after righteousness, that's the commandment. In other words, don't do it with a mixed feelings, mixed mind, but without spot, in other words, sincerely, unrebukable. In other words, don't put yourself in a position where you gotta be corrected on these things. until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now for Timothy that appearing came thousands of years ago when Timothy died. May do the same for us or it may be we may be alive when Christ comes back but either way verse 15 he says, which in his times he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate.

You know that word potentate, it means talking about power. That's what a potentate is. I used to, after the Lord opened my eyes, I used to get tickled at these shriners. And if any of you are a shriner, I hope I'm not trying to criticize you, but they call one of their leaders a potentate. He ain't no potentate. God's the only potentate. God's omnipotent, the king of kings. Even the evil kings, he's over. People say, well, why does he let this happen? Why does he let that happen? He's God, and you're not. He knows what he's doing.

As I grew up as a little child, my dad and my mom did things that I didn't really understand, but I look back on them now and I say, you know, that was the right thing to do. He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords. That's who Christ is. That's our savior. Think about all the titles of him in the Bible. He's our brother, elder brother. He's our savior, our redeemer, our kinsman redeemer. But he's king of kings in the Lord of Lords, verse 16, who only hath immortality. If you wanna live forever, look to Christ. He's the only one who has immortality. Dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto. There's no approaching unto God apart from Christ. Apart from his blood and righteousness. Whom no man hath seen nor can see. Talking about God now. God is invisible, he's a spirit. And the contact that we have with the Father is through the Son. He reveals himself to us through the Son, and the Son reveals the Father to us.

So we have one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. No other mediator now. Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, they're not mediators between the true and living God and his people. And he says, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. Isn't that beautiful? All right.