Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today,
and I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to pick up where I left off last
week in the book of 1 Timothy, chapter one, concerning this
subject, godly edifying. This is part two, part one last
week. I dealt with the first few verses
of chapter one, leading up to verse four. where Paul is instructing
the young pastor and evangelist, Timothy, while he was at Ephesus,
while Timothy was at Ephesus, teaching and preaching and edifying
in the church of the Ephesians. And he tells Timothy that to
teach the truth, Be careful and don't teach any other doctrine. In verse four, he says, neither
give heed to fables, endless genealogies, which minister questions,
rather than godly edifying, which is in faith, so do. And this
godly edifying, if you listened to last week's, if you haven't,
get that message, but you'll be able to tell from this message.
Godly edifying is that encouragement of truth and doctrine that establishes
the hearts of God's true people, believers, sinners saved by grace,
in the faith of the gospel, in the faith of Christ, causing
them to look more and more to Jesus Christ as the author and
finisher of their faith, which enables them to grow in grace
and in knowledge of Christ. And that's what edification is
all about, growing in grace and in knowledge of Christ. Staying
true to those things of the gospel and all the particulars and the
implications, the issues that come forth concerning obedience,
perseverance, all of that. That's what godly edifying is.
And we'll pick up in verse five. I ended here last week, but I
want to make sure that we understand what he's talking about in this
verse. He says in verse five, 1 Timothy 1 and verse five, continuing
on with this godly edification, now the end of the commandment
is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and
of faith unfeigned. Now, what he's talking about,
first of all, the end of the commandment. What he's talking
about here is the commandment, the specific commandment that
Paul had given to young Timothy concerning preaching the truth
of God's word to the believers at Ephesus that would encourage
them and that would establish them in the grace of God, establish
their hearts with grace, not with works now, but with grace,
that means looking to Christ, resting in Christ, believing
in Christ, so that would establish their hearts with grace and encourage
them, motivate them to the obedience of faith, that is obedience motivated
by grace, love, and gratitude. And that's what godly edification
is all about. It's encouraging through the
teachings of the truth that establish the hearts of God's children
with grace, and motivates them to love God, to love their neighbor,
to obey God, to study and love His word, to grow in grace and
in knowledge, all of that. And he says the end, the goal
of all that is charity, that's love. Love, loving God, loving
God's people, loving Christ, loving His truth. Godly love. Now understand a lot of people
today do not understand the true love that God sheds abroad in
the hearts of His people. Most people, most people look
at love and the way you would look at compromise. For example,
if you have someone who claims to be a Christian, but they don't
believe the truth. And there's a lot of that today.
How are you gonna deal with that person in love? Are you gonna
tell them the truth, which may or may not, well, it will, which
will offend them. You know, a person who thinks
they're saved, saved and right with God, but their claim of
salvation is based upon things that aren't true. For example,
a person who claims to be a Christian, but who believes that their salvation
was and is conditioned on themselves in some way, at some stage, to
some degree. Now their salvation is a lie.
And you may believe that, and I may have just offended you,
but I'm doing that because love commands me to tell you the truth.
How, if I were a doctor, for example, let's say an oncologist,
a cancer doctor, and you came into me and you were hurting
and I took some x-rays and I saw that you had a tumor or something,
what if I lied to you and said, no, you're okay, just take a
pill and go home? Would that be love? No. If I know that you're basing
your salvation and your hope on a lie, on yourself, and not
on God's grace based on the righteousness of Christ alone freely imputed
and received by faith. If I told you that you were okay,
that would not be love. That's self-love. That's removing
the offense of the cross. Because my friend, the gospel
message, the light, is offensive to the natural man, especially
to those who are religious without truth. And so the end of this
commandment is love out of a pure heart. Now, what is a pure heart? Well, somebody says, well, you
know, a person who's kind and generous, they have a pure heart.
Listen, the natural heart, and the heart refers to the mind,
the affections, the will, the conscience. The natural heart
of man is in a state of sin and depravity and darkness and unbelief. Though a person who's in that
state can be religious, can be generous, can be kind, what the
world calls good, dedicated, sincere, all of that. But the
heart of the natural man is deceitful and desperately wicked even in
religion. So what happens when God gives
us a new heart? He cleanses the heart by the
spiritual application of that knowledge that Christ's blood
alone cleanses me from all my sins. So when he talks about
love out of a pure heart, he's not talking about a person who
is inwardly righteous or perfect, because none of us are. We're
either sinners lost in our sins or sinners saved by grace. And
every true believer is in a warfare within himself, the warfare of
the flesh and the spirit. And so we realize that all the
time, our only perfection and righteousness before God is that
in which I stand in Christ, washed in His blood from all my sins,
clothed in His righteousness, imputed to me. I cannot plead
before God my best efforts to be obedient and to love as my
ground of salvation. I plead only one thing. My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly totally lean on Jesus' name, on Christ, the
solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
Now, that doesn't say, that doesn't mean that I shouldn't try to
be the best that I can be in every area. We pray, Lord, help
us, help us, please help us to be obedient, honorable, obedient
servants But we realize that at our best, we cannot claim
salvation based on our works. At our best, we cannot say we
have a right relationship with God based upon what we do. It's all based upon what Christ
did. And then that love that drives me to Christ. And then
he says in verse five, and of a good conscience. Well, what
is the good conscience? Well, you know, the conscience,
as one man said, is the seat of judgment in the heart. It's the seat or the judgment
seat by which we understand and live by what we think is right
and what we think is wrong. That's the conscience. And by
nature, man's conscience is defiled. Even in religion, it's a legal
conscience. It's a condemned conscience.
It's the kind of conscience that tells you that if you don't straighten
up and do right, you're gonna go to hell. But if you straighten
up and do right, you're gonna go to heaven. That's a bad conscience. That's a legal conscience, not
a good conscience. So what makes a good conscience?
Well, if you look over in Hebrews chapter 10, Listen to what is
written here, beginning at verse 19. And listen to what it says. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Now don't
miss that. Camp there for a while. He says
you have boldness. What is that boldness? It's freedom. It's liberty. It's confidence. to enter in where? The holiest.
Do you remember Isaiah in Isaiah chapter six when he had that
vision in the temple? God high and lifted up his train
filled the temple, holy, holy, holy. And he said, I saw then
that I'm undone, I'm cut off. I'm a man of unclean lips. If
you understand what a sinner, what sinners we are, you'll come
to understand that the last place we would want to be is in the
presence of a holy and just and righteous God. But here, he's
talking about one who has boldness to enter the holiest, the holy
presence of God. A sinner, boldly entering into
the presence of God, on what ground? Now here's the key. Listen to it again. Having therefore
brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. There's the key. It's his blood. Christ went to the cross having
my guilt, my debt, my sins charged, accounted, imputed to him. He
took them upon himself. He bore my iniquities. He stood
in my place, the just for the unjust, and he drank damnation
dry for me, so that my sins will not be held against me or charged
to me in the court of God's justice. Romans 834 says, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn me? It's Christ
that died. You see that? I cannot be condemned,
not because I'm such a good person, and not because I'm working hard
to be good. I cannot be condemned, because
Christ died, yea, rather, is risen again, seated at the right
hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for me.
There is therefore now no condemnation in Christ for those who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And what is it to
walk after the Spirit? It's to walk by faith in Christ,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. But
look back at Hebrews chapter 10 now. In verse 10, he says,
I mean verse 19 rather. And he said, well, verse 10's
a good one to read. I'll just direct you there just
for a second. By the witch will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
That's all of his sheep, one time. But look back at verse
19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, Now, what is the new and living way? It's
the way of the New Covenant, the New Testament. What did Christ
say about that? This is my body, which is broken
for you. This is my blood, which was shed
for you, which He, Christ, hath consecrated, newly made, for
us. We didn't do it, Christ did it
through the veil, the veil that separated the holy of holies
from the holy place, that is to say His flesh. In other words,
He gave His body, His sinless perfect body as a sacrifice to
die, see, to satisfy justice, which broke that veil. Remember
the veil was torn in two from top to bottom? free access for
sinners in Christ, washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness,
to enter into the holiest. And he says that is to say his
flesh, verse 21, and having a high priest over the house of God,
Christ the great high priest. Now look at verse 21, 22 rather. Let us draw near into the holiest
with a true heart, a sincere heart, okay, a new heart in full
assurance of faith, in full assurance that Christ is my hope, my salvation,
my righteousness, my keeper, the thing that I come before
God having no sin charged to me, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. And what is it sprinkles the
evil conscience? The blood of Jesus Christ. And
what washes our bodies? The blood of Jesus Christ. What
can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
That hymn goes, Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white
as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. And there's one verse that says
this. This is all my hope and peace. This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Now, if you go back to 1 Timothy 1, that's the good conscience. that old bad legal conscience
that condemns you, do this and live, don't do that, do this
and die, don't do that, live, all that kind of stuff, legal,
conditional, that's been, for a believer, justified by the
grace of God in Christ, washed clean from all of his sins by
the blood of Christ, righteous in Christ, his righteousness
imputed, whose conscience and heart and mind has been cleansed
by the application of that knowledge the Spirit makes new to us and
brings us to see and believe and to rest in, that sinner,
that sinner has a good conscience. That legal conscience, even though
we still have legal thoughts, we fight them. We recognize that
they're bad, they're not good. We, our conscience is cleansed
by the blood of Jesus Christ and our motives for obedience
is grace, love, and gratitude. And that's what edification is
all about. Godly edification. Now a person
can be encouraged to obedience by legal threats of the law. I've heard preachers, especially
a lot of preachers, when they preach on giving, oh, they get
real legal then. They say, you either give it
now or God'll carry it out the back of the church in a coffin,
stuff like that. And that's not what the Bible
teaches. They say, well, if you do this much or give this much,
you'll receive more money or whatever. Listen, that's not
godly edification. bad a bad conscience which is
edified legally it's either legal threats of punishment or hell
or it's mercenary promises of earned reward you work hard and
you'll get this you'll earn this my friend we don't earn anything
from God Salvation, with all of its blessings and all of its
benefits, is a free gift from God's grace. He that spared not
his own son, how shall he not with him freely, unconditionally
give us all things? The Spirit, that is the Spirit
that comes from God, reveals to God's people those things
which are freely given, all of salvation and all of its benefits. Ephesians 1.3 says, blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who
have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. All conditioned on Him. Well,
let's go back to our text, 1 Timothy 1, continuing on with godly edification
now. And that's exactly what I'm giving
you today. He says in verse six, now he
mentioned the commandment, the end of the commandment is charity
out of a pure heart and good conscience and faith unfeigned.
Faith unfeigned, that means not faith that is insincere, false,
built upon a lie. Faith, you know the root word
in the Bible for faith is knowledge. In Romans 1, 16 and 17 it says
this, Paul wrote, for I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and the Greek or
the Gentile also, for therein, verse 17, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed. Now, what is the righteousness
of God there? It's the entire merit and value and worthiness
of the obedience unto death of Christ which he accomplished
as the surety, the substitute, and the redeemer of his people. It's the assurance that all for
whom he lived and died and was buried and arose again shall
be saved unto glory. And then it says, for therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. Now, what does that mean? Well,
from faith means the knowledge of God, the knowledge of Christ,
the knowledge of salvation that God reveals in His Word. So it's knowledge revealed. You see, the gospel that is believed
is a revealed knowledge. It's a revelation from God. It
must be revealed. You're not going to come by it
naturally. You're not gonna come by it by doing research as far
as human endeavors. It's got to be revealed. And
God, the Holy Spirit, reveals it to every one of God's people
at some point in time under the preaching of the gospel. So from
faith is knowledge revealed. To faith refers to the gift of
faith by which God brings us to receive, believe, and rest
in that knowledge. So it's knowledge received. So
from faith, knowledge revealed. To faith, knowledge received. Not only do we know it in our
head, we know it in our heart, as some people put it. Now technically
speaking, in the Bible, there's no difference between the head
and the heart. But a person can give mental agreement to words
that they really don't believe. But this is from faith to faith.
Knowledge revealed, knowledge received. Now we know Christ. This is life eternal. They might
know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom they'll
sin. And then it ends there in verse 17 of Romans 1. For it
is written that the just shall live by faith. The justified,
those who are cleansed, forgiven of all their sins on a just ground,
the blood of Jesus Christ, Those who are righteous in God's sight
on a just ground, the imputed righteousness of Christ, the
justified, shall live by that knowledge that's been revealed
to them and received by them through the gift of faith. That's
what it's about. And so all of that, faith unfeigned,
built upon the word of God, That's what faith is, believing God.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Now, godly
edification then has to be submersed and founded upon the Word of
God. If what you believe is not concerning
God, concerning Christ, concerning yourself and your sinfulness,
concerning salvation, concerning obedience, all of that, perseverance. If what you believe is not founded
upon God's word, it's feigned, it's a lie, it's not good. And Paul warns Timothy here,
look at verse six of 1 Timothy one, from which some having swerved
had turned aside unto vain jangling. Verse seven, desiring to be teachers
of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they
affirm. And what they were doing is they
were misusing the law of God, the word of God. And a lot of
people do that today. You know, Satan knows more scripture
than most preachers today. And he quotes scripture. Remember,
he quoted it to the Lord on the Mount of Temptation, but he misuses
it. He abuses it. And that's why
he says in verse eight, but we know that the law is good if
a man use it lawfully. The word of God, no matter what
it says, whether it's the gospel, the encouragement by way of commandment,
it's good if a man uses it rightly. into godly edifying, but it's
certainly not good if a man abuses it and turns to vain jangling.
That's preaching, speaking that doesn't edify and doesn't focus
its attention on the glory of God, the exaltation of Christ,
the salvation of sinners, and the edification of God's people. But it just leads out there in
some kind of a legal religiosity that is sickening to God. Godly
edifying is what we're looking for, and I hope you'll join us
next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2-3. Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia
31707. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.