and heard a lot this week about
George H.W. Bush, his passing and his funeral,
I could not help but think President Lincoln, he made the comment one time,
or quoted as saying, the hand that rocks the crib rules the
nation. You could certainly see that
in George Bush's life. I never heard him say much about
his dad, but he sure talked about his mother and how she instilled
certain things in him that stayed with him all of his life. What
a blessed thing it is to have a mother, a child to have a mother
who loves Christ and teaches her children the things of the
Lord. Tremendous blessing. Let's look
tonight in 1 Timothy chapter six. 1 Timothy chapter six, and we'll
begin with verse 11, read through the end of the chapter. But thou, O man of God, flee
these things. and follow after righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight
of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou also called
and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 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, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable
until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times
he shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King
of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling
in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man has
seen, nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting,
amen. Charge them that are rich in
this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain
riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things
to enjoy. That they may do good, that they
may be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate,
laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the
time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life. O Timothy,
keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane
and vain babblings and opposition of science falsely so called,
which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be
with thee. Amen. In these last verses of
this letter, which we've just read, the apostle uses the word
charge twice, in verse 13 and verse 17. And that's going to
help me to give an outline for us this evening, or to have an
outline for us this evening. We will look at these two charges. But before we come to the charges,
I want us to look at verses 11 and 12, much like an introduction. And in these verses, Timothy
is told to follow and to fight. To follow and to fight. And you notice Paul calls him
a man of God. But thou, Timothy, O man of God. This title, a man of God, is
one which was given to some of the prophets in the Old Testament.
Elijah, he was called a man of God. Elisha, a man of God. And their work, the work of those
prophets in the Old Testament, was to reveal the will of God. And I see Paul using it in referring
to Timothy as a man of God in two ways. First of all, to show
the continuity between the Old and the New Testament. Just like
there were men of God, men called in the Old Testament, dispensation,
to reveal the will of God, to proclaim the will of God, so
now in the New Testament, God calls men to proclaim the will
of God. Now, it's a revealed will of
God, of course. We believe that God has a secret
will. A will which orders all things. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. We don't know what that will
is, but it is revealed as things take place. But we have a revealed
will, which is the Bible, the Word of God. And that is what
we are to proclaim. men of God, or to proclaim the
Word of God. So I see a continuity between
the Old Testament, same message, same gospel, only it was revealed
in the Old Testament in types and shadows and things of that
nature. But the gospel hasn't changed.
It's always been by substitution, that is, someone substituting
themselves in the place of the sinner who is to be saved, and
that substitute satisfying God. That's the only way salvation
has ever been procured, has ever been given to anyone, by someone
substituting themselves. Now it was pictured in those
animals. They were sacrificed in the tabernacle under the law
that God gave to Moses. Those were substitutes. They
all pictured the substitute. Every morning, every evening,
there was a lamb slain according to the law. And when the Lord
Jesus Christ, after he was baptized, remember, he's pointed out as
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. So the gospel has always been
the same. Never has been but one gospel. That's the gospel I believe.
That's the gospel I'm trusting to save my soul. The gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the reason I can go to
bed at night and go to sleep. Lay my head down on the pillow
and go to sleep and know all is well. And when I wake up in
the morning, what a blessing it is to know that my Savior
is the same today as he was yesterday, and his blood cleanses me from
all sin. Well, that's the first thing
I see by Paul referring to him as a man of God, the continuity
between the Old and the New Testaments. And second, the work of the prophets
and the ministers is to reveal the will of God. Not His secret
will. We don't know that. But His revealed
will. That is, preach the Word. The
Word that is revealed to us. And what is His will? That you
believe on Him whom He hath sent. That's His will. All right. As
a man of God, notice first, follow. And he tells him six things that
he is to follow. Flee the things that the men
of this world are pursuing. He's just mentioned those things. The men of this world, what are
they pursuing? They're pursuing riches for the
most part. That's where their interest is.
That's what they pursue. That's what they work for, look
for, follow after. Riches, the things of this world. But thou, O man of God, Follow
after these things, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
and meekness. I thought that you might say,
well, follow after righteousness. I thought that Christ is our
righteousness. He is. He is our righteousness. And he's in heaven. John Bunyan,
remember, struggling With his salvation, he was at first at
least up and down, up and down, you know. One day he'd believe
he was saved and the next day he'd believe he was lost. And
of course Satan was accusing him and his flesh and dealing
with all those things that all believers have dealt with. And
then one day he said he was walking along and somehow it came to
him this truth, my righteousness doesn't fluctuate by what I do
or what I don't do. My righteousness is in heaven.
And it's the same always. Well, why would Paul then tell
Timothy, follow after righteousness? Well, justifying righteousness,
Christ is our justifying righteousness. That's his name, Jehovah Tiskanu,
the Lord, our righteousness. That's his name. And did you
know in Jeremiah, that's our name. That's the name of the
church. Well, it's common, isn't it,
for the wife to take the name of her husband? His name is Jehovah,
our righteousness, so is the name of the church, His bride. But what righteousness is this?
This is speaking of living justly, justly between individuals. Follow after righteousness, justice. And the next thing, of course,
is godliness. What is this godliness? Well,
this is what I believe it is. It is follow after that spiritual
frame of mind. That spiritual frame of mind. Follow after that. I thought
about this verse in the Psalms where David said this, as the
heart. or a deer, as a deer paneth after
the water brooks, so paneth my soul after thee, O God. That's
what we are to follow after, that spiritual frame of mind,
to pan after the Lord, His presence, His anointing. Pan after, follow
after godliness, not only righteousness, but godliness. And then these
other graces which are mentioned here, love, or faith rather,
love, patience, meekness, or humility. All these other graces,
we recognize they are the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians
chapter five, the fruit of the Spirit. And all of these things
are mentioned there. So follow after these things.
But as a man of God, fight, Timothy, fight the good fight of faith.
Now Paul, once again, I believe, is using the Olympic Games. We know he did this in several
places, in several of his epistles. And in the Olympic Games, there
were boxing matches. And he contrasts the fights in
those games with the fight of faith, and he calls the fight
of faith a good fight. Those fights don't amount to
anything. In the games, men fought one
against another. But in the good fight of faith,
we're not fighting against men. Men are not our adversaries.
We wrestle not, he said in Ephesians, we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities and powers, against rulers of
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. Good fight, Timothy. Those men
who are in those games, they're fighting each other, man against
man. But our fight is not against
men. Our fight is against spiritual
wickedness, against powers, principalities and powers. In other words, against
the strongholds of Satan. And remember this, every lost
person is under the dominion of Satan. Every lost person. And the only way any lost person
is relieved or released is by a stronger coming upon him and
spoiling him, his goods. And of course, the strong man
is the Lord Jesus Christ. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers. And this is a
good fight. And like those Olympic games,
those men would fight each other and the victor, the winner, what
would he obtain? Well, from what I've seen, he'd
obtained a little old crown made out of some kind of a tree branch
or something. But the fight that we're fighting,
the crown that we're looking for, is the crown of life. A
crown of life. A good, good fight. Good fight. And the crown is certainly better. Now, let's look at the first
charge that Paul gives to Timothy. Verses 13 through 16. Paul's
charge to Timothy. I give thee charge in the sight
of God who quickeneth all things, and Christ Jesus, who before
Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. that thou keep this
commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show who is the blessed
and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who
only hath immortality dwelling in the light, which no man can
approach unto, whom no man hath seen or can see, to whom be honor
and power everlasting. First, notice he charges him
before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. God, notice he says,
who quickeneth all things. Let that soak in. God, who quickeneth. Quickening means to be giving
life. All life, whether it's mineral,
plant, animal, spiritual, eternal, all life comes from God. Think of God as a fountain, as
a fountain from which flows life. There is no life apart from God,
who quickeneth all things. I charge thee before God, who
quickeneth all things. If you look over in 1 John, just
a moment, First John chapter one. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life. The life was manifest. Who was
manifested? The Word, God. The life was manifested. All life comes from God. Who quickeneth, as Paul says
here in our text tonight, who quickeneth all things. I charge
thee before God, who quickeneth, who gives life to all. And the
Lord Jesus Christ. And notice he says that the Lord
Jesus who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. On Sunday evenings, the last
couple of weeks, we've looked at the Lord Jesus Christ as he
stood before Pilate. And part of his confession to
Pilate was, my kingdom is not of this world. That was part
of his confession, a good confession before Pilate. My kingdom is
not of this world. This in itself, just that fact,
that His kingdom, the kingdom of God, the kingdom into which
God has translated us, the kingdom of His dear Son, all believers
translated into the kingdom of His dear Son, is not of this
world. And this fact alone should remind
all ministers and believers as well, but especially all ministers
of the gospel, not to make this world with its riches and honors
our goal. We cannot serve two masters. I knew a preacher many years
ago. I think he was a faithful preacher,
but as time went on, as I observed his life, His goal became making
money, accumulating wealth. And you know, I saw his ministry
go. My kingdom is not of this world. And if a man, especially a preacher,
if he makes money, the riches of this world, his goal, he's
already missed the point. We're to set our affections where? Not on the things of this world.
If we've been raised with Christ, Paul says, if we've been raised
with Christ, and as we are in union with Christ, we died when
he died, we were crucified at the cross when he was crucified,
we were in him as our head, we've been raised with him, then seek
those things which are above. Those things which are above.
So first of all, I'll point out to us, he charges Timothy before
God and before the Lord Jesus Christ. The second, he charges
him to keep this commandment. Verse 14, that thou keep this
commandment without spot. Now what is the commandment?
What is the commandment that he is charged to keep? Well,
some say, It is what he had just mentioned. Fight the good fight. Keep this commandment, Timothy.
Fight the good fight. Others see it as all that Paul
had said in this epistle, beginning with the gospel and the church
order and all of the things that we have noticed as we've looked
through 1st Timothy. Keep this commandment. John Gill,
he understood this commandment as the work and the office of
preaching the gospel. Keep this commandment. As to
his conduct as a preacher, he must be faithful. Remember Paul
in Corinthians said, it is required of a steward that he be faithful. Faithful. Preacher. Has to be
faithful. Man's not faithful, he's not
going to serve the Lord. I've got a friend who I just
admire so much, a preacher. Mainly because of his faithfulness.
I mean, he's so faithful. Has been for many, many years.
And he's an example to other men to be faithful. Faithful
if God gives you something to do. Whatsoever thy hand findeth
to do, do it with all thy might. Give yourself unto the ministry.
And faithful. Timothy, as a preacher, you must
be faithful. And as to the gospel you preach,
it must be the pure gospel, unadulterated. I read a tract recently. I was
looking for a tract to give to one of the doctors that I see.
I've been talking to him, visiting with him when I go for an appointment,
and I thought I'd like to take him a good tract. And so I picked
up a tract and started reading it, and it was good until it
came to apart, and then it seemed like it just brought in a fable,
a story. And I thought to myself, I don't
care for this. Fables, you know, fables, they
may have their place in illustrating things, but God uses His Word. God uses His Word, not the Word
of the preacher even. He uses His Word. We're begotten
again by the uncorruptible word of God, the living word of God,
the word, the scripture. And I said, no, I don't think
I want to, want to give him this track. It's all right. I mean,
it's good, but I just would rather have something without a fable
in it. So the word, give the word of God. That's what men
need, isn't it? That's what I need. That's what
you need. It's what we all need is the
word of God. How long? Paul charges Timothy
to be faithful. How long? How long? Until the appearing, until the
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I thought that 65 was the
age of retirement. Well, Paul didn't know anything
about that. How long? Timothy, I charge thee
before God to keep this commandment, to be faithful in preaching the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How long? Until the Lord Jesus
Christ comes again, whether He comes for you in death or He
comes in the second coming. But that's how long. Paul cannot
mention the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, His second coming,
without extolling, it seems to me, God's greatness. God's greatness. Now notice, it says, until the
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in His times, whose time? God's times. In God's times. In the beginning, whose time? God's time. When He created the
heavens and the earth. In the fullness of the times,
his son was born, his time, God's time. And God's time is the time
when the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come again. And no one
knows that time, no man knows that time. And I know you like
myself, I've been amazed over the years what seems so, so clear
in the scripture about no one knowing the day of his coming,
yet We have known different ones over the years who have predicted
the day of His coming, and of course they've all proven wrong.
When someone tells you a date, you can probably count on the
fact it's not going to be on that day. That's probably a sure
enough thing that it's not going to happen on that day, when a
man gives you a date. That time is reserved the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said the Father. He knows
that time. But there is a time, isn't there?
And it could be tonight. That would be wonderful if it
was tonight. Well, Paul mentions the second
coming of the Lord and he begins to extol the greatness of God. He said, when that happens, then
men will see that God is the only potentate. He's the only
potentate. All through the history of the
world, God has been, is, and forever will be the only potentate. That is, the only sovereign ruler. Now, God has raised up men. He will continue to raise up
men and put down men. as long as this world continues
like it is now, but they serve as God commands. His time. He's the only potentate. He's the only one who isn't immortal. You say, well, aren't the holy
angels immortal? They are immortal, but their
immortality is given unto them. God is the only one who is immortal
in the sense who had no beginning, who has no ending. Immortal,
eternal, and so holy. God is so holy. And this is what
is missing in the preaching of our day. The holiness of God. That God is so holy that he may only be seen in His
Son in the flesh, the God-man. Why? Because God is absolutely
holy, and so holy that He may only
be seen in Christ. We will need, you and I, we will
need to shed this sinful body and be in our glorified body
when we see God. This is what the theologians
call the beatific vision of God. The beatific vision of God. I read an author yesterday. He said, this is what happened
at the cross. When the Lord Jesus Christ cried,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? that that vision
that he had, that beatific vision of God that he had always had,
was withdrawn. That may be so. I'm not sure
about that. But that is a mystery. I know
that. But Timothy, I charge thee before
God and before the Lord Jesus Christ, and when He comes again,
how long? Until He comes again, and when
He does come, then God will show who is the only potentate. Don't
you look forward to that? I mean when men and women, boys
and girls, when all, everyone is made to see that God Almighty
is God. I look forward to that. Men who
take God's name in vain, men who curse God, men who deny God,
men who have no use for God. One day, one day, every knee
shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God. Well, the second charge, notice
in verses 17 through 19, Timothy is to charge them that are rich
in this world. Before, if you look back to verse
nine, Paul said, but they that will be rich, they that will
be rich, that they will fall, they fall into temptation, snares
and foolish and hurtful lust. But now you see, he's charging
Timothy to tell those who are rich, Before it was those who
would be rich. He warns them of the snares of
a person having that desire, setting their desire on wealth. They'll fall into temptations
and snares. But now, charge those who are
rich. And these were believers. These
were believers in the church at Ephesus. And yet they were
wealthy, they were rich, but Timothy is to charge them that
they must especially watch against these two things, a wealthy person,
a wealthy believer, wealthy in the things of this world. All
of God's believers are wealthy. We're all rich. And I'm not talking
about just in the things of this world. I'm talking about the
riches of Christ. We're all wealthy. But he's talking
about men and women, I suppose, who were wealthy, rich people
in this world. Charge them, Timothy. There's
two snares that they must especially watch against. The first one
is they must not become high-minded. Riches have a tendency to cause
a person to become high-minded. In other words, to think that
he's better than other people only because he has more money
or more, better clothes or bigger house or anything that has nothing
to do with it. But wealth has a tendency to
do that. And Paul tells Timothy, charge
them not to be high-minded. I mentioned President Bush a
while ago, ex-President Bush. Majors, Prime Minister of Britain,
when George H.W. Bush was president,
made this comment. He said, He's the only man I
ever saw shake the doorman's hand. At number 10 Downing, who
opened the door for the prime minister and those dignitaries
and the president as they went in, he said, he's the only person
I ever saw shake the doorman's hand. Be not high-minded. Wealth has a tendency to do that.
And then charge them not to trust in riches, because as the scripture
says, riches have a way of making themselves wings and flying away. A man goes to bed one day, he's
a millionaire, wakes up the next day and he's a pauper. It's happened. It sure has. Don't trust in uncertain
riches, trust in the living God. Trust in the living God. We must
recognize wealthy people in Those of us here tonight, for the most
part, I believe we probably would fall into this class. I think
just about every American citizen would, that he's talking about
here, rich. But we must recognize that the
wealth that we are given, we are stewards. And one day we
will give an account for how we have used the wealth that
he has given us. The best commentary on verse
19, look at verse 19, laying up in store for themselves a
good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold
on eternal life. The best commentary on that verse. are the words of the Lord Jesus
in Matthew chapter 6 when he said, lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through and steal. Notice Paul's use
of the word foundation reminds us because a foundation has to
be solid. It has to be substantial, unmovable. And what a contrast he gives
here between the riches of this world and the riches that are
laid up in heaven. They're like a house built on
the sand and a house built on the rock. Now, final postscript,
verses 20 and 21. One last time, that's what I
think, one last time, Timothy, keep the preaching, keep preaching
the gospel which is committed to thy trust. Avoid vain, profane
babblings and science falsely so called. That's not what God
has called you to do. You preach the gospel. And may
God's grace keep you true to preaching the gospel. Grace be
with thee. Amen. I pray the Lord will bless
our study here tonight. Bless His word to all of us here.
I'm going to sing a hymn.