Good evening. Where is Chris
Cunningham? I saw him from a distance. I'm
so glad to see you, brother. I thought my nightmare was going
to become a reality. Kevin thought he was going to
preach and I thought Kevin would preach. He said, not me. There
was a real bad accident on 436 and a lot of people got stuck
in it. Chris just walked in. We're going to sing an extra
hymn tonight before we preach so that anybody that's in that
accident might have time to be here. This has been a time that
we've been looking forward to and praying for and we're just
so very thankful the Lord has given us this opportunity and
brought us to this place. I want us to open our service
tonight with scripture reading and prayer, if you would turn
with me in your Bibles to Psalm 133. Psalm 133. We know that
in the volume of the book, it is spoken of Christ. So when we read this passage,
which speaks of Aaron, who was the high priest in the Old Testament,
we know that it points us to the Lord Jesus Christ. We have
a priest who has passed into the heavens, Jesus Christ, our
Lord. And so David begins speaking
prophetically by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Behold, how
good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity. For the believer, these times
of worship are as good as it gets in this world. And it is
the most pleasant experience that we have to have our hearts
united together in Christ as we're able to worship him and
hear the gospel. And this is good and this is
pleasant. And we want to welcome our guests
and brethren from other churches and other places. Verse two, it is like the precious
ointment upon the head that ran down from the beard, even Aaron's
beard that went down to the skirt of his garments. And this is
the anointing of the Lord Jesus, who is the Christ, the anointed
one, the Messiah, the one son of God to accomplish the salvation
of his people, came in the full power of the Holy Spirit and
was not able to fail. And we're so very thankful that
this anointing oil drips off of his, off the skirt of his
garment, and reminds us of that woman who had the issue of blood
and crawling to the Lord said, oh, but if I could just touch
the hem of his garment, that's our hope this weekend, that we'll
be able to touch the hem of his garment and be blessed with his
spirit. In verse three, as the dew of
Hermon, now, The word Hermon translated means a sanctuary
and a set-apart place. And in that regard, this place
has been set apart that the dew of the Holy Spirit would fall
from heaven, that God would be pleased to open the windows of
heaven and open our hearts. As the dew of Hermon and as the
dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For there, the Lord commanded
the blessing, and here's the blessing, everlasting life, life
forevermore. That is the blessing that he
commanded, to be poured out in the sanctuary with the oil of
gladness that is anointed Christ and that he gives to his people.
Let's open in prayer and ask our Lord to bless our heavenly
Father. We come into thy holy presence
thanking you that we have thy dear son, the anointed one, the
Lord Jesus, who is the Christ, seated at thy right hand as our
advocate, as our substitute, as our surety, our sin bearer,
Lord, we thank you for the accomplished work of his redemption on Calvary's
cross. And we ask, Lord, that you would
be pleased to cause the dew of heaven to fall upon this Mount
Zion tonight and tomorrow and Sunday. We thank you for the
men that you have called out to preach the gospel and we pray
that you would give them just the clarity and the conviction
and compassion to preach in the power of your spirit, and we
pray for ourselves that you would give us ears to hear, and that
that oil of your spirit would drip off the garments of the
Lord Jesus, and that we would be blessed with life evermore. We ask it in Christ's name, and
for his sake, amen. Brother Tom, you're gonna lead
us? Number six in the spiral hymnal. Let's stand together,
number six. ? Who is a God like unto thee ?
? That pardoneth iniquity ? Jehovah God, the great I Am,
forgives our sins through Christ the Lamb. Who is a God like unto thee? That pardoneth iniquity, his
anger he retains no more, His grace and mercy shall endure. ? The God of truth must punish
sin ? ? But in his love he sent a man ? ? To satisfy the law's
demands ? ? For sinners numerous as the sands ? Who is a God like
unto thee, That pardoneth iniquity? His anger He retains no more,
His grace and mercy He shall endure. ? Behold His love and
compassion ? ? In the death of Christ His Son ? ? The precious
sin atoning blood ? ? Reveals the love and truth of God ? ?
Who is a God like unto thee ? ? That pardoneth iniquity ? ? His anger
he retains no more ? ? His grace and mercy he shall endure ? He
passes by the transgressions of all his loved and chosen ones. In mercy God delights we see. He casts our sins into the sea. ? Who is a God like unto thee
? ? That pardoneth iniquity ? ? His anger He retains no more ? ?
His grace and mercy shall endure ? None can with our great God
compare. He gives his son sinners to spare. His anger he retains no more. Christ died and God requires
no more. Who is a God like unto thee,
that pardoneth iniquity? His anger He retains no more,
His grace and mercy He shall endure. Please remain standing. We're going to do one more congregational
hymn standing. Number 70 and the hardbacked
hymnal number 70. Holy, holy, holy. ? Holy, holy, holy ? ? Lord God
almighty ? ? Early in the morning ? ? Our song shall rise to thee
? Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three persons,
blessed Trinity. ? Holy, holy, holy ? ? All the
saints adore thee ? ? Casting down their golden crowns ? ?
Around the glassy sea ? ? Cherubim and seraphim ? Falling down before
thee, Which wert, and art, and evermore shall be. Holy, holy, holy, though the
darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful man thy glory may
not see. Only Thou art holy, there is
none beside Thee, perfect in power, in love and purity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. All thy works shall praise thy
name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and
mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Please be seated. just one page
over from where we started, hymn number five in your Spiral Gospel
Hymns hymn book. We'll sing that as a congregation
now and we'll have special music next. so ? Come ye sinners poor and wretched
? ? Weak and wounded, sick and sore ? ? Jesus ready stands to
save you ? ? Full of pity, joined with power ? ? He is able, he
is able ? He is willing, doubt no more. He is able, He is able. He is willing, doubt no more. Come ye needy, come and welcome,
God's free bounty glorify. True belief and true repentance,
every grace that brings us nigh. Without money, without money,
come to Jesus Christ and buy. Without money, without money,
come to Jesus Christ and buy. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requireth
is to have a deed of him. This he gives you, this he gives
you, tis the Spirit's glimmering beam. This he gives you, this
he gives you, tis the Spirit's glimmering beam. Come ye weary,
heavy laden, bruised and broken by the fall, if you tarry till
you're better, you will never come at all. Not the righteous, not the righteous,
sinners Jesus came to call. Not the righteous, not the righteous,
sinners Jesus came to call. Adam Sharon is going to bring
special music now. O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you
see. There's light for a look at the
Savior. and life more abundant and free. Lord, turn my eyes upon Jesus,
so I might see His precious face. And the things of earth will
grow strange and dim In the light of His glory and grace Through death into life everlasting
He passed and we follow Him there For us in no more hath dominion
For more than conquerors we are Lord, turn my eyes upon Jesus
So I might see His precious face And the things of earth will
grow strange and dim In the light of His glory and grace. His word shall not fail you,
He promised. Believe Him and all will be well. Then go to a world that is thine
His perfect salvation to tell Lord, turn my eyes upon Jesus
So I might see His precious face And the things of earth will
grow strange and dim in the light of His glory and grace. Thank you, Adam. I like the way
you changed that hymn. I love to worship when a hymn
is a prayer. And that's what that was, a prayer
from my heart and I trust from yours. The Lord, if our eyes
are turned upon him, he'll have to do it. We're completely dependent
upon him to that end. Chris Cunningham has been a dear
friend and I love him, love listening to
him preach. I think about Isaiah chapter
40 when I think of Chris. The Lord said, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. And I'm always comforted, brother,
when you preach. And I trust the Lord will comfort
our hearts again tonight. So you come. Vicki, it's good to have you
with us also. So first of all, Kevin, thanks
for having my back. What's this not me stuff? I thought we were friends. I'll remember that, man. Next
time, you might be running a little bit late. No, buddy, it's good
seeing y'all. Good seeing you, Brother Todd.
And I love you. It's a blessing. I was thinking
on the way over here, When I wasn't thinking, oh no, we're gonna
be late and Greg's gonna kill me, I was thinking, besides home sweet home, I think
this is my favorite place in the world right here. It's just
such a blessing to be with y'all, and I mean that. And thank you,
brother, for that song. That was sweet worship, and I
appreciate that. Let's look together at 1 Timothy
chapter six this evening and see if the Lord'll Be pleased
to speak to us from this passage. 1 Timothy 6.12. 1 Timothy 6.12,
fight the good fight of faith. lay hold on eternal life, whereunto
thou art also called and hast professed a good profession before
many witnesses." Now, we've been looking into this back home in
this book of 1 Timothy for several months now. It's a great blessing,
but what the apostle is doing here at the end of this book,
this letter, is summing up all that he's addressed in the letter
already. And there's a lot of things in
it that some might call practical teaching. And I guess you can
distinguish between doctrinal and practical teaching, I suppose. I know what they mean by that.
But you can't separate them. What's more practical than knowing
that God's God? Yeah, it's about as practical
as it gets. But he's summing up all of the teaching of this
passage and he characterizes it here as a fight. And I think
that's worth our attention. And let me ask you this, if you're
fighting and winning that fight means that you behave yourself
in the house of God, as he puts it in this letter, the way you
ought to. looking to Christ, worshiping
Him, hearing God speak, and learning, taking His yoke upon you, and
learning of Him, and all the so-called practical things, doing
well on your job, doing a good job for your boss, and counting
Him worthy of the honor that He's worthy of, and all those
type of things. If winning means that you do
all that, who are you fighting? Who is the enemy if defeating
him means that you're not proud, that you're not characterized
as a proud or contentious person. A busy body in other men's matters.
All of these things are addressed in this letter. And most of all,
because everywhere these so-called practical things are mentioned,
it's talking about for the gospel's sake. Do this, be this. that the word of God be not blasphemed. It's not about us. It's about
his glory and his honor in the preaching of the gospel. But
who are we fighting if a win means that we're adhering
to sound, scriptural, Christ-glorifying doctrine? Well, you know the
answer to the question. We're all in a daily, all day,
every day fight with ourselves. And unless we know that and know
what we're up against and where our help comes from, you can't
fight that fight. And most people don't. Most people
don't fight it. Fight the good fight of faith. That's what this is. It's a fight
of faith and much of what Paul is teaching here is that when a believer succumbs
to the flesh, and if the Lord lets us go for a second, we do,
we can't fight a flea, much less our own evil nature. But for
Christ and his gospel's sake, we're exhorted in these matters
First Corinthians 9 24. Know ye not that they which run
in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may
obtain, and every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate
in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible
crown, but we an incorruptible I therefore so run, not as uncertainly. He's not just running around
like religion. Let's just build something or run and save everybody
in this country or this and that. Let's run all. Let's find out
what God's doing and see if he'll let us in on it. I don't run. He knew where he was running.
He said, I pressed toward the park for the prize of the high
calling of God. Where's that Paul? In Christ
Jesus. That's where. But so fight I not as one that
beateth the air. We don't fight in vain because
that's what we're gonna talk about. The fight's not ours. It never has been, it never will
be. We fight. God didn't tell the Old Testament
Israelites don't fight, but he did say the fight's not yours.
It's mine. Still is. Always has been. It's not a fight to make sure
that you end up with a lot of jewels in your crown or lay up
treasures, like men think of treasures, in heaven for yourself. Paul said, lay hold on eternal
life. This is life and death. Paul said, lest I should be a
castaway. That word means reprobate in
that passage we just read. Lest I myself be a a reprobate. Your fight is not just you struggling
to repress your feelings and anger and pride. Winning this
fight looks like you laying hold of Christ and not letting go. Isn't that what God told Jacob?
The Lord Jesus Christ wrestled all night with Jacob. And then when he got good and
ready, he touched him and Jacob went down in the dust, broken
and Defeated, the fight's over. The Lord touched him, it's over.
And then what did he say? You win, Jacob. You've prevailed
with God. Isn't that what he said? Didn't
look much like a win, but it was. Winning this fight means
submitting to Christ. And you're going to anyway, aren't
you? One way or the other. This is this, that's this fight
here, fighting. This is the spiritual fight.
And it's not like any other fight. It's lay hold on eternal life,
lay hold on the son of God. And that's all it is. It really
is. And we're going to see that all
through this text. It's not about you being a better person. It's
life and death. Now, when you hear the gospel,
really hear it, And by God's grace, he gives you faith in
his son, and you believe. Help our unbelief, Lord, but
by your grace, we believe on the son of God. You have a sense
of what a wretch you are, and you're clinging to the son of
God like your soul depended on him, because it does. It's hard to be proud and resentful,
isn't it, and combative when you're in that place. So you
see these practical things all of a sudden become not a separate
kind of teaching where, you know, we do things. It's the same gospel. These practical things are accomplished
by looking to Christ alone and finding in Him your strength,
your victory. I can do all things. How? It's
not complicated. It's the same gospel. It's harder
to find fault with others when you're the chief of sinners. We know that by looking to Him,
not the law. The law is not going to teach
you what a sinner you are. The law is a schoolmaster to
bring you to Christ. You can make all the resolutions
you want to, but winning this fight is going to take you seeing
the Lord Jesus Christ. These are written that you might
believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that believing
you might have life and laying hold of him. He's eternal life.
It's not like any other. You win this fight by resting.
Fighting and resting sounds like opposite things. What does the
scripture say? Labor to enter into his rest. What did he say? Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. What's a yoke for? Well, we're
gonna roll up our sleeves. We're gonna live the Christian
life. No, you're gonna find rest to
your souls if you take his yoke upon you. Rest. Your part in
that is rest in Christ. And it's the good fight of faith.
Faith has one object. Faith is not believing that God's
gonna do what you want him to do. That's what religion would
have you believe. Just have enough faith. Everything's
gonna be like you want it to be. No, it's not. Faith is just
believing God. It's believing he's gonna do
what he said he would do. That's what faith is. And faith
has one object, Christ. Faith lays hold, it's the good
fight of faith. that lays hold of Christ. Jacob
said, I'm not letting you go. Lay hold of eternal life. Until you bless me and accept
you bless me. 1 John 5, 4, for whatsoever is
born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith, the faith that God gives. Somebody says, will faith save
you? It depends on where you got it
from. He said the faith he gives you'll save you. If he says flat
out, your faith has saved you, I wouldn't go around saying faith
doesn't save. Gotta be careful about that now,
don't we? The faith he gives saves sinners.
Of course, he gives it by grace. But when faith is spoken of,
the wonderful gift that it is, it's not the strength of our
faith that's the victory, but the object. of our faith. If you have a faith as a grain
of a mustard seed, as long as it's all in the Son of God, the
only true object of faith, it's God's gift. And it's the spiritual
laying hold of Christ. The fight of faith, the good
fight of faith is to lay hold on Christ. And overcoming the
world is not overcoming the world. It's overcoming the world. It's not the world outside of
us that's a threat to us, it's the world in my heart. Lay hold of Christ, it's Christ
that said what? Fear not, I have overcome the
world. He didn't say fear not, you're
not gonna have a problem with the world, no, I. And then he said this, whereunto
also thou art called. This is a reminder that God has
called us unto eternal life. He didn't offer it to us. We
didn't earn it, of course. And this is important here because
we're talking about a fight and we're talking about laying hold,
strive to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.
There is that striving and fighting and laying hold, but our laying
hold is not our salvation. These are not our righteousness.
Listen to this passage. I want to read more than we might
normally read here. We were very familiar with part
of this, but listen to all of it. Ephesians 4.1, and turn there
if you'd like to, but I don't want to be long, but Ephesians
4.1, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that
you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. with
all lowliness and meekness and long-suffering, forbearing one
another in love, endeavoring, do you see these words? Endeavoring
to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There's
one body, one spirit, even as you're called in one hope of
your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father
of all, who is above all and through all, And in you all,
he's the reason, he's the motivation, he's the cause, and he's the
goal of all of it. And if that's true for you, then
it's gonna show, isn't it? It's gonna show. And has professed
a good profession, he said in our text, before many witnesses.
Religion's always talking about make a profession of faith. Your
profession of faith is your life, your whole life. It's not a one
time thing. It's not something you come down
to the front to take care of in some religious service. This
is what Paul is talking about. It's not bragging on your spirituality. Believers worship God. That's
what we do. Believers, by his grace, they
prioritize their lives around the worship of God. And you just
can't have that. You can't have that. And then
verse 13, look at this, this is key. 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. These things, again, that are
addressed in this letter of 1 Timothy, they're not suggestions, they're
just good advice, they're a charge. Preaching the doctrine of Christ
is a charge that's emphasized all through this book, primarily,
all of the other stuff. Look at the beginning of chapter
six, and it's just an example of it. Let as many servants as
are under the yoke, you have a boss on the job, count their
own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his
doctrine be not blasphemed. You see what it's about? It's
about the gospel. Paul spoke of how you ought to
behave in the house of God. Well, we are the house of God.
That doesn't mean in this building. So it's not just suggestions
or good advice. It's a charge. Preach the doctrine. It's the gospel of the glory
of the blessed God, which is committed to our trust. That
doesn't mean that God trusts our flesh, we know better than
that. But he does commit to us, he's commissioned us, we're ambassadors
of Jesus Christ. Declaring to sinners, be ye reconciled
to God on the basis of the precious blood of his son, on the basis
of Christ crucified. And not hindering the gospel,
by our idiotic flesh is a charge it's a commandment verse 14 this
commandment keep this commandment it's not talking about the 10
commandments it's talking about living the gospel that we say
we believe by his grace and it's before
christ he said i charge you before christ that who gives all life Will we serve the flesh and appease
the flesh by being divisive and disruptive and proud? Or will
God give us grace to heed this exhortation to serve the one
who gave us life and in whose hand is life to give? Think of
it. When we do bicker about petty
things or belittle people just to make ourselves feel better
about ourselves, or we use doctrine often as a point of contention
rather than rejoicing. If you can rejoice with your
pastor in the gospel he preached, do that. If you can't, go find
something you like. That's it, it's not complicated.
And I say that to our, I'm sorry, I'm saying, I'm speaking for
Greg here, but that's how it is. That's what I tell our folks,
man, just find something, find, you know, what's the point of
arguing about it? Really? I'm pretty sure that's
not what we do here in God's church. That's the kind of things
he's teaching here. How does all that happen? Lay
hold of Christ and don't let go. Don't be removed from the
simplicity, the all-inclusiveness that's in Christ. It's everything. He's everything. But when we
bicker about things and just come up with somebody always
looking for something to bicker about, aren't they? What is it you're disrupting? What is it you're a hindrance
to? You ever think about that? What does Christ being the life
giver to our, what our text is saying here? What does, what
does that have to do with that? This is the means whereby he gives
spiritual life to sinners. I don't want to be a hindrance
to that. And I know the only way I won't be is to lay hold
of him. By the preaching, the worship
of himself and the gospel of his grace, that's what we're
messing up when we mess up. That's the motivation. If we don't mess it up, it's
a miracle of His grace. It's God working in us, both
to will and to do of His good pleasure. What a wonderful thing
that is. How wonderful it would be if
God would work in every one of us to even want to, to will and
to do, to keep looking to Him. to worship him in this place
and at home and everywhere his gospels preached, to rejoice. We're the circumcision, the covenant
people of God, which rejoice in Christ Jesus. We worship God
in the spirit. And that's not saying Christ
is one of the things we rejoice in. We have one joy. We have one hope, one How to perform that which is
good, we find not. But who's going to save us from
the body of this death? I thank God that Christ is. Christ
will. When we do act in the flesh,
when we, like Paul told the Galatians, act like unbelievers, he said,
are you not carnal? Don't aren't you acting like
for whereas there's among you envying and strife and divisions
Are you not carnal and walk as men walk as natural men? It's
like you don't even know Christ We're defying the one who gives
us our next breath. I think that's worth mentioning In whose hand our very soul is
to do with as he pleases, who holds the eternal destiny of
our loved ones in his hand. Mentioning Christ here, where
it mentions Christ witnessing a good confession before Pilate,
reminds us of what he's done for us. This is something that he accomplishes. I can do all things how? It has to do with following his
example and his witness, certainly. I mean, what are we going to
say? We don't want to follow Christ
as our example? But much more than that, it harkens
us back once again to what Christ was doing there when he witnessed
that good confession. Why was he accountable to Pilate
at all? Of course, in reality, he wasn't
accountable to Pilate, but he made him, he submitted himself
to that. And all that transpired from that. Matthew 17, 22, while
they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, the son of man
shall be betrayed into the hands of men. Three times in the scriptures,
it says what the Lord did for us is described as him being
delivered or betrayed into the hands of men. He in whose hands are all men
was delivered into the hands of men for us. That's who we're charged before. How important are our feelings
or our rights or our pride in the light of him and what he
did for us? Verse 14, that thou keep this
commandment without spot unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We go back to that same. What
does it mean? Are we going to keep any commandment
perfectly or without spot? The way you keep his commandment
without spot is you keep it by looking to him. Of course, he said unrebukable. We're rebukable before God. He charges his angels with folly. In a sense, we are rebukable
before God, but here's what this is talking about now. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. That's how we keep it unrebukable. Keeping his commandments unrebukable
is not keeping them perfectly. It's not even keeping them in
such a way that he wouldn't have to send us to hell for our keeping
of them. It's keeping them trusting and
looking to Christ. Lord, help me to do your will. And when I don't, save me. I don't know any other
way to say it. You save me. Save me, be my righteousness. To keep them believing on Christ
as our only righteousness is to keep his commandments unrebukable. He said, if you love me, keep
my commandments now. And there really isn't but one
way to keep them unrebukable. But He's our righteousness. We
keep on looking to Him, trusting Him, believing on Him as our
righteousness, as our sin offering, as our all and in all. Without God-given faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, it's impossible to please Him. But in Christ, who shall lay
anything to our charge? Verse 15 in our text, which in
his times he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate,
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now you think about this
with me for a little while. Wouldn't it be good if he showed
us this right now? Maybe this is his time to show
somebody who he is tonight. Oh boy. Can we do that now? Is there
anybody here that can do that now? Can we bow before our blessed and only Prince? King of all kings and Lord of
all lords. In the context here, bowing to
him pertains to all that this letter addresses again now, preaching
his doctrine faithfully. Loving one another, forgiving
one another, as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us. I wish I knew how to preach this. Verses 14 and 15 together, in
context together. Keeping the commandment without
spot. 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. Worshipping God as the blessed
and only potentate is not just believing the doctrine of the
sovereignty of God. It's acting like it. It's His work in us. Be ye doers of the word and not
hearers only. Faith without works is dead.
That's not the kind of faith He gives. The book of James is
not talking about faith and works. It's talking about two kinds
of faith. The kind He gives and the kind you just come up with
on your own. And His faith worketh by love. And what does that got
to do with verse 15? Well, the word godliness is used
in 1 Timothy chapters, the whole book of 1 Timothy a lot. And
look at verses three through six of this chapter. 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. He is proud, knowing nothing. If he doesn't preach the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the effectual sovereign champion
of sinners who accomplished salvation for his sheep, who obtained eternal
redemption for them. He doesn't know anything. You
can say to you blue in the face, he says a lot of good things.
No, he don't. He says he knows nothing. The scripture says you
can't even plow a field if you don't know Christ. You don't
know anything unless you know him. He's proud knowing nothing
but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh
envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings
of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing that
gain is godliness. From such withdraw thyself, but
godliness with contentment is great gain." That word godliness,
it doesn't mean that you act like God. I'm not talking about
that. The word is reverence. It doesn't
mean that you act like God. It means you act like God is
God. The doctrine of God-likeness,
think about that. Again, the word means reverence,
the false doctrine that teaches that God loves everybody. even
those that go to hell. That's not God-like. That's not doctrine according
to God-likeness. You're not reverencing God as
God if you believe that. The false doctrine that says
that Christ died to save everybody, but of course everybody's not
gonna be saved, that's not God-like. The doctrine that's according
to godliness says that God saves whom he will, when he will. God said, I'll have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. That's godlike. And the doctrine
according to godliness and us acting according, we're acting
like God is God. We're reverencing him as God.
And that is why this is important to us. not to disrupt, not to
be a hindrance. May God bring us to the place
where we would rather die right here tonight than be a hindrance
to his gospel. I started to say I am there.
I don't even know if I am or not. But may God bring us to
that place. That which is according to God-likeness
is that Christ died on Calvary to redeem all of his sheep, and
he redeemed all of his sheep. That is God-like doctrine. And
you being godly means you act like God's God. You reverence
him as such. That reverence is God, and that's
our text, verse 15. The godliness that this whole
book of 1 Timothy exhorts us to is summed up in chapter 3. Listen, 1 Timothy 3.15, But if I tarry
long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself
in the house of God, which is the church of the living God,
the pillar and ground of the truth. You see why behavior is
important? You see why us being the idiots
that we are? It's important not to be by God's
grace and we constantly need to seek his blessing in that. That right there, you behaving
as you are in God's house, and that's not this building, that's
the church, which church we are, is fulfilled simply by you knowing
who he is, the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings
and Lord of lords. And being who he is, he does
what he does. He saves everybody he wants to
save. He saves sinners according to his electing love that cannot
be denied. His love cannot be denied. And
by the sacrifice of himself on Calvary, by which he obtained
eternal redemption for all whom he sanctified with that precious
blood. So we just need to know him.
That's what all of these exhortations boil down to, isn't it? who is
the blessed and only potentate. If you ever find out who he is,
you'll lay hold on him. And you'll have eternal life.
And how does that happen? If we're saying tonight that
all of the whole book of first Timothy hinges on that, you just
need to know who he is. Then how do you, how do you find
out? Our text tells us, he shall show. And this is how he does it. These
men preaching the gospel of the sovereign savior of sinners.
All things are delivered unto me. Our Lord said of my father
and no man knoweth the son, but the father and neither knoweth any man the father
save the son and. my favorite and right there and
he to whomsoever the son will reveal him oh lord by your grace
through the preaching of the gospel of this of your precious
son show us who you are and what you did for sinners like us amen Thank you, Chris. When I was
introducing Chris, I quoted part of a verse out of Isaiah chapter
40. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak ye comfortably
unto Jerusalem. Tell them that their warfare
is accomplished. The battle of sin and death and
Satan has been won. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is a proof of that. And then the prophet said, what
do I tell them? How do I start this message?
He said, tell them they're grass. Tell them they don't have anything.
They can't do anything. They don't know anything. They're
completely dependent upon me for everything. That's the gospel. And in Philippians chapter three,
Paul said, I've not yet apprehended that which has apprehended me.
But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind.
I press towards the mark for the prize of the eye calling,
which is Christ Jesus. In order to press towards that
mark, we've got to forget some things that are behind. Forget
offenses, forget sins, forget ourselves, press towards. Let him who has ears to hear,
hear with the spirit. I just say to the churches, I
pray the Lord will be pleased to reveal Christ to our hearts. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we thank you for the glorious
accomplished work of redemption that thy dear son successfully
did on Calvary's cross. We thank you for the simplicity
and the clarity of thy word. And Lord, we thank you for the
blessing and the presence of thy Holy Spirit. We ask, Lord,
that you would open the eyes of our understanding. We pray
that you would give faith to our hearts and unstop our ears
and enable us to hear thy voice. Lord, that we might find our
hope, our salvation, our joy, our comfort, our peace, all in
Christ. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Tom's gonna come and close the
service with a hymn And then we'll gather back together tomorrow
morning at 10 o'clock. And I think, Todd, you're preaching
the first message in the morning. And then Kevin will be preaching
the second message in the morning. So we look forward to that and
hope you get some rest tonight. Tom? 374. 374. Let's stand together.
Number 374. Jesus calls us for the tumult
of our lives while restless sea. Day by day his sweet voice soundeth,
saying, Christian, follow me. Jesus calls us from the worship
of the vain world's golden store, from each idol that would keep
us, saying, Christian, love me more. In our joys and in our
sorrows, days of toil and hours of ease, Still he calls in cares
and pleasures, Christian love me more than these. ? Jesus calls us by thy mercies
? ? Savior may we hear thy call ? ? Give our hearts to thy obedience
? ? Serve and love thee best of all ?