Seeking once more the Lord's
gracious help to grant me the words to speak to you this evening,
I'd like to draw your attention to the chapter that we read together,
1 Timothy chapter 6, and the text you'll find in verse 11. But thou, O man of God, flee
these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, patience, meekness. Those who have been here over
the last few weeks may remember that it seems to have been a
subject that we have been looking at regarding holiness and godliness
and really the fruit of the spirit that is within every single believer. And it seems as we look through
the letters that Paul wrote to be a theme in which he counted
a very important to press home to the early believers and to
Timothy and Titus, his fellow brethren in the ministry. That
it was something that they were to lay hold of and it was something
that they were to be examples of in their life and something
that they were to teach to those who were following the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he gives them a comparison
that there are those who creep into the church There are those
who weasel their way into the church to try and draw people
after themselves. They try and bring false teaching
into the church contrary to the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ
and they do so because they are proud They do so because they
want a following, to make themselves feel good, to elevate themselves
and they teach those things which are contrary to what the Lord
Jesus Christ taught. And so you find in these two
pastoral letters that balanced view that Paul says that you
need to be careful. You need to be aware of false
teaching that is coming in. You need to be aware of men who
are self-exalting, men who seek to divide the flock, men who
seek to teach things that are contrary to the scripture. And
he says in our reading, 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 but doubting about questions and strifes of
words. Whereof cometh envy, and strife,
and railings, and surmisings, And perverse disputings of men
of corrupt minds, And destitute of the truth, supposing that
gain Is godliness from such a withdrawal thyself, But godliness with contentment
is great gain. We don't see it so obviously
maybe in our circles but if you go onto the internet it's very
clear that there are these types of ministers about who gain a
following and amass hundreds and thousands of people who follow
them and they believe that that the way that they are preaching
and their following is a sign that God is blessing the ministry. They believe that gain is godliness
and they see that the masses that follow them and the amount
of money that they receive is an evidence of God's blessing
upon the ministry, but it's not if they are preaching those things
that are contrary to the scriptures, which are against the teachings
of the Lord Jesus Christ, which are against a doctrine which
is according to godliness. which causes people to turn from
their sins and to walk in closeness to the Lord Jesus Christ, in
line with the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, then if it
is against that, then it is a false doctrine. It doesn't matter how
much money they have, how many followers they have. It is contrary
to the word of God. And they are mere preachers who
itch the ears of the people. And so he says to Timothy, This is what's going on around
about you. This is what you are going to
come up to. But you. He draws a line, a distinction
between these types of people and the type of a person that
Timothy is to be. The type of a minister that Timothy
is to be. There's a line drawn in the sand
and he says, Those people are over there. They are going to
preach about money. They are going to preach about
things contrary to Christ. They are going to elevate themselves.
They are going to draw masses after themselves. But you, you
are going to be different Timothy. Keep away from those types of
people. draws a line. If you've ever
been at a railway station you'll notice that there's a line next
to the edge of the platform and there's writing. Keep away from
the edge of the platform. Keep away. Keep behind the line
because it's dangerous. And there are some people who
like to, when you're younger maybe, you think it's clever
to stand the other side of the line and try and get as near
to the train as possible. We know it's a pretty stupid
thing to do. But those who use their minds,
those who listen to the warnings, step as far away from the line
as possible. They don't try and get as close
to the line as possible, as close to the danger as possible, but
they try and stand as far back as possible from the danger. And so Timothy is warned by the
Apostle Paul. This is how it is. I'm drawing
a line in the sand. You keep away from such people. You be careful, but you O man
of God, flee these things. Now Timothy was a man of God. The Old Testament speaks of the
prophets as men of God. And Timothy, though not a prophet,
but he was a minister of the Lord, a minister of the Lord
Jesus Christ, had been called into that service by the Lord
Jesus Christ and had been recognised by the Apostle Paul as a faithful
man. And maybe you think, well, it
doesn't matter to me then, because I am not a minister. I don't
need to be aware of such dangers. I don't need to keep so far back
from the line because I'm not a man of God. I'm not a woman
of God. But you're either a man of God
or you're not a man of God. You're either a woman of God
or you're not a woman of God. You are following the Lord Jesus
Christ or you're not following the Lord Jesus Christ. You're
either in the darkness or you're in the light. The Apostle Paul
says, follow me as I follow Christ. And so as the preachers do have
a higher responsibility for walking in a Christ-like manner, that
doesn't mean that the congregations don't also need to walk in a
Christ-like manner. They don't say, well, that's
the minister's job. He's the one that's got to look
like the Lord Jesus, but I don't have to. No, Jesus says, follow
me. The minister follows and the
church follow. The minister, yes, he has greater
accountability. He has greater responsibility.
His life is more public and he definitely has to be extremely
diligent in the way that he walks. But that doesn't mean that the
congregation, that the church doesn't have to, that the church
can relax and just lean upon the minister and his pursuit
of godliness. And that's why Paul constantly
pushes the button, godliness, holiness, striving after these
things because that's what he expected the church who was following
the Lord Jesus Christ to be like, a pursuer of the Lord Jesus,
a pursuer of godliness and holiness. in 2nd Timothy chapter 1 and
verse 5 it says, when I called to remembrance the unfringed
faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois
and thy mother Eunice and I am persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance
that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting
on of my hands for God has not given us the spirit of fear but
of power and of love and of a sound mind. And there he was he had
been chosen by God as a preacher of the gospel, saved by the grace
of God. And that gift had been recognised
by the Apostle Paul. And he had laid his hands upon
him and blessed him, sending him forth into the ministry. But Timothy was not to relax
and say, oh, well, you know, the Apostle has touched me, so
everything's going to be OK. No. Stir up that gift that is
in you. It's like stirring up the fire,
prodding the coals, moving it around to get some heat into
it. Stir up the gift, use the gift
so it may be of a benefit for those around about him. In chapter two and verses three
it says, Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of
Jesus Christ. No man that war is entertained
himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who
has chosen him to be a soldier. And so there we see it is Christ
who has chosen Timothy and he is to be a good soldier of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's not just to walk around
in a soldier's uniform and to look the part. A soldier is no
soldier who sits in the office, but a soldier has to fight. He has to go out and war and
battle with the enemy that he fights alongside with the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he is told to fight the good
fight with all of his might. In our reading, verse 12, fight
the good fight of faith. So he's told to flee these things. Flee worldliness, basically,
we sum it up. Flee false teaching. Flee from
those who seek to weasel their way into the church. Flee from
those things, but fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on
eternal life. But thou, but you, O man of God,
God's man, flee these things. There are some things that we
can't fight against and it's better to run away. It's better
not to fight and to walk away Timothy is told to flee those
things but to pursue after a godliness. In 2nd Timothy 2 he's told again, verse 21, if a man therefore
purge himself from these shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified
and meet or suitable for the master's use, and prepared unto
every good work. Flee also youthful lusts, but
follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, and with them
that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And so is to flee
from false teachers but also is to flee from youthful lusts. Not to fight but to run in the opposite direction and
is to run after godliness. Worldliness is opposite to godliness. By
our nature we are programmed for worldliness. We delight in
the things that we can see, things we can feel, things that we can
hear. We don't delight in anything to do with God or godliness. When someone is saved Their will
and their desire is changed, is affected, transformed by the
Spirit of God. They are taken from darkness
and they're placed into the light. They're given new desires, a
new man, a new creation in Christ Jesus. that sinful nature still,
that sinful flesh still remains with us and as we have said recently
of that constant warfare between the old and the new natures and
there is that then constant warfare between that desire for Christlikeness
and that leaning towards those things that we can see, hear
and be affected by. And so Timothy is told to run
away from those things that he can see, those things which he
is naturally drawn to and to run after that pursuit of Christ's
likeness and godliness. We could say as you are brought
to repentance, it's a turning around and you run away from
the world. you run towards the Lord Jesus
Christ. You run away from worldliness
and you run towards godliness. He says laying hold of eternal
life. The example is given as a runner
as he reaches for the the medal that he has won, he reaches for
the crown and that crown is eternal life. Run the race that is said
before you, looking unto Jesus, reaching forward, not looking
backward, but reaching forward to eternal life, pursuing after
those things of God. You remember Eve, Eve should
have fled from Satan. She should have fled from the
snake. But she went towards him. She was attracted by the things
that she heard him say. She was attracted by the things
that she saw he enticed her with. And she went towards him. Instead
of walking towards God, she went towards Satan and away from God. and she disobeyed God and in doing so she went towards
Satan and away from God. It's like pursuing after worldliness
and turning your back on godliness. And so because of her sin, which was covered by Adam, it's Adam's
sin as he was the head of Eve. Because of Adam's sin, our natures
have been corrupted. And we have that tendency then
for worldliness. And we find an attraction in
the things of this world And they're constantly drawing us
away from godliness, constantly drawing us away from following
closely to the Lord Jesus Christ because they are so attractive. And instead of walking, as I
said, away from the edge of the platform, We want to walk as
close to the edge of the platform as possible and trying to be
as godly as we can but also as worldly as we can to satisfy
our flesh as much as we can and we don't want to get hurt. Instead
of saying how far away can I get from the world we're saying how
close can I get to the world without getting hurt, without
upsetting God. without upsetting the Lord Jesus
Christ? I used to get asked these questions all the time in Kenya. Which sins am I allowed to commit
that don't make God angry? Why do you want to get as close
to the world as possible? What is Satan? The scripture
says he's a roaring lion. in Peter tells us that he's 1 Peter 5 verse 8. Casting all your care upon him
for he careth for you be sober be vigilant because your adversary
the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. That's what he does. He wants you to walk as close
to the lion as possible so that he can push you into the train. He wants to get you as close
as possible, like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He wants to lay traps for you,
to trip you up, to draw you aside. What do lions do? They stalk
their prey, waiting for that opportune moment to pounce and
to get you. Well, that's what he does. He
stalks us, waiting for that moment of weakness, waiting for that,
as they say, the opportunity and desire meet together, and
then he's straight in there. Got you. Set a trap. You walk into it. He seeks whom
he may devour and he waits in ambush for unwary Christians to bring
shame upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are unaware, wanting
to get as close to the world as possible, trying to toy with
the things of this world and he traps them. He says those
that are rich, they pierce themselves through with many sorrows. He's there, you see, with his arrows, waiting for
that opportune moment to strike. to snatch us if it were possible
from the narrow road that leads to life and to bring us into
shame and misery. We know that no believer can
ever fall from the grace of God and be utterly lost but we can
totally bring shame upon the name of Christ by our foolish
behaviour and walking too close to the world. Trying to mess
about with fire, trying to walk too close to the railway line,
trying to walk too close to the edge of the cliff. If you've
ever been up Beachy Head, you find there are all the tourists
standing right on the edge. And he takes a slip and they're
gone. We find Christians doing the
same, walking us so close to the edge of the cliff of this
world, tempting Satan to come and get us. Instead of
pursuing after godliness, we're pursuing after worldliness with
a touch of godliness. How much of the world can we
have? And how much of Christ can we
have? Boiling water and cold water
mixed together, lukewarm water. And Jesus says, I'll spew you
out of my mouth. It's so challenging. Now we should be challenged by
the Word of God. If it doesn't affect us, then
we've got a problem. How close to Christ should we
walk should be our answer, should be our question, not how close
to the world can I go? Solomon warns, doesn't he, his
son, Beware of those women who seduce. Satan is a seducer. He seduces Christians from the
Lord Jesus Christ, their husband, and he seduces them to try and
make them, as it were, commit adultery by running after the
things that he has to offer. And he goes around like a roaring
lion, seeking, that's actively looking like a lion, looking
for prey. And he wants to devour. And the closer we walk to the
world, the closer we walk to the edge of the cliff, the easier
it is. for him to snatch us away and
make us lukewarm and useless. But you, O man of God, but you,
O woman of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness,
godliness, faith, love and patience. We looked, didn't we, recently
that that is the fruit of the Spirit. That is the evidence
of Christ's spirit indwelling in the believer. His presence
is seen. And we looked recently that through
circumstances that our lives are sanctified and that it's
like a lampshade with a thick shade on it. No light shines
through by nature. but through the ongoing work
of the Spirit of God that thickness is reduced until the light shines
through. Those trials that are sanctified
to the Christian, those persecutions, those difficulties have a sanctifying
effect enabling Christ to shine through the thick skin of the
Christian. And that is what he's saying
is to be run after, to followed after, to follow Christ. And so what then is godliness? It's the question that I asked
myself. Often we hear, don't we, people
saying, oh, that minister, he was such a godly man. They only
ever speak about you as a godly man when you're dead. Because when we are alive, when
people look at us, they always see our faults. But when we're
dead, people seem to forget our faults and remember that we were
godly people. But what is godliness? It's really god-likeness. It is a disciple of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So I've told you before and I'm
sure you know already that a disciple is one who sought to become like
the one they were following. And they sought to walk as close
as possible to the one that they were sitting under the teaching
of. And the scripture says that believers
are disciples of the Lord Jesus. They follow him. They sit under
his ministry. Their desire is to be like him.
By nature there is no way that that can happen but through his
indwelling spirit they are enabled to crucify the lusts of the flesh
and to pursue after something which is totally unnatural to
them which is godliness. Paul was telling Timothy, you
are to bear the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you may be an example to
others. In 1 Timothy chapter four, verse seven and eight, he says,
but refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself
rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth
little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that
now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. And therefore we both labour
and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is
the saviour of all men, especially of those that believe. These
things command and teach. Who refuse profane and old wives'
fables and exercise yourself. For what? Godliness. Bodily exercise
has little profit but godliness is profitable unto all things. We all know about exercise. We
live in a day where people are obsessed with health and exercise. Not that there's anything wrong
with that. It's better than being unhealthy. But the body has become an idol.
But as we see the world running here and there, and as we see
people exercising their bodies, going to the gyms and going to
weightlifting and running along the side of the road and things
like that, exercising their body, Paul says to Timothy, you exercise
godliness. Go to the gym of godliness. we can say and train in holiness. The gym of godliness training
in holiness and using the weights of faith, love, patience, righteousness
and meekness. Why do they go to the gym? They
go to the gym to get rid of fat so that their muscles may be
more defined And so Paul says, Timothy, go to the gym and get
rid of the fat of worldliness so that Christ is able to be
seen more definely in your body, in your life. That you may be
a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fight the good fight
of faith and lay hold of eternal life. Naturally speaking a person
who goes to the gym they have all that they need. They have
muscles there already but they want them to be more defined,
more clear. And a believer has all that is
needed in them by the spirit to exercise godliness in their
life and to resist worldliness. It is that daily battle, that
daily warring against the nature. But if the world can do it with
their bodies and become elite runners, so Christians should
be able to exercise themselves in godliness. Bodily exercise profits little,
but godliness is profitable. But you, O man of God, flee these
things and follow after, pursue after righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, patience and meekness. Exercise the gift that is given
unto you. Stir up the gift. The gift of God which is given
unto thee by the putting on of my hands. And so the early church
was constantly pressed by the apostle Paul through the spirit. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. It's God breathed. And so it's
through Paul, the spirit pressed the churches. Don't walk so close
to the line. Don't be as close to the world
as you can possibly get. Have a little bit of Christ and
have a little bit of the world. No. Exercise godliness and pursue
after godliness and righteousness and those such things. So constantly
he was pressing that button. Constantly he was warning them.
This is where you're heading. following after the Lord Jesus
Christ. You've left the broad road that
leads to destruction. You've left the world. You've
left the darkness. You've left Satan. And now you
are following after the Lord Jesus Christ. Now make sure your
life is used as an image bearer of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow me as I follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's a hard thing. It's a hard
thing to say, isn't it? Would you really want people
to follow us? Do we really bear the image of
Christ that much that we could say, yeah, just follow me because
I'm following the Lord Jesus and I'm trying to walk exactly
as he walked, so just do as I do? I think, personally speaking,
that we would fail. So it's challenging. The scripture
is challenging. May the Lord help us then, those
who have professed Christ, to truly profess Christ and walk
like Christ. Amen. Our closing hymn this evening
is hymn number 1056. See a poor sinner, dearest Lord,
whose soul, encouraged by thy word, at mercy's footstool would
remain, and there would look and look again. Hymn number 1056
to the tune number 356. ? God bless America ? ? Till the lamb has fled from me
? ? Till the lamb has moved again on me ? ? A quaker and invulnerable
? ? The throne of Christ shall make
thee whole. ? ? Cast down in vain, till dawn's
in light. ?