Let us turn to God's Word in
the chapter we were reading, 1 Timothy 4, and directing you
now to the words that we have here at verse 7 through 9. 1 Timothy 4, at verse 7 through
9. But refuse profane and old wives'
fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily
exercise profiteth little, or profiteth for a little time,
says the margin. 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. As I said this morning, We look
last Lord's Day evening at that faithful saying that is found
here in chapter 1 and verse 15. faithful saying worthy of all
acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners
of whom I am chief and we said then how that particular faithful
saying is really in a certain sense of any sum and substance
of the gospel that Christ Jesus came into the world to save even
the chief of sinners." Well, this morning we were considering
the words that come later at the beginning of chapter 3, another
saying, a true saying. This is a true saying, if a man
desire the office of a bishop he desireth a good work. And so whereas last Lord's Day
we were thinking in terms of what the gospel is, I said this
morning that here at the beginning of the third chapter we have
a description of that man who is the minister of the gospel. I know we have the word bishop,
but we said that the word really is simply an overseer. And now the words that are often
used with regards to that man who is the minister of the gospel,
the minister of the word of God. They are interchangeable, be
it the word bishop or overseer, or the word elder. And then again also the word
pastor. And we saw in Acts 20 that the
three words are certainly there in what the apostle has to say. He calls for the Ephesian elders. And then remember how he addresses
them as overseers who are to feed or to pastor the flock of
God. So we were thinking of the work
of the gospel minister. And then we come to chapter 4. And it's interesting as the apostle
is addressing on Timothy, of course he's addressing a young
man who is very much one of those called to be an overseer and
a pastor. He says at verse six, if they
have put the brethren in remembrance of these things, they shall be
a good minister. a good minister of Jesus Christ,
nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto
thou hast attained. And then he gives these various
exhortations to him. At the end of the chapter, we
read the chapter through, and he says at verse 12, let no man
despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in
words. in conversation, that is, manner
of living, in charity, or love, in spirits, in faith, in purity,
till I come, give attendance, he says, to reading, to exhortation,
to doctrine, and there he's speaking of the public aspect of his ministry. When he says, give attendance
to reading, he means reading in the public place, the reading
of the scriptures, The public reading of the Word of God is
what he's to give himself to, to exhortation, he's to exhort
the people to doctrine, or more literally to teaching, he's to
teach the great doctrines. Neglect not the gift that is
in the essence which was given thee by prophecy with the laying
on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things, give
thyself wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all and
then he concludes take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine
or the teaching and continue in them and the prophet is that
he'll save himself and those that heal also he's very much
concerned in addressing Timothy it's one of the pastoral epistles
together with Titus we have these two epistles and I've said before
that we We have three of these faithful and true sayings in
1st Timothy, but we also have another faithful and true saying
in the 2nd Epistle, and then also the 5th appears in the letter
to Titus. Well, tonight we come to look
at these words that I've read here in verses 7 through 9. And he speaks here, of course,
of the exercise of godliness. He's speaking of godliness in
exercise. Refuse profane and old wives'
fables, he says, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth
little, or for a little time, 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 acceptations. Well as we take up the theme
of the exercise of godliness, I want to deal with some three
headings. First of all to see that what
we have here is the commands and then secondly we see that
there's a comparison and then finally there's an exhortation
dividing the subject matter then into those three parts first
of all the commands and we have it here of course in verse 7
the words exercise thyself is an imperative. The imperative mood is being
used here in this verb. Exercise thyself. He's not making a request. He's
telling this young man exactly what he is to do. It's a word
of command. Refuse profane and old wise fables
and exercise thyself rather unto Godliness. The godliness that
is being spoken of here is clearly that that is associated with
sound doctrine. Because he says at the beginning
of the verse, refuse profane and old wives fables. And he uses this sort of expression
several times. We go back to the opening chapter.
and there at verse 3 it says as I besought thee to abide still
at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia that thou mightest charge some
that they teach no other doctrine neither give heed to fables and
endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying
which is in faith so do. And it's not just to Timothy
that he gives such charges as this. Even when he writes in
the epistle to Titus, we find something very similar there
in the opening chapter of Titus. Verse 13, he says, This witness
is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply,
that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish
fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. Again,
he's using the same sort of language that we have at the beginning
of the seventh verse of our text, but refused profane and old wives'
fables. He's referring really to unsound
teaching, unsound doctrine. sound doctrine would preclude
all the teachings and all the traditions of men. You can dismiss those various
traditions and teachings as mere fables, old wives' fables he
calls them, profane fables. is using strong language because
he wants Timothy to understand how dangerous false doctrine
is. But of course we know that when
it comes to the truth of God's Word we need something more than
doctrine as there is true doctrine and that's vital. to the spiritual
health of our souls, so there must also be the experience,
the spiritual experience of the doctrine. Not just assenting
to the doctrine with our understanding in our minds, but being brought
to feel some conviction, to feel something of the power of the
doctrine that we profess to believe, to experience the doctrine. And
then there will follow after that, of course, the godly practice,
the living these great truths out. Doctrine, experience, and
practice. And I think, I know some are,
maybe not all, but dear late friend Sidney Norton, when he
was minister there in Squitchy Lane in Oxford all those many
years ago, would publish a little magazine and he entitled it DEP.
I think it was previous to him being involved with the beginning
of the Banner of Truth magazine that was in about 1955 so maybe
previous to that he was issuing a little magazine from his study
there when he was minister in Squitchy Lane in Oxford D.E.P. Doctrine, Experience and Practice. These three and all of these
necessary if we go into He, what he is saying, exercise thyself
rather unto godliness. It will involve the mind, it
will involve the heart, it will involve the hands. There's to
be an understanding in the mind. There's to be a heart receiving
that truth, believing that truth. And there is to be a hand that
is in action. We are to be those who practice
and practice the things that we say we truly believe in. And how interesting is the language
that we have here, this particular verb, exercise. It's the Greek word from which
we have our English word gymnast. If we were to transliterate the
word, just sort of bring the word over, if it were, into our
English language, we might say that what he is saying here is
gymnasticize. Exercise thyself. Gymnasticize
thyself. Rather unto godliness. Well, think of the gymnast. Think
of the many hours of training. Think of the routine of the various
exercises. And what is the point and purpose
of all that this person is doing, the gymnast? It's to show something
of the agility and the grace of the human body in those various
movements. I'm sure many of us have witnessed
the gymnast and it's quite remarkable. But what a great deal of training
and preparation has to go into all of that. So too with the
believer. We're to pursue that life, the
life of godliness. And if we're pursuing that life,
it won't just be a matter of us doing mental gymnastics in
our minds. I think I've said before, I can
remember as a young man, when I first came to any understanding,
little understanding as it was, of the great doctrines of the
gospel, the doctrines of free and sovereign grace, talking
with a minister, and he said to me, he said, you know, it's
wonderful that young men in these days, this would have been back
in the in the late sixties, I suppose, around about 1970, and talking
with this man, he said, it's wonderful how Young men are beginning
to show an interest in these great doctrines. Calvinism, if
we might use that term. I don't like using the term Calvinism,
really, because we don't follow John Calvin in every particular,
but we know how Calvin was a great champion of those doctrines of
the sovereign grace of God. But this minister said, it's
good to see these young men, but there's a great danger because
the whole system, you see, He's just said it's a system, how
the various truths of the doctrines, they will dovetail together.
It's a whole system of truth that gives all the glory to God
in salvation. But this man said to me, he said,
the problem is that young men like to do sort of mental gymnastics. They like the logic. It appeals
to the mind. The logic of this whole system
of doctrine. Well, I'm sure we would recognize
that whilst doctrine is vitally important, we cannot emphasize
that adequately, but we want more than an understanding mind. We want the truth to take hold
of our souls. We want some communication from
the head to the heart. We don't just stand in need of
a an understanding mind, we want a believing heart. We want an
obedient will. No big words of ready talkers,
no dry doctrine will suffice. Broken hearts and humble walkers,
these are dear in Jesus' eyes. I read recently the words of
a The minister, a man who lectured in theology, and he said he didn't
want to hear anything about high doctrine, but he wanted to know
whether there were any men who were made small because of the
doctrine they believed. You see the connection. It's
not boasting of high doctrine, or does the truth that we believe
have that effect? It humbles us. It humbles us
before the glories of God and the glories of the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul could say at the end of
the Acts, I exercise myself to have always a conscience void
of offense before God and men. That was his exercise, to have
a clear conscience both in the presence of men and before God. How important it is that we have
that sort of conscience. We don't conform to the ways
of the world. Our desire is to be transformed
by the renewing of our mind that we might understand what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. to be those who
live the separated life. And God, when He speaks to us
in His Word, when we find commandments here on the page of Holy Scripture,
it's not just that God comes, as it were, with that word of
command, but always there's that that encourages. He encourages
obedience. He doesn't just come, as it were,
with a heavy hand, but he comes with a gracious promise. We see
it there at the end of 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, where the Apostle
speaks of the necessity of the separated life. He says, What
concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
in an infidel? What agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk
in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith
the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. And we'll be a father unto you,
and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty,
having therefore these promises. dearly beloved. Let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting
holiness in the fear of God. You see, as the Apostle addresses
these people, he gives a very strong command to separation.
Come out from among them. Be ye separate, says the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing.
But then it's all couched. in the language of promise. As
God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them. I will
be their God. They shall be my people. I will
receive you. I will be a father unto you.
You shall be my sons and daughters. All these promises. Having these
promises. Dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves. How gracious God is in giving
us every encouragement then that we should be those who would
be concerned to exercise ourselves unto godliness and all that that
godliness entails. Now, again, look at the word
that we have in this. I do find this word most interesting
rendered to exercise here in the text. It's derived from a
word that literally means naked or scantily clad and we can think
again of the gymnast and a gymnast I suppose would wear simply a
leotard nothing is to hinder the exercise and when we think
of it in a spiritual sense you see we're to lay aside every
way And the seeing with us so easily beset us and we to run
the patiently the race that he set before us looking on to Jesus.
Those words of the Apostle in Hebrews 12 laying aside every
weight, every sin, looking to Jesus, running the race, nothing
hinder us. as we desire only to be those
who would walk in that narrow way or run in that narrow way
that leads to life. There's a command then here.
There's a command. And then also he makes a comparison
in the 8th verse. He says bodily exercise profiteth
little for a little time but godliness is profitable unto
all things having promise of the life that now is and of that
which is to come. You see the contrast, you see.
He speaks of bodily exercise, but then he goes on to speak
of godliness, which is something spiritual. Spiritual godliness,
as it were, over against bodily exercise. And then he speaks,
we have the word little, but literally it is a little time,
and the little time is compared, or contrasted, with what is to
come. Promise of the life that now
is, and of that which is to come, that's eternity. So we have the
comparison between little time and eternity. That's the comparison
that he's making in order to encourage them to heed and to
obey the exhortation, the command, exercise thyself rather unto
godliness. Think of the comparison then.
Natural religion. What is natural religion? You
see, not only bodily exercise, but we might say also false religion
is something that is of the flesh. It's earthly, it's natural. It's
an outward show. What does he say there at verse
7? Refuse profane and old wise fables. He goes on again right at the
end of the epistle to give exhortation to the young Timothy. O Timothy, keep that which is
committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings. and
oppositions of science falsely so-called which some professing
avert concerning the faith. Timothy is to be concerned to
answer those who are coming with their own notions, with their
false teachings, with their own vain doctrines. There is a natural religion Some men can, it seems, give
the appearance of being religious, but it's not a spiritual religion.
It just seems to be part and parcel of the sort of men that
they are. They have a natural religion. But in distinction to that spiritual
religion, surely it's something internal. It's heavenly. It's something supernatural.
It's something that is the creation of God, the Holy Spirit, because
the true religious man is a man who is born again. Born again of the Spirit of God,
born from above. Oh, it's been well observed,
only he who made the world can make a Christian. What a wonder,
what a wondrous creation. And yet, it's only that God who
is the creator and sustainer of all things who can make a
true believer, a real Christian. He's born again, He's born from
above. It's the work of the Spirit of
God. And so if any man is in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation. All things have passed away.
And behold, all things are become new. And how is this man different?
Well, in this man who has a real spiritual religion, there will
be a real sense of sin. There will be a real sense of
sin. There will be exercise, godly exercise in the soul of
this man. Exercise thyself unto godliness. This is the figure that's being
used, you see. He speaks of that that they might
be familiar with. And of course we know that Paul
was not ignorant of the Grecian games, the Olympic games, he
knew about these things, he would use various figures that those
that he's addressing would also be familiar with. So he speaks
of bodily exercise in contrast to true spiritual exercise. The
godly man knows that exercise in his soul. He has real desires,
spiritual desires, after the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants to be one who is, therefore,
mortifying the deeds of the body. Pope Paul says that Christ has
crucified the flesh. with the affections and lusts,
that's part of the exercise, that crucifying, putting to death,
mortifying the deeds of the body. What does he say in Romans 8,
13? If ye through the Spirit do mortify
the deeds of the body, ye shall live. It's through the Spirit
this mortification that's put into death dying to self, dying
to sin. Look at the context that we have
here. We have this statement in the opening verses. The Spirit
speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart
from the faith. giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their
conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and
commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be
received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the
truth. Well, we read those words, and
what do we think of? Well, maybe you're different,
but I read those words and what really springs to mind quite
naturally is what we might term the natural religion of the Romanists
or the High Anglican. You know what they do? They think
they've got to mortify the deeds of the body by doing certain
external things. They wear hair vests. They'll scourge the body. In
a physical sense, they'll have their fastings. They'll have
their rules, their laws, their regulations. They'll say, we've
got to live a celibate life. We've got to be always abstaining,
always fasting. This is what springs to mind.
Our men like to make a natural religion, but it's easy, isn't
it, in a sense? It's easy to read the passage and then to
point the finger and say, well, that's the Church of Rome, but
that's not the sort of religion I have. But we can come closer
home than that, surely. We have to look to ourselves
and examine ourselves and prove ourselves. What of our religion? Is it just a notional religion
that we have? Is that all it is? Just notional,
in the head. A round of duties. We do our
duties. We make sure that we observe
our regular times of devotion, our quiet times you might call
them. We read the said portion of the Bible. We are diligent
in attending services and hearing the preaching of the Word of
God. with those who want to be present
at the prayer meeting. Now all of these are good and
profitable. I'm not saying that it's not proper that we should
do these things. Of course it is. It's good. It's
right. It's healthy or it should be
healthy. But we're not arresting these things. Remember in the
second letters of Timothy, there in chapter 3 and verse 5, He
speaks of some having a form, having a form of godliness and
denying the power thereof. Is that all we have, a form?
The form of godliness, but what do we know? What do we know of
the power? Exercise thyself, he says. Are
we exercising these things? Are we grieved when all we're
doing is going through the motions? We're troubled because we want
something real in our souls. We want something of the gracious
activity, the sovereign operations of the Spirit of God working
within us. We want divine life in our souls. We want to know that we have
in us the life of God. James says, receive with meekness
the engrafted Word that's able to save your soul. Is that what
we do when we come to the Word of God, be it in our own homes,
in the quietness of our homes, when we pick up the Bible, we
read the Word of God? Do we want to, with meekness,
receive it? We read it, we examine it, and
we want to feel something of the power of it in our souls
under the gracious hand of the Spirit. We look to the Spirit.
He's the one who first inspired the Scriptures. All Scripture
is given by inspiration of God. It's the work of God the Spirit.
Those holy men, how they were moved, how they were borne along
by the Spirit of God, their spiritual works. We don't want the word
just to sit there on the page of scripture, we want to know
something of that that James is speaking of, receiving it
as the engrafted, the implanted words, the word coming home as
it were into our souls. Oh, the Lord has to deal with
us and the Lord does deal with us in order that we might be
those who are truly exercised in spiritual things. It's not
only the word of God. What are the ways of God? What
are the chastenings of God? Oh, remember that godly king
Hezekiah. What troubles poor Hezekiah knew
in his day. He'd seen the armies of the Assyrians
come. They'd fallen upon Israel in
the north. Israel had fallen. The ten tribes
had been scattered, and then the Assyrians had come south,
had come into Judah. Many of the walled cities had
fallen. There they were at the gates of Jerusalem. We're familiar,
I'm sure, with the account that we have of Ezekiah, not only
in the books of Kings and Chronicles, but also, of course, we have
those chapters in in the middle of the prophecy
of Isaiah chapter 36 following we read something of the history
of this man when the Assyrians are laying siege and he goes,
he receives this message, he takes it, he lays it before the
Lord, he goes to the temple, spreads this threatening letter
from the Assyrians before God and then God appears for him and the Assyrians
are thwarted, frustrated, and they depart. But then the prophet
Isaiah comes with a terrible message. The king is not going
to live, he's going to die. And what does he do? He's on
his sick bed, he's on his dying bed, he turns his face to the
wall, and he prays to his God, and God extends his days. He
was a remarkable man, King Hezekiah, but when we come to his prayer,
the writing of Ezekiel, King of Judah, when he had been sick
and was recovered of his sickness. It's a remarkable prayer. We've
looked at it in times past, but this is exercise, surely. This
man is brought to something. He says, I reckon till morning
that as a lion, so will he break all my bones. From day even to
night will thou make an end of me. Like a crane or a swallow,
so did I chatter. I did mourn as a dove. Mine eyes
fail with looking upward, O Lord, I am oppressed. Undertake for
me. O what prayer is this? What shall
I say? He asks. He hath both spoken
unto me, and himself hath done it. I shall go softly all my
years in the bitterness of my soul. Why, the Lord had heard
his prayer when he wept sore, and the Lord had extended his
days, and assured him that he was going to live and not die
and he says this O Lord by these things men live and in all these
things is the life of my spirit so will thou recover me and make
me to live O Lord by these things men live exercise thyself God
deals with us sometimes God seems to cross us But God is a wise
God. He's too wise to be mistaken.
He's too good to be unkind. There's a purpose. Our life's
minute is circumstance, subject to the eye of God. And so, are we not to learn what
real religion is? Not natural religion, but spiritual
religion. And what this spiritual exercise
is. bodily exercise profiteth little, for a short while, a
little while, but godliness is profitable unto all things having
promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come."
And here is the encouragement you see. There's profit. That's what it says, it's profitable. And so as we conclude, let me
just say something with regards to the profit of it. and the promise of it. Firstly,
the profit. Profitable, it says, unto all
things. Godliness is profitable unto
all things. Now, it might seem otherwise,
when we examine the matter, because oftentimes there are many difficulties.
There are so many obstacles that seem to stand in the way. He goes on to say, doesn't he,
in that second epistle, Yea, all that will live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution. The godly. Those who know what
godly spiritual exercise is. Yea, all that will live godly In Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution. Christ says in the world we shall
have tribulation. The Apostle echoes it. We must,
through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom. Or the narrow
way. It's a way that's fraught with
all sorts of troubles. Look at what he says In verse
10, therefore we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust
in the living God. It's not an easy way. It's a difficult way. And yet
it says here in verse 8 that there's something profitable.
It's profitable unto all things. All things. No exceptions. Reminds us, doesn't it, of that
great word back in Romans 8, 28, we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. Quite easy to read the word,
to trot that text off the tongue. Or do we really know that? Do
we know that all things work together for good? To them that
love God, we love God. Do all things really work together
for good? We're called of God, we trust
we're called of God. Do all things work together for
good? Well they do, if we exercise. Because what do trials and troubles
and setbacks and difficulties, what do they do to the believer? do they cast him more and more
upon his God that's how they are made profitable to us you
see that's how they are made profitable when we learn more
and more our own not to weakness and the need for us to be continually
casting ourselves upon God Paul could say therefore I take pleasure
in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in distresses
for Christ's sake For when I am weak, then am I strong. For there is profit. There's
profit in this faithful saying that's worthy of all acceptation. Exercise thyself rather unto
godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth
little, but godliness is profitable. unto all things, and then this,
having promise. All this, the promise, as well
as the profitability, having promise of the life that now
is, and of that which is to come. You see, godliness is not profitable,
because by exercising ourselves in godliness we earn God's blessings. That's not the way, is it? The promise of God excludes any
idea of works. We are saved by grace. And what
is grace? Well, it's the unmerited favour
of God, isn't it? It's a free gift, really. That's
what grace is. And if we're saved by grace,
we're not saved by works, otherwise grace is no more grace. If we're
saved by works, we're not saved by grace, for work is no more
work. Grace and works, they exclude
one another. Our salvation then, at no time,
is something that involves us doing a thing whereby we earn
the favor and the blessing of God. The exercise of godliness
doesn't earn blessings from God. We learn that we are completely
dependent upon God. That's the important thing. We're dependent always upon God.
Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them.
For in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that
hear thee, it says. Or the promise. The promise is for now, but it's also for the
future. Having promise of the life that
now is. and also that which is to come. It belongs to us now,
it will be ours hereafter. It's grace, it's glory, isn't
it? Wasn't it Thomas Boston who said of these two, grace and
glory, that grace, and we're living now in the day of grace,
grace is glory in the body, we have the body. What is glory? What is heaven? It's grace in
the full flower. It's the promise that now is and also of that which is to
come. And it's a faithful saying. All
we have is the faithfulness of God here. We remarked on the
last Lord's Day evening when we were looking at that first
of the sayings, the true saying of chapter 1 and verse 15, that
faithful saying concerning the gospel. What we have in the gospel
is the faithfulness of God, the promise of God, the oath of God,
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus that was shed to seal all
of the gospel to us. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation. He says, Refuse profane and old
wives' fables, exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily
exercise profiteth little, little while, little time, but godliness
is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that
now is, and of that which is to come. O God, grant that we
might be those then who are truly exercised in all these matters. The Lord help us, the Lord have
mercy upon us, and bless his word to us. Amen.