You have this wonderful, wonderful
life in Christ. And he says, and look what he
says, and you have professed a good profession. Timothy, you've
got a good confession. You've made a good profession. You know what we call profession?
Confession. And he says, you've made a good
profession before many, many witnesses. And you know, Paul,
he says, you know, you've been a good witness to me. You've
been a faithful witness to me. You profess things, and you're
a witness of what you profess. And you've done it in front of
lots and lots and lots and lots of people. Oh, my. And I tell you, he said, oh,
he said, you've made a great, wonderful profession. between
the apostles and the people of the church, before false teachers,
and even before men of the world. And then look what he says there,
and then in verse 13 and 14. Look what he says here. And this
is what gets me. He said, I give thee charge in
the sight of God. He said, we're doing this in
the sight of God. You know, people want it. There's two times
they want a church and they want a preacher. When they get married
and when they die. You know, they don't care, lots
of people don't care a thing in the world about the gospel.
Don't care a thing in the world about the church. Don't care
a thing in the world about being faithful to it and coming to
it and hearing the gospel. But a preacher, I need to get
married. I sure would like you to marry me. Why? Why? This is in the sight of
God. You ain't arrested in God. They're not really arrested in
God. Why do they want to get married in the sight of God?
Go to a judge. Go to the mayor. I'm serious
about that. And here's another thing. When
they die, they say, preacher, my daddy died, and my mother
died, and my brother died. Would you care to come preach
our funeral? I don't know anything about them. What would I say? But that's
what I mean. They were buried and buried. And you know what? Paul said,
I give you charge in the sight of God. We've got a charge in
the sight of God himself, and look what he says, who quickeneth
all things, and before Pontius Pilate, who witnessed a good
confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot unrebukable
unto the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, to our Lord Jesus
Christ. And here he gives this solemn
charge. He lays it before Timothy. And
he lays it before all preachers of the gospel. And in fact, he
lays it before every believer. He said, fight that good fight
of faith. Lay hold on eternal life. Listen
to the true doctrine. Listen to doctrine. Observe the
doctrine. Make sure the doctrine's right.
Believe the doctrine. Lay hold of that. And I tell
you, and attend the gospel where it's being preached, and I tell
you, be sure, and I'll give you charge to preach the gospel of
the grace of Christ, and preach it sincerity, preach it in purity,
preach it without any kind of a compromise, whatever you do,
don't compromise. Oh, I've heard fellas say, you
know, You got to be careful about preaching election, you know
said that's a family secret Well, I'm in the family and I want
everybody in the family to know my secret You know what we don't
hold, why would you hold back anything? When this is the only
thing God will use to save a man If God's not sovereign who is? Man is real, he's power. And
if Christ, if man is as lost as the Bible says he is, dead
in trespasses and sins, where's he gonna get life at? He can't
give it to himself, only God can give it, only Christ can
give it. And when Christ died, who did
he die for? Did he die for everybody or did
he die for his people, his elect? And then when He calls them and
brings them to Himself, are they supposed to keep themselves? No, if Christ died for us, He's
gonna keep us. And I tell you, no compromise.
I mean, make it just as plain, as clear, and I don't wanna be
ill, I don't really don't. I love, you know how I am, I
love the gospel and I rejoice in it. But oh, he says, listen,
I give you charge in the sight of God. Oh, in the sight of God. Now that, you know, in this Bible
is written for all of us. We got a charge in the sight
of God. They hold on eternal life. And
then look at this. Who quickeneth the dead before
God, before God in the sight of God who quickens all things.
Now what in the world does that mean? That word quicken means
to give life. And God quickens and gives life
to everything and everybody in this world. He's the only one
that can give life. And He gives it to all of His
creatures. But He's also the only one who can quicken us from
our spiritual death and give us life. He's the only one that
can do that. Oh my. And I tell you, and here's
something, he's gonna quicken us all, his people at the last
day. But I want you to look over here
with me in Acts 17. Look over here with me in Acts
17. You know, natural man and the
world and everything in it, they're actually nothing. God is our
life and God gives us life. And he's the only one that gives
life to any creature on this earth. You know, Job says he
owes the breath of every living soul in his hands. And this is what the apostles
saying here in Acts chapter 17. Look down verse 24. Paul's preaching
here on Mars Hill in Greece. God that made the world and all
things therein, Seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,
he don't dwell in temples made with hands. Neither is worshipped
with men's hands, as though he needed anything. Now listen to
this. Seeing he giveth to all life
and breath and all things. You hear that? Breath, life,
and all things. And he is made of one blood,
all nations. You know what that means? that
every man's got Adam's blood in him until the blood of Christ
cleanses him. No matter where you go, we all
come from Adam's, what he's saying. For to dwell on all the face
of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and
the bounds of their habitation. He said, do you know, I'll put
you where I want you to live, where I want you to live. And
then that they should seek the Lord, If happily they might feel
after him, find him, though he be not far from every one of
us. Now listen to this. For in him we live and move and
have our being. Now, that's pretty plain, ain't
it? Who God before, who quickeneth
all things. He said he created the world
and everything in it. Giveth life to all in all things. And then he goes on to say here,
Talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. He said, you know, our Lord Jesus
before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession or a good profession. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ,
He is both our Lord, He's both our Savior. And when He stood
before Pilate, He was faithful. He spoke plainly. And he bare
open witness to the truth in the face of the most unparalleled
sufferings, even down going to the death of the cross. You know,
I was reading today where he was standing before Pilate, and
Pilate said, art thou the king of the Jews? And he said, do
you say this or does somebody else tell you that? And he says,
if my kingdom, as our Lord told Pilate, my kingdom is not of
this world. If my kingdom were this world,
I have a multitude that would fight. But he says, I bear witness
to the truth, and everyone that heareth the truth and knoweth
the truth believes me. That's what he said before Pilate.
Are you king of the Jews? You saying this for yourself
or did somebody else tell you? Do you say he's king of the Jews?
Do you say he's king of kings and lord of lords? And he got
before Pilate and he was standing before Pilate beating bloody.
He had already been to Herod's place and they're beating bloody.
that done planted the count of thorns. And he's standing before
Pilate, he's standing there burning and broken and bruised and bleeding. And he said, listen, I bear witness
to the truth and they that hear me, they believe the truth. And said, that my kingdom is
not of this world. Thank God it ain't. And we're
not, we're in a kingdom that's not of this world. Bless his
holy name. And oh my. And he faced this,
he bore, he was a faithful witness. A faithful witness. Right down
there when he was getting ready, when they start crewing the pilot,
crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. Standing there. And I tell you, then he says
this, and then in verse 14, look what he says. That thou keep
this commandment without spot unrebukable unto the appearing
of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Oh my, you be faithful. You keep
this commandment, you keep that other thing that I've told you,
this charge I gave you in the sight of God to preach the gospel.
Fight that good fight of faith. You know how to behave yourself
in the church of God, but he says, to the coming of Christ. And this tells us that what Paul's
writing here is not just to Timothy, but to all of us as believers.
Because I tell you what, we're not looking for man's praise.
We're not looking for man's approval and honor from men, but what
we want to do is we want to walk, we want to talk, we want to honor,
and we want to live before God, knowing that God watches us and
keeps us and protects us and preserves us. And if we got anything
to say about God, about Christ, about ourselves or anybody else,
we're going to tell the truth. We're going to tell the truth.
Oh, before Christ and appearing, until the appearing of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And then look what he says in
his, I love this right here. Which in his times, Christ, when
his times, he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate,
the King of kings and Lord of lords. You know, when he talks
about the coming of Christ, the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Our Lord said He didn't even know when He was coming back.
He said only God knows that. His Father knew that. But one
thing is certain. He is coming back. He is coming
back. He'll come and get us. He'll
come get us all at one time. But He's coming to get us. And
God's going to bring it to pass in His times. It says in His
times. Appointed by Him. And it says
here that our Lord Jesus Christ is the only potentate. He is
now, and always has been, the blessed God. That's who He is. He's God Almighty in the flesh. He's the source of all the blessedness
that you and I will ever have. And there's an organization,
I know some folks that's involved in it, and I know some people
that after God saved them, they got out of it. And they call
the, The big shot in it, the big shot in it, the big shot
in this organization, in this society. They call him potentate,
potentate. He's got all the power. And I got off on that one time
preaching this. There's two or three of them
in the service, and you know, They never went back anymore.
They found out that there ain't no potentate but Christ. You
know what a potentate means? It means he's got all the power
and nobody else has got any at all. Huh? Can you imagine calling a man
potentate? He's a potentate. He had to get
up this morning, wash his face and comb his hair. He looks like
a potentate. But it talks about Christ being
the only potentate, the only one. And he's the only governor
of this whole universe. Our Lord Jesus rules over the
armies of heaven and over the kingdoms of men. And it says
here the King, you know how King is capitalized, then the little
kings, the Lord, and then the little lords. I tell you, he's
King of kings. And he sets up kings and removes
them at his pleasure. The king's heart is in the hands
of the Lord like the rivers of water, and he turns it the way
he will. And I tell you what, then look
what else he says here. These things are so precious
to me. Talking about this king of kings
and Lord of lords is only potentate, appearing of Christ. 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, and that power everlasting. Amen. When it tells us here that
he only hath immortality, angels are immortal. Fallen angels and
the elect angels, they're immortal. And the souls of men, when they
come into the existence, we're immortal. We're going to live
on. We're going to live on. You know,
God made us bodies, living souls, inhabiting bodies, and we're
going to live on somewhere. The soul's going to live on somewhere.
And he said, and the souls of men have immortality. They'll live on. They're immortal.
But there's only one person who's got immortality. We're all mortal
and immortal. But He has immortality. And only
God has immortality. And He has immortality of Himself.
I mean, if we have... You know, that's what He talks
about with believers. He said, this mortal shall put
on immortality. But even people in hell are going
to be immortal. But they're not going to get
a new body. We're going to get a new body. Men who, people who
perish and they spend eternity in hell, they'll be there with
their body that they had and the mind that they had in this
world. We will be changed in a moment in the twinkle of an
eye. This corruption will put on incorruption. This mortal
will put on immortality. And all death will be swallowed
up in victory. But that's what he's talking
about here. God hath immortality. He can only give immortality. And He's the only one that's
got it. And I tell them, it says, He dwells in the light. What
does that mean? He dwells in such a glorious
light that while we're in this so frail, mortal, fleshly body,
no man, no man can bear to see the holiness, the glory, and
the luster of God Almighty and the shining of God. Moses said,
Lord, show me your glory. God said, Moses, you can't see
me and live. He said, well, I want to see
your glory. He said, there's a rock over
here. Get in that rock. I'll put my hand over you. And then you know what I'll do?
I'll slip by you from the backside. You couldn't see me for him.
And he said, oh, listen. Oh, one of these days we'll have
eyes to see him. One of these days we'll have
eyes to see his glory. Oh, my. You know, even the heavenly
creatures cover their faces in the presence of God Almighty.
They did it in the Revelation, they did it all over where you
go. And I'll tell you what, I'll tell you where we see God at
right now. We see Him in the Lord Jesus Christ spiritually,
we see Him in the Lord Jesus Christ savingly, and even then,
we see it so imperfectly, we see through a glass darkly. But
when that blessed resurrection day comes, this old human nature
is done away with, you know what the scripture says, we'll see
as he is and shall be like him. Alright, I've got to hurry on. 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 all, richly all
things to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good
works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. And what he's
saying here, warn them that are very, very well off, rich, been
blessed with great material wealth, been graced with influence, and
lots and lots of possessions, He said, warn them that they
don't be proud. Don't be high-minded, don't be
proud. Oh my, don't look out down on other people. And I tell
you, riches are prone to produce great pride in people. Riches make people feel like
they're self-sufficient. And rich men are, oh my goodness,
I've got everything I need. I don't need to pray. Become
indifferent to the worship. They walk off and forget the
fear of the Lord, but oh my, but oh God and His purpose, and
look what it says here, but trust in the living God, not your riches,
because riches are uncertain, but trust in the living God,
and this is so, who giveth us all things richly to enjoy. You know why God gave us what
we got? clothes, money, houses, cars, children, wives, husbands,
brothers and sisters. He gives us all that stuff to
enjoy while we got it and he gave us so we can enjoy it. Because
we understand, we're standing there and everything. You know
how I live? From God's hand to my mouth.
That's really how we all live, ain't it? That's how we all live. But all right, let me go on.
And then he says that they do good. Much is required of them
who too much is given, and they'll be held accountable. And I tell
you, true riches, true riches, is because of grace, and if you
have any good works, it's because of grace. And then he says, be
ready to distribute, willing to communicate. What does that
mean? That means use what God's blessed
you with to do for others. What God's blessed you with,
use it to do things for others, for the glory of God and for
others. And you know, doing good works
and sharing with others and being kind to the poor, Now listen,
it cannot, when they talk about lay a good foundation, I don't
care how good your works are, I don't care how much you share
with others, I don't care how much you give away, and how kind
you are to the poor, it cannot, cannot lay a foundation for salvation. It cannot lay a foundation for
life. It cannot lay a foundation for
eternal happiness. For Christ alone, Christ alone
is our sure, sure and lasting foundation in Him and Him alone.
But listen, a man's attitude towards others, his attitude toward material
things and spiritual things, and his general conduct and how
he lives in this world, Reveal whether he knows Christ or not,
whether Christ has been his foundation, and whether he's laid out on
eternal life. You know, I know a lot of folks give away
a lot of things, and they're very, very generous. And we ought
to be, we ought to be. If you got anything at all and
see somebody need it, you need to help them in all if you can.
And then look what he said here now. And I'll wind it up, oh
Timothy, oh Timothy, commit that, keep that which is committed
to your trust. You know what that committed
to your trust means? It's put on deposit with you. He's allowed
to be put in trust with the gospel. He said, I've deposited the gospel
with you, I've deposited grace with you, I've deposited everything
you got, God gave it to you. And committed to thy trust, to
your deposit. And he said, I want you to understand
this, That gospel's been committed to your trust. Keep it pure,
keep it incorrupt, faithfully preach it. Don't never be moved
away from it. And then what's what he said?
Avoiding profane and vain babblings and opposition of science, falsely
so called. Don't get in debates and arguments
and babblings about law. People talk about law. People
want to talk about circumcision and prophecy and some new doctrine
that they've heard. It never ought to be introduced. And the false teachers boast.
And that word scientific, I was looking it up today, it just
means having a superior knowledge. A superior knowledge. They boast
of their scientific knowledge and oppose the scriptures. He
said, you stay away from them. Just avoid them. Avoid them like
the plague. Avoid them. And some pretend
to be masters of science and knowledge departed from the faith.
You know, this is something I don't understand, and I've seen it
happen. And said, some professing have
erred from the faith. They thought they was masters
and they turned from the faith over this business of science.
But there is a group now, there's people that believe now that that you can believe in creation
and evolution too. And they say that that there was things that happened
long before creation did and all kinds of things happened
before creation did so you can say they're in evolution. But there's no way in the world
you can believe evolution and creation at the same time. It'd
be an impossibility. Huh? It'd been impossible. How can you believe in creation
and evolution? You've been, some of us have
been here a while. Have you got any better? If you were a barber, you'd seem
like you'd get a little better, wouldn't you? But I don't understand that kind
of stuff, but people are teaching it. I'm not going to. Would you? No, no, no. Our Father, thank you for allowing
us to meet here tonight. Thank you for your word. Oh,
your word is such power, such glory to it, such life, such
instruction for us, so much help for our hearts, our souls, our
understanding. And Lord, I know it's, we have
this flesh to contend with. That's why we come and hear it
over and over and over and over again. We'll listen to something
and a day or two later, Lord, it's gone. And that's because
of this old fallen nature. But God, help us to always, always
continually and constantly look to Christ, coming to Christ,
believing Christ. Oh, may He be our all in all.
God bless these dear saints. Protect them and preserve them.
Give them a good night's rest. Bless their hearts, bless their
lives, bless their homes. Bless them getting up, bless
them going down, bless them going out, and bless them coming in.
Lord, you can do that, if you will. And I trust you will, for
Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. All right. I'll see you. Oh, I won't see you till next
Wednesday.