If you would and you wanna follow
along, please turn to 1 Timothy chapter four. 1 Timothy chapter four. And I wanna
begin reading in verse six. If thou put the brethren in remembrance
of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ,
nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto
thou hast attained. 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. I'm gonna
stop right there for now. Paul, this is a faithful saying
number two. I wasn't really planning on doing
this, but I got it in my head, and here I am. That's just the
way it works some days. This is the second faithful saying.
And again, the Apostle Paul states it. This is a faithful saying,
and it's worthy of all acceptation. I went into that last week, so
I'm not gonna do it this week. But this is a truthful saying.
And this is worthy of all acceptation by everybody everywhere. whether
they will accept it or not. It's worthy of it. That's the
point. Now, I don't know, I don't remember
if I said this last week. If I didn't, I meant to. And
if I did, I'm still gonna say it again, even if I remembered
that I did. Because what Paul's writing here,
this is a faithful saying. So A, number one, We need to
say it. Why do we need to say it? It's
a faithful saying. It's truthful, it's trustworthy,
it's accurate. And second reason is because
we need to hear it. If it's a faithful saying, I
need to hear it. And if it's a faithful saying, you need to
hear it. Trustworthy sayings need to be
said. There's so many lies flying around,
and I'm just talking about lies about the scripture. I mean,
there are so many more lies than there is truth out there in this
world right now. Go to any bookstore and you'll
find out. Go to a Christian bookstore and it'll hit you in the face
before you get in the door. Faithful sayings need to be said,
and faithful sayings need to be heard. We need to repeat these
things. If they're a faithful saying,
they need to be repeated. We need to say them to each other,
we need to say them to others, and we all need to hear faithful
sayings. Why? They are worthy of all acceptation. What's that mean? Accept the
truth of God. Most people reject the truth
of God in Jesus Christ. Most people reject the truth
of God in the scriptures. And they may talk about the scriptures
and they may take those scriptures and rest them to their own destruction. That's what happens. Because
here it is, if it's a faithful saying, it's worthy of all repetition. We need repetition to be reminded.
Why? Because we forget. I forget. And I don't think you guys are,
I think probably you might have better memories than me. But
even if you don't, I know people forget. And besides that, the scripture
says we need to be reminded. But this is the verse. that is
the faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. It's actually
the verse above that, verse eight. 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. Now that's a statement, and that
is a faithful saying. And that is worthy of all acceptation. But before I get too into it,
I wanna give you the negative right here because I know, I
remember when I first read this verse. Bodily exercise profiteth
little. And I think actually Earl quoted
me this verse one time in reference to that. But Paul is not writing
about physical exercise. That's not what he's writing
about. That's not the context. Now, however, it is true that
bodily exercise, physical exercise, profits little. Toward God. Toward God, okay? There is a place for physical
exercise, but it's not toward God. It's not toward God. Your body's condition can affect
your mind. However, believers must never
forget a few of these things. because believers have the mind
of Christ. The understanding of Jesus Christ
is what that means. I'm not against physical exercises.
I actually could use a little more myself. I'd like to be healthier. I wouldn't
mind. But I remember, I read, Paul
had a thorn in the flesh. And he beseeched God to take
it from him. And you know what God told him? God answered his
prayer. He said no. He said get used
to it. I have to explain that it works
sometimes. And I can't really use it in
those terms so I can say it here. My truck makes a noise when I
turn it and it twists and it gets in a bind. Get used to it.
You put something in a bind, guess what? It's in a bind, it's
gonna make a noise. Yeah, it's amazing. But here's the thing. Paul had
that thorn in the flesh and God said, get used to it. No, my
grace is sufficient for thee. Here, in verse 23 of 1 Timothy
chapter five, he's writing to Timothy. Drink no longer water,
but use a little wine. What? For thy stomach's sake.
And, see people get hung up on that wine for the stomach's sake.
They get it, you have to drink wine. Oh, it's medicinal. Okay. But here, and thine often
infirmities. You understand, Paul's not talking
about physical things here. I remember reading of Martin
Luther being sickly. Charles Spurgeon was ill. Both
of them for years. Physical health is not a sign
of a gospel blessing. Or a godly blessing. And infirmities
are not the sign of somebody who's backslid. And I don't care
what anybody says. There's some really wicked, healthy
people out there. And I don't like them, that's
the thing. Anyway. We've heard of blind people who
wrote gospel songs. We know believers who are infirm.
We know preachers who are infirm. And physical exercise is just
not possible for some people. That's not what Paul was warning
about. Because what Paul is writing here when he says, For bodily
exercise profiteth little. He is writing about works that
are not good. They are works, but they're not
good. They're not good. Here's the
context. Back up to 1 Timothy chapter
four and verse one. Here's the context. Now 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 and hypocrisy,
having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding the
merry and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created
to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know
the truth. You understand? This is the context
that Paul is making this statement in. Bodily exercise. Put it, physical activities.
I don't wanna say bad works, but that's what it is. That's
what he's talking about here. And besides this, this isn't
Paul, right? This is the spirit of God. The
spirit speaketh expressly. Paul makes it very clear. In
later times, some will give heed to deceptive, deceiving spirits. That's what he says. Spirits,
pneuma. Here's the thing. Don't give
them heed. Don't give them heed. You understand? Sometimes you can't help but
hear them. Because sometimes you're surrounded.
But don't pay them any heed. Some will give heed to the teaching
of, and it says, demonic entities. What happens? Satan has ministers. You understand? Satan has ministers. They look like ministers of light,
but they preach darkness. They may not even know they preach
darkness, but that's what they're preaching. They pretend to be
ministers of truth and light, but they preach lies and they
preach darkness. Because, what's it say here?
Speaking lies in hypocrisy. Some of them know they're lying.
You understand, speaking lies and hypocrisy, hypocrisy is acting. They are lying to you and acting
like it's the truth. Speaking lies and hypocrisy,
what? Having their conscience seared
with a hot iron. And the word there is cauterized. And you understand, when something's
cauterized, it's dead. You understand? That's what you
do, it used to be in the old days, you see the John Wayne
movies, you know, somebody gets shot, they put iron on it, Clint
Eastwood, some of them stupid movies. I've watched them, you
know. You cauterize that wound, guess
what, it stops the blood flow, but guess what, that's dead.
You understand? Ain't no hair gonna grow there
anymore. Their consciences are seared
with a hot iron, and they're speaking lies and hypocrisy. And Paul calls them, the Holy
Spirit of God calls them, seducing spirits and devils. That's what he calls them. And
that seducing, that's the deceitful. You know? People will give heed
to an obvious lie before they will the truth. The natural man
will. He's been given strong delusion
that what? That they should believe a lie. Why? So they won't believe
the truth. This is what Paul's talking about
as bodily exercises. And he gives two examples here
of these lies that they tell in hypocrisy. Seducing spirits
and devils. I'm not saying this is all because
there's a lot more. But this is just what Paul says.
And this was the interesting thing to me when I first read
this. Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats. Now, I would believe this is just
a coincidence that both of these things, given by examples by
the Apostle Paul, happen to be practices of the Roman Catholic
Church. I would believe that's a coincidence,
except for this. Since I've come to know God,
I don't believe in coincidences. There are no coincidences anymore.
You know what that is? That's prophecy. Now, I'm not
gonna say that it wasn't happening in Paul's day right then. Because
trust me, there have been idiots in every age. Every age. What was the thing
about the shaker faith? You weren't supposed to have
children. Guess what, most faiths don't
last long when you do stuff like that. Most churches don't last
long when you say, okay, you can't have sex with your lawfully
wedded wife or husband. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be
blunt, but that's the way it is. You understand? It's been
going on for a long time. Guess what, this was in that
Bible right there when the shaker bunch started. I don't understand
it. People are crazy. No, they're
lost. That'd make you crazy. But here
it is, each of the two tenets of the Catholic Church that Paul
uses here. And I remember when I first read that, Walter, that
hit me hard, you know, it did. Because all their priests are
forbidden to marry, and most people know that, because they
talk about it, and they talk about other things in the news,
but I'm not gonna get into that. But the other thing is, they
forbid you to eat meat, you weren't supposed to eat meat on Friday.
Now, I don't know why Friday was any different than any other
day of the week. And I don't know why we could
eat fish, but we couldn't eat beef or pork or chicken. For some reason, the Gordon's
Fisherman was OK on Friday. I don't know why. And I don't
like fish sticks. But you understand, I never knew
the reason. And I haven't looked into it
because I really don't care right now. why they would forbid you
to eat meat on Friday. But they did. And yet, they also
forbid their priests to marry. Guess what? Paul says that's
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. And
if you're Catholic, I'm sorry, have a nice day. I can't help
you. You understand, this is the word
of God. It doesn't matter what I think,
it matters what this word says. and that's what this word says.
Directly after talking about seducing spirits and doctrines
of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisies, having their consciences
seared with a hot iron, they're commanding people not to eat
meat and they're forbidding to marry. I'm gonna tell you one
thing right now, real quick. Whenever you start hearing the
word forbidding and commanding, and it doesn't agree with this
scripture, it's a lie. I don't know whether it's a seducing
spirit or a doctrine of a devil, and it don't matter which. If
they speak contrary to the law and the testimony, it's because
there's no light in them. This word is the only authority
we have. Both of them are wrong. Forbidding
to marry and commanding to abstain from meat. These are the works,
these are the bodily exercises that they will preach and they
profit little. And they profit, they preach
these words for salvation. They preach these words for salvation
or to keep your salvation. Forbidding and commanding above
the scripture from without the scripture is not right. It's not a good work. You understand? There's enough
in the scripture that I can't do that I don't need any extra. Come on, control your tongue,
that unruly member. Get your mind right. You know
what they say? I can't get my mind right. My
thoughts betray me even when they don't come out my mouth
by my tongue. But here, the word Paul uses,
and I really did like this when I read this. It says bodily exercises
profiteth little. You wanna know what that word
profiteth little means? Puny. That's the word, puny. Bodily exercise is puny. I don't like that. It is so small
as to be of actually no value at all. It's like less than the
small dust of the balance. It profits little. It's of no
value to you, to you or to me. You know, here's the thing. Anything added to the Word of
God, anything taken away from the Word of God, will make the Word of God of
less value to you, to you now. There's no way in this world
that anybody or anything can make the Word of God of less
value. But it can make the Word of less
value to you. Because we have a tendency as
human beings, still to pray, even believing, to be distracted
by exactly the wrong thing and not concentrating on the glory
of Jesus Christ. It's puny. Bodily exercise is
puny. Nobody, nothing can change the
word or the true value of His word. The only question is what
do we understand and what do we have? Jesus Christ is complete. There's no way to add anything
to what he has done. If he has saved you, you're saved.
Now if he hadn't saved you, you're not saved. But if he saved you,
if he's called you, if he's brought you in, he's promised that he's
gonna raise you up at the last day, bet your bottom dollar he's
gonna keep his promise. He will keep his promise. I was gonna say come hell or
high water, but that ain't got nothing to do with anything. He's gonna
keep his promise. Because I don't believe in coincidences
of hell or high water. I don't care who you are, don't
change the gospel. Don't add anything to it, don't
take anything away from it. Because here's the thing, forbidding
to marry Profits little and harms much. Commanding to abstain from
me for salvation or to keep your salvation profits nothing and
it harms much. Endless genealogies, whether
they're Jew or Gentile or whether they're Jew or Baptist, profit
little and they harm much. Old wives' fables or Jewish fables
profit little. And they harm much. Here's the
thing. The commandments of men profit
nothing. And they harm much. They harm
much. You understand, we don't need
the commandments of men. We've got the commandments of
Jesus Christ. The commandments of Christ profit
much and are toward godliness. First John 3 and 23 says this,
and this is his commandment, that we should believe on the
name of the Son, his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another
as he gave us commandment. Oh my. What's it say? For bodily exercise
profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things. So what's godliness? That's kind of tough in some
ways. Godliness is the reverence of
God. Not the reverence of who you
think is God. The real God. And Jesus Christ,
his son. Because if you're gonna honor
the father, you're gonna have to honor the son. And if you
honor the son, you are honoring the father. Godliness is of God. The reverence of God. Because here's the thing. How
do you know if you reverence God? Because it's one of them
words some people, they throw it around and some people don't
know what, may not know what it means. But here's the thing.
If you reverence Jesus Christ, if you understand godliness is
reverencing Jesus Christ, you believe it. You believe Jesus
Christ. Why? Because you trust him. He's God manifest in the flesh. You understand? He came down, condescended,
humbled himself, and became man. Was born of a virgin, lived on
this earth for 33 and a half years, they say. I don't know
exactly how long. perfectly, holy, unreprovable,
well-pleasing to God the Father. And what did God the Father say?
Hear it. Hear it. You understand? If you
reverence God, godliness hears Jesus Christ. Godliness is good and profitable
for this life, And the next one. And the next one. You know? Understand? Godliness is profitable
for this life, guess what? Which we live by the faith of
God's leg. And it's profitable for the next
life, which we're gonna live with Jesus Christ. So shall you
ever be with the Lord. I still think that's one of the
best statements ever written. Godliness is profitable unto
life. Godliness is profitable unto
faith. Godliness is profitable unto
works. Godliness is profitable unto
fellowship. Godliness is profitable unto
prayer. It's profitable unto worship. How can you worship without believing
Christ? How can you worship without trusting Jesus Christ? The disciples asked him, show
us the Father once, and it suffices. That's enough, that's all we
ask you. Show us the Father. He said, have I not been with
you so long? You don't know. If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. That's as much of the Father
as we're ever gonna see, is in the face of Jesus Christ. And
one day, I'm gonna see him face to face. with my own eyes. Now hopefully they're gonna be
better than these eyes, and I think they will. But that's the thing. Godliness is profitable unto
love. Love for Christ and love for
his brethren. The conclusion is this. This
is a faithful saying. Godliness is profitable unto
all things. All things. Where are believers to find godliness?
It's reverence in Christ. Believe him. Follow him. Trust him. Repeat faithful sayings. Read his word. Believe his word. What's it say? Verse six. If
thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be
a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of
faith. Where's your food? Where do you
go to feed? You understand? We're trying
to feed sheep here. I ain't got much for goats. We're
trying to feed sheep. Nourished up in the words of
faith and of good doctrine. good doctrine, whereunto thou
hast attained. It kind of spooked me one day,
I told Walter about this, you know, but, because I heard Henry
Mahan say this one time, he says, I wish my attitude toward people
was as good as my doctrine. And I thought, Henry's a lot
nicer person than I ever have been. He was just as nice and
gentle and kind. Now he would tell you the truth
flat out, and wouldn't lie, wouldn't equivocate. But you understand,
Henry was a much nicer person. Where does that put me? I would
like my attitude to be as good as my doctrine. I think I got
pretty good doctrine. It's my attitude needs work. Godliness is profitable unto
all things, even my attitude. The doctrine of Christ and the
doctrine of his apostles are for godly edification. But then it says here, verse
seven, but refuse profane and old wives' fables and exercise
thyself rather unto godliness. I copied what John Gill said
here. about refused profane and old wives' fables. He said, either
Jewish ones, the traditions of the elders, those of the Gnostics,
excuse me, concerning God, angels, and the creation of the world,
or those doctrines of demons which forbade marriage and commanded
abstinence from meats before mention, which are called profane
because impious and ungodly, and old wives' fables because
foolish and impertinent, and which were to be rejected with
abhorrence and contempt in comparison with the words
of faith and good doctrine. What's it mean? Stay away from
liars. Don't give them heed. Matter
of fact, it says an heretic after the first or second admonition,
reject. Refuse. He didn't just say ignore,
he said refuse them. And like I said, I understand. Sometimes you can't help but
hear them, but refuse them. You're gonna hear it, but refuse
it. And I'll bring it up to modern
day. The fables, if it's free will, reject it, refuse it. Or keeping the law to be saved,
refuse it. Refuse it. Or, Mason being baptized
by a Baptist preacher who was baptized by a Baptist preacher
who was baptized by a Baptist preacher ad nauseam. Refuse it. Refuse it. That's an endless
Baptist genealogy. See, it ain't only the Jews that
would do this stuff. We're doing it now. Whether it's a prosperity
gospel, a healing ministry, refuse them. Separate yourself from those
who preach fables. And what, concentrate, exercise
thyself rather unto godliness, because godliness is profitable
to all things, to all things. Ah, I like that. Believe Christ,
trust his word, because his word is true, and love one another. Exercise yourself unto godliness. That's a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation. Believing Christ, trusting Christ,
hearing Christ's word is godliness. And it's profitable. He's profitable
unto all things. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for this time, this place, Most of all, thank you, Lord, for
your grace, your mercy, your love, your power, your work. Through your son, our Lord Jesus
Christ, thank you for all you've done and doing. Be with Walter
as he comes to preach your gospel and bless it to our hearts and
open our ears and our minds to receive your word. In Christ's
name we pray, amen.