Good morning. Pastor has asked
that we read first Timothy chapter six. Turn with me there. If you would first Timothy chapter
six. We'll read the first eight verses
in first Timothy chapter six. Let as many servants as are under
the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the
name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. Let they that
have believing masters, let them not despise them because they
are brethren, but rather do them service because they are faithful
and beloved partakers of the benefit. These things teach and
exhort. 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 doting about questions and strifes
of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
perverse disputings of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth,
supposing that gain is godliness. From such, withdraw thyself.
but godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought
nothing into this world, it is certain we can carry nothing
out. And having food and raiment, let us be there with contentment. We'll end our reading there.
Let's pray together. Our most holy, high, heavenly
Father, What a privilege it is to bow before you in Christ's
name. We pray, first and foremost,
that this be a time of worship, that your name be glorified here
in this place together this morning. We pray that you give our pastor
the words from you, that this be your worship service and that
you send your spirit and bless this time together. We pray that
you give us hearts and give us ears to hear. hearts to believe,
increase our faith. Father, let us see Christ. Let
us see Christ again. Let us see Christ for who he
is, for his goodness. Because you alone are worthy,
because you're worthy of praise and honor. Father, leave us not
to ourselves. We know not what to ask for,
but Father, teach us to pray. Put it in our hearts, your will,
that we pray for your will, that your will be done. Leave us not
alone. Father, you remember that we
are dust, and we don't offer that as an excuse, but rather
as confession of who we are, and that we rely on you for all
things, both physically and spiritually, that we rely on you for all things.
We pray that you bless this time, that it be a time of worship.
Father, you know the need. You know the need. Whatever that need be for each
of us physically, but most importantly, our need spiritually, our complete
dependence on Christ, that we may see him again and worship
for he alone is worthy. that we can see the accomplished
sacrifice found only in Christ. We pray that we see him again
this morning and that this time again be a time of worship. We thank you for this place where
we can come and meet together as a family. Father, don't leave
us to ourselves and our foolishness, but rather take our mind away
from the things of this world and give us a time to be focused
on you, that we, again, that we may worship. We thank you
for this time and we pray that you bless. We pray this thankfully
in Christ's name, for his sake, amen. Alas, and did my Savior bleed
and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? And with poor crimes that I have
done, He groaned upon the tree. Amazing pity, grace unknown,
And love beyond degree. At the cross, at the cross, where
I first saw the light, And the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight, And now I am happy
all the day. Well might the sun in darkness
hide, And shut his glories in, When Christ, the mighty Maker,
died For man the creature's sin But drops of grief can ne'er
repay The debt of love I owe Here, Lord, I give myself away
Tis all that I can do At the cross, at the cross where I first
saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Let's open our Bibles again,
if you would, to 1 Timothy chapter 6. A passage Brother Jonathan
just read for us. 1 Timothy chapter 6. I titled the message this morning,
What is Godliness? I took my title from verse 3,
where the apostle writes, 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. Now our
doctrine is the gospel, the gospel we teach and we preach. And the
doctrine, the gospel that's taught in the scriptures is according
to godliness. It tells sinners how to be godly. And when we talk about godliness,
what does that mean? What does godliness mean? Does
godliness means that we live so well, or at least we live
better than most of the wretches out there, that everybody else
will look at us and say, oh, there's a godly person, a holy
person. Does godliness mean that we will
be so Christ-like that people will see Christ in us? No, that's
not what godliness means at all. I tell you, that kind of thinking,
beware of it, because that kind of thinking leads to self-righteousness,
which is the opposite of godliness. The natural man will never see
godliness in a believer. that cannot see Christ in those
of you who believe. They didn't see Christ in Christ.
They didn't see holiness and righteousness in Christ. They're
certainly not going to see it in us based upon how we act.
So what is true godliness? That's what it's not. But what
is it? How can you and I be godly? Well, you know, every believer
is godly. Every believer lives in godliness. And this may help you a lot as
to understanding what godliness means. It doesn't mean godlike. It doesn't mean that we live
our lives without sin or, you know, less sin than we used to.
The word godliness doesn't mean godlike. It means piety. It means reverence toward God. And that reverence toward God
is in every believer. And I have four points for us
this morning on true godliness that's in the life of every believer.
And that will tell you and me if we have, or we don't have
godliness. And number one, look back a page
at first Timothy chapter three, godliness is in, is not just
is in, but is the Lord Jesus Christ. First Timothy three,
verse 16. And without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. Great is the mystery of godliness. Almighty God was manifest, seeing
He appeared in the flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ is godliness
in a body, godliness personified. He is the only man to ever live
who had piety and reverence toward God. The Lord Jesus Christ is
also righteousness personified. He's sanctification, holiness
personified. He is peace personified. None
of those things are a state of being. They're a person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is
salvation too. Now, in Exodus, we won't turn
there, but in Exodus chapter 15, Moses made this statement.
He said, the Lord is become my salvation. Salvation is a person. And that's quoted three other
times in scriptures. The Lord has become my salvation. Twice in the Psalms and once
in Isaiah. Christ is my salvation. So everything I hope for concerning
salvation is found in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Adam,
in the flesh, made me a sinner. He is my representative. He made
me guilty. Well, I'll tell you what I'm
hoping for. a second Adam, a second representative to come and undo
what Adam did and make me righteous by his obedience to the law.
I hope for righteousness, which is found in the obedience of
the Lord Jesus Christ as a man in the flesh made under the law.
Well, that righteousness I hope for is in the body of Christ.
I hope for holiness. I don't have any. I hope for
holiness, which can only be found in the life of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the life that he lived as a man in his body. I hope
for the forgiveness of sin, which can only be found in the sacrifice
of the precious body of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope for cleansing
from my sin, which can only be found in the pure, precious,
sin atoning blood of Christ, the blood that he had in his
body. I hope for peace with God, which can only come through the
blood of Christ's sacrifice. I hope for eternal life. Eternal
life can only come through the death of Jesus Christ as my substitute. See, everything I hope for, everything
that I need concerning salvation is all found in the body of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation was earned. It was
purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ in his body, in the flesh. And
that salvation is received by faith in Christ. That salvation
is received simply by believing that Christ is all that it takes
to save me. He doesn't need any help from
me. Doesn't need me to add anything to it. He is all that it takes
to save me. And when we're joined to Christ
by faith, we're everything that he is because he's the head,
we're the body. He's the vine, we're the branches.
We're joined to him so that we are everything that he is. Salvation
is had through union with Christ so that what He did, we did.
His obedience is our obedience. His holiness is our holiness.
His life is our life. His death is our death because
we are one with Him. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is
godliness personified. So we have godliness by being
joined to Christ by faith. If you do not rely on your works
to make you righteous, to make you accepted with the father,
but you rely on Christ to be your holiness, you have godliness. That's godliness. All right,
next look at Psalm 4. Psalm 4. Godliness is not human. Godliness is a supernatural gift
of God. Psalm 4. In verse three, but know that the Lord has set
apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear what I call
upon him. The Lord has set apart him that
is godly. He has elected him in divine
election to be godly, to be holy. A person is godly because God
set them apart. He elected them unto salvation. He elected them unto holiness.
God set them apart to make them holy by the doing and dying of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's a gift of God that
God puts in his people. And I'll give you a good example
of that. Acts chapter three. There's a lot of power in this
thing of being made godly. In Acts chapter three, This is when Peter and John come
up to the temple and the lame man was there sitting by the
gate called Beautiful, was begging alms. And he asked Peter and
John for alms. In verse six of Acts chapter
three, then Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such
as I have, give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right
hand and lifted him up And immediately his feet and ankle bones received
strength. And he leaping stood up and walked
and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and
praising God. And all the people saw him walking
and praising God. And they knew that it was he
which sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple. And they
were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto
him. And as the lame man, which was healed, held Peter and John,
all the people ran together unto them in the ports that is called
Solomon's, greatly wondering. And when Peter saw it, he answered
unto the people, ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why
look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness,
we made this lame man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac,
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son,
Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence
of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied
the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted
unto you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised
from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And his name, through
faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see
and know. Yea, the faith which is by him
hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all."
Now you're wondering, where's the word godliness in this? Or
verse 12, when Peter says, why'd you look so earnestly upon us
as though by our own power or holiness we made this man whole?
That word holiness is the exact same Greek word translated godliness
in our text. Peter told the people, we didn't
heal this man by our godliness. We didn't heal this man by our
power. He's healed by the power of God. He's healed through faith
in Christ. That's how every spiritual disease
is healed, through faith in Christ. That's godliness. But this godliness
doesn't come to anybody naturally, does it? It doesn't come by the
power of the flesh, the will of the flesh. The flesh is dead.
The flesh has a dead nature, a dead desire, a dead will, a
sinful will. So this godliness doesn't come
to us naturally. Godliness is a supernatural thing
that God gives his people in the new birth. That's what Peter
told the people in the temple that day, that God is the one
who put this godliness, this devoutness, this faith in us.
Now look at second Peter chapter one. Many years later, Peter
wrote of this again in one of his epistles. 2 Peter 1. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle
of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith
with us through the righteousness of God and our savior, Jesus
Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of him that called us to glory and virtue,
whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises,
that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that's in the world through lust. Now,
these things that Peter writes about here are all things, spiritual
blessings that God gives to all of his people. And you know,
when we read these things, we don't have any of those things
by nature. We don't have eternal life or the knowledge of God.
We don't have any of these things by the power of our flesh. The
only way we can have them is if God gives them to us. Peter
says we've obtained like precious faith. Now, how did you obtain
it? Did you conjure it up yourself? No, God gave it to you, didn't
he? That's how we have faith. By his divine power, Peter said,
God has given us life. He's given us spiritual life.
Now we're dead. Scripture is plain about that.
We're born dead in trespasses and sins. Well, how did the dead
become alive? Did the dead man do something
to make himself live? No. God came and put it in him. That's
how we have life, spiritual life that we lost in Adam, God gave
to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. God's given his people the knowledge
of him. All of God's people know Christ. But now the only way we can know
God is if God reveals himself to us and gives us a knowledge
of him. Millions of people, millions of people have a Bible, have
a word of God, and they don't know God. They might read it,
but they can't figure out God. We can't figure out God on our
own. Even people who grow up hearing the gospel, hearing nothing
but the gospel, we cannot figure God out. We cannot know God unless
God's pleased to reveal himself to us and teach us. He must be
our teacher. I think it was last Sunday I
told Janet this. Driving home, I tell you often,
she has taught me off the ledge, you know, on the way home from
service. Feeling like I've done a mighty
poor job of telling you the glory of the Savior. And I told her
this. I said, we can tell people, but
we can't teach them. Only God can do that. And He
teaches His people. So that we know Him. Do you know
God? What a blessing God taught you.
God's given us these exceeding great and precious promises.
The precious promise of the forgiveness of sin, the precious promise
of salvation and eternal life in Christ. God gave those to
us by his grace. We didn't deserve them. God gave
those to us. That's a gift of his grace. God's
made his people partakers of the divine nature. God caused
us to be born again. Now, we didn't birth ourselves. I don't know why we can't understand
that. Humanly speaking, you didn't birth yourself. Somebody else
did that. Well, that has to be true spiritually. We didn't birth
ourselves. Somebody else had to give us life and cause us
to be born again. God the Holy Spirit does that
for his people, causes them to be born again. And I doubt anybody
Pretty much anywhere would argue with that. But now when it comes
to godliness, you know, they want to, and the problem is they
don't know that the word godliness doesn't mean acting godlike.
You know, they want their, they think they got to keep themselves
holy by the way they live and act and so forth. In this list
of things that Peter tells us God's given us, godliness is
one of them. Just like God's given us faith.
He's given us these promises. He's given us life. God gives
his people godliness according to his divine power. Godliness
is a supernatural gift of God. All right, here's the third thing. Look back in our text. First
Timothy chapter six, godliness is great gain. Verse six, but
godliness with contentment is great gain. Now we know Everything
that we have, God's given us. We know that, don't we? Materially
speaking, that's true. God's given us all of our possessions,
our money, our family, our homes, our jobs, our cars, everything
we have, everything, God gave them to us. Yes, for a house
or a car or something, you may have gone down to the bank and
got a loan and you go to work and you pay off the loan, but
not God gave it to us, did he? I mean, who gave you the power?
Who gave you a job? Everything we have, God's given
us. Physically, that's true. Our health. One day, you can
be healthy. The next day, you can't walk
out the door on your own. God gave it. God gives us our
health. He gives us our strength. He
gives us our height. However tall you are, however
short you are, that's how God made you. You have that because
God gave it to you. If you're tall, dark and handsome, thank
God for it. God made you that way. And spiritually,
Everything we have is a gift of God. Our faith, our love,
our hope, our peace, forgiveness of sin, eternal life, righteousness,
peace. God's given all of those things
to us. Now we know that's true, don't we? We believe it, that
that's true. But we need to remember this.
God's greatest blessing are his spiritual blessings. The physical,
material blessings, now we're thankful for them. We're thankful
for them. Don't seek God for those things first, because they're
not the most important. Look here at verse seven. For
we brought nothing into this world, and it's certain we can
carry nothing out. Now we're thankful for these
physical material blessings, but they're temporary. You haven't
taken them with you. But God's spiritual blessings
are eternal. You're taking those with you. You're taking those
with you into his presence. And if somebody thinks otherwise,
somebody teaches otherwise, and we'll look at this in just a
minute, In verse 3, Paul says, if they teach otherwise and consent
not unto these wholesome words, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ
and his doctrine which is according to godliness, he's proud knowing
nothing. I'll tell you why he teaches
otherwise. Because he doesn't know Christ. If he teaches godliness
come some other ways because he doesn't know Christ. He teaches
that salvation can come by your choice, not God's choice, by
your works, not Christ's works. I'll tell you why he teaches
that. Because he doesn't know anything. He doesn't know Christ.
That's why. God's people do not believe,
do not trust, and do not follow Christ because of these temporary,
material, physical blessings that the Lord can, you know,
I grant you the Lord can give them to us, but that's not why we follow
him. That's not why we trust him. That's what the people did. who followed the Lord after the
miracle of the loaves and fishes. They kept following, and they
kept following. And finally he told them, I know why you're
following me. You want another free lunch. They were following
him for the trinkets that they thought that the Lord could give
them. And they're just temporary. And they should have known they're
just temporary. Yes, the Lord fed them from practically nothing. I mean, he took that little boy's
lunch and created food. He created bread. He created
fish. He created and gave to them.
Well, why were they still following the next day? They were hungry
again. That was just temporary. They
were thirsty again. That was just temporary. Oh,
but the water I give you, if a man drink of it, he'll never
thirst again. This is spiritual blessings. That's why people
follow Christ. And when that bunch who was following
the Lord for those physical blessings, when they heard what the Lord
was really preaching, they quit following him. They said, this
is a hard sin. Who can hear it? Who can be expected
to listen to such preaching? God's elect, that's who. They
eat it up. They come to hear it every week.
Only God's elect will hear and believe the message of sovereign
grace from King Jesus. That's right. Look at Titus,
Titus chapter one. Verse one, Paul, a servant of
God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's
elect, and this is the faith of all of God's elect, and the
acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness, in hope of
eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the
world began, but hath in due times manifest his word through
preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment
of God our Savior. Now, this is how the faith of
God's elect comes. It comes through the preaching
of the gospel, through the preaching of Christ. And when the elect
hear it, they believe him. Now, they probably won't believe
him the first time they hear him. Some do. Usually it takes
several times, doesn't it? Sometimes it takes years, but
eventually, eventually they hear and they believe. You know why? God, the Holy Spirit's going
to give them faith to believe. Because Christ bought them. He has to
give them faith to believe Christ. Those people who hear and believe
Christ are looking for spiritual gain. Spiritual. Oh, what gain
there is to be had in the riches. The riches that are found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. The riches of God's mercy. The
riches of perfect righteousness. Perfect holiness. perfect peace
with God. People all over this world this
morning are going to some place they
call a church and they're desperate for peace. I feel so sorry for
them. They're desperate for peace.
They're desperate for some peace in this life. They're desperate
to quiet their conscience. They're desperate for some peace
to be had when they're on their deathbed. all the riches to have peace
with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. They're perfect. Jan and I watched a show the
other day about this fella who lived his life like a rebel.
On his deathbed, he called for the priest and said, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all my sins. And
the priest told him, I forgive you. and he died with some of our
lost friends. Lost peace. All the riches that peace with
God. Peace through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, the songwriter says, the
unsearchable riches of Christ. Wealth that can never be told.
If you have that, you're content. You're content. Godliness with
contentment is great gain, isn't it? In this life and the one
to come. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Godliness in the heart will direct our walk through
this world. The godliness, faith in Christ,
what we believe in the gospel. These things are not just for
Sunday and Wednesday. Godliness is the life of a believer. You live a life of faith. You
live a life depending on Christ. You live your life, as Brother
Fortner said, on your tiptoes, just looking for Him to come.
Oh, you go to work and take care of your responsibilities, raise
and feed your family. But always with one eye out.
He's coming. He's coming. He's coming. That's
for every day. And that's going to affect if
you're looking for Christ, if you're depending upon him, it's
got to affect you. Got to. God's kindness to us. How can that not make us more
kind? and more forgiving to others.
How can it not? We ought to be a believer now,
ought to be easy to be entreated. We should be forgiving and forgive
others as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Shouldn't we?
Peace with God, peace of conscience. That ought to make us easier
to get along with. Other people ought to find it
easy to be around us. You know, I don't have to have
my way all the time to have peace. Sometimes I can be not compromise
the gospel, but in other things, we can compromise now to have
peace with one another. Isn't that what the scripture
teaches? The doctrine that's according
to God is? If it be possible, if it's possible. Now, it's not
possible to have peace and deny the gospel, compromise the gospel,
but as much as it's possible, as much as lieth in you, the
peace of believed all men. Salvation by grace. Now, I ask
you, shouldn't that make us a more gracious people? We consider
how gracious God's been to us? Well, they don't deserve it.
Did you? No. Salvation by faith without works. That has to make a person rest
in Christ and be zealous of good works. Not because they're trying
to earn something from God, but out of thanksgiving and love
for God and love for His people, They have a desire, they must
help out God's people, serve God's people. Godliness in the
heart better make a man a better husband. How can we not be? How can we not try our dead level
best to love our wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself
for it? How can you not sacrifice for
her? Godliness in the heart ought
to make us better wives. Wives submit yourselves to your
own husbands as unto the Lord. Not because he's better than
you, not because he's smarter than you or inherently better
than you because he's a man. As Christ submitted to his father,
he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, did he? Because
he wasn't. It wasn't. He was equal with God. But why
did he submit himself to the father? For the good of the church,
for the good of his people. Your husband, not better than
you, but submit to him for the good of the whole, for the good
of the marriage, for the good of the family. Godliness in the
heart ought to make us better parents who teach our children
diligently. Teach them, discipline them in
love. Godliness in the heart ought to make us better neighbors.
It ought to be easier for us to get along with our neighbors.
And godliness in the heart is something that Paul deals with
specifically. Godliness in the heart should be lived on the
job. Make us better employees. Look
at verse one, chapter six. Let as many servants as are under
the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the
name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And they that
have believing masters, let them not despise them because they're
brethren, but rather do them service because they're faithful
and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and
exhort. Now, according to Paul's commandment
here, let me teach and exhort this to you. You count your boss
worthy of honor. Count that. And when he tells
you to do something, do it. Do it right then, do what he
tells you to do, and do the best job that you possibly can according
to the abilities that God's given you. And you don't do it because
your boss is so great. Do it so that the doctrine that
we preach, this doctrine that is according to godliness, is
not blasphemy. That's what Paul says there.
Don't let people down there on the job say that your religion
doesn't make any difference in your life. And listen, people
say that. People know that. I heard somebody
I used to work with say this about a man. I would never go
to church where he goes, because look what a worker he is. Look
how poor a worker he is. I'd never go to church where
he goes. Don't let that be said of you. Don't. No, you be a good
one. Let people see an honest, hardworking
person. And if you happen to have a boss
who's a believer, brother or sister. Don't you expect them
to cut you slack and make you not work. You work even harder
for them because it's the right thing to do. Work harder for
them because they're beloved. They're beloved of God. They're
beloved of you. You make life easier for your
boss. You who have supervised people,
you know this is true. You make life easier for your
boss when you work hard. You're where you're supposed
to be doing what you're supposed to do. I'm telling you, you make
life easier for your boss. Do that. Especially for a brother
that you love. He's a partaker of the same blessings
that you're a partaker of. Now work hard for him. And that's
true of all authority that God has put over us. Paul deals specifically
here with work, but that applies to all authority that God has
put over us. As someone, particularly Americans,
read some of the Bill of Rights, say, you know what? I got rights.
I'm going to do what they say, as long as they don't trample
on my rights. Don't you forget I got rights. I got rights to
do what I want to do, the way I want to do it, when I want
to do it. And if they're trampling on my rights, then I'm going
to still do it the way I want to do it. Basically, what they're
saying is this. They'll be obedient to authority
as long as the authority tells them to do what they want to
do anyway. That'd be easy, wouldn't it?
I'm going to do what I want to do. Oh, that's what they're telling
me. Well, then I'm obedient. That's not obedience. Now, is
that what the scriptures teach? Is that what the doctrine according
to godliness teaches? No, it's not. No, not in any
way. Remember who Paul is writing
to here. Paul addresses these who are servants, who are under
the yoke. It's not a servant like a butler or somebody. It's
a slave. Paul is writing to slaves. They had no rights. Any rights,
any dignity that they had to do as they pleased was taken
away from them. They're a slave. They had to
wear what their master gives them to wear. They have to go
where their master tells them to go. Their master can take
their life away from them, sell her off, take their children
away from them, sell them off, and they'll never see them again.
They have no rights. Any dignity that they had was
taken away and their rights were trampled on by their master who
bought them, just like he'd buy a cow, just like he'd buy a goat,
just like he'd buy a sheep. That sheep didn't have a right
to go where he wanted to go anymore, did it? It pinned up. That shepherd
there, keep it from wandering off because it belonged to the
master. He intended to make money from
that sheep. He bought it. The same thing with a human being
now. They bought them. They had no
rights. It's tough. Paul says, you slaves, you honor
your master. You work hard for him. Hang on to your seats. and do
it with a good attitude. What's my motivation to do that?
That the gospel that you believe be not blasphemed. And I have to say that I have
to say this. Some people use these verses
to say that the slavery is okay. That could not be further from
the truth. It was, if you're old enough,
you watch Roots when it was a big thing, you know, on TV. And that's
what the poor old slave preacher, he'd always preach from this
verse or one like it, you know, you slaves, you count your masters
worthy of all honor. But that is not what the scripture
is teaching. Slavery and bigotry and racial
injustice is the greatest black mark on a history of this great
country. And when people use these verses and try to say slavery
is okay and this bigotry is okay, All that proves is anybody can
take the Bible and twist it and make it prove what they want
it to say. Anybody can do that. This verse is not teaching that. What the Spirit is teaching us
here as believers are to live in such a way that people who
know us will not blaspheme the gospel that we preach because
of our bad attitude and our bad conduct. I know that God's gonna save
His elect. No matter what I do, I know God's
gonna save His elect. I couldn't live with myself if
I did something, lived in such a way, lived with such a horrible
attitude that it drove somebody away from hearing about Christ. Are my little feelings more important
than the Savior? I'll tell you what, nothing but
the gospel will make a difference like that. To make somebody live,
to honor the Savior, maybe somebody else will hear. At least I'm
not going to drive them away from him. And anything else is
just pretending. It's just an outward show. That's
all it is. And Paul says, if anybody teaches anything else,
it's because they're too proud to submit. Verse three says,
if any man teach otherwise and consent not, believes not these
wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
to the doctrine which is according to godliness. He's proud, knowing
nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof
cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings
of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing
that gain is godliness. From such withdraw thyself."
Paul says, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so this is
true. People who do not agree, do not
believe this doctrine under godliness, which is through faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ, they don't believe it because they're too
proud. They're too proud to bow. They're
too stiff-necked to bow. They're too proud to beg. They're
too proud to submit. They're proud of their works,
and they will not give them up. They're so proud of them, they
think God will like them too. They're proud of their intellect.
They're proud of their knowledge. They're always the smartest people
in the room. They're great theologians. And
they just will not submit. They will not submit to simplicity
that's in Christ. They will not submit and say,
yes, Lord. And they want to debate. They
always want to debate. And it's over words. You know, it's never
over something that's clearly revealed in scripture. It's over
words. They don't want to preach Christ. They don't want to listen
to Christ be preached. They want to debate about these
things, about words that do not matter, that don't matter. They're
missing the point. They want to do this stuff, and
that doesn't edify. That doesn't lead anybody to
Christ. Doesn't lead anybody to salvation.
Doesn't tell anybody how sin was made righteous. That kind
of junk never leads anybody to peace. Never. It leads to strife
and arguments that divide people over nothing, over something
that's not important. It leads, when you're debating
about these words, something that's not clearly revealed in
scripture, you say, well, it could be this, or it could be
this, or it could be this. That logic that comes from our
natural minds will always be evil surmisings. It'll be evil
guessing instead of resting in the clear revelation of Christ
in the word. And if it's not clearly revealed
in the word, leave it alone. It leads to perverse arguments.
It leads to perverting the gospel. to serve our own purposes and
prove our own points. It leads to a lie. It leads to
a message that's a lie. It's destitute of truth. There's
not a speck of truth in it. And Paul says, when you find
somebody like that, withdraw yourselves. You just run away
as fast as you possibly can. That's not being mean. Be obedient. Be obedient. Aren't
you thankful? Aren't you thankful? that God
does not leave His people to themselves, but He crosses their
will and gives them a new nature, a nature that believes Christ,
a nature that loves Him, a nature that willingly submits to the
righteousness of Christ. Just think where we'd be. I'm
not talking about the world out there now that no Christ that
wouldn't submit to this gospel. I'm talking to you and me. Where
would we be right now. If the Lord let us go where our
nature would have taken us, where will we be? No, I love this doctrine. I love this preaching that is
according to God. I love getting up every day and
reading this, just reading and studying to define the Lord's
message to give to you. I just I just love it. Sundays
and Wednesdays are very anxious days for me, but as far as the
study goes, as far, oh, I love it, I love it. I love this doctrine
that's according to godliness through faith in Christ. It's
great gain, isn't it? It's great gain. And I know many,
most of the world, does not consent to it. They don't, you know,
Paul says, if any man teach otherwise, they consent not to these wholesome
words. I know most people don't. I know they don't. I'm asking
you. this morning. Do you consent? Do you consent to this doctrine
under Congress? Do you believe it? Do you? I
want you to answer that question in your heart. I pray God you
do. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for this time that you've given us together to open your word,
to read it, to study it, to have Christ preach to us. And Father,
I pray that you'd bless your word, cause your word to go forth
in the power of your spirit, to reach into the hearts of each
one here, to reach into the hearts of your people. Show us one more
time the Lord Jesus Christ and his glory, and cause us to bow
to him, to submit to him, to lovingly and willingly give up
all that we might have faith in him, that we might rest in
Christ and Christ alone. Father, bless your word, we pray.
Don't leave us to our own logic, our own thinking, our own way,
but Father, cause your word to take root in our heart, we pray. These things we ask for thy namesake,
for the glory of Christ our Savior. Is it his name? And for his sake
we pray, amen. All right, you're dismissed.