Now, the significance of this
passage of scripture is seen in verse 9, where Paul says in
1 Timothy chapter 4, what he just said regarding godliness.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. This
is one of Paul's four faithful sayings. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter
1. This is a, verse 15, this is
a faithful saying, and it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Don't you love that verse? I'm
so thankful for that. And this indeed is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought to rejoice in
this, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And then there is 2 Timothy chapter
two, verse 11. It is a faithful saying. A saying is something that was
repeated often in the early church. I think that this is something
that repeated very often. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am the chief. They rejoiced in that.
And here's another saying, actually it's written in the form of a
hymn, an early hymn in the church. Verse 11, this is a faithful
saying, for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with
him. If we suffer, we shall also reign
with him. If we deny Him, He also will
deny us. If we believe not, yet He abideth
faithful. He cannot deny Himself. Now turn
to Titus chapter 3. Here's the third faithful saying,
beginning in verse 5. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which
he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that
being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. Now, this is a faithful saying,
isn't that a faithful, wonderful saying, justification by grace.
And these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that
you repeat this over and over and over again, that they, which
have believed in God in order that they, which have believed
in God might be careful to maintain good works. Now, the only time
somebody, the only way somebody is careful to maintain good works
is if grace is preached over and over again. This is a faithful
saying. And then back in our text in
first Timothy chapter four, Verse 8, for bodily exercise
profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things,
having a 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've entitled this message, What
is Godliness? And that is a word that in the
past, When I was young, it kind of scared me. Godliness. Scary. What is it? It's very
significant. This is one of Paul's four faithful
sayings. What is this thing of godliness? Back up at verse seven, but refuse,
reject profane and old wives fables. Anything contrary to
the gospel is profane and fictitious. It's nothing more than an old
wives fable to be avoided, rejected and refused. Now listen to me,
that which is contrary to the gospel of sovereign grace is
poisonous and it's to be treated as such. It's not harmless, but
dangerous. He says, refuse, reject profane
and old wise fables and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. What is godliness? Now, what
does he mean? Exercise yourself, exercise yourself
rather unto godliness. Well, what's involved in exercise? This is where we get the English
word gymnasium from. It's talking about physical exercises. What that's a reference to. Although
it's spiritual exercise, obviously, but exercise thyself rather unto
godliness. Now, what is involved in working
out in the gym? Effort. Discipline. Self-denial. That's what's involved
in regular exercise. You've got to discipline yourself.
You've got to make yourself. You don't want to do it. Most of the time,
you don't want to do it. Somebody says, I love this. No, you don't.
You don't really. You make yourself do it because
of the benefits you get out of it. It is beneficial. And it's good. It's a good thing.
Look what he says in verse 8. For bodily exercise profiteth
little. That means for a little while.
For a little while in this life bodily exercise profits. Everybody ought to exercise if
they can. It's good for you. But he talks about a more important
exercise. He says, bodily exercise profits for a little while, and
it does. You're better off if you're able to exercise as long
as you have the health. But godliness, he says, exercise
yourself rather into godliness. Verse eight, for bodily exercise
profits a little time, but godliness is profitable into all things.
Having a promise of the life that now is. Now godliness has
a promise of the life that now is, the life that we're living
right now, and of that which is to come. Godliness is the word pious,
piety. Look in first Timothy chapter
five, verse four. Does any widow have children
or nephews? Let them learn to show piety at home. That's the word, piety. Now we've
used the word piety and pious, and generally when I hear the
word pious, somebody says, well, they're just acting pious. They're
acting religious. And when someone acts pious,
it is offensive. But true piety, true godliness
is the gift of God. It's the work of God in the heart
of a sinner. Piety. It's made of two words
that mean well devout. Well devout. And I looked this up in Vine's
Greek dictionary, and he defined godliness like this, a Godward
attitude. I like that. A Godward attitude. Turn to Psalm 10 for just a moment. Psalm 10. Verse four, the wicked through
the pride of his countenance will not seek after God. God
is not in all his thoughts. Now, when I have godliness, when
I'm a godly person, when this describes me, God is in all my
thoughts. Now, what does that mean? I don't
know how many times, particularly, and I'm sure you all have experienced
this too, I don't know how many times when I was, see, my job
now is to read the Bible. My job is to study the scriptures.
What a blessed thing that is. That's what I get to spend my
time doing. But when I worked, don't you have work anymore?
Yeah, this is work, it's a labor, but when I worked in a job when
I had to go outside, I remember I would sometimes go to bed that
night and realize I hadn't even thought about the Lord that day.
That's a horrible thought. God was not in all my thoughts
in that sense. I hadn't even thought about him. I was so busy
doing this, that, trying to get this taken care of. I hadn't
even thought about the Lord. Um, when it speaks of the wicked
of God being not in all the thoughts, that doesn't mean that every
thought you think you're thinking about the Lord, although that'd be
great if we could be that way, wouldn't it? But that's not what it means
because you might not even think about the Lord at all during
the day until you lay down at night. But with a believer, He has no thoughts independent
of God. No religion kind of makes this
up. Do you remember a few years ago,
I think it was with Jerry Falwell and that religious fundamentalist,
they had the Jesus first piece. Jesus first. Religion compartmentalizes. You got Jesus first, and then
you got family second, and then you got your job third, or pyramid. God first, and then your family
responsibilities, and under that you got your job and all that.
No, it's not Jesus first. It's Jesus only. Christ is all. And every relationship I have,
everything I do, it can't be done independently of the Lord.
He's in all my thoughts. What I think about you, what
I think about somebody else, what I think about the government,
what I think about everything. Whatever I'm doing, I can't divorce
the Lord from that thought. It just can't be. God is in all
of his thoughts. There's no thinking apart from
the Lord. That's why I see in a Sir Grievous because God's
in my thoughts. That's why the glory of God is preeminent because
God is in my thoughts. That's what godliness is, a Godward
attitude. Now, remember when the Lord said
to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. I can't even imagine what
Peter must've felt like when the Lord said that. Can you imagine
the Lord saying that to you? Get thee behind me, Satan, for
thou savorest not, thou mindest not the things that be of God,
but the things that be of men. Now we still have this old nature
that does that just like Peter did, but we also have this new
nature, godliness, well-devout, and I'm so thankful for godliness.
Every believer has this thing of godliness. Now, by nature,
we don't. By nature, we're born into this world dead in sins
with no love for God, no desire for His glory, and we don't even
care by nature. But when God does something for
us, when He reaches down with the hand of grace and picks me
up out of fallen humanity and gives me a new heart and gives
me grace to see that Christ is all and that He's my righteousness,
All of a sudden, God's in my thoughts. I have a Godward attitude. I
think about the Lord all the day. There isn't anything that
is independent of the Lord. Turn with me for a moment to
2 Peter 1. See the significance of this.
2 Peter 1. Simon Peter, verse one, second
Peter chapter one, verse one, Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ. to them, here's who he's writing
to, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us. Now, if you have faith, you have
the same faith Peter had. It's like, just like it. Christ
is the only object of your faith. He is all in salvation. And it's
precious. If you have faith, you know it's
a precious gift of God. You know it didn't come from
you. You know it's His gift. You know He's the one who gave
you this faith and caused you to believe. You know that. Like
precious faith. With us through the righteousness
of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. You know this was given to you
through Christ's righteousness being given to you. Now verse
2. 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. Now, wherever there's spiritual
life, there is godliness. And he's given us all things
that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him
that have called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might
be partakers of the divine nature." Now there's where godliness comes
from. Made to be a partaker of the divine nature, being born
again, being born from above, being given a new nature. That's where the godliness comes
from, being partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that's in the world through lust. Now the gospel itself is called
the mystery of godliness, isn't it? Great! Paul said, is the
mystery of godliness. And godliness comes from that
great mystery of godliness, God being manifest in the flesh.
God became a man, and he did so in order to save his people
from their sins, and that's exactly what he did. Great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit. He justified God, in all he did,
he justified his people. Everything he did was just. And
God the Holy Spirit testified to the justice of it all. We
have righteous, just grace. Isn't that great? I mean, I'm
saved in a way that honors and magnifies the justice of God.
The justice of God actually demands the salvation of all of God's
people. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested
in flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached to the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. He was received up because he
did what he came to do. God accepted him, and he accepted
everybody he did it for. Great is the mystery of godliness. This is what produces this Godward
attitude, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to
1 Timothy chapter 6. Verse three, 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. You see, the doctrine of God
is according to godliness. It produces this. Look in Titus
chapter one. Paul. A servant of God, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect. And here's what the faith of
God's elect is. It's the acknowledging of the truth, the truth concerning
who God is, the truth concerning who I am, the truth concerning
salvation, being by grace, being in Christ. There's an acknowledging
and an embracing and a glorying in the truth. which is after
godliness. It produces this thing of godliness. Now, let me give a couple of
warnings. Looking while we're in Titus, look in chapter three,
verse five, or chapter two, verse second Timothy, I'm sorry. Second
Timothy chapter three, verse five. Godliness can be counterfeited. You know, everything that's true
is going to have a counterfeit and godliness can be counterfeited.
It can be faked. Look in verse five. He talks
about these people who have a form of godliness. They've got an
outline of godliness. Somebody looks at him and says,
well, there's godliness. It's a form though. There's no
true substance to it because they deny the power thereof. From search turn away. Now, what
is the power of godliness? You find me somebody who has
godliness, and I'll find you somebody whose God's made him
that way. It's the sovereign grace of God. It's not the work
of the flesh. I loved when Peter, when he had
healed that man, and they were questioning him, he said, why
you look upon us as though through our own power or holiness, and
the word is actually godliness. We made this man to walk. Godliness
didn't come from us. Godliness is the work of the
sovereign grace of God. We deny the power of godliness
when we deny the means through which godliness comes. The gospel,
the hearing, the believing, the receiving of the gospel. And
we deny the power of the godliness when we deny the results of godliness. Did it make someone who's truly
Godward? God is in his thoughts. God is
his life. Christ is his all. That's what
godliness is. And there are some people that
make wrong suppositions of godliness. Look in first Timothy chapter
six. I've already read verse three.
Let's read down to verse five, but beginning in verse three,
if any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words,
Even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrine which
is according to godliness, he's proud. Look what Paul says about
this fella. He's proud. Knowing nothing,
but doting about questions and strifes of words where have cometh
envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings
of men of corrupt mind and destitute of the truth, supposing that
gain is godliness. That's the health wealth gospel.
If you're walking with God, you'll be healthy. You'll have gain.
Everything will go right. No, not necessarily. And somebody
like that is corrupt and perverse, according to the scriptures.
Supposing that gain is godliness. From such, withdraw thyself. Peter listed godliness as those
things which were to add. Turn to 2 Peter 1. This obviously deserves the message
in itself, but he says in verse five, the second Peter chapter
one, and besides this giving all diligence, all effort, add
to your faith, virtue, and to your virtue, knowledge, and to
your knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience, and
to patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness,
and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you
and abound, they make you that you should be neither barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. Look in second Peter chapter three, verse 11, seeing that all these things
should be dissolved, that God's going to burn the world up. What
manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and
godliness looking for. and hastening unto the coming
of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be
dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." Now
back to our text in 1 Timothy chapter four. You see how big
this is in the scriptures? This is one of those faithful
sayings worthy of all acceptation of the apostle Paul. Verse eight, for bodily exercise
profits little or for a little while. but godliness. First Timothy chapter four, verse
eight, but godliness is profitable unto all things. Having a promise,
God's promise. Oh, God's promises are so precious. This is what we're relying on.
His promise, salvation by his promise, not by our works because
he promised he'd do it. That's everything's that. Now he says, having a promise
from God, of the life that now is and of that, which is to come. Now, what a blessing godliness
is in this life to have hope, to know that God's on the throne
and that he's controlling everything. The country is in such an uproar
about what's going to happen. And it is scary. Who knows what
is in our future, but the Lord's will is going to be done. And
we rest in that. What a glorious thing that is.
Peace, the peace of knowing that all that God requires of me,
I have in Jesus Christ. The peace of knowing that all
things work together for good. All things. That's so precious
to me. All things. Even the places where
I've messed up. God brings good out of evil.
All things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. How precious
it is to know that there is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. Paul wrote of the joy and peace
of believing. You know, it's a joyous thing
to believe the gospel. It's a joyous thing to really
believe that Jesus Christ is my righteousness before God.
It's a joyous thing to believe that his blood has washed away
all sins and that he is representing me right now before the father.
Turn with me to first Timothy chapter six. Look what Paul says in verse
six, but godliness with contentment. What is contentment? Well, you're
content when you're satisfied with what you have. That's contentment. You are satisfied with what you
have. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. For we brought nothing into this
world, and it's certain we can carry nothing out. Naked I came,
naked I'll return. And having food and raiment,
Let us be there with content. Now, what do you have? Well,
I have my father. This is my father's world. And it's mine too, because it
is. You see, I'm enjoying here with
Christ. I have Christ. I am my beloved's and my beloved
is mine. I have His very righteousness
as my personal righteousness before God. I have the complete
forgiveness of all my sins. Sins I haven't even committed
yet, they've already been forgiven. They've already been put away. I have God the Holy Spirit in
me. Christ in you, the hope of glory. I have acceptance. You know God
accepts me. He embraces me. He has made us
accepted in the beloved. He accepts me completely in his
son. I have full and complete acceptance. What a blessing to be a believer. Isn't it wonderful to have godliness
in this life? What a family we have being a believer. We have people who really love
us, who love us as we are, who cover our faults and do so because
they love us for Christ's sake, who see us as we are in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, that
what a privilege it is to be part of the family of God. Isn't
godliness profitable in this life? Oh, it's so wonderful. What a blessing to be part of
a church family, sinners saved by the grace of God. What a blessing
it is for Him, saying to me, I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. Being kept by the power of God
through faith and through salvation, rest. Oh, isn't it wonderful
to rest? to not do anything and know that
it's all been done, that there's absolutely nothing for me to
do. Nothing for me to do. It's been done. My Savior said
it's finished. It's finished. What glory there
is in resting in Him, being complete in Him. Truly, I'd rather be
a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the
tents of wickedness. What a blessing it is to have
godliness in this life. Let me ask you a question. Would
you trade places with any unbeliever? I don't care what they had. I
don't care how much they had. Would you trade places with any
unbeliever? You wouldn't even consider it.
Oh, godliness. What a blessing it is in this
life. But what about the life to come?
Our text says in verse eight, for vitally exercised prophets
for a little while, but godliness is profitable unto all things,
having a promise of the life that now is, and of that which
is to come. Now, beloved, you and I are gonna
die soon. None of us have much time. None
of us do. And this life is called a vapor
that appears for a little while, and it passes away. Death is
hastening toward every one of us. And there's the life that
is to come. Now there's going to be a resurrection.
We're all going to die. There's going to be the resurrection
of the just and the resurrection into life. And there's a resurrection
unto damnation. I love that song. When I hear
the wicked call, on the rocks and hills to fall. When I see
them start and shrink on the fiery deluge brink, then, Lord,
shall I fully know, but not till then, how much I owe. When I stand before thy throne,
dressed in beauty, not my own. When I see thee as thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart, Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
but not till then, how much I owe. Now, the promise of the life
that is to come. Can you imagine on judgment day,
him saying to you, come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Can you hear who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that
justifies. Can you imagine being without
sin? Now this is the hair being without
sin, being without unbelief, seeing him as he is beholding
his face in righteousness. No more guilt. Can you imagine not having anything
to feel guilty about? I can't. Like I've said many times, I
walk around with a cloud over my head all the time. Have all
my life. But I won't have any guilt then. Nothing to be guilty
about. Perfect in Christ Jesus. No sin. No more pain. No more tears,
no more sorrow. I like what John said, the sea
will be no more. Have you ever stood on the ocean
at the beach and you just looked across the sea and you wondered
what's it like on the other side? Who's over there? What are they
doing? But there's a big separation
taking place. Now in glory, there will be no
separation, no separation. No C. And everybody will have
this in common. We'll see him as altogether lovely
and we'll be perfectly conformed to his image. Now that is a promise
of the life to come, isn't it? I'd like to close by looking
at Psalm 4. You see, there's not something
you do in order to have this godliness or to be godly. You
know, there's been books written about how to be godly. That's
part of that profane and vain babblings that Paul is talking
about, to refuse and to reject. You don't do something in order
to be godly. This thing of godliness is given to somebody in the new
birth, this godhood attitude. It's the nature of a believer. God is in all of his thoughts.
Now look here in Psalm 4. Verse one, hear me when I call,
oh God of my righteousness. Don't you know that God is the
God of your righteousness? Your righteousness is his righteousness.
He's the one that worked it out and you're righteous. You understand
that? Oh God of my righteousness. Thou hast enlarged me when I
was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer. Oh ye sons of men, How long will
you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity
and seek after leasing? But know that the Lord has set
apart him that is godly for himself. Now, the reason you have this
godliness is God chose you and he gave it to you and he set
you apart for himself. You're his. Isn't that a wonderful
thing to belong to the Lord? Know this. That the Lord has
set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when
I call unto him. Now here's what we do. Here's
what godliness does. Stand in awe. Aren't you in awe of the Lord?
Aren't you in awe of his word, of his greatness, of his glory,
of his power, of his majesty, that one who holds the winds
in his fist, the one who's absolutely sovereign and in control, yet
the one who's gracious and merciful. We stand in awe of him. Stand
in awe and sin not. Now, when you know the Lord,
this is what your goal is. This is what you want to do is
to not sin. And you know, the new nature doesn't sin, does
it? It's what first John chapter three says, stand at all. See, not commune with your own
heart upon your bed with God in your thoughts and be still. Don't be trying to do something.
Be still God's on the throne. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness. You know what sacrifice that
is. That's not some work you've done. That's the righteousness
of Christ. You offer up the sacrifice of
righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. There'd be many
that say, who will show us any good? I mean, things are so bad.
Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us, your
favor. If I have the Lord's favor, I
got everything. Look what he says in verse 7.
Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time their
corn and their wine increased. The unbeliever's real happy,
my corn's increased, my wine's increased, I got more money in
the bank, got a better job, bigger house, everything's wonderful.
I got a lot better joy than that, he says. A lot better joy than
that. I will both lay me down in peace
and sleep. For thou, Lord, only, makest
me dwell in safety. Now that's godliness. Everything
in this book is godliness. It's a wonderful thing being
a believer now, the promise of godliness in this life, but oh
that which is to come, and we're waiting for that day. I love
that hymn, when he will call us to his side, to be with him,
his spotless bride. Let's pray together.