Turn back to 1 Timothy 1, verse
18. I want to look at this last phrase, that thou mightest by them mightest
war a good warfare. I've entitled this message, A
Good Warfare. This charge I commit unto thee,
son Timothy. Now we know he's talking about
the charge found in verse three, as I sought thee to abide still
at Ephesus when I was in Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some,
that they teach no other doctrine, but the doctrine of God, the
doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of the gospel, the doctrine of
the grace of God. No other doctrine. Now, it would
serve us well to hear the doctrine of God in the power of the Holy
Spirit every time we meet. We have to begin, in speaking
of this charge committed to Timothy, with the Bible. This is the religion
of this book. The authority comes from the
Word of God. The authority doesn't come from
a man. The authority doesn't come from the preacher or a denomination.
The authority comes from the Word of God. This is the inspired,
inerrant Word of God. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all
good works, all scriptures given by inspiration. God wrote this
book. He wrote it exactly as He would have it. The prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The doctrine is the doctrine
of this book. God wrote this book to tell us
who he is. We would not know who God is
without this book. He makes himself known. How would
I know that God is one God in three persons without the Bible?
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. How would
I know that God is eternal? How would I know that God is
sovereign and in control of all things? How would I know that
God is absolutely just? How would I know that God is
all-wise? How would I know the attributes
of God? How would I know the character and the person of God
without this book? He gave us this book to make
Himself known. God is, and this is our doctrine,
God is as this book declares him to be. All authority comes
from this book. Now we also know from this book
that man is as this book describes him to be. Let me tell you two
things about men. One, we're a creature created
by God. created in the image of God,
or creature. Created as the Bible says, and
we're a fallen creature. Ephesians 2.1 says dead in trespasses
and sins. Man is as the Bible describes
him to be. Now you charge something that
they preach in no other doctrine. And we declare that salvation
is as the Bible declares it to be. Salvation is of the Lord. It's not of man. It's of the
Lord. God the Father elected a people. Christ Jesus died for
those people and accomplished their salvation. God the Holy
Spirit calls them, gives them life, and they persevere following
Christ no matter what. They love the Lord Jesus Christ,
every single one of them. Salvation, saved from sin, is
as the Bible declares it to be. No other doctrine, and notice
this doctrine, the doctrine of God, the doctrine of Christ,
the doctrine of faith, the doctrine of grace, was said to be committed
to Timothy. This charge to preach no other
doctrine, I commit unto thee, son Timothy. Now you only commit
or entrust something that's of great value to you. I don't commit to you a nickel.
It's not worth that much. If you lose it, I'm not gonna
be too upset. But when I commit my children
to you, I'm asking you to watch over that which is precious to
me. Now what a sacred trust that
the Lord has given every one of us. He's committed to us His
gospel. No other doctrine. What a sacred
trust that is. How honored we are that He has
entrusted us with that which is most precious to Himself.
And how I want to honor His doctrine in my life. In my character. in my speech, in my preaching,
in the way I treat you. Oh, that we would adorn this
doctrine that was committed of God our Savior in all things. And notice what he says next
to Timothy. He says in verse 17, 18, this charge I commit
unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies. which went
before on thee. It was prophesied regarding Timothy
before he was ever a preacher that he would be a preacher and
that he would be a prophet. Everything about Timothy was
prophesied. You know what? Everything about
you has been prophesied too. You see, this is God's predestined
purpose. You know the reason Timothy is
going to be successful in being faithful to this charge of preaching
no other doctrine, because God predestinated that he would be.
And that's where the success comes from. You see, God is in
control. And so don't even have to worry
about it. He said, all these prophecies went out before upon
thee to preach no other doctrine. But by these prophecies, by this
predestinating purpose of God, it came to thee that you might
war a good warfare. Now I want to talk about a good
warfare. You know, the Lord himself is
called by Moses a man of war. Exodus chapter 15, a man of war. And he says to Timothy, and this
is to me and you too, I want to war a good warfare. The Lord said, think not that
I've come to send peace on the earth. I didn't come to send
peace. I came to send a sword. We have
a war. And I was thinking about, well,
who are we fighting? I mean, the Bible says we're
in a war. And he talks about a good warfare. And he says,
thou therefore, my son, endure hardness as a good soldier of
Jesus Christ. Well, who is it we're fighting
in this war? Because you can't have a war
without an enemy, without an adversary. So who is it we're
fighting? Well, first, we're fighting the
world. Now, what do I mean by that?
We're fighting the world. Well, here's what came to my
mind. I mean, I want to see people saved. I want to be a witness
to this world. I realize that this world has
no love for the gospel, has no love for God, has no love for
Christ. I realize that. But I also know that God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I
want good for this world. So what is it in battling the
world? How does that work? Well, the
Lord said to Peter, after Peter made that confession of him,
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. He said, thou
art Peter. And upon this rock, this confession
of who I am. And that's what we do every time
we preach. We confess who he is. Upon this rock will I build
my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. In other words, the gates of
hell are trying to protect her constituents. They don't want
people delivered, and we take the gospel, the battering ram
of the gospel, and we knock down the gates of hell with it, and
God's elect are delivered. It's what the old-time writers
called the church militant. Now, the church at rest will
be in glory, but the church militant right now, we're seeking to preach
the gospel to every creature, and knocking down hell's gates
for God's elect. So in that sense, our adversary
is the world trying to protect its constituents. Our adversary
is the devil. Satan is our adversary. Peter
said, your adversary, the devil, walketh about as a roaring lion
seeking whom he may devour. Ephesians 6 11 says put on the
whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but
against principalities against powers and against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. Satan himself, he's gonna be
working with me, he's my adversary, he's gonna be working with you,
and he's going to be seeking to corrupt us from the simplicity
that's in Christ Jesus. That's his great goal, to corrupt
us, just like he did to Eve, to corrupt us from the simplicity,
the onlyness, the singularity, Christ only. That's his purpose. So he's a mighty adversary, but
you know, these first two adversaries wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't
for this adversary that I'm talking about now, the flesh, this sinful nature that I'm caring
about with me all the time. Galatians 5.17 says, The flesh
lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit lusts against the
flesh. And these two are contrary one
to the other. They're at odds, so that you
cannot do the things that you would. I would never sin again. And the flesh makes sure that
doesn't happen. And I know what I would. I'd be, I don't even want to
think about it, but God, the Holy Spirit doesn't let it happen. Paul said in Romans chapter seven,
verse 23, I see another law in my members warring. against the
law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin, which is in my members." Now that's what Paul said about
himself. He said, I'm brought into captivity. And that's his
personal experience. He felt this, he hated this.
It's what he experienced. Brought into captivity by the
law of sin, which was in my members. I was talking to Brother Porter
this afternoon. He was telling me about a message he preached
last night. And he quoted Proverbs 24, 16. A righteous man falleth seven
times. But he rises. And the wicked
fall, and they stay that way. But he said, he just quoted it.
And as soon as he quoted it, for the first time I understood
it. A righteous man falleth seven times. What's seven? The number of completion. You
know what that means? All he does is fall. That's it. But he rises. Thank God for that. So we have this warfare with
the world, with Satan, and with the flesh. Now how does one go
about fighting a good warfare? I'm amazed at the simplicity
with which Paul gives the answer. He says in verse 18, this charge,
I commit unto thee, son, Timothy, to preach the gospel according
to the prophecies which went before on thee, according to
the predestinating purpose of God, that thou by these mightest
war a good warfare. And here's what a good warfare
is. Here's how I war a good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. Now that's how someone wars a
good warfare. They hold to faith and they hold
to a good conscience. Now this word hold means hold
fast. You cling to it. You regard it. You possess it. You hold on to it and you won't
let go. It's all you got. You hold on
to it. Holding on to faith and a good
conscience. Now, what is faith? You know, that is one of the
most simple and yet one of the most difficult things to define
that there is. I'm always afraid every time
I try to define faith because I'm always afraid I'm going to
say something that's going to mess somebody up, think something
else. Let's look at a scriptural definition of faith. What is
faith? Let's see what the Bible says faith is. Turn to Hebrews
chapter 11. Now if I'm going to war good warfare, I'm going
to hold on to faith. I'm going to hold it fast. I'm
going to keep it and not let it go. Hebrews chapter 11, verse
1. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. Now, faith. It's belief. It's firm persuasion. It's trust. Faith really is another
name for the gospel. It's another name for the doctrine
of Christ. The faith. Faith is the substance, the ground
of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Now, we read
here of things that are hoped for. And if you can see them, they
leave the realm of hope. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Now, there's some things I hope
for. Now, hope is a firm persuasion. You believe it's going to happen,
you really do. I have a hope that when I stand
before God, whenever it's going to be, that He's going to look
at me Todd Nybert, and he's gonna look at me through and through,
and he's gonna say to me, well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Now, there's nothing that I can
see in me that would cause me to think he's gonna say that
to me. Can you imagine him looking you over and saying, well done,
thou good and faithful servant? I mean, how do you, do you feel
like a good faithful servant? But he's going to say that to me.
What's the evidence? Faith. I believe the gospel. Believing the gospel, I am a
good and faithful servant. Jesus Christ is the good and
faithful servant. And whatever he is, I am. So
the evidence is faith. I have a hope that I have always
been in Christ. I have a hope that I'm eternally
united to the Lord Jesus Christ, in Him. There was never a time
when I wasn't in Him. I have a hope that I'm in Him right
now. I have a hope that when I stand before God on Judgment
Day, I'll be in Him. I have a hope that I'm united
to Christ, that I'm one with Him. Now, how do you know? I mean, that's making an awful
big claim. How do you know that you're one with the Lord Jesus
Christ? There's only one evidence. Believing the Gospel. faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that who He is and
what He did is all that's needed to make me perfect before God
and that I've been eternally united to Him. The evidence that
I am is faith. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Can you see you've always been
united to Christ? Not physically, faith is the
evidence. I have a hope that my name's
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. There's a real book called
the Lamb's Book of Life. It has all the names of God's
elect written in it. If you open up that book, whose
name would you look for first? Wouldn't be mine, would it? Wouldn't
be your own. I'm the same way. I'd be looking
under the ends. But I've never seen that book. Yet I know my
name is written in that book. How do you know? I believe the gospel. Everybody
who believes the gospel, their name is written in that book. The Lamb's Book of Life. I have
a hope that my sin, all my sin, was imputed to the Lord Jesus
Christ and became His and He bore its guilt. And I have a hope that I am righteous
because when my sin was imputed to Him and it became His, His
righteousness was imputed to me and becomes mine. And I stand
before God altogether just, altogether righteous. I have a hope that
I'm justified. What's your evidence? I don't
have a document or a piece of paper that proves it. I can't
show you something. Yeah, it happened. No. Faith
is the evidence of things not seen. I have a hope that I have
a holy nature. I have a hope that I have a nature
in me that does not sin. You see, that which is born of
God sinneth not. I have a hope that in me, in
my heart, there is a holy nature. And I, sure enough, can't see
it. I can't look at one thing about me or one thing that I
do and conclude, yep, you got a holy nature. No, the only evidence
is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If I believe the gospel, I have
a holy nature. I have a new nature. We hold
the faith by preaching this message. Turn to Romans chapter three
for a moment. I'm thankful I can say this. But I am more thrilled with the
freeness of the gospel than I've ever been. I'm more thrilled with the message.
Same old message. Same old message. But it's ever
new. Look in Romans 3, 19. Now we know, this is the message
of faith. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, It saith to them who are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped, all excuses taken away, and all the world
may become guilty before God. Now that's our state. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. But now, The righteousness of
God without the law, without my personal obedience to the
law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
This has always been the message of Scripture. Even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon
all in the belief that there's no difference. For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely By
His grace, through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness. that he might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then?
It's excluded by what law of works? Nay, but by the law of
faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." That's
the message of faith that we continually, continually preach. Now, what comes from holding
faith? He said, let us hold on to faith.
Turn back to our text in 1 Timothy 1. I made some comments about this
a few weeks ago, but here it is again. Holding to faith and
a good conscience. Holding to faith and a good conscience. Look at the fifth verse of 1
Timothy chapter 1. Now the end, the goal of the
commandment, or the charge to preach no other doctrine, this
charge that was committed to Timothy, is charity out of a
pure heart and of a good conscience and a faith unfeigned. Now what comes from holding faith?
A good conscience. This is the only thing that will
ever satisfy your conscience. Somebody says, I have a good
conscience. I don't feel, I feel like I'm not guilty. I mean,
I, I did right. I've done no wrong. I have a
good conscience. Well, one of two things are true about you.
Either you're a liar or your conscience is so seared that
it doesn't work at all. Now, I'm sure that regarding
this thing of a con I've got a good conscience. I don't believe
you. What is a good conscience? Well,
first, what's the conscience? What is the conscience? Every
man. Every woman is born into this
world with a conscience. It's that which shows us the
difference between right and wrong. It's the work of God's
law written in every man's heart. Even people without a Bible.
Look in Romans chapter 2 for a moment. Romans chapter 2. This is something that I said
when I was preaching in the church in Casey County last week, religion
is always talking about teaching men how to live, teaching men
how to live, lessons for life, how to live, how to live a better
life and so on. Everybody already knows how to
live. I'm sure that everybody knows how to live. Everybody
knows you ought to pay your bills. Everybody knows it's wrong to
cheat. Everybody knows it's wrong to steal. Everybody knows it's
wrong to commit murder. Everybody knows sexual sin is
wrong. All these things were born with that knowledge. Everybody
already knows how to live. They really do. Look here in
Romans chapter 2 beginning in verse 14. For when the Gentiles
which have not the law. They never had a copy of the
Bible. God never gave them the scriptures. They were heathen.
Yet they do by nature the things contained in the law. They know
what's wrong to kill. They know what's wrong to steal.
They know these things. Without the Bible, having not
the law or a law unto themselves would show the work of the law
written in their hearts. And here's what a natural man's
conscience does. This is all it does. One of two
things, which show the work of the law written in their hearts,
their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts that
meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. That's all the natural
conscience can do. It can accuse you and make you
feel really guilty and really bad or It'll start making excuses. It's really not your fault. It's
your environment's fault. If your situation would have
been different, it wouldn't have happened. I mean, everybody is
able to justify themselves in whatever they do. We're all brilliant
at that. That's all the conscience does.
It either makes you feel guilty and condemns you, or it makes
you justify yourself. Now, somebody says, well, my
conscience is is very guilty. Is that a good thing? Well, in
some measure, I suppose it is. 1 John 1, 8 and 10. 1 John 1, verses
8 and verse 10 says, if we say we have no sin at any time, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. And then verse
10 says, if we say we've not sinned, there the word is a verb
regarding anything that I do. I cannot say I didn't sin there
because I did it. So yeah, I guess we ought to
feel guilty. If you don't feel guilty, it's
because you have a seared conscience. And like I've said so many times
before, I always feel guilty about something all the time.
I always have a black cloud over my head all the time. There's
never a time when it's not like that. Well, don't you believe
the gospel? Yeah, I do believe the gospel
and I rejoice in the gospel. You see, the old man never believes. That's why that man, Lord, I
believe, help thou mine unbelief. It's always there. There's never
a time when it's not there. And the old man never believes.
The new man believes the gospel. The new man walks in the liberty
that's in Christ Jesus, in the glory of knowing it's righteous
before God. Both those things happen at the
same time. What's a good conscience? It's not necessarily a guilty
conscience, or it's not one that doesn't feel guilt. A good conscience
is a conscience that has nothing to feel guilty about. Now that's
a good conscience. It literally has nothing to feel
guilty about. Now how can I answer that? How
can that be? Does the Lord Jesus Christ have
anything to feel guilty about? Is there a shade of guilt with
regard to him in any way? Does he have anything to feel
sorry over or feel guilty? No, no. His life. Oh, the Lord looks at him and
says, this is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased. In him is no sin. He did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. The Lord Jesus Christ has nothing
to feel guilty about. Does he? And just as truly as
he doesn't have anything to feel guilty about, I don't have anything
to feel guilty about because his life is my life before God. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. His life is my life before God. Therefore, I have nothing to
feel guilty about. Just as truly as my sin became
his sin. Now, when the Old Testament priest
slew the animal and put his hands on the animal. Was there a literal,
actual transfer of sin? No. It was typical. It was a metaphor. It was a metaphor. It was typical.
It didn't actually happen. When he slew that beast, sin
was not actually put away because the sin was not actually placed
in the sacrifice. It was all typical. But when
the Lord died, my sin, not typically, but actually and really, was
placed upon Him, so that He bore the vileness and the sinfulness
of it, but just as truly as my sin was, He bore our sins in
His own body on the tree. That verse of Scripture says
everything. He bore our sins. Not typically, not the guilt,
not the punishment, but the sins themselves. Now, if the sin is
on Him, it's not on me. He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree. And just as truly as He bore
my sins, His righteousness is my righteousness, and I have
nothing to feel guilty about. Only by faith do we have this
good conscience. Now look back at our text. First
Timothy, chapter one. I think this is one of the scarier
verses in the Bible. Holding faith and a good conscience. And if you hold faith, you'll
war a good warfare. Everything's gonna be, above
all things, take the shield of faith, wherewith you'll be able
to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. You hold the faith,
you're gonna war a good warfare, you're gonna have a good conscience,
but look what he says next. Holding faith and a good conscience,
which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck. They thrust away the doctrine
of faith, the life of faith. They haven't continued in the
faith. They thrust it away. They quit. They went bad. The just shall live by faith.
It's only the man who continues that wards the good warfare.
Look in Hebrews chapter three. Verse six. But Christ is a son over his
own house, whose house are we if we hold fast. That's the word,
hold fast. The confidence and the rejoicing
of the hope, firm unto the end. We don't thrust it away. Verse
14 of the same chapter, for we're made partakers of Christ if we
hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Turn
to Colossians chapter two. I'm sorry, Colossians chapter
1, verse 22. Verse 21, and you that were sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight
if you continue in the faith. Grounded and settled and be not
moved away from the hope of the gospel. Now some are moved away
from the hope of the gospel. And what are their names? He
says, "...holding faith and a good conscience, which some have put
away concerning faith, have made shipwreck." They didn't get into
the port. They crashed on the rocks and they didn't get into
the port. What an awful thing to think of this shipwreck. And
he names two fellas, of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander. He
names them. And he says, "...whom I have
delivered unto Satan." that they may learn not to blaspheme." Now, I don't know if these two
fellas were believers who went bad and were severely chastened. and Paul delivered them to Satan,
that they might learn not to blaspheme. I don't know whether
they were believers who'd gone bad, and I don't mean falling
away finally, you know that, but a believer can go in a bad
direction. Or I don't know if they're unbelievers
who shipwreck concerning the faith and reprobate, but I know
this, neither one of them sound good. And I don't want either
one of them to happen to me, I don't want either one of them
to happen to you. of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom
I've delivered unto Satan." Paul had apostolic authority. I won't
be on his good side, you know. I mean, look at the things he
could do. He could deliver people to Satan. I mean, there's other
scriptures where he could do that. I don't understand all
that, but he had some kind of apostolic authority. But I'm
glad nobody I know has. And you are too, I'm sure. But
he did. The way to fight a good fight
is to hold faith. Hold it tight so you don't ever
let it go. You look only to Christ and you
never quit looking only to Christ. And that's the only thing that
will satisfy your conscience. Does that satisfy your conscience
that everything God requires of you, he looks to Christ for?
Now, are you happy with that? Are you satisfied with that?
Look what Paul said at the end of his life. Second Timothy chapter
four. He says this shortly before his
death. Verse 6, For I am now ready to be offered,
poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure
is at hand. What if you knew you were going
to die tonight? What if you knew you were going to die this very
night? Well look what Paul says. He
knew he was soon to die. He said in verse 7, I fought
a good fight. What's a good fight? I finished
my course. I continued all the way and I
have kept the faith. That's what he told Timothy to
do. Hold on to faith. Henceforth,
There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me
only, but unto all them also, that love his appearing. That would be me. I love his
appearing. I love his first appearing, when
he became flesh, I love His appearing on the cross. I love His appearing
at the right hand of the Father as my representative, my great
high priest. And I love His appearing when
He comes again. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Hope, faith, and a good conscience. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name,
Lord, we're so amazed that you've entrusted us with this glorious
charge.