WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.920 We've been studying this book for a few weeks now. 2 00:00:03.920 --> 00:00:14.540 We are coming to the last part of the last verses of chapter 1. 3 00:00:14.540 --> 00:00:21.980 When we look back at the whole chapter, the chapter sets up the whole epistle. 4 00:00:21.980 --> 00:00:28.700 The main idea is really a war for the soul of the church at Ephesus. 5 00:00:28.700 --> 00:00:32.940 That's the historical idea. 6 00:00:32.940 --> 00:00:45.700 As a result of Paul's instruction to Timothy there, there is deep, wonderful guidance for us: How do we keep our church pure? 7 00:00:45.700 --> 00:00:48.900 How is the church supposed to function? 8 00:00:48.900 --> 00:00:51.900 All of that is what this letter is about. 9 00:00:51.900 --> 00:00:57.620 In the historical situation, false teachers had entered into the congregation. 10 00:00:57.620 --> 00:01:04.220 They had established positions of leadership there. 11 00:01:04.220 --> 00:01:16.280 They promoted Jewish myths and speculative genealogies, and they had a merit-based system of the Mosaic law that displaced the gospel of Jesus Christ. 12 00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:20.400 It's a very serious problem that had entered into the church. 13 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:35.560 Paul writes to equip Timothy to confront these teachers and to restore to the church sound doctrine. 14 00:01:35.560 --> 00:02:20.060 As we've seen in the past few weeks, chapter 1 moves through a specific progression: Paul's apostolic authority in verses 1 and 2 The charge to correct the false teaching in verses 3 to 11 Paul's own testimony as the climactic proof of the grace of God over the heresy that was being taught A solemn charge to Timothy in verses 18 to 20 I'm going to read a little more because in this book, Paul uses a rhetorical device. 15 00:02:20.060 --> 00:02:34.300 He comes back to where he began and in a very thoughtful, deliberate way, he repeats the content. 16 00:02:34.300 --> 00:02:37.960 Not word for word, but the ideas are repeated. 17 00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:48.240 Last week, when we were looking at Paul's testimony, you remember how that ends? 18 00:02:48.240 --> 00:03:00.900 Because of the abundant grace of God, the natural response is for him to give praise in this wonderful doxology to the Lord. 19 00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:14.020 The interesting thing is, that doxology not only results from Paul's testimony, but it frames the rest of this letter because he concludes with a similar doxology. 20 00:03:14.020 --> 00:03:22.560 At the beginning of this book, there's the command to Timothy and this doxology. 21 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:28.600 At the end of the book, the command to Timothy is repeated with the doxology. 22 00:03:28.600 --> 00:03:38.140 Everything in between, all the other instruction that we have, is sandwiched in between. 23 00:03:38.140 --> 00:03:57.920 Technically that's called an inclusio You can think of it as bookends or like a sandwich. 24 00:03:57.920 --> 00:04:14.940 It's an interesting device so that we focus on what most matters as we read through this book. 25 00:04:14.940 --> 00:04:19.380 He puts it in this frame so that we don't miss the main idea. 26 00:04:19.380 --> 00:04:20.280 Let me read this. 27 00:04:20.280 --> 00:04:38.360 I'm going to begin in verse 17 with the doxology in chapter 1: "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. 28 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:39.540 Amen. 29 00:04:39.540 --> 00:04:59.420 This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. 30 00:04:59.420 --> 00:05:09.920 Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme." 31 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:17.280 Then we come to chapter 6. 32 00:05:17.280 --> 00:05:42.460 I'm going to begin in verse 11. 33 00:05:42.460 --> 00:05:52.580 Paul has just explained snares which pull people away from the faith. 34 00:05:52.580 --> 00:06:07.020 Very likely what he is describing there is the kind of thing that is characteristic of the false teachers who are in that church, their love for money for example. 35 00:06:07.020 --> 00:06:22.960 Beginning in verse 11 is the charge to Timothy: "But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. 36 00:06:22.960 --> 00:06:34.320 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 37 00:06:34.320 --> 00:07:08.560 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. 38 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:13.630 To Him be honor and eternal dominion! 39 00:07:13.630 --> 00:07:15.740 Amen." 40 00:07:15.740 --> 00:07:21.540 Let's ask God to bless His holy word to our hearts today. 41 00:07:21.540 --> 00:07:40.180 Father, we thank you for this remarkable book which guides the church, gives it instruction to know how to conduct the church before you in a way that pleases you. 42 00:07:40.180 --> 00:07:45.300 Father, that protects the church from error. 43 00:07:45.300 --> 00:08:09.440 We ask that you show us today the truths that are especially important to us, how we can glorify your name, how we can center our lives around your glory, how we can recognize our responsibilities before you as those who carry on and carry out your will in this world. 44 00:08:09.440 --> 00:08:19.900 And Father, in the struggle that we have in this life, the struggle that we have to live the Christian life, we pray that you guide us and give us wisdom and strength today. 45 00:08:19.900 --> 00:08:21.840 Thank you for the truth. 46 00:08:21.840 --> 00:08:28.500 Guide us into this, practically speaking, as we live our lives before you. 47 00:08:28.500 --> 00:08:31.420 We pray to your glory. 48 00:08:31.420 --> 00:08:35.880 Amen. 49 00:08:35.880 --> 00:08:44.020 The first thing in both of these passages that I want to talk about is this doxology that begins at the beginning and the end. 50 00:08:44.020 --> 00:08:51.040 It's describing to us the character of our sovereign God. 51 00:08:51.040 --> 00:09:03.700 The thing that is emphasized is that He is sovereign He is the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God. 52 00:09:03.700 --> 00:09:05.360 He has sovereign authority. 53 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:13.160 In chapter 6, "He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords." 54 00:09:13.160 --> 00:09:19.060 The emphasis in both passages is that God is in charge of everything. 55 00:09:19.060 --> 00:09:26.060 Everything in the universe that you can possibly imagine, He is above and beyond all of it. 56 00:09:26.060 --> 00:09:38.120 We've looked at that in our previous sermons over the past month and seen that God claims sovereignty over everything, even judgments that come about. 57 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:43.780 Things that we may not consider to be from God, God claims. 58 00:09:43.780 --> 00:10:12.360 You remember looking at a verse from the book of Ezekiel, and one of the interesting things in those prophecies in Ezekiel and Joel was that even when the Assyrians and the Babylonians attacked Israel, that was part of God's sovereign work. 59 00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:15.720 He used those as tools in His hand. 60 00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:25.960 God can do amazing things and He is in control far beyond what we normally credit to Him. 61 00:10:25.960 --> 00:10:33.740 This verse is emphasizing His sovereignty, the fact that He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. 62 00:10:33.740 --> 00:10:41.280 That's important in this passage in particular because of the charge that Timothy is r eceiving. 63 00:10:41.280 --> 00:10:48.940 Paul is giving Timothy a command. 64 00:10:48.940 --> 00:10:58.140 He calls him his son in the faith, but Paul is basically his superior officer issuing him a command. 65 00:10:58.140 --> 00:11:01.860 The source of that command isn't from Paul the Apostle. 66 00:11:01.860 --> 00:11:05.440 It's from the King of kings and the Lord of lords. 67 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:18.840 Paul is like a general on the field, but he is representing and carrying out the order of the one who controls all the armies. 68 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:27.680 As he gives him this command, it is in the name of the Lord. 69 00:11:27.680 --> 00:11:32.600 It is actually the sovereign Lord who is behind this. 70 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:37.280 It's really important as we go through this. 71 00:11:37.280 --> 00:11:45.860 It is God's sovereignty, His control, His incr edible love and grace that He's shown to us through Christ. 72 00:11:45.860 --> 00:11:49.380 It is all His infinite power. 73 00:11:49.380 --> 00:11:51.260 That's what holds Timothy up. 74 00:11:51.260 --> 00:12:00.360 That's what's going to hold him up in the struggle that he has in this church and in the life that he lives before the Lord. 75 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:02.920 Where does that power come from? 76 00:12:02.920 --> 00:12:12.100 It comes from God Himself It comes from the strength that he's received from the redemption that he has in Jesus Christ. 77 00:12:12.100 --> 00:12:23.260 You h ave this supremacy of God, and it's connected to this command that Timothy receives. 78 00:12:23.260 --> 00:12:27.300 Let's look at it again in verse 18 of chapter 1. 79 00:12:27.300 --> 00:12:43.940 "This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight." 80 00:12:43.940 --> 00:12:54.880 That phrase fight the good fight is an important phrase. 81 00:12:54.880 --> 00:12:58.970 Timothy is given this charge to fight the good fight. 82 00:12:58.970 --> 00:13:25.600 What does it mean when it says "in accordance with the prophecies made concerning you"? 83 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:37.120 Most people studying this point out that this has to do with his ordination when he first was commissioned as a minister. 84 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:40.300 The possibility is one of two things. 85 00:13:40.300 --> 00:13:53.040 Several times in the letters to Timothy, Paul mentions Timothy's ordination, his commissioning to ministry, when people laid hands on him. 86 00:13:53.040 --> 00:14:05.260 When Paul himself in 2 Timothy chapter 1 laid hands on Timothy and commissioned him to the work. 87 00:14:05.260 --> 00:14:25.600 The prophecies were either: Prophecies that were made right at that point by the Apostle Paul, who was giving us the very word of God. 88 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:54.160 Messages and prophecies that God gave to Paul which led to him claiming Timothy as his disciple and commissioning him to the work. 89 00:14:54.160 --> 00:14:58.620 The content of those prophecies we don't have, and they're not important. 90 00:14:58.620 --> 00:15:06.920 The important part for Timothy and for us is that he was commissioned He was given orders. 91 00:15:06.920 --> 00:15:20.440 God Himself had placed him in this position to carry out the work of God. 92 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:27.000 He is like a soldier who has been entrusted to the conflict. 93 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:45.360 Believe me, the church at Ephesus with the opposition they had on the outside and this internal conflict on the inside with people teaching heresies, this is warfare. 94 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:47.880 It's not just Timothy who's engaged in warfare. 95 00:15:47.880 --> 00:15:51.740 I know the battle is the Lord's. 96 00:15:51.740 --> 00:16:04.160 As Jared said a few moments ago when he was introducing one of his hymns, why do we shout in praise? 97 00:16:04.160 --> 00:16:08.440 Because Christ has won that victory ultimately. 98 00:16:08.440 --> 00:16:11.720 That doesn't mean that we're not in a conflict. 99 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:15.140 We are definitely in a conflict. 100 00:16:15.140 --> 00:16:20.260 The Christian life is spiritual warfare. 101 00:16:20.260 --> 00:16:25.460 We engage in warfare. 102 00:16:25.460 --> 00:16:27.980 Christian life isn't easy. 103 00:16:27.980 --> 00:16:38.000 The ministry, whatever your ministry is—and everyone who is saved has a ministry—it's not easy. 104 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:58.880 This is warfare. 105 00:16:58.880 --> 00:17:02.900 When I was in elementary school, my history teacher in sixth grade was Mrs. Wilson. 106 00:17:02.900 --> 00:17:07.900 I remember more about what she taught than anybody else. 107 00:17:07.900 --> 00:17:09.940 She commanded attention. 108 00:17:09.940 --> 00:17:23.920 I remember her talking about the Battle of Bull Run. 109 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:29.140 How people thought that this was going to be a big party. 110 00:17:29.140 --> 00:17:42.100 This week in studying I came across Ryken's commentary, he mentions the Battle of Bull Run in relation to this text. 111 00:17:42.100 --> 00:17:46.220 He makes a really good point. 112 00:17:46.220 --> 00:17:52.500 Ministry and the Christian life, we can think of it like it's a playground. 113 00:17:52.500 --> 00:17:58.800 We would be wrong because it really is a battleground. 114 00:17:58.800 --> 00:18:14.020 Ryken says if there's going to be a war, men need to be ready to fight. 115 00:18:14.020 --> 00:18:19.540 That's the first major battle of the American Civil War. 116 00:18:19.540 --> 00:18:22.260 There had been talk about war for months. 117 00:18:22.260 --> 00:18:28.640 Both sides had been preparing for it. 118 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:41.420 The Union Army was particularly confident that this was going to be an easy victory. 119 00:18:41.420 --> 00:18:57.020 Union General Irvin McDowell addressed his troops the night before the battle, and his biggest fear was that the enemy wouldn't be able to put up a good fight. 120 00:18:57.020 --> 00:19:03.920 That's literally what he conveyed to his troops. 121 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:12.880 The social elite in Washington thought it was going to be a big party. 122 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:37.580 They got in their buggies, rode to the battlefield, and set up their picnic baskets on the hillside to watch this grand entertainment as the Union troops overwhelmed the Southern Confederacy. 123 00:19:37.580 --> 00:19:39.700 It didn't turn out that way. 124 00:19:39.700 --> 00:19:51.100 It was one of the bloodiest, most terrible battles in that awful war. 125 00:19:51.100 --> 00:19:58.140 The commanders on both sides weren't used to anything like it. 126 00:19:58.140 --> 00:20:02.100 The fighting was fierce. 127 00:20:02.100 --> 00:20:14.940 Stonewall Jackson ended it with a Confederate bayonet charge which routed the Union Army. 128 00:20:14.940 --> 00:20:20.430 Three thousand men lay dying and bleeding on the ground. 129 00:20:20.430 --> 00:20:26.000 The Washington socialites ran for their lives. 130 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:29.120 It wasn't like they thought. 131 00:20:29.120 --> 00:20:31.460 They thought it was going to be easy. 132 00:20:31.460 --> 00:20:39.260 They were not ready to fight. 133 00:20:39.260 --> 00:20:46.813 It's easy for us to go through life expecting everything to go well for us. 134 00:20:46.813 --> 00:20:51.640 We're Christians, we go to church, we do good things. 135 00:20:51.640 --> 00:20:55.520 We expect blessing from God. 136 00:20:55.520 --> 00:20:58.080 Life should be easy for us. 137 00:20:58.080 --> 00:21:00.060 Not this life. 138 00:21:00.060 --> 00:21:02.520 That's not what God calls us to. 139 00:21:02.520 --> 00:21:09.100 God calls us to be soldiers in the spiritual battle that is taking place. 140 00:21:09.100 --> 00:21:17.720 We engage in battle not just with people in this world, but with spiritual forces beyond our comprehension. 141 00:21:17.720 --> 00:21:25.140 We have to recognize that this is a tough life we're called to. 142 00:21:25.140 --> 00:21:28.040 We need to be ready for it like good soldiers. 143 00:21:28.040 --> 00:21:58.920 You remember the song you learned when you were a child in church? 144 00:21:58.920 --> 00:22:10.700 I may never march in the infantry Ride in the cavalry Shoot the artillery I may never fly o'er the enemy But I'm in the Lord's army! 145 00:22:10.700 --> 00:22:13.867 Yes, sir! 146 00:22:13.867 --> 00:22:20.080 We are in the Lord's army. 147 00:22:20.080 --> 00:22:26.960 We are in a spiritual conflict, just like Timothy was. 148 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:33.300 Part of the conflict is that we are to fight the good fight. 149 00:22:33.300 --> 00:22:39.520 We're to keep the faith. 150 00:22:39.520 --> 00:23:05.000 Here are Timothy's marching orders in 1 Timothy 1:18. 151 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:06.860 What is the command? 152 00:23:06.860 --> 00:23:09.040 Fight the good fight. 153 00:23:09.040 --> 00:23:21.460 Keep the faith and a good conscience. 154 00:23:21.460 --> 00:24:06.000 In chapter 6, Paul charges him to keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 155 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:08.887 What does it mean that he is to fight the good fight? 156 00:24:08.887 --> 00:24:13.040 There are two sides to it. 157 00:24:13.040 --> 00:24:45.660 One part is the external struggle, the fight to preserve the truth of the gospel. 158 00:24:45.660 --> 00:24:58.540 "Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses... 159 00:24:58.540 --> 00:25:08.860 who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate." 160 00:25:08.860 --> 00:25:17.920 There are people on the outside who want to destroy the church at Ephesus. 161 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:23.140 There are those on the inside of the church that he has to do battle with. 162 00:25:23.140 --> 00:25:33.880 He's got to correct the false doctrine for the very health of the church, or the church will be lost. 163 00:25:33.880 --> 00:28:04.000 He has to maintain the truth of the word of God, to hold to the doctrine that is being taught and guarantee that the doctrinal truth is being taught accurately in the church. 164 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:07.700 It's so easy to compromise the gospel. 165 00:28:07.700 --> 00:28:11.480 It's an easy thing to compromise the truth of God's word. 166 00:28:11.480 --> 00:28:20.920 We need to make sure we don't compromise the word of God, or let the word of God be compromised in the church. 167 00:28:20.920 --> 00:28:24.100 The gospel itself is under attack. 168 00:28:24.100 --> 00:28:27.900 We need to make sure that we preserve it. 169 00:28:27.900 --> 00:29:00.320 Paul in Acts 20 said, "I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God." 170 00:29:00.320 --> 00:29:09.380 He didn't shrink from teaching the complete truth. 171 00:29:09.380 --> 00:29:12.320 Why does he say he didn't shrink from it? 172 00:29:12.320 --> 00:29:17.000 Because there's a temptation to shrink from it! 173 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:23.280 If there were no struggle in that, he wouldn't say it that way. 174 00:29:23.280 --> 00:29:42.980 He's charging Timothy not to shrink from teaching the whole counsel of God. 175 00:29:42.980 --> 00:29:50.020 It's an easy thing for a preacher to shrink from teaching the whole purpose of God. 176 00:29:50.020 --> 00:30:03.720 Lots of preachers teach good things, but it's not complete. 177 00:30:03.720 --> 00:30:07.313 Because when you teach some truths in the Bible, there's resistance. 178 00:30:07.313 --> 00:30:13.840 There are things that people do not want to hear in lots of churches. 179 00:30:13.840 --> 00:30:33.540 If you preach it, it sounds like error to their ear because they've never heard it before. 180 00:30:33.540 --> 00:30:44.100 It's a difficult thing to stay true to the faith, to fight the good fight, to hold to the truth. 181 00:30:44.100 --> 00:30:47.700 The truth of the doctrine in this church is precious. 182 00:30:47.700 --> 00:30:54.760 The life and future of this church is preserving the truth of God's word. 183 00:30:54.760 --> 00:30:58.700 That's the external battle. 184 00:30:58.700 --> 00:31:02.720 Then there's the internal part of the battle. 185 00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:29.240 That is the battle for personal holiness and personally keeping faith. 186 00:31:29.240 --> 00:31:32.591 Keep faith and a good conscience. 187 00:31:32.591 --> 00:31:43.980 What does it mean to keep the faith? 188 00:31:43.980 --> 00:31:45.011 Keeping the faith means the faith is what you believe. 189 00:31:45.011 --> 00:32:11.340 Keeping a good conscience means that when we are living our life, and we violate something that we know God has commanded us not to do, what happens? 190 00:32:11.340 --> 00:32:14.460 As a Christian, your conscience is stirred. 191 00:32:14.460 --> 00:32:19.153 Your conscience becomes a moral compass for how you live your life. 192 00:32:19.153 --> 00:32:33.640 It's an easy thing in those situations to deny your conscience. 193 00:32:33.640 --> 00:32:44.500 The Holy Spirit has convicted you, and it's easy to say, "Well, I'm just going to let it go this time. 194 00:32:44.500 --> 00:32:45.440 It's a small thing. 195 00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:50.060 It doesn't matter." 196 00:32:50.060 --> 00:32:53.560 Where does that lead us? 197 00:32:53.560 --> 00:33:14.360 If you practice hardening your conscience, Paul gives a warning. 198 00:33:14.360 --> 00:33:19.373 "Keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. 199 00:33:19.373 --> 00:33:23.380 Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme." 200 00:33:23.380 --> 00:33:28.600 How did these people go off on their faith? 201 00:33:28.600 --> 00:33:46.980 There was a time when Hymenaeus and Alexander knew truth. 202 00:33:46.980 --> 00:33:54.480 What they did with it, they moved away from the truth. 203 00:33:54.480 --> 00:33:59.200 They hardened their conscience against the truth of the word of God. 204 00:33:59.200 --> 00:34:01.360 It might not have been a big thing. 205 00:34:01.360 --> 00:34:05.020 It can come as a drift. 206 00:34:05.020 --> 00:34:15.500 As you drift, your rudder, what is guiding your life, is no longer the truth of God's word. 207 00:34:15.500 --> 00:34:22.060 You run adrift, and in this case, they suffer shipwreck. 208 00:34:22.060 --> 00:34:25.540 Their faith is shipwrecked. 209 00:34:25.540 --> 00:34:45.020 It's a warning to Timothy and to us that we not harden our conscience. 210 00:34:45.020 --> 00:34:49.300 Does that mean that Hymenaeus and Alexander are lost forever? 211 00:34:49.300 --> 00:34:51.733 He turns them over to Satan. 212 00:34:51.733 --> 00:35:09.380 What does that mean? 213 00:35:09.380 --> 00:35:23.220 The point of handing them over to Satan means setting them apart from the protection of the church, so that they're vulnerable to the wiles of the devil. 214 00:35:23.220 --> 00:35:41.860 They're not under the protective grace of the church anymore. 215 00:35:41.860 --> 00:35:42.700 For a reason! 216 00:35:42.700 --> 00:35:51.280 So that they will be taught not to blaspheme. 217 00:35:51.280 --> 00:36:04.160 Their sin was severe enough that Paul had to do this action for the protection of the church. 218 00:36:04.160 --> 00:37:42.220 The hope is that they will learn not to blaspheme. 219 00:37:42.220 --> 00:37:42.900 That they will repent. 220 00:37:42.900 --> 00:37:44.660 That they will return to the Lord. 221 00:37:44.660 --> 00:37:48.340 God can save people in a shipwreck. 222 00:37:48.340 --> 00:37:49.840 Paul knew that. 223 00:37:49.840 --> 00:37:51.400 He was in a shipwreck and survived. 224 00:37:51.400 --> 00:38:45.380 Not everyone who goes through a shipwreck is lost. 225 00:38:45.380 --> 00:38:46.582 But it's a severe warning to us. 226 00:38:46.582 --> 00:38:57.260 Paul commands Timothy in chapter 6: "But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness." 227 00:38:57.260 --> 00:39:00.740 Every time he mentions godliness, it's a discipline. 228 00:39:00.740 --> 00:39:02.880 It's like an exercise. 229 00:39:02.880 --> 00:39:06.340 It's something that we need to practice. 230 00:39:06.340 --> 00:39:32.800 It's how we gain spiritual strength in being obedient to the word of God and listening to what God has taught us. 231 00:39:32.800 --> 00:39:45.900 The book begins with this, it ends with this. 232 00:39:45.900 --> 00:39:47.380 What is the purpose of this book? 233 00:39:47.380 --> 00:40:59.200 So that we can learn how to operate a church the way God wants us to. 234 00:40:59.200 --> 00:41:02.720 Let me pray for us. 235 00:41:02.720 --> 00:41:06.320 Father, we thank you for the truth of this word. 236 00:41:06.320 --> 00:41:28.560 I know Lord that your word is powerful and it can overcome anything that could be detrimental to our paying attention. 237 00:41:28.560 --> 00:41:33.220 We know that you are sovereign over all things. 238 00:41:33.220 --> 00:41:52.740 We recognize that this serious warning and challenge and commissioning we've been given is from your hand. 239 00:41:52.740 --> 00:41:55.780 We follow the command as Timothy did. 240 00:41:55.780 --> 00:41:59.820 We are to shepherd God's people as Timothy did. 241 00:41:59.820 --> 00:42:06.300 We are to live the Christian life as you commissioned him to live. 242 00:42:06.300 --> 00:42:18.460 We are to do this in faith and service to you as our Commander in Chief, our Lord who deserves it all. 243 00:42:18.460 --> 00:42:29.220 Not because it merits anything before you, but because the victory has been won by Jesus Christ on the cross. 244 00:42:29.220 --> 00:42:40.380 As those purchased by His blood, we want to live pleasing to you. 245 00:42:40.380 --> 00:42:55.520 We know by the power of your Spirit we will do that. 246 00:42:55.520 --> 00:43:01.240 Help us in these ways we pray, to the glory of our Savior the Lord Jesus. 247 00:43:01.240 --> 00:43:03.240 Amen.