House Rule #19 Fight the Good Fight God's Way (1 Timothy 6:11-16)

Good morning, everyone.

Good to see you all. We're thankful that you're here today as we continue in our study of first Timothy. There are some outlines available if you didn't get an outline when you came in just raise your hand.

The outline monitors are here to Pass them out. We're going to continue in our study of chapter 6 this morning looking at verses 11 through 16. The title in my Bible says fight the good fight of faith.

Which is a great title and I've just simply modified it a little bit and said house rule number 19 fight the good fight God's way. Because we're going to be talking about fighting and warfare this morning.

So I hope you have your combat boots on. Or something, but you won't need them. Let's begin our study this morning by committing our time to our Lord and asking his blessing on our study. Our father we know that we are here by your grace and That we are able to open your word and study by your grace.

And we are dependent on your spirit to be our teacher this morning. So we pray that what is in your word for us today. You would impress it to our hearts and our minds. We pray that we would be Quick to hear but also quick to obey what we hear this morning from your word.

We thank you for this opportunity and we just thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Well again, we're in chapter 6 verses 11 through 16 this morning and last time which was two weeks ago. We saw in verses 2 through 10 that Paul once again, and it's the third time he's done this in this letter addresses the issue of false teachers in the Ephesian fellowship and he opens the letter in chapter 1 by Just really urging Timothy to deal with what's going on in the city of Ephesus.

To charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. Nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. And then again, we saw him deal with it in verses 1 through 5 of chapter 4. And he really gives us an understanding of the underlying forces involved in false teachers.

The faith there we go. Something departed there. By devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons or. Some of your translations probably say the doctrines of demons and it really is.

It's not the doctrines or teachings about demons per se. It's the doctrines that originate in demons. In other words demonic teachings demonic doctrines. And we also saw that along with the exhortations for Timothy to confront the false teachers and to teach and preach the Word of God Timothy must also watch his own life.

This is a kind of a cyclical thing with Paul in this letter. He's got to take care of his own spiritual well-being. And so last time we saw how false teaching is like a potent Communicable disease and we use that metaphor of medicine or communicable diseases because Paul talks about teaching sound or healthy doctrine it's like a virus that false teachers spread all around and we saw that the disease then has a Has a result in the people who do it they become puffed up swollen with conceit and pride He says and also how that false teaching manifests itself in the people who listen to it generates envy dissension slander evil suspicions and constant friction and We even mentioned from Galatians chapter 5 one of what is called a vice list the works of the flesh.

Paul said he talks about what that looks like and of course in that passage It's compared with the fruits of the Spirit a virtue list. Okay, so we also saw that the ever-present issue is That these people who teach false doctrines seem to think that being involved in Christianity or the things of God will be a means of gain a means of gain from verse 5 and Paul really then develops that more.

So that's a real issue in the people of Ephesus and obviously in our generation as well people using Christianity or using religion to try to make a lot of money and we saw last time then Paul warns Timothy about that very feature of the false teachers and The result of the false teaching and and their unchecked Propagation of their false doctrines with spiritual death.

Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation into a snare into many senseless and harmful desires. That plunge people into ruin and destruction and then in verse 10. Why Paul? Why does that happen for or because the love of money and here again this very Commonly mistaught misquoted verse.

It's not the money that is a root of all evil. It's the love of money that is a root of all evil or all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs Again people departing from the faith.

We've seen this to several times throughout our study in first Timothy false teachers apostates aparting departing from the faith and So this is Paul's pattern to exhort Timothy to deal with false teachers and their false teachings but also To deal with his own personal spiritual life and that's exactly what he does in this section.

We're going to look at this morning He shifts gears from the false teachers in verse 11 and says but as for you Oh man of God flee these things. This is a pretty easy passage to outline because of the five commands that Paul gives in this passage to Timothy five Imperative verbs that we're going to see and so it's really pretty simple just to transfer that outline Right to your notes here.

And so Roman numerals 1 through 5 we're just going to carry these command verbs right over into our outline and create what's called a.

An.

Applicational outline or maybe a hortatory outline and Rather than one that's more exegetical the exegesis is there. It's really been done by Paul and now he's making application. Application to Timothy and of course by extension application to us pretty easy to outline.

Five command force verbs we're going to walk right through them in our passage this morning. The first one we must flee we must flee in light of these false teachers. Spreading their false doctrines spreading their false teaching and all of this the destructive results of that we must flee.

The word means to escape danger to find safety by fleeing and it might seem a little bit strange since we're going to be talking about fighting the good fight or Engaging in spiritual warfare that right out of the starting blocks.

The first thing Paul says is run, you know. That's not something a commanding officer would usually prep his soldiers with you know. You got to run the first thing you do, but this is spiritual warfare and so that's important for us to remember there are times where we need to run or flee and.

Remember we're talking about spiritual warfare here. And sometimes these metaphors may be a little more applicable to like an athletic event than warfare. For example, if you're in a boxing match, you might need to know when to duck, right?

Especially if you're boxing with somebody, you know. Who's a really good fighter or maybe you're sitting behind him in an airplane harassing him. Did you see that this week? Mike Tyson was being pestered by some guy and.

I.

He he was real proud of himself that my kid had hit hit him. Well, he was still conscious and smiling so I don't think Mike really hit him but you got to know when to duck a Professional or any kind of a football running back.

They make their living by running away from people, right? There are many alternative church philosophies out there alternative from Scripture. Most of them are an appeal to the flesh in some way shape or form.

But remember Jesus Christ is the Lord of the church. He gives us our marching orders. Not man. We have to get them from Scripture and Remember like what Paul said last time? The the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with Godliness that is supposed to be our focus.

Our message is the gospel and the Word of God. Our method is preaching and teaching and what the Bible even says and acknowledges that the world thinks is the foolishness of preaching but that's what we do and If we get drawn into the methodology of the world or begin to chase after the teachings of false teachers.

Some of which are very attractive and why are they attractive? They're attractive because they're an appeal to the flesh and so they can get big crowds. But when we begin to alter the methodology Then we alter the theology it almost always falls after that.

So we must flee we must run but run from what well Paul tells us flee these Things these are the things that he's just talked about. Okay? It could be everything negative that he's talked about in this letter so far, but very specifically what we have just seen Timothy and he says Oh man of God, right?

He's reminding him of who he is who he is in Christ. What is mission is he is a man of God that has to be doing things God's way and These things it's everything we saw in the previous passage everything the false teachers were doing wrong and teaching wrong all of their diseased Infectious doctrines get away from that stay away from it.

Paul knows he's sending Timothy into a situation in Ephesus where he will be exposed to false teachers and their false doctrines and their phony arguments and He must be ready to confront them, but he can't get involved in them.

He needs to understand what's going on with these people when they respond the way they have. The response of the carnal mind to Scripture is what Timothy is is Going to be dealing with here. And this is exactly what Paul is talking about here.

He's talking about even clear back in chapter 1 different doctrine different doctrine. He says in verse 4 of chapter 1 these people are devoted to myths and endless genealogies which promotes Speculations.

Okay in verse 6 vain discussions empty discussions in chapter 4 verse 7 have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths rather train yourself for Godliness and then in chapter 6 we're going to see that in a couple of weeks.

Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. These are the things he is supposed to get away from and stay away from and you notice some similarities here. With the the the false teachings.

Well, the same thing is going on now. Where does that come from a very insightful comment by a commentator named? Linsky, he's a very very well-known grammarian Greek grammarian. He says this when it meets the truth.

The corrupted mind sees and seeks only objections. When it meets what differs from this truth it sees and seeks reasons for accepting this difference. That is an excellent statement. He has a lot of insight into the Argumentation against Scripture.

You've probably experienced this if you've ever talked to a cultist. They don't argue from the text of Scripture per se. They argue arguments that are described by what we just saw here in in first Timothy.

Irreverent babbling they get all tangled up in all kinds of things that aren't legitimate arguments when it meets the truth. The corrupted mind sees and seeks only Objections, right. When you try to share your faith with someone and all they're doing is objecting.

Objecting to it because of this because of that because well I knew some Christians that were hypocritical and it does all of that is a response of the carnal mind. They're finding objections. Another commentator said this it is little wonder then that missionaries of the cults.

Okay, now cultic missionaries. He's talking about there might be somebody on a bicycle couple of young men. You know with very conservative haircuts and short-sleeved white shirts ties. But they're really narrow ties, you know squeaky clean.

I Mean these guys and their elders, right? They got a badge and their elders and has a 19 year old guy get well anyway in their group their elders. It is little wonder then that missionaries of the cults are so resistant to the gospel and so easily angered in theological discussions.

Corrupt minds and Argumentative dispositions go hand in hand with opposition to the gospel. Okay, you've probably experienced that when somebody gets angry. Because you're sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ more often than not.

That is the response of the carnal mind. It's offensive to them. Why. Because every other system other than biblical Christianity is a works righteousness system. And if you start talking about the grace of God, it it offends the carnal mind.

Which has to see itself as a part of the system. Okay, that's really what it boils down to. God has his people out there that do deal with these false teachers and their heresies but he also equips and strengthens them to deal with the false teachers and You can think of ministries that do that, right?

We probably some of you folks probably do that here or involved in it or know people that are but God Especially equips them and he strengthens them to do those ministries. Joseph was a godly man. Was he not extremely godly man, but when Potiphar's sleazy wife Tried to engage him in a sexual relationship.

He resisted her and then when she actually physically tried to grab a hold of him. What did he do? He ran he bugged out. He didn't hang around to the point that he left his coat there now. Did he still get put in prison because she lied about him?

Yes, but he knew what to do. He had predetermined that in that situation. He was going to run. He was going to get out of the picture Genesis 39 6 and following so Application for us could be if you're way over involved in studying some Aberration, maybe that it'd be better for you to spend more time studying the Word of God to build a foundation of truth By which you can can compare with these things, but it's not just that in our generation.

You don't have to go looking for this type of thing. It'll come to you. It'll come through your computer into your house or even on a handheld device, right? No one to shut it off. No one to turn it off.

No one to run. No one to flee. We must flee or run from these things. And sort of the flip side of the coin. This is Roman numeral two. We must pursue. We must know what to flee we must know what to pursue and you can see my outline here doesn't so much go with the Versification here, but that's okay.

I'm just using these command force verbs. The second one is pursue. We must pursue. He says to Timothy pursue righteousness godliness faith love steadfastness and Gentleness. These are the things that we are supposed to pursue to make them parts of our lives.

To pursue to chase after a person or a thing and grab a hold of it. Okay, and of course when it's applied to these spiritual virtues same thing chase after these grab a hold of them and make them your own righteousness all the attitudes and actions that result from being saved or Justified and that are in harmony with what God calls, right?

He he's not telling Timothy per se that he needs to Get saved or anything like that. He knows he's a believer, but the righteousness that has been imputed to him needs to be lived out. Jesus said in Matthew 6 33 Sermon on the Mount seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

So there's the righteousness that is imputed by God to the believer and all these things will be added to you. So we need to pursue the righteousness all of the good things and right things that are part of our faith and then godliness godlike character and conduct including life and Doctrine here's that word we've seen before that always Is composed of two elements the life we live and what we believe.

The church is built on these two these two doctrinal foundational pillars, okay pure doctrine and love or Moral and truth you can name it in the Bible Describes it in multiple terms. Jesus was full of grace and truth right.

Peter told his his readers that they were to grow in the grace and Knowledge of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. These are always together in Scripture. They're different and you can identify them as different things, but they're always linked in the Bible and that makes up godliness godlike character and Conduct which includes life and doctrine again.

This is what Paul was exhorting Timothy clear back in chapter 4 an Extended section on his own personal spiritual life and he ends the whole thing by saying keep a close watch on Yourself and on the teaching both were are critical.

Person can have you or I can have sound doctrine we can check all the boxes doctrinally, right? But if our moral life is not what it should be. There's a problem there and flip side of that coin is you can emphasize morality, you know.

This is classical liberalism love love. We need to love one another love. That's all that counts. But without pure doctrine they miss define love. They don't know what love is biblically defined. Godliness character and conduct both are together and then we are to pursue faith.

Okay. Now here not the objective content of the gospel called the faith which we've seen before. This would be page 6 in your notes that list of times where the where Paul talks about the faith the faith that can be Taught the faith that can be preached the faith that can be abandoned.

We've seen this two or three times in this study. Some will depart from the faith. Well, what do they do? They've abandoned the objective truth of the Word of God essentially. But here Paul is talking about the subjective faith our faith in Jesus Christ our trust the the subjective trust that we have in in Jesus Christ and this always produces the next one that is love.

Self-sacrificial service to others again without the truth that's going to be Horribly mangled and misdefined by the world as it is now what people call love now Compared to the Bible is not love. Love is not two men or two women on a wedding cake.

Okay, if they really loved each other, they would not engage in that behavior. That is destructive. Degrading depraved and that God has roundly judged and condemned all through Scripture if you look at chapter 1 verse 5 We see Paul Speaking of these two things faith and love in relationship to each other.

He says in verse 5 of chapter 1 the aim of our charge is love. That's what I want to see. That's what I want the end product that I want to see but what kind of love Paul. Love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience in a sincere faith.

That's the biblical definition of love you parents need to teach that to your children. So when they grow up and grow older and Somebody somewhere at some point in time Out under the moonlight is saying I love you.

I love you. I love you. They will understand what the real definition of love is and be able to interpret it accordingly. Paul wants to see love but the love that he's talking about is Comes out of a pure heart a good conscience in a sincere faith.

True faith in Jesus Christ produces true love, right? And so that's what Paul wants us to pursue pursue righteousness pursue godliness produce faith. Which produces love but also pursue steadfastness perseverance faithful continuance through adverse or discouraging Circumstances, here's where sort of the rubber meets the road, right?

The characteristics of a man or woman who is unswerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and Sufferings. This is what the Reformers called Perseverance.

True believers will persevere and they don't do it in their own strength. They do it in the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. Okay, we need to pursue that steadfastness. This same group of people the Ephesian Christians received a letter from the Apostle Paul.

Which in Ephesians chapter 4 Paul says this. Talking about the people that he gave to the church he says He gave the Apostles the prophets the evangelists the shepherds and teachers to equip the Saints for the work of ministry for the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and The knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and Carried about by every wind of doctrine by human cunning by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

If you don't pursue these things righteousness godliness faith love steadfastness. Then you're like a leaf in the wind the Bible says, you know Any doctrinal wind that blows down and they come all the time, you know Doctrinal fads you just get blown along what by them you pick up on the next thing and the next one and you bind Abandon that one and you go after the next one.

That's not steadfastness. Pursue steadfastness the perseverance that God works through his spirit and his word and Then you say okay. I'm pursuing righteousness godliness faith love Steadfastness, I'm ready to go to battle.

Okay.

You're ready to pick up the baseball bat or the you know pitchfork or torches or staves and ready to go to war. Hang on just a minute Rambo. We got one more gentleness, okay. Gentleness all of these things need to be looked at through gentleness tender kindness.

Towards others once again, we need to do God's work God's way and we need to carry out spiritual warfare God's way as well. These are the things we must pursue so. We must flee certain things. We must pursue certain things and then we must fight.

This is verse 12 fight the good fight of the faith. Fight the good fight of the faith. And again, this is probably as much of an athletic metaphor is as it is a warfare one. The word is agonism. I you can hear our word agony in there or Struggle and this is exactly the same meaning that Paul is using a spiritual warfare is an agonizing struggle to flee from certain things.

Flee or deal with our three great enemies the world the flesh and the devil and this course. You recognize from Ephesians chapter 2. We need to flee from these things and it's an agonizing struggle. Ephesians 2 again to this same group of people Paul said.

Speaking about before they were saved He said you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the Prince of the power of the air. The spirit that is now in work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh.

Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. This is what we fight against this is our enemy. We've seen this talked about this a little bit in the past the world system the world Value system the flesh of course that unredeemed aspect of our nature that we still struggle with and of course The devil Satan.

Satan rules the world system, and he also hates People because they're created in the image of God. Okay, very simple Theological principle for what you see on the news all the time. Satan hates people.

He hates people because they're created in the image of God. It's that simple. He hates young people. He hates children because they're created in the image of God. He hates babies for the same reason.

He hates unborn babies because they are created in the image of God. Very simple explanation. But we must fight against these things and Paul wants Timothy to know it's a good fight. This is a good fight fight the good fight of the faith.

Paul uses this word good 21 times in this letter five times he uses it as an adverb mob of modifying a verb and it's often translated well do something well and 16 times Modifying a noun good like right here fight the good fight of the faith.

It's used to describe something that is good. Not just internally or in its nature, but Manifestly good. In other words, it appears good. It's In its appearance and in its function. It's good. It's beautiful.

It's a good fight. So when applied to the spiritual struggle we are involved in it means that what is good is not just how we fight or agonize but the struggle is by its very nature a manifestly Obviously good struggle.

It's a noble cause we are involved in because it's God's cause and it's God Struggle and it's a fight of the faith and here Paul uses the article with the word faith. So we're back again talking about the objective truth that we argue from argue about and argue with right?

It's a noble struggle and it is involved in a it's a pursuit of The faith and a defense of the faith and a proclamation of our faith. Again page six in your notes has a list of all the ways that is used.

It's the content of the gospel and In its more comprehensive sense, of course, it's the entire Word of God often used by Paul and This is what he wants Timothy to fight for here. So we are to agonize we are to fight we are to struggle, but it's a good fight it's God's program and it's a fight of the faith and It's not only do we fight with the Word of God because it's the sword of the Spirit right back again to Ephesians chapter 6 We fight for it and that brings us to Roman numeral 4.

We must take hold. We must take hold two words here in English, but it's actually just a single word. Some English translations say lay hold. But take hold we must take hold. We'll take hold of what 12 be take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and About which you made the good confession in the presence of many Witnesses this idea means to just grab a hold of something and grab a hold of it.

Of course. We're talking about truth. We're talking about He's using this not physically but metaphorically get your mind wrapped around who you are in Jesus Christ. This is so critical. One commentator says it this way Possessing eternal life is one thing but taking hold of it is another.

The former is static. The latter is Dynamic. The former depends upon God the latter depends upon us and of course the Spirit of God is involved as well. The former comes through faith alone. Taking hold requires faith plus obedience.

No, so you can tell he's talking about not being saved but Sanctification after we're saved. Okay Paul is not telling Timothy. He needs to come into possession of eternal life. He's not saying you need to be saved Timothy.

We already know that we know that Timothy is a believer. Paul acknowledges that in the opening statement of his letter to him and.

And.

He's basically saying get a grip on who you are on the fact that you have eternal life. You were called to this. This is the effectual calling to salvation by God. We are to take hold of what God has already given to us and basically take hold of it mentally.

Get our minds wrapped around it get convicted deep down in our hearts and minds of who we are in Christ we have eternal life. We were called to eternal life and we made the good confession just like Timothy did here in the presence of many witnesses.

So Paul is reminding Timothy that part of fighting the good fight of the faith is remembering who you are in Christ that you have eternal life. In other words Timothy the life you have is eternal. It's not temporary and the same is true for us.

We have eternal life in Jesus Christ. He says this again down in Verse 19. We're going to see this next week. Speaking of wealthy people he wants them to focus on Spiritual issues and at the end of 19 so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Okay, very important biblical principle. We need to know who we are in Christ. We need to know that this is a calling and This is not something that goes in and out. You know when God calls you he calls you to eternal life.

You can think of many verses I'm sure like Romans 8 that famous golden chain of salvation whom he foreknew these he also and it mentions Called and then it goes right straight down through to glorification.

Okay.

If he foreknew you you're going to be glorified. If he foreknew you you're going to be called and respond to that call because it's The it's not a calling that can be denied. It is the effectual calling of God to salvation.

In other words to the presence of Christ and the glory of Christ. You need to take hold of that Timothy because you're going to be doing spiritual warfare. And you need to know who you are in Christ. Very very important.

This word here to take occurs 19 times in the New Testament very interestingly. It's always in the middle voice. Middle voice tends to be reflexive. In other words the the subject is somehow in some way The recipient or the participant of the action basically saying Timothy take hold for yourself These great truths of who you are in Christ you have eternal life.

You've been called to it by God, and that's an effectual calling. And you made the good confessions, so.

There's.

Roman numeral four we must take hold of these things if we're going to do God's work God's way and fight Spiritual battles the way God wants us to fight them and then number five Roman numeral five. We must keep the commandment.

We must flee certain things. We must pursue certain things. We must fight the good fight. We must take hold of certain things mentally. Experientially, but we also must keep the commandment. Paul says this and it's once again He puts it in the form of a command a charge.

I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate Made the good confession. And here's the here's the command to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach.

Until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Which he will display at the proper time. We must keep the Commandments if Paul uses this little phrase I charge or I charge you five times in first Timothy chapter 1 verse 3 Chapter 4 verse 11 chapter 5 verse 7 6 13 and again in 17 charge these people I charge you.

What's the commandment he's talking about? Well the whole body of moral precepts of Christianity everything that's commanded in Scripture. We could say well is he just talking about what he wants him to do here in Ephesus as part of his ministry?

Well, of course that has to be there. But it's also everything that we are commanded to do in Scripture in Matthew 28 19 the very familiar We commonly call it the Great Commission right the end of Matthew's gospel there the resurrected Christ says all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe the that's the ESV all that I have commanded you and behold I am with you always to the end of the age.

Teaching them to observe. That's exactly the same word that Paul uses right here. Keep the Commandments. It's a it's a statement of obedience. We have to obey all that he has commanded the King James.

Observe the New American Standard. Follow right legacy standard Bible keep these things he's talking about obedience here. Obey all that I have commanded you and it's based upon his authority and that's all authority.

He's the supreme authority. So the church is commanded by Christ to teach obedience in that Great Commission statement and This is what we are supposed to do. And how do we do it? How do we keep the commandment?

Well, we need to keep it unstained. This is what he says. Here's part of Again a reference to his life right the commandments and you keep them unstained by living a pure life in first Peter 119. Peter refers to Jesus as a lamb unblemished and spotless.

Unblemished and spotless and of course in first Peter Peter is really.

Big on.

Teaching these Christians who are undergoing persecution to live godly lives. And you can read through first Peter and see the emphasis on living holy and godly lives even when you're being unjustly persecuted.

That's how we keep the commandment. Unstained or without blemish. James 127 says keep yourselves unstained from the world. So easy to get involved even just mentally and what we see happening out in the world, right?

I mean, it's disgusting. It's discouraging. I mean I grew up near Disneyland. In Southern, California. I remember when they built it in Orange County they had to tear out orange orchards to make Disneyland and I used to come home from kindergarten and watch the Mickey Mouse Club every day when I was a little kid and It you know, it was just something many of us just grew up with but boy has it ever changed, right?

I mean goofy is not exactly what it used to mean. It's it's sad and it's disgusting but it's the way of the world. Okay, we can't be naive and think that you know, these things aren't going to be impacted of course.

Satan wants to pervert everything that's good everything that's innocent and This is what we see around us. But as far as we're concerned and what we're responsible for as believers. We need to keep our lives without stain spot or blemish and he says Keep it unstained keep it free from reproach now.

We've seen this word before this is a requirement for an elder, right? This word means to not lay hold of to. It's literally what it means not don't let it grab a hold of you it doesn't mean without reproach but don't.

Let there be a legitimate criticism of your behavior. This is what it means and how long are we supposed to do it do this until Christ? Returns, this is what's really kind of fascinating here. Why doesn't Paul say do this Timothy until you die?

He could have right when does our spiritual battle end it ends when we die, but he doesn't do that. He says until Christ's return. I think Paul is anticipating the immediate Imminent return of Jesus Christ in the rapture of the church that also will end our spiritual struggles.

Will it not. Those are the two ways that it'll end. Until the appearing of Christ he says Keep the commandment unstained free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Which he will display at the proper time.

Paul's anticipating being quickly Instantaneously removed from this planet through the rapture of the church first. Thessalonians 4 talks about that He talks about it. That's his doctrine.

Okay.

And by the way If you don't think that's a legitimate thing to discuss or talk about remember what's going on there? What category of theology is the rapture of the church? The dead in Christ will rise.

That's a resurrection doctrine. We need to take it very seriously. So Paul is telling Timothy how he wants him to fight the good fight. Fight the good fight God's way. We don't fight like the world does.

We don't argue like the world does we have the weapons of? Our warfare right there spiritual weapons, and we need to be aware of that. So five commands. We just transfer them right over and try to apply them to our lives the best of our ability in the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Flee pursue fight take hold keep and. So I thought this would be a good Place to just stop and see if you have any thoughts or questions from what we've seen.