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

Kootenai Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Good morning everyone. Good to see you all. We're thankful that you're here today as we continue in our study of 1st

00:11

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.

00:30

We're going to continue in our study of chapter 6 this morning looking at verses 11 through 16.

00:41

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

00:51

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.

01:03

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.

01:27

We pray that we would be quick to hear but also quick to obey what we hear this morning from your word.

01:33

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

01:57

Ephesian fellowship and he opens the letter in chapter 1 by just really urging

02:05

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.

02:33

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

03:06

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 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

04:09

Paul said he talks about what that looks like and of course in that passage it's compared with the fruits of the

04:15

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

04:48

Christianity or using religion to try to make a lot of money and we saw last time then

04:55

Paul warns Timothy about that very feature of the false teachers and the result of the false teaching and their unchecked propagation of their false doctrines was 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

05:28

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 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 a parting departing from the faith and so this is

06:06

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 gonna 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 one through five 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

07:56

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

08:39

Mike Tyson was being pestered by some guy and he was real proud of himself that my kid had hit him well he was still conscious and smiling so I don't think

08:51

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

09:15

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

09:25

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

09:39

Word of God our method is preaching and teaching 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

10:16

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

10:31

Timothy and he says oh man of God right he's reminding him of who he is who he is in Christ what his mission is he is a man of God that has to be doing things

10:45

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

11:01

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

11:28

Timothy 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 promote 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 false teachings well the same thing is going on now where does that come from a very insightful comment by a commentator named

12:36

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 1st

13:17

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

13:40

I knew some Christians that were hypocritical and 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 a 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

14:09

I mean these guys and their elders right they got a badge and their elders it 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

14:51

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

15:30

Joseph was a godly man was he not extremely godly man but when

15:36

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

16:03

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

16:19

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

16:46

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

16:57

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

17:41

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

17:57

Jesus said in Matthew 633 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

18:47

Bible describes it in multiple terms Jesus was full of grace and truth right

18:53

Peter told his his readers that they were to grow in the grace and knowledge of their

18:59

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

19:06

Bible and that makes up godliness godlike character and conduct which includes life and doctrine again this is what

19:15

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 a 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 six 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

20:33

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

21:05

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

21:26

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

21:41

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

22:06

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

22:12

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

22:26

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

23:01

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

23:08

Holy Spirit through the Word of God okay we need to pursue that steadfastness this same group of people the

23:16

Ephesian Christians received a letter from the Apostle Paul which in Ephesians chapter 4

23:22

Paul says this talking about the people that he gave to the church he says he gave the

23:30

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

23:47

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

24:16

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 you buy and 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

24:41

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

24:55

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

25:09

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

25:44

I you can hear our word agony in there or struggle and this is exactly the same meaning that Paul is using 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 of course you recognize from Ephesians chapter 2 we need to flee from these things and it's an agonizing struggle

26:12

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

26:30

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

27:04

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

27:17

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

27:38

Timothy to know it's a good fight this is a good fight fight the good fight of the faith

27:44

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

28:36

God's cause and it's God's struggle and it's a fight of the faith and here

28:44

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

29:16

Word of God often used by Paul and this is what he wants

29:22

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

29:30

God's program and it's a fight of the faith and it's not only do we fight with the

29:38

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 four we must take hold we must take hold two words here in English but it's actually just a single word some

29:55

English translations say lay hold but take hold we must take hold we'll take hold of what 12b 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

30:49

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

31:03

Paul is not telling Timothy he needs to come into possession of eternal life he's not saying you need to be saved

31:10

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 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

31:33

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

31:57

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

32:05

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 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

32:49

God calls you he calls you to eternal life you can think of many verses

32:54

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 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

33:35

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

33:49

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 confession so there's

34:05

Roman numeral 4 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

34:14

God wants us to fight them and then number 5 Roman numeral 5 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

34:33

Paul says this and it's once again he puts it in the form of a command a charge

34:39

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

34:59

Lord Jesus Christ which he will display at the proper time we must keep the commandments

35:07

Paul uses this little phrase I charge or I charge you five times in 1st

35:12

Timothy chapter 1 verse 3 chapter 4 verse 11 chapter 5 verse 7 6 13 and again in 17 charge these people

35:25

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

35:50

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

36:06

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe that's the

36:12

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

36:29

King James observe the New American Standard follow right legacy standard

36:35

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 is part of again a reference to his life right the commandments and you keep them unstained by living a pure life and first Peter 119

37:14

Peter refers to Jesus as a lamb unblemished and spotless unblemished and spotless and of course in first Peter Peter's really big on teaching these

37:27

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

37:45

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

37:55

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

38:07

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

38:18

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

38:32

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 and 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

39:23

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 returned

39:35

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 keeping the commandment unstained free from reproach until the appearing of our

39:55

Lord Jesus Christ which he will display at the proper time

40:00

Paul's anticipating being quickly instantaneously removed from this planet through the rapture of the church 1st

40:08

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

40:31

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

40:54

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 it is it is yeah it's a struggle it's again it's probably as much of an athletic metaphor you know picture that long -distance runner they're usually not smiling when they cross the finish line it's agony you know but yeah it is same concept

41:51

Jude wants his readers to do exactly what Paul wants

41:56

Timothy to do in Ephesus contend for the faith and again the faith that's the faith is the objective content of our faith this is so thematic throughout

42:07

Paul's writings and throughout scripture is the battle pretty much as a battle for the truth right so anything else anybody else have any thoughts or questions it's critical as you say are you talking about how we would deal with that person in a personal interaction well

43:10

I think I think that that last element there in number two gentleness we can speak the truth in general and you can see how this is done by the

43:24

Apostle Paul in his writings he always dealt gently with people in Galatians he said I came to you

43:29

I was as gentle as a nursing mother boy you can't there's no more gentle picture than that but it is also to the to the

43:37

Galatian Christians that he really hammers them in the first chapter for abandoning the faith and going getting ready to chase after a different gospel so when it came to dealing with believers in their growth and their spiritual eyes

43:49

Paul was very gentle as a nursing mother but when it came to dealing with false doctrine and false

43:55

Gospels he was a sledgehammer and not afraid to say it but always in the sense of you know gentleness but truthfulness as well they have to be together we have to speak the truth in love well

45:05

I think yeah and I have heard those people probably not that one specifically but once again a little tell do they get angry why do they get angry why would they get angry if they aren't personally not a part of their system right

45:22

I'm not a part of my system I'm a I'm a passive recipient of the grace of God hallelujah so if somebody wants to refute what

45:33

I believe number one they got to do it from the text of Scripture because that's the only I'm going to be convinced but also you know they can argue for their position all they want to and I don't think it should discourage us because if our arguments are coming from the

45:50

Word of God and we're comfortable with that we should be confident in that and and not let that discourage us that person is responsible before the

45:59

Lord and I think if we if we just simply understand the

46:05

Bible the best that we can and then try to if it comes down to an interpersonal interaction just state our case but state it biblically and that way and without being personal it's not personal that way their argument is with the

46:17

Word of God and not with me personally I always like to say you know it's not personal it's kind of like think of it like a

46:24

SEAL team sniper not personal might be devastating but it's not personal right they're equal opportunity devastators so of course

46:33

I'm joking but if our argument is from the Scriptures then they may want to make it personal and that was the whole point

46:40

I think of this quote why do people get so upset personally about it angry well probably because they are an integral part of their system and so the argument from grace is is what it's a it devastates their carnal thoughts because grace and flesh are mutually exclusive it's an offense to the carnal mind it's as simple as that I think not

47:06

I'm not sure if that answers your question but sure yeah anything else anybody else

47:16

Jesus said is unwitting and so that gives me a lot of room for greatness and like Paul said if I could exchange my own self it's an incredible thing to see, to participate in, to interact with but the reality is as obvious as it can be and it is devastating it is devastating like the snipers bull might not be the best metaphor

48:25

I could have chose but kind of how my mind works could have been like you know

48:32

Vito Corleone, business you know but I I think right and you go back to Romans 8 and you look at that passage for now whom he foreknew that's an active verb it's not foreknowledge the

48:46

Armenians will oftentimes this little sleight of hand well sure God has foreknowledge and you get you need to stop whoa whoa that's not what it says

48:53

God foreknew it's something he did and it it ends with glorification and nowhere in that chain does anybody drop out everybody who he foreknew gets glorified that's inarguable unless you want to twist the scripture or make foreknowledge something

49:12

God has which he does have he has all knowledge he has perfect knowledge he's omniscient but that's not what

49:17

Paul says that is an active verb it's something God did kind like Sermon on the Mount Jesus said

49:23

I never knew you what was not saying he didn't know about them he never actively knew them so right sure yeah and and the only solution

50:06

I have is like my own salvation that I had nothing to do with I'm totally dependent on the

50:11

Spirit of God to convict that person of the truth and my job is simply to proclaim the truth the best of my ability and trust the

50:19

Spirit to take that and do what he did with me and those who who have come to know him conviction confession repentance and salvation and that's the work of the

50:29

Spirit of God we can't take on our take on to ourselves that's what our minions do they take on to themselves all these different ways to manipulate people's emotions and if we just do this we just do that well

50:42

God's God's method is to take the Word of God and faithfully teach it and preach it and trusting him with the results so but yeah it is a concern and it that's a good sign if we're concerned about people's salvation right anything else anybody else have any thoughts or comments okay real quickly here in the minute few minutes we have left

51:02

I have simply just added from 15 B through 16 we must remember who our

51:08

God is okay part of doing spiritual warfare is knowing who our commander is and who our

51:13

Savior is and we won't take a lot of time here but Paul says and this is a once again another doxology it's almost as if the minute he begins to contemplate the return of Christ he just launches into the statement of praise to God and he says at the end of 15 there he who is the blessed and only sovereign the

51:35

King of Kings and Lord of Lords who alone has immortality who dwells in unapproachable light whom no one has ever seen or can see to him be honor and eternal dominion amen we must remember who our

51:50

God is he's the author and sustainer of life back from verse 13 what does Paul do he goes right back to creation creation is the foundational doctrinal truth for everything else in the

52:00

Bible all theology is built on the doctrine of creation you give up creation you give up basically the rest of the

52:06

Bible that's what it comes down to and he goes right straight back to it he created all things he's the one who who

52:14

John says in his gospel account in chapter 1 verse 3 all things came into being through him and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being

52:26

Colossians 116 the Apostle Paul same Apostle said this for in him all things were created both in the heavens and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been created through him and for him

52:42

Jesus Christ is the creator and he is the one who is our our commander in this spiritual battle he's the sustainer of life he sustains our life and he's coming back verses 14 and 15 we mentioned that and then

52:59

Paul says he is the blessed and only sovereign there aren't two there aren't three there aren't multiple sovereigns out there he is the only one the only sovereign one and here is that kind of a well -known little phrase king of kings and Lord of Lords right remember that in Ephesus it was not only the center of the the false worship of this goddess

53:23

Artemis you know they had the big temple of Artemis and they had a even had a trade going on probably even possibly what

53:29

Paul's talking about there are people who think godliness is a means of gain go back and read the account in Acts right Paul got in big trouble because he was reckoned that reckoned the the trade you know the the silversmiths there at the time but he says he is the king of king king of the reigning ones and I just simply made a very literal translation of the participle there king of the reigning ones

53:52

Lord of the ruling ones Ephesus was also the center of Emperor worship okay so there was a massive cult to the got false goddess

54:00

Artemis but also a cult of Emperor worship I think this is Paul's way here and a lot of commentators feel it's his way of tweaking these false cults you know you think you have a god in the

54:12

Emperor or a goddess in this woman Artemis no no no no of all of the reigning ones he's the king and of all the ruling ones he's the

54:21

Lord over them and he's also the one who the only one with immortality okay basically it's a word that says no death he's not the one who is a dead

54:34

God a dead person that we worship he we worship the true and living God the one who's alive right now and just reminds me of that great verse in Hebrews 7 25 he ever lives to make intercession for the