1 Timothy 1, “Can You Stay?”

1st Timothy chapter 1 read the whole chapter beginning of verse 1 hear the word of the Lord Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our

Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope to Timothy my true child in the faith grace mercy and peace from God the

Father and Christ Jesus our Lord as I urged you when I was going to Macedonia remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different Doctrine nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart in a good conscience and a sincere faith

Certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussion Desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions

Now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully Understanding this that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient

For the ungodly and sinners for the unholy and profane For those who strike their fathers and mothers for murderers the sexually immoral men who practice homosexuality enslavers liars perjurers and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine in Accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed

God with which I have been entrusted. I Thank him who has given me strength

Christ Jesus our Lord because he judged me faithful appointing me to his service though formerly

I was a blasphemer persecutor and insolent opponent But I received mercy because I had acted

Ignorantly and unbelief and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with a faith and love that are in Christ Jesus the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of who of whom

I am the foremost But I received mercy for this reason that in me as the foremost

Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life to the

King of Ages Immortal invisible the only God be honor and glory forever and ever.

Amen This charge I entrust to you Timothy my child in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you that by them

You may wage the good warfare holding faith and a good conscience by rejecting this

Some have made shipwreck of their faith Among whom are him and a s and Alexander whom

I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme May the

Lord had his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word Well last

April I think it was April. I ran the bridge to bridge 10k In Danville, and I began with my usual strategy.

Yeah, I ran a race yesterday to another 10k But I did the same thing which is I didn't worry about the start Don't try to start out too fast.

A lot of people start out fast. Don't let them Distract you and and go try to go with them.

But because after Well in a popular road race like that there are a lot of people will start out much faster at a much faster pace than they can stay at and That proved true yesterday, too

After about a mile or two I'll be overtaking people and and get to a point where I'm looking for the next person up ahead

I can take overtake him usually him and then over and after I pass him overtake another one and I go through the race like that trying to pick off one after another and It's what

I did yesterday is what I did at the bridge to bridge 10k and and in April now in the really

The question that separates a good distance runner from the others is not how fast they can start

But whether they can stay at it over the miles. So in that bridge to bridge

Race started out the same way was started out, you know by the you know Danville the community market across the bridge and then went on the

Riverwalk Trail and After about a mile or two Is the race the runners became thinned out?

I looked ahead And I could see on the Riverwalk Trail about 200 yards ahead was a runner

I recognized I know this guy This is Brian areas and he was the next one in front of me

So he's the one next I'm aiming at to try to pass and I started to look for signs

From him if I was gaining on him, you know, you could see when he passes a landmark How fast am I there and then the next time when

I'm getting closer a couple of times He would pass someone then a little bit later.

I would pass that same runner, but I never caught up to him He stayed about consistently about 200 yards ahead of me through the entire like next four miles of the race until the end

There was even one runner that he caught up to it about the five mile mark And you know, it's a six point two mile race.

And so there's only about a mile to go He caught this runner who had just completely had stopped his walking

You know, he got too tired and as Brian passed him he got inspired or something or maybe he thought he could now

Stay with Brian. He began to try to run behind him and that didn't work He soon gave up and started walking again, and then

I passed the same guy a little bit later In this runner whoever he was had made it through five miles of a six point two mile race, but couldn't stay

Couldn't even stay running for one more mile But Brian got off to a better start than me and he was able to he was able to stay at the pace for the rest of the race

How about yourself? Can you stay? Some Christians get off to a fast start. They're gonna go to every prayer meeting and Bible study and volunteer for every outreach

You know, they're not gonna just read a chapter a day of the Bible they're gonna read like, you know an hour's worth a day and they're gonna do all this and They're gonna give so much to the church and so much money that they have to cut off their cable

TV or a scale back Their cell phone plans and and all that seems great, man. They're they're on fire. They're zealous and but then they

Often they hit a wall. They get tired and soon. They're not just cutting back their involvement

Maybe focusing on just one thing that they're gonna help with but then they're sometimes end up dropping out entirely.

They can't stay the secret of success first is having a goal and Then just staying

After it just keep running for it here First Timothy 1 the

Apostle Paul gives us the goal is nicely marked out for us clearly stated in verse 5

The aim other words the goal of our charge is is this is love

That issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith

Got it. That's the goal Our goal is love that comes out of a new life that the gospel brings now here in 1st

Timothy 1 the Apostle Paul gives us directions on how to reach that goal and staying

Constancy consistent exertion toward the goal stick -to -itiveness

Whatever you want to call it is an ingredient in all of them and he shows us that in five parts first stay focused second stay together third stay away from distractions fourth stay the course and fifth

Stay on duty Well first he tells his young friend Timothy stay focused you know after his salutation in the first two verses the that's a sort of a

Usual way to open a letter in their culture like that Take who you are and then who you're writing to then Paul's first command to Timothy is simply, you know stay where you are

Don't retreat. Don't go off elsewhere You know, don't just quit Don't start sitting out resumes looking for another place to go

But in verse 3 Paul writes as I notice this as I urged you Otherwise, this is something

Paul has told him before personally as when I was going to Macedonia remain

At Ephesus, I'm gonna stay there Now there must have been a great and you know Paul had to tell him first tell him urged him and then he writes it again

There must have been a great temptation of Timothy here. Just pack up his bags and go elsewhere You know,

I thought Paul's urged him and then he's writing it again. He's reminding him Yes, I remind him of the simple instruction suggests that you know

Something is happening at Ephesus that makes Timothy want to leave Things are getting difficult

You know, may you just give up there go somewhere else where it's easier You know where the grass is greener the other side of the fence

And we see this in our culture all the time when the kids who quit little league teams when their teams aren't winning

To employees who just even they give up when they hit the frustrations of their job Just quit to marriages that dissolve because they get spouses get tired of working things out to church members who you know

Take some perceived slight as an excuse to drop out or even pastors of all people who get tired of being disappointed or maybe

You know like all these other people imagine, you know grass must be greener somewhere else and this seems to be the situation

Timothy was in there were there were serious problems there in the church in Ephesus where Timothy was and there were there were leaders who were

Teaching false doctrines. There were those who were trying to intimidate him and harass him He was apparently he's a young man and they were trying to dominate him and perhaps, you know looking around man that church in Smyrna Those people are really nice there

They love me there I go there it's not my resume But Paul tells him urges him stay

We too need to learn to stay to remain in some difficult callings from God to resolve

I'm gonna Stay under this through this unpleasant time have commitment to follow through and persevere

You know, we like to talk about how the kingdom of God is a great treasure that it's a joy to find

It's like a pearl that is, you know, even if you reasonably calculate cost -benefit ratio

It this is worth giving up everything else for this great pearl of worth everything I have and that's all true

But part of the price we pay for that joy is sometimes having to stay faithful Through some difficult times to just keep persevering

When it when it feels as if all the pleasure in it has just evaporated like dew on a hot summer day

You know what you want to know the secret of being a good long -distance runner Now sure to be an elite

I mean like marathons or but you win the Boston Marathon or the Olympics that that takes some inborn talent

If you don't have it, you really can't Manufacture it but but really just to do well, it's sort of these local road races they have around here

Really? All you need to learn to do is to stay stay at it Run stay focused day in and day out week after week

You probably get good enough. You can win your age group or something like that Love the long -term pleasure of being able to stay running rather than the short -term pleasure of being able to stay on the couch and It's the same with our

Christian lives. We must we must see and run after the long -term pleasure

Jesus Christ is our hope He says in verse one, that's how he that's how he describes Jesus Is that all this that's usually not the way with the first thing we would think to describe

Jesus with it Would we our hope but that's the way Paul begins as we are motivated.

We're inspired by that Oh, man, imagine Timothy is being tempted to go elsewhere. And so Tim Paul reminds him

Hey, Jesus is our is our hope maybe Timothy was looking around at Ephesus man.

This place is hopeless I'm giving up here. I'm going somewhere else. No, he says Jesus is your hope

And so we're motivated inspired by the hope if we can stay it's because of hope if we really see him

Then we have the hope he brings then that hope will push us through some trying times

We'll continue to pray when the temptation is just a rollover in bed We'll continue to read the Bible all the way through the book of first Chronicles We'll go you ever seen those those genealogies you ever read through all those

We'll go to prayer meetings and reach out even when it doesn't feel rewarding We'll listen and learn and be corrected because we have a hope that drives us through some short -term discomfort

Toward the goal of long -term joy We have hope when we look to Christ when we since he

Alone is our salvation. He comes from him so we stay focused and That takes a team

We need others staying with us to keep us going keep us on track Reminding us of what we're committed to do, you know something they can stay with the

Lord Without staying with his people as though you could somehow cling to Christ without clinging to his body

When we stay though, we have to stay together in verse 3 Paul tells Timothy to stay at Ephesus a particular body of people

Not just you did not just stay with the Lord, but stay there with these people these fellow believers stay

Don't stray God has called his people together as a body the church The church is a gathering of people who are committed to staying together

So we can stay Close to Christ so they can so we can reach that goal of love.

What's the goal? you remember love from a pure heart a Justified conscience and a living a real faith.

It's not staying with an organization It's not staying with a building It's staying together now for Timothy here.

He has to stay with the church to keep its teaching, right? It's the purpose for his staying there

Paul says in verse 3 and verse 4 to charge certain persons and this would be true of pastors and of elders today

This is why you need to stay for it stay charge certain persons not to teach any

Different doctrine any different than what he teaches the gospel nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies

By the way, this is you know, one of these things we find this a lot today people will not deny the gospel

Won't deny the basics of good theology of sound doctrine

It can say it can sign off on all the creeds But the reason they don't deny it is they hardly ever think about it

They hardly even enters their mind to think about what the gospel is What's the basics of the faith are because they're out just all you know, looking at these trivial things.

It's nonsense They're talking about four blood moons or about this or that This this is just meaningless things.

They're they're so wrapped up in these trivialities That they never they never get around thinking about serious

Doctrine and so they never deny it that way But Paul says tells them both make sure they don't deny sound doctrine and make sure they're not distracted by all these

You know this nonsense out there So Timothy is the leader the pastor of the church in Ephesus was to stay in order to correct now for you

Maybe you said well, I'm not an elder. I'm not a pastor How's that gonna help what's I got to do with me? That means you need to stay where you can get right teaching where you can get not distracted

By four blood moons or whatever it is where you could be corrected in the last two verses.

He's even told the last two verses of the chapter Timothy's told to correct those who violate their own conscience

Seems a little odd to us today You did what you think is wrong. I don't think it's wrong, but you did it

What we think today is when we think a conscious is one's private preserve Probably my consciousness between me and God you no one can tell me what my conscious to say

But Paul's vision of the church is of a body that holds one another to account even to account for our own

Consciences now Christians in our day are often so individualistic that we don't see that we need other

Christians to stay with to remain in fellowship with to to worship together with to pray with and Run the race with they think that they're lone pioneers, you know

It's just Jesus and me and we're going out to conquer the world, but even the pioneers heading West Usually travel in wagon trains because they knew they knew they needed to stay together

For protection they knew they needed the guidance of experts to stay on the right path.

Otherwise they end up The Donner party getting caught in the blizzard in the mountains and ended up having eat each other.

You don't want to do that even in the sport like running that appears so Individualistic so simple people that don't know running think they can get along just as well without a team or without a coach

It's not true You know Even in that if you really want to get in top shape, you're gonna need a team

You need teammates to encourage you to challenge you sometimes to cajole you along. You need a coach to stay on you

To keep you on task keep you doing the practices and running the miles and doing the workouts

You need to stay together under the leadership to reach your potential So stay together and Paul takes it even a step further

He's telling Timothy and not just to stay, you know Stay among them be a good influence be one of the bud buddies there hang out with the rest of the guys

It's not just that For Timothy, he's telling this young man to stay and notice the verb there in the middle of verse 3

But he's cut what he's telling Timothy to stay to do charge

Timothy you charge Them charge our command It's a military term

He'll use military analogy later in the chapter It literally means to pass commands from one to another

Like an army is why officers do they pass the commands on to the troops? It's what Timothy was doing for a

Paul was doing for Timothy and Timothy was to do for the rest of the Christians there We need we need people leaders who will pass on the

Lord's commands not just their own commands though They better know the difference between their own commands and and the

Lord's commands. Otherwise they get off track They don't do it on their own authority they are to pass on orders given to them from above for the purpose of reaching the goal that the army is determined to reach and The church here is like that army

Army needs officers, right? We are to stay they are to stay on us. That's what we're here for You know that that's part of what you're here for So you'll have some people staying on you to stay focused by having others

Stay on us. That's what I'm trying to do. Now. I'm trying to stay on you Timothy's Commission here is to especially to hold the false teachers and check

I don't think we have any false teachers here. Not that I know of to tell them in no uncertain terms to stop

Charge them to stop command them authoritative kind of word the

Apostle Paul expects Timothy to take a strong line with Those false teachers because the gospel is at stake now if we are to if we are to make it to the goal remember the goal

We need leaders who are not afraid to stand up and say no You can't teach that here

To tell people that unless they change they will make shipwreck of their faith as he says in verse 19 You know shipwreck. There's these rocks on the shore.

The ship is guided off course. It'll hit the rocks You got to keep on course Stay on stay away from the rocks.

That's what Timothy was to stay to do. That's where word is That's why we're to stay under so that we if we start to quit

Or we start to stray We'll have someone staying on us Pulling us back.

No this way You could start out. Well determined Heading the right way

But you can then get led off course Carried along by the currents of your self -will your convenience and You'll get shipwrecked if you don't have leaders or You don't follow the leaders you do have

I told the story before It's been a little while but I've told it used to tell it a lot the story of cross -country, right?

Some of you haven't heard it. I don't think Brian and Alex They haven't heard it But when train a cross -country base in West Georgia where I got off course and all

I had to do is follow this white chalk Line on the ground for five miles of the race, you know, see it should be impossible to get lost, right?

The line guides you the whole way But I got lost and eventually the line led me I got lost because the line led me to where I didn't want to go

I was tired About three miles into this race and I was in the line led me to jump over a bush.

I didn't want to do that So I started to rationalize Surely the man, you know the man who laid down the line made a mistake

He got distracted Ran into a bush about half the other runners thought the same thing and we trusted ourselves

We trusted our rationalization It was all really coming out of our desire to take an easier route to avoid the obstacles

To go the way that seemed to us from our limited perspective to be the most reasonable and we ended up getting all lost

All confused the whole race was canceled all because we didn't go we didn't stay true to the simple instructions given to us

We were distracted The Apostle Paul tells us to stay away from distractions

Timothy is not only supposed to correct false teachers But to command easily distracted people who want to argue and fuss over minor things

Or over things that really don't even exist at all silly myths The problem with them is not so much that they are wrong, but they are distracted

Just as there are people today who want to argue you want to argue particularly today They want to argue about how the end times is going to unfold

You know when the Rapture is gonna be they want to argue about all that But then they don't want to make their lives ready to meet

Christ at any moment They're distracted They're getting off course.

They've lost sight of the goal remember the goal love out of a pure heart a justified conscience a sincere faith

They occupy themselves with a lot of tomfoolery some of its sophisticated maybe if they're reformed they'll want to talk about the decrees of God before You know eternity past the super elapsed arianism are

Infra lapse arianism and they'll debate all that some of it's not sophisticated for blood moons.

That's They are as Paul writes describes them in chapter 1 verse 6 those who have swerved

From away from the goal They've wandered into vain discussions the reform.

They'll have really sophisticated Vocabulary big words and You know a lot of history, but some of it is just distractions

They go astray into a wilderness of words and Paul says that they are men who often there are men who don't know what they're

Talking about they want to be teachers, but they will not sit first meekly and learn they want to assert doctrine

With a confident swagger, but they don't want to be corrected by those who know better You know understand some people think of you're involved in religion and you're doing

Bible studies You really love God, but understand if you're not seeking to get wealthy, you're not seeking immorality.

You're you're really You know seeking God's kingdom But understand that there's other things that people are motivated by besides money or besides sex

Some people are motivated just by glory like ego They want to be looked up to and a lot of people go into religion for that to satisfy that I mean look at this.

I'm getting you people. They're staring at me. Like I know what I'm talking about And this feeds my ego. I can feel good

And it makes you they love that feeling of being an important person when they can tell others what to do

The sense of power of emphatically pronouncing something is true And it can be all just a word game an opportunity for them to assert their self -will or to feel the thrill of speaking for God Even if they don't really know anything about God There are there are people like that.

There's a lot of people like that in religion Understand if you want to go for money, maybe go into business.

I'll go for immorality you I don't know what you do, I guess you go to nightclubs on Saturday night, but You know, if you want to if you just love your ego fed

Sometimes the church can be just for that and people who use religion as a tool to get power or just to be looked up to as the one who knows it all and They may speak eloquently about the things of God, but watch what happens when they are corrected

And then what why would they do it particularly around here? You get many who want to be preachers, but don't want to spend any time

Being educated, you know being prepared for that so that they actually have something to say

When someone like Timothy had been already trained by Paul before this when someone like Timothy comes to them

These kind of people it commands them to stop and listen. They will they will hate it The true

Christian comes to church to be fed the Word of God the one with it. Remember that goal Part of it's the sincere faith.

Their faith is sincere. They really really want to know the Lord It's not it's not fakery.

They will have how they're gonna show that they want to be fed the Word of God They want their hearts softened. They want their ears on stop.

They want to be changed. They want to know they want to learn They want to grow they want to be corrected even if it's things because they they want to be

More like the Lord they want to please him The the kind of people that Paul though is talking about here are those who have swerved from that goal

They're not seeking a sincere faith anymore. They desire to be they may desire to be teachers

But they don't desire first and gaining understanding those hate correction

They they are unteachable teachers And we have a lot of those today

Unteachable teachers they they haven't stayed focused on the main thing in their hearts.

They've already swerved They've been distracted from the goal They aren't seeking remember the goal You know, you know what is verse 5 this they aren't seeking love but self exaltation

They don't have a pure heart They have mixed motives No, some of it is ego motives.

They don't have a good conscience They violated it they're doing what they said they would never do they they don't have a sincere faith

Maybe they're the type that who would cry how much they love to hear the preaching of the word those They'll proclaim that preach it brother.

They shout and then they'll be quick to run out or run away from The preacher if that word stings them their actions show the insincerity the self -serving nature of their faith

So don't be like them don't be distracted stay together stay with those who care for your soul stay with those who will correct

You and tell you the truth Hopefully in love and good kindness For verses 8 to 11

Paul corrects one of the major misunderstandings of the distracted the unteachable teachers of Timothy's day

Remember the goal love from a clean heart a sincere faith. They really wants to follow

Jesus And that's where the course of our lives and of our church should take us but these these faults are maybe just trivial teachers

The here what they don't understand. Is that the way to reach that goal?

Love from a clean heart justified conscience a true faith You reach that goal not by rule -keeping

You know, they think it is they think you got to keep these rules that's how you get to that goal

But they've really lost sight of it They don't understand the gospel dynamic of of life change that the only way to have a clean heart.

That's the goal Conscience that is right with God and a real faith

The only way to do that is by being born again Made a new creature Now once that is done

Then we can reach our goal we can love really love first love God with all our heart worship him

Passionately bow before him humbly and then we can love other people our neighbors as ourselves but it that comes not by Religious requirements we check off our list our self -serving gimmicks

But out of a lot of lives that have been transformed by God's grace

So but these self -appointed experts these unteachable teachers think it comes by following the law

But Paul says they don't know what they're talking about One cannot make a bad apple tree good by Encouraging it yelling at it

Commanding it bear good apples You could try that. It's not gonna work

They don't understand that they use the law Paul says in verse 8 Unlawfully, that is they use it for the purpose.

God's law was never intended for The only way the apple tree is gonna bear good apples is if it gets changed from the inside Well, they use the law to make a list of don'ts and by avoiding them they think they have pleased

God Don't go to movies. Don't listen to secular music. Don't drink any alcohol.

Don't dance, you know, whatever on and on That's an unlawful use of the law actually

It's an unlawful use of man -made laws They make up their own laws and then they use those that's even worse than what we have here here at least these unteachable teachers

They were using God's law when Paul talked about the law He means God's law that we called the Torah the first five books of the

Bible and and he's saying that these unteachable teachers They're using God's law Unlawfully and in a wrong way

Now you might expect in if that's what Paul is up against These false teachers who are using

God's law in in a way He doesn't like if that's what he's up against that you might expect him to do what a lot of people in our day

Do you know what a lot of people say about the law today? There's no use in our lives.

No use at all. It is all Unlawful and pronounce us free of it all

Right, that is that it's a relic the law They say is a relic of a bygone age and has no bearing on us now

It's not relevant to us anymore. We're free from the law Right. How many times you hear that meaning when people think when they say that is that I Don't have to listen to anything it says

But that's not what he does. That's not what Paul does indeed by saying that the unteachable teachers were using the law

Unlawfully Doesn't he imply that there is a lawful use of the law that it still serves a purpose in our lives

Then he goes through a list of sins Starting in the middle of verse 9 this some sense specific sins there and I won't repeat them

But they're self -explanatory. I think it's clear by the way, if you look at the order of things, you know, it's

Father's Day Don't beat your father and mother don't we don't have any kids here beating their father Do we okay in case you think that that's the right thing to do now, you know, it's wrong.

Where's Anna Kate? Don't beat her father. Yeah, okay That is forbidden and all those other things

But it's clear if you look at the order beating your father and mother's like the the Fifth Commandment Honor your father and mother and then the next one is you know, what it was a murder

And that's the Sixth Commandment and it's going through the list of commandments at least from the fourth to the ninth using the

Ten Commandments is that is The law and he's saying the law was made for people who it was made

It is still is relevant for people who do these things. The law he said is made for people who do not follow the law

Therefore the lawful use of the law is to make people aware That they're not following it

The use of the law is to open people's eyes to the reality that they have violated God's law and are therefore guilty

And so flee to God for salvation That's the use of the law It's not a job description

Keep these things and then you're all right. It's a diagnosis. Are you keeping these things if not?

You're not all right. And once you get that diagnosis comes the doctor's prescription The diagnosis is sin

The prescription is the gospel Stay away from distractions stay in course to that goal remember the goal love from a pure heart a good conscience a sincere faith and You do that by staying with the gospel

The lawful use of the law can get us on course to the gospel What Paul calls in verse 11 the glorious gospel of the

Blessed God But only this glorious gospel can create the pure heart the conscience that is right with God the living faith

That will produce the love for God and for others. That is the goal. Only the gospel can do that So stay on course with that and Speaking of the gospel

Paul tells Timothy beginning in verse 12. Look at how powerful it is to save Look at what is done like the

Lord has done through it To me particularly the law rests on our strength to obey it

Because it's showing that we don't have strength That's what it's there to show and and all will inevitably find that we don't have the strength right if you use the law lawfully and understand my message this morning is not that you should

Stay at your striving Stay at your religion No, stay at your exerting to keep your rule keeping.

Please do not take that away this morning there are times when you could just you should realistically admit that this is something

I can't do and Just give up there's times to give up and Trying to earn your way into God's good graces is one of those things

Sooner you give up on that the better don't stay at that the lawful use of the law

Using it for the purpose that it was the God gave it shows us. We can't do it, but Paul sees

What the glorious gospel can do if Christ could change Paul Says he's the foremost sinner persecuted the church.

He can change me Paul says there's no limit To his transforming power

So stay with him the aim Remember the aim.

What's the aim love from a pure heart a right conscience right with God and a living a real faith and Timothy though is tempted to chuck it here

These people are too much trouble too many false teachers who won't listen to correction too many silly people who?

Who pay attention to them the grass is greener somewhere else I like the looks over there be a better career advancement.

I move there's fewer annoyances Paul tells him to stay Stay to reach the target after all

Christ stayed at it He stayed the course all the way to the cross.

He knew how to stay He stayed through rejection and insults and betrayals and Lashings and nails driven through hands and feet.

He stayed through all of that because of the he says in verse 15 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

He stayed for that Even with us Christ has stayed the course he stayed patient through our sins through our excuses

He stayed through our self -deception So we flatter ourselves in our willful heart we try to justify ourselves

Instead of God's justification that comes through repentance and humility our half -hearted religion

Rather than our sincere faith That longs for him. He stayed with us

Paul says he stayed with us in verse 16 because of notice that phrase there verse 16 in English is is perfect patience

It's perfect. It hasn't it's not gonna quit early Patience it bears under something the word translated patience there literally means long or macro

It's the Greek macro. It's big Suffering it's big suffering long suffering.

It's the staying power of Christ just to stay after us

Despite the suffering that our sin causes him Paul sees this perfect patience at work in his own life and Exalts in it.

That's how we would say the Christ is perfectly patient with him and so saved him so he reaches out in verse 17 and Praises whom he calls the king of ages

He's the king over all ages not just the future kingdom, but over right now.

He's immortal He's invisible. He's the only God and Wise that's what we're to do to praise

You just spontaneously praise Particularly when we see how perfectly patient God has been with us to save us

There there will be when we see that in all absorbing adoration of God In verse 18

Paul goes back to the beginning To verse to verse 3, you know verse 18 begins this charge

What charge well, the one he began with in verse 3, you know, I urge you just to stay and Command them not to teach anything else.

And now he says I entrust this commission to you You're like like an officer in an army.

You are now commissioned to pass on the orders to the troops So we can reach our goal

Wage the good warfare. He says at the end of verse 18 Be a good spiritual soldier always faithful Semper fi as the

Marines say so like good soldiers We're to stay on duty Good soldiers just don't go off duty when they feel like it.

They have to stay on duty as long as they're on duty as long as you know They they gotta stay now stay frosty as they said some some say now

Stay on your toes Put aside some temporary pleasures in order to achieve the long -term strategic goal.

You must keep the objective in mind Know the enemy And not consort with them

We need courage when tempted to deny our commander -in -chief. We can't go AWOL If stay on duty not just fight our own terms when we feel like it

We stay on duty because our goal is remember the goal love From a pure heart a true love it's not just warm feelings

That makes someone feel warm and fuzzy all over. It's a commitment To seek what is best for another person to do what to do that Not just a slogan not just a song nice song last week.

You know, we don't know we're Christians by our love It's not just a sweet nothing whispered in our ear, but in actual practice to seek what is best for others

That's how you love even when that best is it warm or fuzzy or sweet? Even when it means discipline

Here Paul mentions two men by name him and a s and Alexander whom he is the spiritual leader has it has disciplined

Imagine he points these two guys out by name He says he has handed them over to Satan That is he's cast them out of the spiritual protection of the church and into Satan's domain

And this is what it's called church discipline Some people only think those two terms should belong together and our individualistic age is nearly inconceivable in some

Quarters, but it's necessary for to state on duty and it's the most loving thing for those disciplined

It helps them stay on duty Notice all notice at the end of the chapter Paul says that he has handed them over to Satan that they may learn

They're probably one of these unteachable teachers who thought they knew a lot But there's one thing they didn't know They didn't know how to not blaspheme

That they may learn now. It'd be nice if everyone responded to positive messages and encouragement

You know, that's a that's a great lesson. You did great and then they cultivate what they've been praised for but they don't so if we if we love them we have to get through another way and This to Paul shows this is a necessary it is necessary to reaching our goal number the goal love from a pure heart a

Right conscience and living faith. How are we going to reach that? Are you gonna reach that we have someone is teaching something that will take you away from that and then they don't listen

When you try to positively encourage them to stay on target, what are you gonna do?

We cannot reach the goal without of love Without discipline now many today can't comprehend this they think that love is always about making things easy and pleasant for people

But if you love them, you know, sometimes you have to be unpleasant to them Some people think that if you love them you make them uncomfortable all the time

By that definition They'll think Satan is more loving than the Lord because Satan will happily make you comfortable all the way to hell

As CS Lewis wrote the safest road to hell is the gentle slope soft underfoot

Without milestones without road signs. Just ease your way in To stay the course stay together.

We have to be Disciplined now, it's not that discipline will save us.

We cannot save ourselves. Only Christ Jesus can do that He came into the world to save Sinners the law shows us that we are sinners.

So we'll give up on ourselves And then we'll run after him Then he'll save us but once he has done that Once he has saved us sinners

We will then Have a goal Remember the goal.

What's the goal? love from a heart made clean by the blood of Jesus a conscience cleansed by the

Righteousness of Christ that's been given to us and a real faith not a fake faith

It just looks good on Sunday morning, but a real one made alive by the Holy Spirit in us

Christ saves us We find we can stay with him Because of his perfect patience

Because he's committed himself To stay with us He gives us staying power

So the charge the command to stay We have that charge. We're commanded stay

But it becomes a promise Because it's based on his perfect patience. It becomes a promise

The charge becomes a promise that he fulfills so we stay every day because He stays with us so the question

Question we began with can you stay? It's really just another way of asking if you are yet one of the sinners

Christ has yet saved Christ stayed on course all the way to the cross

So he could save sinners like you So they could show his perfect patience to you

Are you staying with him? if so Understand if so, that's because he's staying with you