The True Life of the Man of God

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Please enjoy the following sermon. Well, the year was 1532 when

God saw fit to save a young 24 -year -old man, altering his life and the course of history forever.

Up until that point, this young man had shown tremendous promise as a law student and as a scholar.

He came from a well -to -do family. His father was a very accomplished lawyer, and he sent his son off to law school to follow in his footsteps.

And it was right for his father to do this with his son, to expect great things from him because this young man that we're speaking of had a remarkable mind.

He graduated from law school and published his first book at the age of 23.

He had a photographic memory. He could tell you where he read something, in what book, on what page, and on what part of the page.

He mastered, by the time he graduated, Latin and then Koine Greek.

And for those of you who have studied Koine Greek with me or elsewhere, you know the difficulty of learning the language.

He learned it while on a trip to Burgess, France over the course of 18 months, simply to read the

New Testament in the original language. What a remarkable thing. Many historians have called him one of the most rigorous intellectuals, intellectual thinkers of the 16th century.

Even as I was looking at some research online, there were some who said that he had an IQ as high as 150, maybe even 170 if they were to test him today.

He was a young man who, by all possible metrics, appeared to be destined for fame and fortune.

But in the year 1532, God got a hold of this young man's heart. And rather than pursuing the world and everything that the world said was worthwhile, he left it all behind to follow after his savior, the

Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was raised a Roman Catholic, he immediately began proclaiming the true gospel, going to the

University of Paris and there proclaiming and defending the gospel of Christ until eventually he was labeled a member of Luther's sect and driven out of the city.

And commenting on the experience of his early Christian life, this man said this.

He said, God, by a sudden conversion, subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame.

It's interesting. I would think that he was already a teachable man, but brought it to a teachable frame.

Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness, I was immediately inflamed with an intense desire to make progress.

And boy, did he make progress. He lived as one who had a single -minded devotion to the

Lord in many respects. With all the faculties that God gave him, he used them to the end that God would be glorified.

He moved out of Paris as he was driven out, and he settled in a little city called

Geneva, where God used him to great effect, to hold sway not only over the

European continent, but the British Isles, and even into the new world. At the age of 27, he published the first edition of a little book that would later become one of the most important theological treaties of the last 1 ,500 years, a book entitled

The Institutes of the Christian Religion. He traded prestige, and money, and comfort, and glory for an embattled life.

He was sometimes expelled from his home. Other times, gangs of men threatened his murder with their hands at their daggers.

He was often sick. He worked tirelessly, but he knew that it was worth it because that he knew because it was a life, excuse me, a life of service rendered to an awesome

God. B .B. Warfield said of this man, he said, no man ever had a profounder sense of God than he.

And the motto of his life became this. He would write these words. He said, my heart

I offer to you, O Lord, promptly and sincerely.

And as he would write his letters, he would stamp each of these letters with this seal that would be emblazoned on the front.

It was a blazing heart in an outstretched hand reflecting the offering of his whole life in service to God.

And by now you probably know who I'm speaking about. Who is it? John Calvin. You passed the test.

I'm glad somebody answered. It was in fact John Calvin. And the reason why

I bring up John Calvin is because his life, at least to some extent, illustrates the point that I think the

Apostle Paul is trying to make as he writes these next few verses that we're going to be studying here in 1

Timothy 6. That we are now at the tail end of Paul's first epistle to Timothy.

Lord willing, we will have one more sermon in two weeks time in this epistle and then we're done.

And as we near the conclusion of this epistle, we find the Apostle Paul exhorting

Timothy to do just what we have seen in this opening illustration.

To free the love of money, to flee, excuse me, the love of money. To run as fast and as far away as he can from the temptations that come with worldly riches, the desire for riches as we studied last time.

And to pursue a greater and greater commitment to Almighty God and his revealed purposes.

Here we come to a very personal part of the letter at the tail end where Paul is beseeching

Timothy to forsake the pursuit of the world and to give his all to God as a man of God.

And as we come to this text, I'm glad she found that. As we come to this text, what

I want us to see today is that whether you are called to some form of pastoral ministry or not, we are all called to the same level of what

I would like to call heart inflamed devotion to God. That is a degree of devotion and commitment and service rendered to God.

Because after all, we are called of God to give our all to God. And what

I want to show you as we make progress through this text is that this is a call to the greatest, the most glorious, the most soul satisfying purpose that we can find on this side of heaven.

I've titled the sermon that the true life of the man of God taking from the substance of it, but you could just say a life well lived.

A life well lived in the service of our glorious God. Now, as I expound this text, what

I want to do is show you that we find this expressed in at least three ways.

We'll look at our pursuit of godliness, our purpose, and our glorious aim.

And we'll first consider this, our pursuit of godliness. Dear brethren, if we are going to forsake the enticing desires of this world and give our all to God, we will never succeed at this if we are not fundamentally committed to pursuing true godliness.

If I can say it this way, the pursuit of God necessitates the pursuit of godliness.

And I want you to see in first Timothy six and verse 11 what Paul says.

He writes to Timothy, but as for you, oh man of God, flee these things.

Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness.

In verse 11, Paul begins by addressing Timothy with these words, but as for you, oh man of God.

Now, this is really interesting. In the New Testament, we almost never find that title, man of God, except in Paul's letters to Timothy.

We find it here. We find it again in second Timothy three, 16 and 17. You know, when you memorize the verse about about God's word and how it enables the man of God to be complete, lacking in every, or not lacking in every, oh,

I'm going to butcher that, complete in every good thing. I'll leave it there. But what we see is that this title, the man of God, is actually one that's pregnant with meaning, that it imports meaning from the

Old Testament. In fact, if we were to go to the Old Testament, we would find that there are 70 references where we see this phrase or title, man of God, used.

And it's not a term that's used for the common man of Israel, but always in reference to a man who leads

God's people and who speaks on God's behalf. If we look for it, we find it in Deuteronomy chapter 33, in verse one, to speak of Moses, who led

Israel out of Egypt. It is used of Samuel, in first Samuel nine and verse six.

And we're told that he was able to speak accurately on God's behalf. This title, man of God, is used to refer to men like Elijah and Elisha and other great prophets and messengers of God.

And it appears that what Paul is doing, as he invokes this language, is to remind

Timothy of who he actually is. He might be a young man, we see him,

Paul referenced that in first Timothy four, speaking about setting an example, though he is young.

But we see it again in second Timothy chapter one, when Paul is referred to, or sorry,

Timothy is referred to as a timid man. But because Timothy has been placed in a place of leadership in the church in Ephesus, he's not primarily a young man.

He is not primarily a timid man, but he is God's man. And therefore he is to conduct himself accordingly.

And I think that this holds broader application for us today, even as we consider that the men who serve in our church, that we do not appoint men who are simply man's men, who are the world's men.

But every man who is to serve as an elder in this church, or to serve as a deacon, for that matter, should be

God's man, a man of God. And as Paul continues his instruction, verse 11, he tells

Timothy to abandon the sinful traits that we looked at last time. These are all those things that, according to verse three, do not accord with godliness.

And we looked at that list in some detail. It includes conceit, ignorance, controversy, constant friction, discontentment, the desire for riches, and the love of money.

And using the kind of vivid language that we'll see littered all throughout this passage, what we see is that Paul tells

Timothy to flee these things. Literally to run, to escape as if there is some form of danger.

Don't walk, don't shuffle, run. But scripture always does this.

I want you to notice this. Maybe you've already noticed in your study of scripture, that it's not enough to flee from something, but that we must flee to something.

And that's where Paul goes, as one commentator rightly observes, for every no in Paul, there is a corresponding yes.

And when you're reading scripture, look for this. You will find it, that for every put off, there is a put on.

For every prohibition, there is almost always a positive imperative.

And the positive imperative that Paul puts before Timothy is this. He says, flee from this, flee from those things, and pursue something that he's about to mention.

Now this too is an interesting word, this word pursue. It's actually 75 % of the time that we see it in our

Bibles. It's not translated as pursue, it's translated as persecute. It means to chase after something, to be purposeful, to hunt something down.

It's not a casual interest, but it's something where you see something and you're going to have it.

You must have it, and you will not stop until you get there. And whatever

Paul is about to say then, is of great significance. That we're to flee, conceit, love of money, all of these things.

And then he gives us what we are to pursue, a six part list. The faithful man of God, and certainly the faithful Christian, is to pursue these things.

He writes, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness.

Now what's interesting is these are all words that we hear often.

In fact, these are all words that we use, I think, fairly often. But what do they actually mean?

And if I can just illustrate this, I think that maybe you'll capture, you'll catch this with me.

That if I were to put you on the spot and ask you right now, what is the difference between righteousness and godliness?

How would you make a distinction between those two? Do we not use those almost synonymously as we speak?

That I want to live a righteous life, a godly life, a holy life, a good life, whatever it might be.

We use these words on the daily, but in reality, I think we lack the nuanced understanding that is needed not only to explain these things, but to pursue these things, to actually pursue them.

And brothers and sisters, if we're going to live lives to the glory of God, brothers, if you're going to be men of God, men who want to serve in pastoral ministry, if you want to be men of God, we need to know what these things are and then pursue them.

So Paul says we should pursue righteousness. Now when

Paul speaks about righteousness in this instance, he's not speaking about what we would call imputed righteousness.

That is the righteousness that when we place our faith in Christ, his active obedience, his passive obedience is imputed to us.

But rather what he is speaking about, what we are to pursue is an outward form of righteousness, an expression of our own imputed righteousness.

It has to do with the outward conduct of a person who has been saved by Christ and transformed by the work of the

Holy Spirit. To live then a righteous life, to pursue a righteous life, means to be just and pure in conduct.

It is to live in accord with God's revealed will. In the words of John MacArthur, it means doing right in relation to God and to man.

And so it is, as it were, righteous conduct, vertically and horizontally, and we are to pursue this.

Now if that is righteousness, what then is godliness? Well, whenever you think of godliness,

I think that you can think of it this way, that godliness is God likeness.

You can actually translate it that way. Godliness is simply to be like God. And it's been defined in this way, it is to possess accurate beliefs resulting in appropriate action.

It is to think like God and then thinking like God to act like God. It is characterized then by devotion to God, a piety and a

Godward orientation in your life. But it's not enough.

Paul tells us to pursue not only righteousness and godliness, but faith. We see this in Hebrews 11 6, where we read, and without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Yet I think that when most of us come to this idea of faith, I know that I'm inclined to think this, that we think of faith almost like a light switch.

We have it or we don't have it. And when we struggle with anxious thoughts or a lack of peace or disobedience that results from unfaithfulness in our lives, we think, but I have faith.

Why do I still struggle with this? But you see what Paul is saying here. We don't just possess faith, but we are to pursue faith.

That we are to seek to grow in our faith. And this can only come by meditating on the object of our faith.

That we must look to our God. We must look to our Christ and seek by his aid to pursue and to grow increasingly in our trust in him.

Paul says that we should pursue love. This is the cardinal Christian virtue.

Without it, everything we do is futile. We are nothing more if we have not love.

We are nothing more than noisy gongs and clanging cymbals. And if you join us on White Avenue, you will hear me.

It's not vain repetition on my part. It is a prayer that I pray every single time we go out.

Lord, give us love for these people so that we would not be noisy gongs and clanging cymbals, but that we would be messengers, that we would be ministers of reconciliation, coming to people in love for God and in love for them, saying, be reconciled to God.

And I think that sometimes, at least in myself, in my own life,

I can become so heady, so focused on truth that I forget the truth in love, the truth and love.

Just recently, I had a phone conversation with a new believer who, he knows almost nothing about scripture.

When I spoke to him, he had been a believer for maybe a week or two. And as I spoke with him on the phone, he said,

I just want to love people. I want to love my wife. I want to love my children.

He explained that when I drive on the road, and I know that the character of this man before the

Lord saved him, it was not like this. But he said, when I see someone who's a bad driver and they cut me off,

I just say to the Lord, well, Lord, this is an opportunity for me to love that person. I want to love them.

And as I listened on the phone, I was convicted to the core, because I thought, here is this, this guy, he knows almost nothing.

You know, in a theological foot race, I could run circles around this guy. But as it relates to love,

I have a great deal to learn from this man. That we must learn and pursue love.

And the question I pose is, has your love cooled? When was the last time you thought?

When was the last time you prayed? Oh Father, you have commanded me to love. Help me to be better at loving you and loving others.

Oh, I desire to do this. This is one of the ways that I will show the world your glory is by my love.

We're to pursue steadfastness, translated as patience or perseverance.

It comes from the same root word where we get our word, abide. It is to stay put, even when things are hard.

We're to pursue gentleness. And this is incredibly difficult,

I think, in a clickbait oriented age where controversy sells. And I think that we love to watch people who are unpredictable, who are rough around the edges, who are harsh, who are abrupt, who say surprising things.

The internet just loves it. The algorithm feeds it to us because we want to know what the person is going to say next.

But it can be said of a man of God who is growing in Christ likeness.

That a bruised reed he will not break and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. This does not mean weakness, but it means

Christ likeness, kindness and humility and care expressed in your words and your actions and in all of life.

Now brothers and sisters, I ask you, are you fleeing quarrels, controversies, discontentment, the love of money and the desire of stuff?

I went through this two weeks ago. I preached on contentment and the following day,

I thought to myself, why am I so filled with discontentment?

Why, as if I preach this, now do I feel a hungering and a yearning for these things that I had no desire for before?

Are we fleeing these things? Do we recognize them for what they are, real dangers to our soul?

And I ask you, are you running toward godliness? Are you hunting it?

Are you seeking it like a persecutor? It's prey to make it yours.

Brothers, for those of you who aspire to pastoral ministry, to be, who aspire to be men of God, your focus should be more.

It should not be less, but it should be more than the acquisition of biblical knowledge. It should be the assimilation of that truth in your life and the application of it in every single thing that you do.

How many of us, Christian brother and sister, do we wake up in the morning and read God's word for mere information, as if the

Christian life consisted of the accumulation of biblical facts? You know,

I think about it sometimes, that most of us, we have nothing, we have nothing compared to these 18 -year -old, 15 -year -old kids who are

Bible quizzers, who can answer every single question. They can know King David's third cousin, track it down through the genealogies.

They can call it like that, but are we reading the

Bible not only for information, but for transformation, that we would read it, that we might live it?

Are you taking every thought captive? Are you mortifying the flesh? By God's grace, with his help, are you seeking to vivify righteousness in its place?

A number of years ago, I read a book by Jerry Bridges entitled, The Practice of Godliness.

It is an excellent book, I commend it to you. And there's a little quote that I bookmarked. This was something like 10 years ago, that I revisited this week, and it just hit me again, but maybe harder than the first time

I read it. And in that quote, Jerry Bridges writes this, he says, there is no higher compliment that can be paid to a

Christian than to call him a godly person. Think about that.

What do you want to be known for? He might be a conscientious parent, a zealous church worker, a dynamic spokesperson for Christ, or a talented

Christian leader, but none of these things matter, if at the same time, he is not a godly person.

And let us ask ourselves, what are we seeking to become? What are we pouring our energy into?

What are we pursuing? But when you look at how you spend your time, and your money, your energy, your life,

I must confess that I at least am inclined to drift in this regard. Sometimes I look at my life and I would have to say, you're pursuing, you're pursuing this.

You're pursuing, you want to be a dynamic expositor. You want to be a skillful pastor, a knowledgeable teacher.

You want to be thought intelligent. You want to, whatever it might be. But what a blessing if when we die and go to be with the

Lord, if people should say about us after we go, you know, there were a lot of things about that man or woman that were memorable, but the most memorable thing was this, that they were godly.

I've noticed in church growth circles, there's a new buzzword. It's the word legacy.

It's, it keeps coming up. I see people getting baptized with this picture. You know, the beginning of a legacy.

I know Mark Driscoll's talking all about it. All these silly things that we say. You want a true legacy.

You want a real legacy. Make it a legacy of godliness. An example that lives after you're gone.

An example that lives in your children after you're gone. To possess true godliness.

This should be one of the driving passions of our life. But as Paul goes on, he goes on to highlight a second expression when he speaks to this, our enduring purpose.

In verses 12 through 14, Paul reminds Timothy that as a man of God, he is called to an embattled life of his own.

He is to fight the good fight. He is to take hold of eternal life. He is to fulfill his charge by confessing

Christ and stewarding the truths of God. In like manner, as Christians, we are called to boldly confess

Christ and to fulfill the purposes for which we have been made.

And this is what we see in verse 12. Paul says, fight the good fight of the faith. 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.

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 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our

Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's not done using his vivid language. But beginning in verse 12, he again leads out with these words, fight the good fight.

No doubt this was military language. Interestingly enough, you can trace it back. It was language that was used in the

Olympic games also around that time. And as Paul uses this language, he understands that the faithful Christian is a

Christian at war. The Christian has real enemies. It's the world, it's the flesh, it's the devil, and it's more.

And the Christian's purpose ultimately is one of combat. I'm sure that you can relate to this even as you think about your own

Christian life. I've shared this story previously, perhaps a few years ago, that I remember as a

Christian when I believed in the Lord Jesus. Yes, my life got better, but my life also got much harder.

I think we can relate to that. I certainly can relate to it on a

Saturday when, a beautiful Saturday like we did yesterday, I can hear kids playing street hockey and other things like that.

And I'm trying to work this sermon out. I'm trying to give birth to something here with God's help.

And I think, wouldn't it just be easy to be, to Saturday I'm going to go out and ride my bicycle into the middle of nowhere, play street hockey, whatever it might be.

But alas, the Lord has called me to serve as a man of God with its own unique struggles.

And it's not because I didn't work on it during the week. It's just that hard. Now Paul knew that.

That's why he said at the end of his life in second Timothy four, in verse seven, he said, I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. It's something that needed fighting. It's something that needed endurance.

It was something that needed keeping. And I like what J .C. Ryle says on this point. He says, a true

Christian, and you can ask yourself this, it's telling I think, am

I at war? Because a true Christian is at war. He says, a true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within.

This warfare, I am aware, is a thing of which many know nothing. Talk to them about it and they are ready to set you down as a madman, an enthusiast, or a fool.

And yet it is as real and true as any war the world has ever seen. It has its hand -to -hand conflicts and its wounds.

It has its watchings and fatigues. It has its sieges and assaults.

It has its victories and its defeats. Above all, it has consequences which are awful, tremendous, and most peculiar.

He goes on, in earthly warfare, the consequences to nations are often temporary and remediable.

In the spiritual warfare, it is very different. Of that warfare, the consequences when the fight is over are unchangeable and eternal.

And yet there is one warfare which is emphatically good and one fight in which there is no evil.

That warfare is the Christian warfare. The fight is the fight of the soul.

The brothers and sisters were engaged in a war. And we'll touch on this as we go.

Paul uses more vivid language when he says, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.

Not the eternal life he chose, but the life that he was called to. And this language, again, is language that was used of runners in Rome's arenas.

It means to run, to exert yourself, and to grasp something. Now we might look at that and say, is this then a denial of justification by faith alone?

If we're to run and to grasp and to take hold of eternal life, does that not necessitate some labor on my part?

I agree with Sproul when he says this. He says, what Paul is teaching us is that we should not be complacent, but that the goal of the

Christian life, at least on this side of eternity, is always in the future. There's a sense in which we are pursuing something.

And while we have it in our hands, there is still a pursuit to be had. It speaks about not only the possession of this life, but the quality of this life.

Paul talks about it in Philippians 3 .12. Not that I've already obtained this, or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

So that there's this language again of pursuing, that we're pursuing godliness, that we're pursuing the full experience of this salvation that we are already in possession of.

And then Paul goes on speaking about this. He says, I charge you, no, a little bit earlier, which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Now what is this talking about? Scholars are almost united in looking at this and saying, this is speaking about Timothy's profession of faith, likely at his baptism.

It's, and what's remarkable about it, is that even here in the beginning of New Testament Christianity, in Bible times, we see already the emergence of these creedal and confessional statements.

We see them take full form in the centuries that follow, when certain people were to go before the church to be baptized and would be made to recite the

Apostles Creed, or something like this. And it's not likely that we have Timothy memorizing and reciting the

Apostles Creed, but likely the earliest creed that we find in the New Testament, in Romans chapter 10 and verses 9 and 10.

Maybe you know this creed. It's simple. It's three words. Jesus is

Lord. Paul says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is

Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

And so what Paul is telling Timothy is, is part of this race, part of this experience as a man of God, is not only pursuing godliness, it's not only living in the midst of war, it's only seeking to grasp fully the full experience of your salvation, but it is maintaining your confession.

One brother writes, the Christian is first and foremost a man who has pledged himself to Jesus Christ.

When a Christian confesses his faith, he does what his master has already done.

Paul speaks about that, making the confession before Pontius Pilate. When he suffers for his faith, he undergoes what his master has already undergone.

When we are engaged in some great enterprise, we can say, brother, we are treading where the saints have tread.

But when we confess our faith before men, we can say, I stand with Christ.

Surely, this must lift up our hearts and inspire our lives. Brethren, if you're going to live a godly life, it's a life that includes the confession of Christ before all men.

The people who know you best outside of this church, do they know that you are a

Christian? Do you confess Christ with your mouth outside of these walls?

That is what Paul is telling Timothy. Do not let go of this. Christ is your hope.

Christ alone. And then he says something that I think has confused myriads of people in verse 14.

To keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our

Lord Jesus. Now, as I counted all the differing perspectives, there has to be at least seven or eight different interpretations of verse 14.

What is this commandment? What is it? Some people have said, it's the whole

Bible. I think they take the easy route out, right? It's the whole Bible. He's just obey the whole

Bible and he's good. Others have said, well, I think it's the 10 commandments. Others say, well, it's based on the

Great Commission. It's probably all that Jesus taught. Some have said it was the charge that he received at his baptism when he made his confession of faith.

But I think that what we need to do is we need to capture the context of the book and in the context of the passage.

And then we will, with certainty, know what this commandment is. If you go with me to first Timothy chapter one in verse three, what do we read there?

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.

In verse 17, we see something that's very, very similar to our own passage.

To the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This charge

I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, and according with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding the faith in a good conscience.

By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith. You see the similarities there? Timothy is bookmarking this, or Paul, excuse me, is bookmarking this book with these phrases.

Or in first Timothy six, if you go there in verse 20. Oh Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you.

Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.

Where I have landed on this, and I've landed here with a few other people, is that as Paul is speaking about keeping this commandment, the commandment is this,

Timothy, you have been given a charge. This is the purpose for which you have been made.

This is why you are in Ephesus. You are there as a steward. You're in charge.

You've been entrusted by us and ultimately by God to fulfill this task.

And so what it is, this great command that Timothy is to obey, it is to fulfill the purpose that he is there for.

R .C. Sproul says it is Timothy's discipline and duties. It's to fulfill the duty that he has there in that church.

Calvin says, thus to keep the commandment would be nothing else than to discharge honestly the office committed to him.

That's why in second Timothy four, in verse one, if we go there really quickly, we see similar language when

Paul says, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word.

Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

What Paul is telling Timothy is that when difficulties arise as they have, you have to remember this letter didn't take months to read like it has us.

Right? This is coming almost instantaneously after the first chapter in Timothy's experience.

He's going to read this in one go. And as he's speaking to Timothy about him, he's saying,

I know you're there. There are false teachers. You've been sent to be a steward of the mysteries of God.

Go there. You've been entrusted. Make the word of God fully known. Preach the word. Let people hear the truth.

And when difficulties come, do not withdraw. There's a picture of this again in Calvin's life.

And Calvin's life is such an interesting story. Those of you who are going through our church history class know this, and you can appreciate some of the humor in it.

But Calvin, after he was saved, do you know that he didn't end up in Geneva because he wanted to be there?

He was just passing through Geneva, making his way around a regional conflict. He was going to go into Geneva and then on through Geneva.

And a man named William Farrell came to him and with great intensity said, you need to stay in Geneva.

And Calvin said, I have scholarly work to do. He wanted to live as a hermit, a theological hermit, and just do his work and publish it out of the limelight.

And William Farrell said, if you do not stay in Geneva to help pastor this church, then may

God place a curse upon you. And he essentially utters this divine curse that keeps

Calvin in the city of Geneva. And then remarkably, as often happens, Calvin is in Geneva.

He's ministering faithfully. And then what did the Genevans do to him eventually? They kick him out of Geneva and he spends two years in exile.

And as he's there for those two years in exile, eventually he's invited back and he writes this to William Farrell.

He says, I yield my soul chained and bound unto obedience to God.

He knows his command. He knows where he needs to be. He says, there is no place under heaven of which

I can have a greater dread. There's no place in the world I would want to go to less than Geneva.

That's, I didn't want to be there in the first place. They kicked me out. I have to go back.

It was not an easy decision to return to Geneva. But Calvin writes to Farrell, I shall follow wherever God leads, who knows best why he has laid this necessity upon me.

If you want to live as a faithful man of God in the ministry sense, it's not only to pursue godliness, but it's to go there.

It's to put your hand to the plow. And when things become difficult, what do you do? You keep your hands to the plow.

You don't look back. You pursue God harder. You say, God, in your providence, you are wiser.

You know better than me. You have called me to be here. It's difficult, but alas, I will serve you here.

And if you're a Christian, maybe you're not a man of God. Maybe you're a woman of God. Maybe you're a man who says,

I want to serve the Lord with all my might, just not in pastoral ministry. The question then is, where has the

Lord called you to serve? Go and find that thing, find that duty, find that privilege, and serve

God perseveringly with all of your might. If he's called you to be a deacon, brother, serve him with all of your might in that respect.

If he has called you to be a mother, oh, serve him knowing how important and worthwhile your work is.

Fulfill your purpose with commitment. Fight the good fight. Keep the faith to the end.

I remember listening to a sermon a number of years ago from Billy Graham.

And Billy Graham has said some funny things. He said some things I disagree with. A lot of his ministry practices were not my favorite.

But I remember raking leaves. I remember exactly where I was at a group home in North Edmonton raking leaves and listening in my earbuds as Billy Graham said, wherever you go, every

Christian is called to be a missionary. Go there and live as a missionary. And the whole purpose of his sermon was wherever the

Lord has you plugged in, light up.

Be exactly who God has made you to be in whatever place he has placed you.

Understanding that in his good providence, in his good wisdom, he has you there for a purpose.

So if that is singing, sing with all your might. I think of Eric Little. He spoke about when he ran with all of his might, he felt

God's good pleasure as he was running down a track. Whatever it is, go there and give

God, not your employer, not those other people. They are secondary to this. Give God your all and watch

God get the glory. And then Paul brings this out.

My third and my final point, our glorious objective in verse 15. He says, keep the commandment unstained, free from reproach until the appearing of our

Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 15, which he will display at the proper time.

He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the king of kings and the

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 forever.

This is likely, it's a doxology for sure, and it's likely, at least part of, if not a whole

Christian hymn. That, you know, sometimes we're speaking. I know I do this from the pulpit.

I and it flows from your natural vocabulary. Well, here Paul brings this hymn, speaking of God, who is the blessed and only sovereign, the king of kings and the

Lord of lords. If ever there was a reason to be a man of God, to live faithfully as a woman of God, to give your all to God for the glory of God, we have it in this doxology.

We don't serve a small, tiny king, a puny little human king.

It's interesting, you can trace this language. The king of Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar, he is referred to sometimes as the king of kings.

In the book of Ezekiel, in chapter 26 and verse 7, this title is given to him in irony.

When Ezekiel says, for thus says the Lord God, behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with horsemen, and a host of many soldiers.

Now Nebuchadnezzar, he constructed the hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

He was a very mighty man. But here we see, this is an ironic statement.

We see it again in Daniel chapter 2 and verse 37. When interpreting his dream, Daniel says, but you,

O king, the king of kings, to whom God the heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory.

These statements are about a puny human king. But God, he is king of kings and Lord of lords.

What Paul is doing here is he is coming against these ideas of small human kings, the

Roman imperial cult, where it actually meant something to say that Jesus is

Lord. That language is taken right out of the system, whereby the Roman soldiers would come and say, give your pinch of incense to Caesar and say,

Caesar is Lord. And here what Paul is saying is, no, no, no. Caesar is not

Lord. My God, he is the king of kings. He is the

Lord of lords. And what's remarkable is that this language, speaking about God, also ends up being referred to, or referring to Christ.

We see it in Revelation 17 and verse 14, where it says, they will make war on the lamb, and the lamb will conquer them.

Why? For he is the Lord of lords and the king of kings. And those with him are called and chosen and faithful.

Or in Revelation 19 11, on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, king of kings and Lord of lords.

The picture of Christ riding on his white steed. And this week as I was walking and praying and reading through Psalm 58,

I read, I think, a picture that it is alluding to this Christ when it says, the righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance.

He will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked. God is king of kings and he is

Lord of lords. As we see in verse 16, it is he alone who has immortality.

You know what's remarkable is the life that we have is a borrowed life.

Calvin said it. He said, we and all the creatures do, strictly speaking, live only, but only borrow life from him.

That God himself is the source of all life. That he's not just endless in his living, he is life.

That he dwells in unapproachable light. That the radiance of God's divine being makes it so that we cannot even see him.

We're told, whom no one has ever seen. John 1 18 says, no one has ever seen

God. God the only son who is at the father's side. He has made him known.

Exodus 33 20 says, but he said, you cannot see my face for man shall not see me and live.

The reason why we seek after godliness, the reason why we fulfill and flourish in whatever purpose the

Lord has given us is because we serve an infinitely wise, infinitely holy, infinitely glorious God.

I didn't have it written, but I was praying down the halls. We were wrapping up our statement of faith and it just came to me that we can go.

We can take every Christian in the world. We can scour the libraries. Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of libraries.

Collect every book and if every one of those books was filled with words full of God's praises, it would not be enough.

The reason why we need eternity is because we will need eternity to sing

God's praises. It will never, ever, ever, ever end.

God has given us eternal life. Praise him. He has given us eternal life for our good.

But even more, he's given us eternal life for his glory because we're going to need it.

We're going to need it to speak his praises. That's why preaching is always such a, in some respects, is always such a terrible task because I have to take this little tongue with these few words and try to speak to you about an infinitely good and glorious God.

Brothers and sisters, then if we are to be busy in our master's business, we must be altogether taken up with the glory of our almighty

God. Just think for a moment on something as simple as his revealed attributes, that he is both transcendent above us, far above us, and yet he is imminent, that he is near.

That's like saying that he's both hot and cold at the same time. That he is above everything that he has made, and yet he is right here in this room with us.

That when we come to God, we come to the thrice holy God of Isaiah 6, who the angels do not dare even uncover their faces, whose perfect angelic feet must be hidden from his gaze.

And we come to him, and he is our Abba Father. Have you ever thought about it?

Just the thought of when you're alone and you pray, sometimes I think to myself, how can

I even dare to come to him so casually that I can say to him, oh

Lord, I'm struggling with this. But alas, he is there, and he hears me, and he is pleased to hear me, even though he is the maker and creator, the sustainer of all things.

That at this very moment, he is maintaining the furthest. You, I don't know where it is, but we can jump in a ship and fly however many billions of light years away, the furthest celestial body in the world, in the creation, in the cosmos.

He is there sustaining every atom of that celestial body, and yet he is here.

The one who made everything should clothe himself in human flesh and come to this world and live the life that we needed him to live, and then die the death that we needed him to die, that he might reconcile us to himself.

Don't you see it that you were not made to live for you? You were made to live for him.

He has given you breath so that every exhale might be to the gloria of his majesty.

Your blood pumps oxygenated blood through your body so that every cell might cooperate for his glory.

John Owen said it. He said, one of the greatest privileges the believer has, both in this world and for eternity, is to behold the glory of God.

Speaking about Christ's glory, he said, on Christ's glory, I would fix all my thoughts and desires, and the more

I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes, and I will be more and more crucified to this world.

Or Spurgeon, who said, if Christ be glorious, it is all the heaven

I ask for. If he shall be king of kings and lord of lords, let me be nothing.

If he shall reign and every tongue shall call him blessed, it shall be bliss to know it.

And if I may be but as one of the withered roses which lie in the path of his triumph, it shall be my paradise.

You have been put onto this world. You want to know how you persevere as a mother and as a wife in a difficult circumstance at home?

You persevere because God made you for this, and it ultimately is for his glory.

If the Lord calls you to serve as a deacon, to serve as an elder, to serve in whatever capacity, whatever it might be, do it all for him and his glory, because he is worthy of that service.

That is why one of the most brilliant minds in all of the history of Christianity could say, my heart

I offer to you, O Lord, promptly and sincerely. Brethren, let us offer our hearts to the

Lord, to the glorious Lord of scripture, the author of scripture, the author of life, promptly and sincerely.

Let's pray together. Thank you for listening to another sermon from Grace Fellowship Church.

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