[0:00] I'll be reading from the ESV, 1 Timothy 6, verse 11 to 21. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things.
[0:13] ! Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 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.
[0:30] 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, which he will display at the proper time.
[0:50] He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the 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.
[1:03] To him be honour and eternal dominion. Amen. As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
[1:20] They are to do good and to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
[1:34] O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, for by professing it, some have swerved from the faith.
[1:47] Grace be with you. Grace be with you.
[2:30] Grace be with you. Grace be with you. There we go. Okay. Let's pray. Dear Lord, as we turn to your word, we thank you that we, like we were praying a moment ago, the amazing privilege of coming into the presence of the creator, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
[2:50] And we thank you for the privilege of worshipping you and of meeting together. So Lord, thank you for your word, that you've given us your word. We pray that it will bless us and encourage us.
[3:01] We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, you've come to the end of a series, right, on 1 Timothy. So it's my privilege to take the last section, just the final ten verses of this wonderful letter.
[3:20] And it's really impossible to do justice to such a passage that we've just read, had read to us, in one message.
[3:31] You could have three or four or five messages. So please forgive me leaving out things and summarizing some things. But, of course, we follow on today from last week.
[3:43] And so I'm going to divide the message into four parts. And the first part is instructions to Timothy, Paul's instructions to Timothy.
[3:54] We'll look just at verses 11 and 12 in this first one. Now, as you know, I'm sure, Timothy was the young pastor in Ephesus. And Paul was the one who was like a father in the faith to Timothy.
[4:09] And he was a co-worker. And he had these important instructions for Timothy. And he said to Timothy, These are the things that Timothy must.
[4:32] There are certain things that he must run away from, certain things he must pursue, and certain things he must hold on to. So, first of all, let's look at things that he must, hang on, flee from, things to flee.
[4:48] Where have we got to? There's something wrong with that PowerPoint. Am I going the wrong way? I think we're going, something's missing.
[5:07] Let me give you my PowerPoint here and see if you can put it in. Sorry about that, folks. I thought it was okay.
[5:22] But it's PCBC. Yeah. Thank you. So, we'll carry on.
[5:34] We'll carry on. The guys will sort us out, I'm sure. He starts out with this very interesting phrase, You, man of God. It's talking about others in the previous section that Pastor William talked about last week.
[5:48] But you, man of God. And it's an interesting term, man of God. Because normally, in the Old Testament, man of God would be referring to some special people, or a special task, like Moses, like David, like Elijah, the prophets.
[6:04] They'd be called man of God. But here is Timothy being called man of God. And of course, in the New Testament, all of us who are followers of Jesus are called, are to be men and women of God.
[6:20] We're called to serve God. Not just because we belong to God, and a man of God, who belongs to God, men and women of God, in that sense.
[6:30] But in the sense that we have been called to represent him, to serve his purposes. So, that's an interesting thing. That Paul tells Timothy, he is a man of God.
[6:46] So, it's our prayer that all of us can be men and women of God. Most important thing on your CV, you all have CVs, do you? You have a resume, you apply for, you get close to graduating, or you graduate, you do your CV, that you've got all these grades and so on.
[7:02] Well, the most important CV, maybe the most important thing on the CV, maybe you don't put it there, but is that you're a Christian, and that you're a representative, you're an ambassador, not of New Zealand, you're not the foreign minister of New Zealand, but you're the representative of Jesus Christ.
[7:18] That's the most amazing privilege for us, isn't it? So, as we enter, how are we doing there, guys? Okay. Ah, so things to flee. There we go. As we saw last week, he's to flee certain things.
[7:33] The things that were last week. These are the things he's to flee. For example, all those people greedy for money, those false teachers, greedy for money, they were interested in unhealthy controversies and quarrels about words, and they see godliness as a means to financial gain.
[7:52] That was all mentioned in the passage earlier. And they bring disunity, they bring confusion, they bring strife in the church, these false teachers. So, there are definitely things to flee from.
[8:05] And of course, even as Christians today, there are certain things we must flee from. Think about Joseph in the Old Testament, in Genesis 39. Do you remember the story? He'd been sold as a slave into Egypt.
[8:17] He's a handsome, tough young man, just like many of you guys, all of you guys. And he was working there for his master, Potiphar, and Potiphar's wife set her eyes upon Joseph, because he was such a good-looking, tough guy.
[8:33] And she wanted him to sleep with her when he was working in the house one day. And what did Joseph do? He ran. He cleared out as quick as possible. And that's something that we also need to think about.
[8:48] Sometimes we have to run from temptation. We have to run from things that are tempting us to do evil. So, let us have nothing to do with evil, but rather keep clear of it.
[9:00] And not only the evil things, but evil teaching, like the false teachers. And even today, we have cults, don't we? They might be nice people, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, polite, friendly, but they have a false doctrine.
[9:17] They don't teach what the Bible teaches, about Jesus, about, they call themselves Christians, very often, but they're actually completely different to the teaching of the Bible. There's also a Chinese cult.
[9:27] Have you heard about this one? The Eastern Lightning. It's, what's the other one? It's, Chen Leng, Shen.
[9:39] And this is, this is a cult that, that gets into the churches, you know? They come and invite you to a Bible study. Have you heard about this? They invite you to a Bible study, and they try and get you into their group.
[9:55] But they have, they teach things completely different to the Bible. Although they try and use words to, to attract us. So, false teachers. Then, there are also churches, you know, that have had a good history, perhaps, who've gone off the rails, through liberal theology.
[10:14] I'll give you an example. I remember when I was at university, a long time ago now, in the late 60s, before any of you were born. And I, I met, I met up with my, great uncle, by marriage.
[10:30] And he was, at the time, the president of a denomination, in South Africa. The president, of this church. And, he told me, he made fun of me, and my faith, as an evangelical.
[10:45] I was a Baptist, actually. He wasn't a Baptist. But, I'm not knocking, other churches, but, he said, oh, didn't you know, that the Bible's full of mistakes, and contradictions?
[10:57] You know, the more that he talked, the more I thought, this bloke's talking a lot of nonsense. But, and, it's only later, that I studied theology, in London School of Theology, it's called now.
[11:10] And, and some of the professors, were well-known, evangelical scholars. And, they, they were, they loved the Bible, they taught the Bible, and the Bible is our authority. But, this, this guy, and in fact, his church denomination, had been in, what do you say, had been, affected, and had been, devastated, by liberal theology.
[11:33] Now, what is liberal theology? Liberal theology, one of the things, you could say about it, is, for them, those who believe in, this kind of theology, it's, truth is relative.
[11:45] Are your truth? Okay, that's fine, that's your truth. Are you believe something? Okay, that's fine, anything goes. There's no absolute, there's no absolute, about right and wrong. And then also, they don't believe, in the inspiration, and the authority, of the scripture, the Bible.
[12:01] But, you know, evangelical Christian churches, they would teach, the Bible is our standard, it's our authority, it's our guide. And we live according, to God's teaching, and the word of God, we're going to, life will be, we will, it might not be easy, but we'll be blessed, we'll be in the right pathway.
[12:19] So anyway, that's, that's something, Timothy had to watch out for. People, they weren't quite the same, but, it's that idea, of spreading, false teaching, and, Timothy was warned, by Paul, be careful, flee from, don't, don't waste your time, on all these, arguments, about this and that, and this, theological stuff, and this, keep to the Bible, keep to the way, of truth.
[12:45] And then, he was also to pursue certain things, he was to run away from certain things, but he was also, to pursue, certain things. Elizabeth, reminded me of, when, when she was in Japan, in, and intermediate, primary intermediate, and her brother was primary school, and she's got a picture, of her brother, her younger brother, Mark, running in a race, in a, in a, at school, and he was, it was a sprint, you know, I don't know what, 50 meters, 100 meters, he was, oh, he was going like, the picture, just pictures his face, is such determination, he's going to get to the, he's going to win, that was, and, and that's what, this is here, pursue, it's the picture, of having, an absolute determination, to get somewhere, we talk about, pursuing our career too, pursuing such and such a career, and to pursue a career, if you're a student, and you're studying, you want to pursue, a certain career, you've got to work hard, right, you've got to be determined, you've got to, you've got to keep at it, and so this is, what he was saying, anything, to do with, to pursue, means to focus, to be determined, and so he says, pursue, what, what does he say to pursue, there's six things here, aren't there, there's, there's six of them, and we can, we can put them in pairs, so the first pair, is righteousness, and godliness, you know, one meaning of righteousness, is, imputed, given, it's the righteousness of Jesus, given, in exchange, our sin, he takes our sin, like we sang, actually, he takes our sin, and he gives us, his righteousness, but there's another meaning, of righteousness, which is like, holiness, holy living, it's a lifelong pursuit, it's, it's following, it's growing more like Jesus, that, you know, in Chinese, do you know, there's, a cheng, a cheng yi, is be called righteous, it's, this kind of justification, but that's imputed, given to us, that yi, that kind of, you're called righteous, because of what Jesus has done, then there's a cheng sheng, you're all Chinese, you know, cheng sheng, hey, you become, holy, become righteous, become more like Jesus, that's a lifelong, and,
[15:11] I'm still a long way off, from that, but God is working, and my wife's working, on me too, so you see, all sorts of things, in life, help us to become, more and more, like God wants us to be, they can do anyway, so that to pursue righteousness, and then the other pair, there is godliness, so what is godliness, well these two, are pretty much linked, aren't they, righteousness, and godliness, and this is a nice definition, I thought of godliness, it was given by David Wells, who's a professor, a religion, a professor, in a seminary, in the US, he said, godliness, is being god centered, in our minds, thoughts, yeah, god fearing, in our hearts, and god honoring, in our lives, I like that, god centered, in our thoughts, god fearing, in our hearts, and god honoring, in our lives, and so, as we grow, in righteousness, and in godliness, we become more aware, of, you know, what's right, and what's wrong, and we become more aware, of what's, the seriousness of sin, and when we know, how serious sin is, that it separates us, from god, it destroys our lives, then we realize, how great, the grace of god is, if we don't realize, how serious sin is, we kind of, cheapen grace, but when we realize, how amazing, god is to save us, forgive us, from our sin, we realize, just how wonderful, his grace is, and god wants us, to be, righteous, and godly, not just when we, come to church, but at home, as well, and not just, in private, but in public, as well, so, the second pair, you notice there, is faith, and love, now faith, faith is something, not just for when, everything's going easy, but even in the tough times, even when things are difficult, that's when our faith, really counts for something, and, we can learn from others, from their example, those suffering, people who suffer, for their faith, we don't really suffer, for our faith, do we, not really in New Zealand, maybe a little bit, but not usually, seriously, but we can, be encouraged, by the example, of those brothers, and sisters, who, have had to suffer, for their faith, and then, when we think about, the other part there, love, love, love, is, so important for us, we need to pursue love, because, we need love, as we, witness to others, if we have all the gifts, of the spirit, as Paul says, in first Corinthians, but have no love, it means nothing, it's nothing, so, love is a very, important motivation, for us, as we share the gospel, so there,
[18:09] Timothy, says, as you, a pastor, young pastor, in the church, there in Ephesus, you need to pursue faith, you need to trust God, he can provide for you, he can protect you, he can keep you, you can hold on to him, even in suffering, and, Timothy, you can have the love, that you need, for the people, for your ministry, and then the final pair, is, endurance, and gentleness, now I put in here, a mention about this guy, William Carey, to illustrate, endurance, because, he, he went to India, he was a pioneer missionary, went there in 1793, that's over, over 200 years ago, 1793, he was the founder, what became the Baptist, missionary society, and, William Carey, spent 41 years, in India, he lost two wives, he lost, you know, through sickness, and he, and children, some of his children died, he, he, he, he had a really tough life, 41 years in India, died there, at the age of 72, but, he learned, multiple Indian languages, he was, overseeing, the Bible translation, of, a number of,
[19:21] Bible translations, of Indian languages, he founded, a printing press, he, he established, a number of schools, colleges, including, Serampore College, which was the first, degree awarding, institution, in the whole of Asia, imagine that, and, and he also, engaged in social reform, now, I tell you, William Carey, could not have done, any of that, without endurance, he needed endurance, but, you know, his, his endurance, his example, and that example, of missionaries, like that, is an encouragement, to us today, and I think, it's no wonder, that here in Auckland, there's a college, called, Carey Baptist College, have you heard of that?
[20:06] Carey Baptist College, and that's named, after William Carey, well, none of us, is likely, to be tested, like Carey was, but, we too, like Timothy, we need endurance, we need to, we need, that perseverance, to keep going, not to give up, so, young people, your studies are difficult, your situation difficult, ask God, to give you, pursue, to help you, pursue endurance, and along with endurance, interestingly, is gentleness, and here's a little, definition you could say, it's learning to be patient, in difficult circumstances, that's endurance, then gentleness, is learning to be patient, with difficult people, that's an important thing, for somebody, like a pastor, a Christian worker, you might have, difficult circumstances, so be, endure, stick at it, but then, what do you do, about difficult people, well, gentle, be gentle, that's an interesting thing, how to be gentle, with difficult people, but anyway, these are things, that all of us Christians, can do, let us learn, to be gentle, and gracious, even with people, who give us a hard time, is that a hard, is that a tough one, to take on board, how to be gentle, with people, who don't give you, who don't, are nice to you, well, if you think about it, how do you want people, to treat you, you'd hope, they'd be gentle, hey, not too hard on you, and so, that is how, we maybe should treat others, even if, they give us, a bit of a hard time, well, those are two things, flee, and pursue, and then, there's a third thing, things to fight for, and hold on to, verse 12,
[21:49] Paul tells him, fight the good fight, of faith, and take hold, of the eternal life, to which you were called, when you made your good confession, now, what must Timothy fight for, what's all this fighting about, what must he fight for, he must fight, for the truth, fight against all those, heresies, those bad, bad, the false teachers, were pushing, fight, the good fight, of the faith, and it takes courage, to fight for the faith, doesn't it, it's not easy, and it's like, standing for the truth, of the gospel, for what's right, and for what's wrong, doctrine, that's one side, standing for what's right, truth, but also, standing for what's right, and what's wrong, and Christians today, need to, fight, for the truth, fight for the faith, we, if we, if we just sit back, and do nothing, what's going to happen, society will just go, the way it goes, but we need to, be willing, to stand, and fight, oh, now that's an interesting one, how do we fight, do we fight like, this, or, or, you know, getting all angry, and fighting, that kind of fight, no, no, no, no, no,
[23:01] Christians, our armor, is different, our weapons, are different, there, there are some of them, salvation, righteousness, we just thought about, righteousness, truth, faith, the word of God, sharing the gospel, in love, prayer, these are the weapons, that we use, different, isn't it, completely different, to the way of the world, but those, are the weapons, that we use, and we're to fight, fight the good, fight the faith, you know, sometimes Christians, upset people, they antagonize people, because of, because they're not living, a really good life, but if we, if we live, close to Jesus, gracious, humble, towards people, we can, we can fight the good fight, not giving in, to what's wrong, but standing graciously, for what we know is right, and so, the other thing he says, is take, so fight the good fight, and then, take hold, of the eternal life, to which you were called, when you made that good confession, in the presence of many witnesses, facing the reality, of spiritual warfare, and living for Jesus, in the world today, we've got to, take hold, and keep hold of, the eternal life, that he's given us, and eternal life, is a gift, right, we don't earn it, it's a gift, like a song we sang, you hold eternal life, in your hand, before you even made us, right, he,
[24:33] God, God's, God eternity, in his hand, he's given us, eternal life, if you're a Christian, you have eternal life, but he's saying here, hold on to it, keep, hold, of that eternal life, that gift, don't turn your back, don't turn back, you keep going, hold on tight, to the wonderful gift, that God has given you, never, turn your back, on the one, who gave himself, for you, and after, Paul tells Timothy, to take hold, of the eternal life, there's this interesting phrase, when you made your good confession, in the presence, of many witnesses, and this probably, is referring to his baptism, right, when he made, his public confession, Elizabeth and I, were this morning, at our old church, in Marangi Bay, on the north shore, the 11 people, were baptized, and so that was, quite some fun, see 11 people, and in fact, they were all Chinese, believe it or not, all Chinese, men and women, younger and older, but praise the Lord,
[25:35] Timothy was baptized, and he was told, when you made your good, good confession, and so, I'll never forget, the day I was baptized, I was 12, but I came, became a Christian, when I was 8, anybody 8 here, anybody who's 8, yeah, and, when I was 10, anybody 10, when I was 10, the Lord called me, to China, I didn't even know, where China was then, but the Lord, called me to China, and then, when I was 12, I got baptized, and I remember it, as clearly, as yesterday, how many of you, remember the day, you were baptized, some, how many of you, have been baptized, Elizabeth remembers, someone, yep, how many of you, haven't yet been baptized, still to be baptized, anyway, don't worry, I'm sure, Pastor William, can arrange it for you, if you, if you love Jesus, it's a very special thing, and this is what, Timothy, he was told, to, to remember this, when you made, your good confession, to hold on to that, when you, confessed your faith, in baptism, so I encourage, all of you, to hold on, to the, the wonderful, gospel message, that Jesus has promised, that you've promised, to serve him, for the rest of your life, you won't regret it, and he gives, young Timothy, these practical, instructions, or commands, and now, he goes on, in verse 13, and 16, saying, hmm, he's just reminded, we've talked about,
[27:11] Timothy, making his good confession, and it reminds him, of something else, he says, verse 13, and this is our, second heading, truths about God, truths about God, in the sight of God, who gives, life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who are testifying, before Pontius Pilate, made the good confession, I charge you, to keep this command, without spot, or blame, he just mentioned, the good confession, that Timothy made, and he's reminded, of the good confession, Jesus made, before Pilate, now I don't know, what's happening there, but you can see, it, he, Jesus stood before Pilate, remember, when he was about to, be taken off, to be crucified, and he told Pilate, my kingdom, is not of this world, this is in John 18, and all the gospels, talk about Jesus, before Pilate, and then, he said, he said to Pilate, everyone on the side, of truth, listens to me, and he said,
[28:14] Pilate, asked him, what truth was, but Jesus told him, anyone on the side, of truth, listens to me, and Pilate probably thought, well he needs, he's the one, whose, Jesus' life is in his hands, he's the judge, and Jesus, is the one, that he's going to, condemn, but he didn't realize, of course, that one day, he will stand, before Jesus, as his judge, so, Paul mentions, the good confession, that Jesus made, and then he writes, it reminds him, of all these things, it's like a, doxology, a song of praise, rises up, in Paul's heart, as he thinks of Jesus, the confession, that Jesus made, it just, somehow, brings out in Paul, all this, and this, this, just these few verses, you could have books, written about actually, verse 13, God who gives life, to everything, verse 14, he talks about the appearing, the second coming, of Jesus, our Lord Jesus Christ, verse 15, he encourages Timothy, to keep his focus, on the blessed, and only ruler, the king of kings, and lord of lords, who alone is immortal, who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen, or can see, to him be honor, and glory, and eternal dominion, amen, so all these, things about God, just come through, into Paul's mind, it's like a hymn of praise, and, you know, as Timothy passes, there in Ephesus, he must keep his focus, on, on, who God is, the God he serves, this is the great God, the one who is king of kings, and lord of lords, the blessed, and only redeemed, sovereign, ruler, the rule of heaven, and earth, and so Timothy, when you're serving, and things are difficult, remember who you're serving, the one who's in control, of everything, who alone is immortal, who alone, lives in unapproachable light, all these truths, about God, and you're serving, for his honor, for his glory, he's the one deserving, of all praise, and all glory,
[30:23] Timothy, keep your eyes, fixed, on the Lord, so it's a wonderful, encouragement isn't, and so brothers, and sisters, you and I, we also need, to keep our eyes, fixed on this, our God, on the Lord Jesus, and when we do, we won't be overwhelmed, by the problems, that we face, we all will face problems, in life, but if we know the one, who is in control, of everything, it affects, everything about us, our emotions, our attitudes, our perspectives, our relationships, our choices, what we say, what we do, when we know, who our God is, and what we know, about God, determines, our attitude, what it shapes, what we live for, it shapes, what's important to us, why, what we're living for, and it gives us hope, for the future, so, those who fear God, those who, you know, when we say fear God, I mean, live in awe, and wonder of God, those who fear God, have nothing else, to fear, isn't that good, nothing else, to fear, and those, who do not fear God, become slaves, to a thousand fears,
[31:36] I think that's very true, and Paul has this song, of praise to God, and, now, it seems strange, what he turns to, and this is our third heading, and these are all briefer now, than the first one, this is the third heading, he comes back, to talking about money, what's he talking about money now, after all these things, he's been saying about how, how God is so wonderful, amazing God, well, money is very practical too, so Paul goes between, worshipping a God, and then talking about money, and he's already talked about money, last week you heard about money, hey, and about being, about being content, and so on, but he writes in verse 17, command those, who are rich in this world, this present world, not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us, with everything, for our enjoyment, so, Paul, is not criticizing, people who are wealthy, there were believers, who are wealthy, but he's not criticizing them, for being rich, he's rather encouraging them, to be good stewards, of what God, has so generously, given them, there's nothing wrong, with having wealth, if it's acquired honestly, and used wisely, but there are dangers, there are unique temptations, for those who become wealthy, what's the first one, he mentions there, arrogance, right, sometimes when people become wealthy, they look down their nose, at people who are poor, people who don't have as much, and that's the danger, a wealthy person, should never become arrogant, however, having plenty of money, doesn't make a person, wise, or generous, or kind, some are, but it doesn't do that, automatically, so arrogance, is one danger, another danger, of being wealthy, is having a false sense, of security, like it says there, they don't put their hope, in wealth, which is so uncertain, you know, money can, investments can, can, can fail, and money can be devalued, riches don't give us, peace of mind, in fact, sometimes when you're wealthy, you don't sleep as well, at night, as those who have nothing, those who've got nothing, or what they've got to worry about, nothing, because they've got nothing, but those who've got, all these investments, and properties, oh I wonder what's happening there, wonder what's happening there, wonder what, and they can't sleep at night, so anyway, and we need to remember also, that the, that the, no matter how much money, we accumulate on earth, we can't take one cent of it, to heaven with us, you know there was this guy, who, who had these gold bars, and he said, he was going to take them, to heaven, gold bars, that's the thing he hoped, he was able to take to heaven, but he got to heaven, and found, oh the streets are made of gold, my gold bars don't count, for anything now, just the dust is all gold, so it's a different value, and you think of the Chinese, burning, you know people, for those who've departed, all these houses, and cars, and all kinds of things, burn it, hoping to, for them to take it up there, well it's no use up there, of course, and so Paul writes, those who are wealthy, must put their hope, in God, who richly provides us, with everything, for our enjoyment, that is the wonderful thing, that God does, want us to enjoy life, you know when you,
[35:21] I was just thinking this morning, when I was having my breakfast, Elizabeth and I enjoy our breakfast, we have some fruit, different fruits, you know, different fruit in there, and God, God made all those fruit, all different, bananas, and kiwi fruit, and grapes, and raisins, all different, and then, then all the nuts, different kinds of nuts, I don't know how, what kind of nuts are there, this nut, and that nut, and the other nut, and this nut, and then, you know, all the things we, just in our breakfast, say, God wants us to enjoy, he gives us so much, to enjoy in life, and we just thank him for it, it's not that we become proud about it, so, when we, if we're blessed with something, let's use it, for God's glory, I know, I know a few people, who've been very wealthy, who God has used, to share their blessings with others, when I was growing up, there was a guy in our church, who had a foundry, you know, making a steel mill, that's a big deal, on his desk, he had a thing, deputy general director, sorry, general manager, deputy general manager, deputy manager, and somebody comes there, what do you mean, you're the founder, you're the owner of this thing, are you not the deputy, he said, no I am,
[36:44] God's the manager here, and he built a campsite, out on one of his ranches, he had a big ranch, as well, he built this beautiful campsite, and we used to go to camp, all going to camp tomorrow, right, and he, we, I don't know how many camps, how many thousands, upon thousands, of young people, have come to faith, and been blessed, at the Christian camp, that this guy built, and then I know, another guy in Switzerland, he had a grape, he used to produce, grape juice, beautiful factory, the most modern, amazing thing you could, you could cook on the floor, it was so clean, just the specks back there, beautiful farm, little grapes, and so on, he built a campsite, on the Rhine river, also for churches, youth groups, generation, after generation, anyway, so that's just to say, if God makes you wealthy, use it, for God's glory, God can use it, so Paul tells Timothy, command them, to do good, to be rich in good deeds, not to earn, not to try and earn their salvation, you can't earn it, but to use what God gives you, to be generous, to be willing to share, and what happens then, in this way, they'll lay out treasure, for themselves in heaven,
[38:07] I believe, when you give, when you give to others, of your time, and your talent, you know, it's you, you're laying out treasure, in heaven, and, it's, it's, we can bless others, not to earn salvation, but to just, to show, that God has been so good, to us, now John Wesley, you may have heard, of John Wesley, the Methodist, founder of the Methodist movement, greatly used by God, in the 18th century, he said this, to the Methodists, earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can, and that's a, that's a good, good way, because he saw, some Christians, getting so caught up, with earning money, they forgot about, the other thing, about saving, they forgot the other thing, about giving, so these three, all go together, and, there's another, someone else said this, our wealth, is not measured, by what we keep, for ourselves, but by what we give away, to those in need, and,
[39:12] I think of it, these three, time, talent, treasure, you might not be rich, in money, money, money, but you, would have talents, you can have, time, to give, for God, and for others, so all of these, giving God our best, and trusting him, for the rest, okay, that brings us, to my final point, are you ready, for the final point, you all ready, to go home, okay, final reminder, verses 20, and 21, Timothy, God, what has been entrusted, to your care, turn away, from godless chatter, there it is again, flee from all that nonsense, opposing ideas, of what's falsely called, knowledge, which some have professed, and in so doing, have departed, from the faith, that's a real tragic thing, hey, grace be with you all, he brings the letter, this marvelous letter, to a close, with two more, fantastic verbs, guard, and turn away from, Timothy, must guard, what's been entrusted, to him, what's been entrusted, to him, is it his, spiritual life, is it his, ministry, is it, the gospel, well in fact, all three, cannot be separated, your spiritual life, the ministry,
[40:31] God gives you, and the gospel, they all, tied together, but in a sense, I think Paul, is emphasizing, the gospel here, because the others, follow as well, of course, but he wants, Timothy, to guard, the gospel, guard, what's been entrusted, to you, this precious word, this precious truth, that God has revealed, hold, hold onto it, guard it, and when we think, of guarding the gospel, we must first of all, know the gospel, right, we must know the gospel, if we're going to guard it, we need to know it, and the gospel, is not just telling people, oh believe in Jesus, and you can have a happy life, everything's going to be fine, you'll be, you'll be, it'll be lovely, become a Christian, no, it's much more than that, it's got the bad news first, which talks about the fact, that we're sinners, we're cut off from God, and that's why I said grace, when we emphasize, the seriousness of sin, it makes the grace of God, even more amazing, so we encourage people, yes,
[41:35] Jesus does give you joy, and peace, and blessing, there's no question about that, but why do you come to him, you come to him, because you need him, and without him you're lost, you've no hope, in life, but if you come to him, repent, and turn to him, he's going to change your life, he's going to forgive you, this is a wonderful blessing, some people don't think, they say, oh I'm a good person, I don't need, oh I'm okay, but no, they see that they need God, they really come to faith, they come, they've changed, so, when we become sons and daughters of God, we realize how precious the gospel, not ashamed of the gospel, it's the power of God to salvation, to all who believe, and the Holy Spirit comes to live within us, that's also part of the gospel, the truth of the fact, that we become sons and daughters, of the living God, and the Holy Spirit comes to live within us, we're not on our own, trying to be a Christian, struggling to be a Christian, no, the Holy Spirit is within us, and enabling us, to live the Christian life, this is the gospel, we must guard, it's a precious gospel, and then, he must turn away, from the godless chatter, falsely called knowledge, we've talked about that, and that's, you can say, the liberal theology, or the, what's fashionable these days, turn away from it, we don't have to go along with, with what's woke, or what's popular at the time, we, we, just follow,
[43:06] God's truth, here's a lovely quote, I found from Singaporean, a Methodist bishop, he's a Sri Lankan, or Indian, I'm not too sure, he said, the measure, of any teaching, is not how attractive, and tantalizing it is, but how true it is, its truth, will always be measured, by what scripture teaches, and that's really, quite related to, this letter of Paul to Timothy, the truth, God the truth, God the gospel, now finally, Paul was concerned, that Timothy, and every next generation, of young believers, would know, and God, and proclaim, the gospel, and it's my prayer, for all you young folks, that you, you would be part of that, next generation, that loves God's word, that knows the Bible, that knows the gospel, and is keen, to share it with others, stand up for Jesus, be passionate about Jesus, in serving him, in the power of the Holy Spirit, such a generation, will impact New Zealand, for good, for God, and will even impact the world, so,
[44:27] Paul ends with, grace be with you all, it's only by grace, isn't it, that we can face, the challenge of guarding, and proclaiming, the good news, so, are you still awake, anyone out there, still awake, okay, so good, we finished now, you can wake up, let's pray, let's pray, dear Lord, I thank you for these, dear young people, and some, like me and Rick, not as young, but we thank you that, you've called each one of us, to, love you, and serve you, and follow you, and we want to do that Lord, for the rest of our lives, however long, you may give us, may we live for you, and, we thank you now, for this time together, and for your word, in Jesus name, Amen.