The Man of God

Well, what do you think of when you hear the term the man of God? Maybe your response is a positive one you're thinking of a role model in your life maybe a family member who as I remember my dad being was such a positive and godly influence in my life Maybe you're thinking of a pastor who was special to you in the past Maybe your response is neutral to that term the man of God. Maybe you're just thinking Isn't that what every man's supposed to be a man of God or maybe for some of you your response to that term is negative Maybe you're thinking of someone who claimed to be a man of God but failed you and others Maybe you're thinking of a charlatan who was a deceiver a Wolf and lambs clothing who deceived a lot of people or maybe you're thinking of a A pastor who used that term man of God to isolate himself and elevate himself above everybody else From any kind of accountability. So maybe you have a negative thought when you think of that term It's interesting to me that God uses that term Paul uses that term man of God as he closes his letter to Timothy in the beginning of that closing as he initiates that closing of the letter he addresses him as man of God I Thought it was interesting enough to trace through and see why Paul would use that term because Three times in this epistle he addresses him by his given name Timothy and On other occasions he just refers to him in the first person or just in a direct reference But this time and this time alone as he starts this final Challenge in charge to Timothy he refers to him as man of God You see it there in first Timothy 6 verse 11, but you man of God So I decided to trace that term out and I found that it's a term that has Old Testament background to it In the Old Testament it was reserved for men who were spokesman for God prophets the term is used of Moses Samson Elijah Elisha and five lesser-known prophets It's twice used of David and he may seem to be the exception to a prophet, but interestingly enough It's used of David twice in the book of Nehemiah and it describes him in his role of Communicating to the Levites what their role was in the temple worship and so he is Acting as God spokesman Clarifying the law of Moses and what God has commanded the Levites to do So in every case in the Old Testament It's used of someone who prophetically sounds forth the word of God who proclaims the word of God In the New Testament it's only found twice once here and the other time Amazingly enough used by Paul in second Timothy of Timothy again that the man of God may be perfect through the French and all good works He says and it's right in the context of him Exalting the word of God that Timothy is known since a child and is fully inspired in Errant word of God and then he says right after that expression you are to preach the word So I believe in every case where that term is found in the Bible It describes a spokesperson for God a spokesman for God a man who declares the word of God One who represents God by proclaiming his word So Paul as he begins this last challenge to Timothy and wants to grab his attention Paul uses this expression Neplaces Timothy into that rich Old Testament heritage He has just warned Timothy in verses three through five of false prophets And so now he says but notice the the distinction in verse 11 but you Oh, man of God In other words Timothy you're different from those false teachers. You are an radically different group You are in a long line of preachers true to God's word that goes all the way back to the father of the prophets Moses himself You are in that tradition Timothy you are in that long line of Spokesman for God. I just am sure that got Timothy's attention Knowing the Old Testament background of that term when Paul used it of him he thought whoa Okay, you've got my attention now Paul I believe Timothy recognized that some weighty Challenges were coming and indeed they are weighty challenges To the man of God these challenges to close this book are specifically for Timothy and Because they are addressed to Timothy as a pastor they are specifically for pastors today And so I address these words in the way they were first intended By Paul to those whose responsibility it is to proclaim the word of God So I address specifically this message this morning to pastor Dan to pastor James Pastor Jim pastor Jim and to myself But because these challenges to pastors are found inscribed in God's in error word God one of the whole church to hear this God one of the whole church to likewise be challenged not just for the standard for pastors But to recognize it's also a challenge for me and I also need to know as the church what God expects of my pastor what God expects of those who are Specifically charged with being his spokesman his Proclaimer of the word of God I need to know as a church God's standard God's priorities For these men so what are what is the charge what are the commands? What are the challenges? First of all Paul says to Timothy the man of God must flee The man of God must flee look at verse 11 first Timothy 6, but you man of God flee from all this The word Paul uses is the Greek word Fugo and I only mention that because we get a lot of our English words from Greek words And you can probably see the likeness what term that means to flee would we get from the word Fugo Fugitive yeah, that's it. I heard several of you say that you were with me right fugitive So God is telling us to be a fugitive from some things and it's in the present tense Continually flee continually run from some things what things well notice what he says, but you man of God flee from all this All right Timothy all right Paul Well, what he has just said in verses three through 10 in the warnings that we saw a couple of weeks ago That Paul gave to Timothy He warned him about two plagues. Do you remember that the plague first of all of false teachers So that's part of the all this that he's warning him to flee from the plague of false teachers flee false teachers Timothy flee their deviation from the word flee their arrogant attitude flee their sick craving for controversy flee their fleshly and divisive behavior flee their prosperity gospel which simply says the ministry is a way to get rich flee all of that we saw all of that in the warning back in verses three through five flee the plague of false teachers and false teaching Timothy But there was a second plague you had warned Timothy about and that was the plague of materialism So Timothy flee that plague of materialism that hordes Possessions that has a contempt for the poor thinking because you have more you're better than they are flee that Timothy flee flee that materialism that is consumed by a desire for possessions by a devotion Love of money and for a drive for possessions those who are eager to get rich He says we saw all of that in that warning about materialism And so he's warning Timothy flee the plague of false teachers flee the plague of materialism You see Timothy. I want you to know Paul says there are times when you need to turn your back On those kinds of evil and run as fast as you can in the opposite direction get away from it don't look it in the eye Don't stand face to face with it or it will seduce you become alluring to you Turn your back and run Become a fugitive from those things run from them There are times when all of us as believers Must turn our back on evil stop looking at it Stop watching it stop considering it stop thinking about how strong you are and praying for God to help you overcome it turn your back and run Go the other direction Get away from it become a fugitive flee from it There are times when we all need to flee and for certain Paul says to this man of God flee But then the second charge he gives him is to follow Follow Yeah, Timothy. There's some things you should flee but notice what he says in verse 11 that you man of God flee from all this and pursue there's the word follow So if we turn our back and run from something there's got to be something we're running to right? So this is what we're to chase this is what we're to pursue This is what we're to run toward So you've got to put these two together Paul's not saying just turn away and run you know kind of in some kind of wild half-hazard fashion looking for someplace to hide No, no he's talking about running towards something with with devotion and direction and passion and purpose Yes, you turn your back on evil, but as you're running you're not running wildly trying to get away from something You're running towards something you're following something and he lists six character qualities that we are to pursue that were to run toward And interestingly enough they are found in three couplets. There are three groupings of two they Go together in other words. Notice them if you will the first two go together. He says pursue righteousness godliness Now those two may seem to be two words meaning the same thing, you know Be like Christ live for the Lord in those kinds of things, but really they are two different sides of the same coin Righteousness is the more horizontal relationship with others godliness is the vertical relationship between us and God and they go together Righteousness means that we treat others by doing what is right just Fair in our dealings with others Godliness is the more vertical relationship with God The inner attitudes and motivations of reverence for God a desire to be like Christ To be more godly in our spirit our attitudes and our demeanor Which will then enable us to live righteously toward others those two go together Paul says Timid that's what you're going to be pursuing that's what you're to run after You know Notice the next two The next two are faith and love and those two often go together in scripture sometimes they're coupled with a third one Hope faith hope and love But faith and love are often found together in the New Testament and they do go together faith being that Confident trust in God and unwavering loyalty to him I trust in him and I am faithful to him that's my faith And then love is the choice to put others first. It's the word that means a sacrificial giving of yourself for someone else that the other person comes first So it means that supremely we love God We put him above every one else and everything else in our lives And then that frees us to love others to put them ahead of ourselves Really this is the great commandment isn't it Jesus was asked the question of what's the greatest of the commandments. He said oh take them all all 613 Old Testament commands in the law of Moses and group them into Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength Love your neighbor is yourself love God love others. That's it. That's really it So love is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament law and so our faith in him trusting him being faithful to him Will then express itself in love for him and love for others both believers and the lost So that's what we're to pursue that's what we're to follow after then notice the last two endurance and gentleness Again kind of two sides of the same coin endurance both of them have to do with patience endurance is patience in circumstances gentleness is patience with people So endurance the word literally means To stay under to remain under and it's used in the Bible of when times are hard and you're being pressed and feels like you're being squashed with the weight of difficult circumstances in your life Don't give up It is it is a waiting Not quitting determination to let God use those hard times in our lives to mold us and shape us and make us What he wants us to be that's endurance its patience under the hard circumstances and then gentleness Is patience with people it's a tender patient self-control with other people patience with circumstances that's endurance patience with people that's gentleness Two sides of the same coin and so you want to know when we turn from sin and evil false teaching and materialism and all that What are we supposed to be running toward this is it and those are six great character qualities to be pursuing to be following after Those two go together you flee and you follow you turn away, but you're running towards something You're pursuing something you're following after something We run from evil, but we pursue godly character You know, it's natural for us to run away from things that threaten us, isn't it Genie and I were out walking the other day and somebody had let a dog loose And that dog came tearing out of a yard and went right for genie's ankles. You know what we did We ran Get away. I mean, that's just natural instinct you run from things that threaten you And you want to pursue things that are good for you. Here's the problem In the spiritual realm we get those things turned upside down And the things that really we should run from Look like they would provide safety to us power promotion of self pleasure Possessions the world says you'd get those things man. You got it may You're you're in good shape and so we listened to that message long enough and we begin to pursue those things when actually got says those are the greatest threat to us And the things that may seem to be the greatest threat to us the spiritual disciplines that will lead us to godly character sometimes they seem to threaten us and we don't want to who would want to do that anyway who would want to read your Bible and pray and And and develop the kind of spiritual discipline of life and character that will make you godly who'd want to do that's threat name So we got it all turned upside down Leadership journal recently told of a cross-country NCAA cross-country championship that was held in Riverside, California 128 runners involved in the race from many different universities across the nation on a 10,000 meter cross-country course of the 128 runners 123 Did not take the right turn on a turn on the course and here's the reason why The course was marked clearly that there was a sharp turn But the turn seemed to lead back into the woods whereas the beaten path went straight ahead Mike Delvaco one of the runners from a particular university Notice the sign and turned to go into the woods and tried to get some guys to come with him everybody was going the other way only five people took the turn But it was the right course 123 runners were disqualified because they took what looked like the right course, but wasn't Delvaco was asked at the end what did what did everybody do he said they were laughing As they went on down the course and I took the left turn they were laughing thinking man you're really blowing it But he was the one that was awarded first place It's It's so easy for us as we run From things that we think threaten us and things that we think provide us Safety to be pursuing the wrong things and running from the right things And what God is reminding Timothy and all of us of here is there some things you should flee But you make sure they're the wrong things They're the things that I've warned you about that will destroy you spiritually and you run toward godly character with all of your might flee oh man of God follow oh man of God and then thirdly the man of God must fight He must fight Look at verse 12 Fight the good fight of the faith You know some people just simply do not get it The Christian life is a fight. It is a battle the ministry is a battle We are involved in spiritual warfare and we've got at least three very keen deceptive enemies There's the enemy of the flesh our old sinful nature that Galatians 5 describes is constantly fighting literally the term Paul uses his hand to hand combat in the French's fighting against the Holy Spirit and what the Holy Spirit is doing to make us more Christ's like to develop his fruit in us And the flesh is there fighting the whole time pulling you the other direction. That's an enemy. We're in a battle And then we've got this world system It's a way of thinking a way of looking at life that is opposed to the biblical world view and view of how to live Life and that world view continually pulls at us the majority opinion in our culture continually pulls us away from holiness and righteousness and pursuing God It pulls us to indulge in the flesh and self this world system is so alluring and then we've got a third Enemy in this battle and that's Satan himself and the Bible describes him as so deceptive It says it were to be sober be vigilant Always on guard against the wilds the strategies the schemes of the devil He's got all kinds of strategies that are very deceptive He's the one that makes what looks Good really what God says is bad for us And so we've got to be careful we're in a fight we're in a battle so Paul reminds Timothy fight Fight the good fight The word he uses for fight is the word that we get our English word agonize from It's used both in military context in the New Testament and in athletic contexts So it can mean the fight in the sense of fighting in a literal military battle or fight in the sense of being a good athlete and fighting But both ideas have the same components to them The the idea of fighting in either realm in a military battle or in an athletic contest means this you have the concentration the discipline the conviction the effort that is needed to be a victor You cannot win a battle or an athletic contest unless you have those the concentration to keep your focus on the right things The discipline to say no to things that will hold you back and focus on the finish line The conviction that says I know regardless of all those other voices calling at me This is what God wants me to do and the effort to keep at it all of that is needed. It's all in this word agonize fight Now fighting fighting is not pleasant fighting is distasteful fighting is undignified Fighting is only relished by those who have kind of a violent bent I was checking my ESPN app on my phone the other day to see how the cubs were doing I'm about to really stop checking by the way, but they're not having too good decisions so far But anyway, I was checking see how the cubs were doing and I noticed one of those little 30 second Videos that will pop up it had the heading on it crowd attacks fighter And I thought well that looks interesting. So I punched it up and it was about a UFC ultimate fighting championship fight And these guys are brutal. I mean there they're kicking each other in the head And they've just got little leather gloves not really boxing gloves and they're just beating each other to a pulp And the bell sounds and this one guy starts toward his corner And the other guy in the ring runs up behind him and pops him in the side of the head knocks him out I mean the guy never even saw it coming. It was an illegal punch And he the blood is spewing out in the ring and he's lying then knocked out And the crowd was so incensed they stormed the ring and started beating the other guy to a pulp. It was great I mean it was awful I Must admit you know Little UFC is kind of fun, but let forget that forget that Fighting is is unpeakified just tasteful except for those who have a little bit of a violent bent That's the reason why Paul says fight the good fight There is a bad fight Illegal fight in appropriate fight undignified fight. There is also a good fight And the good fight Paul identifies for us fight the good fight Of the faith We've seen that expression before in first Timothy the faith He's told Timothy to keep the faith guard the faith preach teach the faith the faith Is that body of doctrine which composes The elements the basics of the word of God the basics of what we believe that is the faith It's not talking about personal trust here. It's talking about a body of teaching doctrine Sometimes Paul calls it the message or the teaching or God's truth We are to fight for the faith for God's truth For doctrine pure doctrine Because it has been entrusted to us that message is precious It is sacred We cannot neglect that message without dishonoring our God So whenever God's word is attacked by false teachers or false teaching we've got to stand up and fight We've got to defend God's word Not because it needs our defense, but because we are called to keep it to guard it Not to compromise it And so we are to fight that good fight of the faith Jude calls it contending for the faith Another fighting term Now you can fight for the faith without being contentious you can contend for the faith without being contentious in spirit in fact Paul when we get into second Timothy we'll find a morning Timothy in chapter 2 When you approach false teachers do so with gentleness As a servant You don't have to be contentious in your spirit But you do need to fight for the faith don't let it slide doctrine the teaching of the word of God God's truth is all important the truth of the gospel is everything We cannot we must not compromise it and just as Paul challenges Timothy Fight the good fight of the faith don't ever compromise the scriptures. I challenge all of our pastors Fight the good fight of the faith. Don't ever compromise the scriptures and I have every confidence and assurance that will be the case in years to come here the faith will be upheld and delivered faithfully and defended fight fight the good fight Paul tells Timothy But there's a fourth charge Man, this is good stuff Just poured on Paul we need this the fourth charge is fasten on to fasten on to something I want you to see how he says it there in verse 12 fight the good fight of the faith Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses Now at the end of the verse he's probably talking about when Timothy made a public confession of his salvation Because he's talking about the eternal life that Timothy had received And the public confession of that was probably at his baptism Which is still today we consider The public confession to other people that we have trusted Christ as our Savior that we've become a Christ follower that we're dead to the old life And we're dead with Christ and we've been raised to walk in a new light with him Baptism is a public confession of that spiritual reality that's already happened in our hearts And so that's probably what he's talking about here Timothy remember when you when you made that public confession of the eternal life you had received by faith in Christ He's saying now I want you to take hold of that now that seems a little puzzling Eternal life you've either got it or you don't right? I mean you've trusted Christ as your Savior or you haven't you either have eternal life or you don't What's this take hold of it mean Well, let's explore a little bit more what he means by eternal life first of all The term that he uses for eternal life You know when we see that term eternal life we often think That's duration that means everlasting that means forever and it does it includes that When you trust Christ as your Savior you receive a life that will never end It can never end because it is eternal. It's everlasting it will last forever Can never end which I believe means you are eternally secure in Christ you can never lose that because it can never end But that's not all that's in this term The term eternal life literally means to receive a life that is not only eternal in duration But eternal in character eternal in quality. It's a kind of life that we now have because we know Jesus It is a life that understands I am now in God's family I am his child. I know him It's It's the kind of life that loves Christ because he gave himself for us and is in love with him It's the kind of life that senses the presence of the spirit and wants to live in him and through his power It's the kind of life that expresses and understands and deeply rests in the peace that we have because we know we're forgiven It's the kind of life that experiences and exhilarates in the joy of serving him Because you see what God can do through weak vessels That are yielded to him that's kind of life He's talking about and when he says take hold of it. He means sees all of that embrace it Enjoy it. Live it to the full This is life Life that is eternal that's not just temporary fleeting the stuff of this world that we're all going to leave behind This is living the kind of life that is eternal that will never end It's as eternal implications and Paul tells him sees it grab it embrace it Told it close to you get a grip in other words get a grip Timothy and hold this life dear to you and live it out with everything you have I mean, I want you to see the urgency of this word This word where he says take hold is the same word that used of Jesus grabbing Peter after Peter had walked on the water And it started sinking and Jesus grabs him It's the same word that is used of the Roman soldiers grabbing Simon of siren to force him to carry the cross of Jesus It's the same word that used of of Paul in the temple in Acts 22 Of being grabbed by the Jewish mob they were going to kill him and again the same word used of the Roman soldier that grabbed Paul away from them and arrested him This is almost a violent word I mean this is a word that means literally Seize it grasp it don't run it out of your grasp Live life this way in other words grab the life you have in Christ and live it to the full Through the ups and the downs Timothy In ministry As in all of the Christian life, but remember he's especially addressing Timothy Timothy in ministry You're gonna have some ups and they're gonna be great. They're gonna be exhilarating joyful You're gonna have some downs and they're gonna be awful hard You're gonna have some times when you want to quit And I'm telling you in those times don't let go you seize that life that you have in Christ and it will carry you through Don't complain don't talk about the long hours don't talk about Seize life that God's given you in the ministry and grasp it and love it and enjoy it That's what he's saying. I think you're saying what Annie Dillard described Well-known author who wrote a book in 1982 teaching a stone to talk In this book Annie Dillard tells of a man who after shooting an eagle from the sky And don't get hung up on that we could debate the legality of that. There's 1982 After shooting an eagle from the sky examined it and found the dry skull of a weasel fixed by the jaws To the bird's throat Now get the picture here evidently when the eagle pounced on the weasel The animal instinctively reacted by biting into the bird with determination And never let go The torn and eviscerated she writes the weasel refused to let go and became an airborne skull She gives the application She says I think it would be well and proper and obedient and pure To grasp your one necessity and she defines that in her book as we would also our life in Christ Exactly what Paul's talking about here the life that has eternal quality to it Grasp that one necessity she says and not let it go to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you I love that picture Because life and ministry are going to take you through some tough times Take hold sees that life that you have in Christ She goes on to say seize it and let it seize you up a loft even till your eyes burn out and drop Let your musky flesh fall off in shreds and let your very bones Unhinged and scatter loosened over fields over fields and woods Wightly thoughtless from any height at all from as eyes eagles Wow That makes me want to bite an eagle It it makes me want to grab hold of the life that I have in Christ with such a bigger and determination That no matter what it brings me tomorrow or next week I will not loosen my grip and let go Take hold fastened on to the life that God has given us in Christ He's challenging Timothy to do that because there'll be many times when you want to just let go and forget it Don't do that Then there's a fifth charge Be faithful Timothy be faithful Versus 13 to 16 and verses 20 and 21 he finishes the book with this be faithful Quickly I want you to see the essence of faithfulness. What does it mean to be faithful Beginning in verse 13 Paul gives him this long charge and challenge, but there are three verbs Three action words that stick out and those are the essence of the charge the essence of faithfulness Look at it if you will verse 13 in the sight of God who gives life to everything and of Christ Jesus who while Testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession. I charge you. Okay. Here's the first one I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ the first one is to keep That's the first verb first axi word first part of the charge. I charge you to keep What are you to keep this command? He says well what command Everything he's commanded him in this book. It all refers to that that charge that That the faith which has been delivered to him to keep the truth the word of God Timothy keep this command everything in this letter particularly God's truth live it preach it teach it defend it keep it Timothy keep it don't let it go And while you're keeping it keep your own life pure Keep it without spot. He says without spot Or marring your testimony in any way Keep it without spotter blame The second thing he says which describes the essence of faithfulness is down in verse 20 He says Timothy Guard what has been entrusted to your care So Timothy keep but also guard guard something What what's been entrusted to Timothy's care The word entrusted is literally the word to deposit and it was used in the New Testament Of money or valuables that had been given to someone for safe keeping like a family Treasure family heirloom. I'm passing this down to you You guard it you guard the deposit and and I like that way of saying it one of the commentaries It's been so helpful to me an understanding first Timothy has been Kent Hughes Excellent commentary on this book and he entitles his commentary guard the deposit You see every pastor needs to understand something has been deposited with us It's been passed down to us It's been entrusted to us for our safe keeping Through church history faithful preachers teachers missionaries martyrs have kept the trust Safe They've not compromised it. They've given their lives for it Was thinking this week as I was thinking about this of Charles Haddon Spurgeon The great preacher in London in the last half of the 1800s who preached to thousands of people And yet at the end of his ministry Was almost cast out by most of the denomination where he served because they were going liberal It was called the downgrade controversy in the early 19 1890s And he died a broken man Because he almost alone was standing for the faith When he died He kept the deposit and then he passed it down to the next generation and it's been passed down to every generation of preachers like that The question is will we safeguard it? The deposit of God's truth of God's word of pure biblical doctrine is not ours to change It's not ours to replace with some new fancy truth. It's not ours to dress up with psychology or philosophy and make it sound better It is ours to guard It is ours to keep It is ours to safeguard And to be faithful to the word of God That's what we are charged with men of God God the truth And then notice he says in verse 21 turn away or avoid Yes, to the keep guard but also avoid He says turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge Which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith By now if you've been with us in first Timothy, that's a pretty familiar description of false teaching you've seen it before Paul has a very graphic way of describing it Godless chatter He's used other terms like that to describe false teaching Opposing ideas in other words ideas that oppose the gospel the truth of God's word pure doctrine of the word ideas that oppose that But are dressed up with forms of knowledge that are really falsely called knowledge He's telling Timothy don't get sucked into that It is seductive It is alluring It makes you sound smart Don't get sucked into that Timothy Keep the faith and avoid all the stuff That is packed onto it the godless chatter Knowledge falsely called he says you profess that and so doing many have departed from the faith They've been allured away from the pure faith of the word of God So whether it's psychology philosophy senseless debates about things that really have no meaning But are just academically oriented to make the university professor think you're smart avoid that Timothy Still away from that. That's just godless chatter That's knowledge that is falsely called knowledge You have the truth of God's word Keep it Guard it avoid anything that will distract you from it That is the charge Be faithful And when the going gets tough Timothy You're gonna need some motivations for faithfulness and I'm gonna give you three he says Three motivations for being faithful first of all Timothy be faithful in his presence Look at these motivations verse 13 In the sight of God who gives life to everything and Again understood in the sight of Christ Jesus who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession. I charge you Okay, the charge is given in the context of we live and minister And do all of this it pulse telling us to do in the sight of God and Christ He calls to witnesses. He says Timothy these two are watching everything you do God and Christ now that's not meant to be intimidating to Timothy. It's meant to be encouraging Because notice how he describes them God is the one who in verse 13 Gives life to everything So Timothy when you feel like giving up he will sustain you even if they take your life your persecuted You are a martyr for the faith he will give you life. He will resurrect you He's the one who gives life he will sustain you Timothy When the going gets tough and then the second example Christ Jesus Oh his example of his faithful confession when he was before pilot Jesus did not back away from the truth and when pilot At least in his mind back Jesus into a corner and said okay, just tell me are you a king? Jesus said it is as you say I am a king Knowing that that was the charge the Pharisees were wanting to get to stick before pilot That would wind up putting him on the cross Jesus didn't back away from the truth He said my kingdom is not of this world. It's not a fleshly earthly kingdom in the sense that it is like yours But it is a kingdom and I am a king he did not back down from his profession of what God wanted him to say So Timothy When the going gets tough when the opposition gets hard when everybody wants you to go down a certain path That is not the path of the word of God you remember Jesus your savior Who gave a good confession before pilot he didn't back down You stick with the word stick with the word Timothy Remember They're watching you They're watching you So be faithful in the presence of God in his presence secondly be faithful until his coming that's the second motivation verse 14 He says I charge you to keep this command without spotter blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ which God will bring about in his own time What is saying Timothy you do this with a dog at determination and persistence in fulfilling your call and preaching and teaching and defending and keeping the faith until Christ comes back Don't give up no matter how dark the days get And he reminds him that could be at any time God will do it anytime Could be anytime Timothy It is then that you will be rewarded you may not be rewarded here. You'll be rewarded there You may be misunderstood ridiculed persecuted here you'll be rewarded there Stick with it until Jesus comes It is then Timothy you will be vindicated it is then that you will rest Stick with it until Jesus comes What a motivation to stay faithful and then the third motivation for his glory Stay faithful Timothy for his glory Verse 15 when he talks about God bringing about the coming of Christ in his own time Paul as he is want to do falls into the stock solitude It just shows his heart was so full of God Himself so he says God while I'm talking about God the one who will bring in Christ appearing at his same time at his time. He says God middle of verse 15 the blessed and only ruler The king of kings and lord of lords who alone is immortal and who lives an unapproachable light Who no one has seen or can see to him be honored and might forever This is like a systematic theology of the person of God there eight of his attributes that are mentioned here Look at him again He will bring about price coming in his own time So he is all knowing He is the blessed God a word which literally means peacefully content perfectly content The only ruler he is sovereign the king of kings and lord of lords he has all power Who alone is immortal he is eternal And who lives an unapproachable light he is absolutely holy Who no one has seen or can see he is pure spirit To him be honored and might forever he is wholly worthy That's our great God and the only thing left to say after you contemplate who he is is what Paul says Amen Amen Timothy be faithful for his glory Remember the greatness of the God who has called you So Timothy men of God people of God flee evil Follow Christ's likeness fight the good fight of the faith fasten on to the life that Christ has given you which has eternal quality to it and love it embrace it and live it and be faithful Be faithful in his presence until he comes for his glory That is the charge Then I love the way he ends the book with this simple little phrase It almost seems tacked onto the end, but it really isn't Grace be with you all That's how we know Paul is a southerner right you all Now we would know he's from the deep south if he said y'all you Grace be with you all Grace be with you pastor and congregation Grace be with you For a pastor it is not possible To meet this standard without his grace it requires his grace And whenever we attempt as we do sometimes in our own strength we fail we fall flat on our faces But it really is plural here He is speaking to more than just Timothy as he ends He's been talking to Timothy, but all of a sudden he switches to the plural grace be with you plural and that's why the niv has said you all So he is talking to the congregation as well Because when it comes to these kinds of issues we're all Called to flee sin follow godliness Fight the good fight of the faith stay true to his word They hold of that life that he's given us and embrace it and live it out to the full and be faithful We're all called to that so it requires God's grace for you too Requires God's grace for all of us Grace be with you all Grace be with you all It's a praise Father as As humbly as I know how and as weak as I am I embrace this challenge this charge I pray for Dan For James for Jim and Jim That they would embrace this charge Until they breathe no longer I pray for all of us here today That your grace would be with us to flee evil righteousness Always defend and live out the faith Embrace the eternal life you've given us and live it to the full and be faithful to you Oh God give us the grace to live that way In Jesus name. Amen