How refreshing to be in worship this morning.
Amen?
Open your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 6
if you would.
1 Timothy chapter 6.
We're looking at verses 3 through 12 today.
If you want to read along with me.
1 Timothy 6.3 The Apostle Paul is
speaking to Timothy, young Pastor Timothy.
And Paul said here, If anyone teaches otherwise,
and does not consent to wholesome words, even
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he
is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with
disputes and arguments over words from which come
envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of
men of corrupt minds and destitute of the
truth, who suppose that godliness is a means
of gain.
From such withdraw yourself.
Now godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into this world, and
are certain we can carry nothing out.
And having food and clothing with these we
shall be content.
But those who desire to be rich fall
into temptation and a snare, and into many
foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in
destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root
of all kinds of evil, for which some
have strayed from the faith in their greediness,
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But you, O man of God, flee these
things, and pursue righteousness and godliness and faith,
love, patience and gentleness, and fight the good
fight of faith.
Lay hold on eternal life, to which you
are also called, and have confessed the good
confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you for this time to
be in your word.
Teach us, instruct us, encourage us, exhort us.
And again, we thank you that your word
is a lamp unto our feet, and it
is a light unto our path.
And thank you that it's the sword of
the spirit.
It's the discerner of the thoughts and intents
of our heart, Lord.
And we thank you that it was written
to us personally, your love letter to us.
Thank you so much.
We love you in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Now Paul had opened this letter with a
warning to young pastor Timothy.
And I do appreciate Paul as an older
man in the Lord, writing an encouraging letter
to Timothy.
You can imagine how Timothy felt when he
received this incredible encouragement from Paul.
And Paul had such a heart for Timothy,
his son in the faith, that he had
led to Christ, helped nurture in Christ.
But he opened the letter really with a
warning, urging Timothy to charge and really to
command the false teachers in the local churches
to stop teaching false doctrine, to cease and
desist from teaching doctrine that did not line
up with the true gospel of Jesus Christ,
that did not line up with the apostolic
teaching.
And really there's nothing more dangerous to Christian
contentment and unity in the church today than
troubling the calm waters of the spirit and
the sound teaching of the word of God
with false teaching and with false doctrine.
This Timothy had not only to be aware
of, but he was also to expose it
and also to rebuke it.
These false teachers had infiltrated the churches and
they were acting like, you've heard the expression,
like wolves in sheep's clothing.
Wolves in sheep's clothing, that's what was going
on here.
They were fleecing the flock, you've heard that
term before.
They were really using their religious profession as
a means to make money off of the
people.
And they were really kind of running a
religious business, not truly ministering to the needs
of the people, but more concerned with how
they could pad their own wallets.
Really this was an ongoing problem with the
leaders that went all the way back to
the time of the prophet Ezekiel who warned
the irresponsible leaders of Israel in chapter 34,
woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed
themselves.
Should not the shepherds feed, not fleece the
flocks?
You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with
wool.
You slaughter the fatlings, but you do not
feed the flock.
The weak you have not strengthened, nor have
you healed those who are sick, nor bound
up the broken, nor brought back what was
driven away, nor sought what was lost.
Now that was Jesus' own ministry, wasn't it?
As the good shepherd and as the great
shepherd, to seek and to save that which
was lost, not to rip people off.
But this the false prophets and teachers were
doing.
They were ripping off not only the people's
joy, but they were ripping off their resources
as well.
Jesus said in Matthew 7, 15, Beware of
false prophets who come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Jesus also said to the Pharisees in Matthew
23, the woe chapter, woe to you hypocrites,
you pretenders, you phonies.
For you devour widows' houses, you cleanse the
outside of the cup and the dish, but
inside you're full of extortion and self-indulgence.
So instead of loving the people, they were
lording over the people and making money off
of the people, oftentimes.
Now not only do false teachers refuse to
adhere to sound doctrine, but they're full of
pride, 1 Timothy 6, 4 tells us.
Instead of being humble, a false teacher is
often proud and conceited, and that's a danger
to look for.
When you see pride and conceit in someone
who's teaching up in the pulpit, that can
be a very dangerous thing.
There needs to be the fragrance of humility
coming from those who would stand in the
pulpit and tremble before the Lord, knowing that
it's God working in them and through them
and nothing in and of themselves.
And this was a problem with the false
teachers, pride and conceit.
And Paul's telling Timothy here that really, that's
showing that they really know nothing, but they're
obsessed with disputes and arguments, literally with word
battles.
The false teacher obsesses over terminology and information
and maybe lots of head knowledge, but they
have a heart that's far from God.
As Jesus warned, you prophesy with your lips,
but your heart is far from me.
All this will lead those who are being
swayed by this false teaching into envy and
strife and reviling and evil suspicions and useless
wranglings, and that's better translated there, constant friction,
verse 5 says, constant friction.
It's sad, but still true today, that sometimes
the reason why a particular church seems to
be in constant friction is because of the
upheaval and the undermining that the false teachers
are bringing with these teachings.
The reason could be gossip, it could be
immorality, but oftentimes it's due to false teaching
as well.
You know, all it takes is for one
half-truth or a lie to worm its
way into the church, and it could be
the death blow to that fellowship, right?
One half-truth, one lie.
I know the church that Pastor Pat and
I came from up in Walnut started off
as a wonderful church, started off with just
a few folks, ended up with about 5
,000 people, maybe more, and the pastor went
up to northern California, met some Christian counselors,
and got caught up in the primal scream
therapy movement and got convinced that it was
the right thing to do to take his
staff and some of the people in the
church through the primal scream under hypnosis to
bring them back to their birth event and
just scream it all out, and that would
take care of all your problems.
And it got so bad that people in
the church were standing up in the congregation
rebuking the pastor during his teachings, and Pastor
Pat and I had come down here to
Escondido, right, when everything broke loose and hit
the fan, but it didn't take long for
that man to get off into something false
and error, ruin the church.
He lost his wife through divorce.
His son died tragically.
It was just a horrible set of events,
and it was due to the false teaching,
a lot of it, that he willingly brought
into the church as he was deceived.
Many churches in our own area have fallen
due to self-seeking false teachers as well
here in North County, and Paul warned the
Ephesian elders in Acts 20, verse 30 that
also from among yourselves men will rise up,
speaking misleading things to draw away disciples after
themselves.
Therefore watch.
Watch out for their methods, for often behind
their methods are their motives, and often their
motives are for, not all the time, but
a lot of the times it's for money.
So don't discard your minds from them.
Guard your wallets as well.
Verse 5 goes on to clearly expose one
of these primary dangerous motives that we're talking
about.
Supposing, supposing that godliness is a means of
gain.
Literally, it says that they were teaching that
godliness was a way of financial gain.
Hey, you know, I can pretend to be
outwardly godly and know the Bible and then
mix in some error with truth and voila,
I can get an audience, I can get
their trust, start receiving offerings, get a big
following, and then fund oftentimes a lavish and
outrageous lifestyle for myself.
Sound familiar?
So almost always behind the efforts of the
hypocritical lying false teachers of Paul and Timothy's
day, and really our day, is the driving
motivation for monetary gain.
Why?
Why is that?
Because unfortunately the false teachers have learned over
the years that God's people are often very
gullible.
That many believers do not first check out
their teaching against the word of God.
It's often carte blanche Christianity for the undiscerning
believer.
We are to come and hear anyone who
teaches the Bible with a discerning heart, not
just with an open mind though, right?
We're to be like the Bereans of Acts
chapter 17 who searched the scriptures daily to
find out whether Paul and Silas brought the
truth or not.
You've heard the term sola scriptura.
In the Latin it means scripture only.
Let the scriptures interpret the scriptures, especially in
the area of money.
Check it out before you write a check
out.
Amen?
The Apostle Peter also warned the church of
his day by giving them an example of
this in the Old Testament.
In 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 15, in
speaking of the depravity of false teachers, Peter
said, they have forsaken the right way and
gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the
son of Beor, who loved the wages, the
wages of unrighteousness.
Remember Balaam, Old Testament prophet, a compromiser, a
compromiser.
He was really for sale.
He had a sign on him, I am
for sale, for sale to whomever would pay
me.
And really he preferred wealth and popularity over
obedience to the Lord.
That was his problem.
Of course the Lord rebuked him through a
talking donkey, right?
From cursing Israel.
I wonder how many pastors of the churches
today would reconsider and rework their messages if
they knew a donkey was going to be
sitting in the front row.
But going back to 1 Timothy 6.5,
Paul warned young Timothy not to fall into
this trap as Balaam, but what did he
say there to Timothy?
Withdraw yourself from them.
There is a time to withdraw yourself.
It's biblical and righteous to do.
Because these men were not coveting God's glory,
they were not after the sign of the
cross, but instead they were glorying in their
lust, and they were glorying in the dollar
sign, not the sign of the cross.
Paul also warned the church of these men
in Philippians 3.18 where he said, For
many walk, of whom I have told you
often, and now tell you even weeping, that
they are enemies of the cross of Christ,
whose end is destruction, whose God is their
belly, and whose glory is their shame, listen
carefully, who set their mind on earthly things.
That equates to covetousness.
Covetousness is a huge danger to any and
every Christian today, whether you're a minister or
not.
The lustful desire to have more than God
gives us to meet our daily needs, to
delight after something in a lustful way often
at the expense of others.
Covetousness, it really destroys Christian contentment.
Now, the 10th commandment is what in Exodus
20.17?
Anybody know what the 10th commandment is?
It's about covetousness.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house.
You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor
his male servant, nor his female servant, nor
his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that
is your neighbor's.
Translation to us in 2004, don't lust after
what your neighbor has, whether it be his
house, whether it be his wife, or anything
he may have, his Mercedes, his boat, his
high-priced mate, his overpriced dog, his giant
-screen plasma TV, et cetera, et cetera, et
cetera.
Remembering the thoughts and desires of our heart,
do not escape the attention of God.
You may appear outwardly that you're not longing
for these things, but inwardly you are, and
God sees it.
God knows all.
God sees all.
You can't hide a thing from the Lord.
He knows if you're hiding covetousness in your
heart.
If you're longing for them inwardly, he sees
that.
It's wrong, and it's sin.
But verse 6 of 1 Timothy 6 tells
us the proper and pleasing attitude to God
that we're to have instead.
What does verse 6 say?
Now, godliness with contentment is what?
That is great gain.
Godliness with contentment.
Now, the Greek word for contentment here means
an inner sufficiency that keeps us at peace
in spite of our outward circumstances.
An inner sufficiency that keeps us at peace
in spite of our outward circumstances.
A person who is unflappable and unmoved by
his or her external circumstances.
So, what application is Paul giving to young
Timothy here?
Be satisfied and be sufficient in the Lord.
Don't seek for more than what God has
already given you, Timothy.
That God and God alone must be your
source of true contentment.
That I would be content.
That I would be joyful.
That I would be happy, satisfied and fulfilled
with my relationship with God alone.
It's not the things that God gives me
that fulfills me.
But it is God himself and my love
for him and his love for me that
is what truly satisfies me.
As King David prayed, I love this verse.
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
so my soul longs after you.
As that deer knows it needs to drink
from the water and the stream to keep
it alive and to nourish it, so the
Christian comes regularly into God's presence to nourish
himself there and to keep his walk alive
and living with his living Lord.
Where David said, in your presence is fullness
of joy and at your right hand are
pleasures forevermore.
That's where contentment is found.
It's by spending time with the one who
loves you and died for you.
That's where true contentment is found.
So, wealth does not bring contentment.
That's what Paul is trying to tell Timothy
here.
Wealth does not bring contentment.
It's a huge lie being perpetrated by the
media today and the mastermind behind much of
our media today who is the devil himself.
True contentment comes from godliness in the heart,
not wealth in our hands.
True contentment comes when I can look in
the mirror in the morning and see that
I have grown more in Christ-likeness than
the day before.
We all have to look in the mirror
every day, whether we like to or not,
but what are we seeing?
But more importantly, who are we seeing?
Are we seeing the Lord, the fruit of
Christ in our life?
We should be content with that.
Paul also said in Philippians 4.11, For
I have learned in whatsoever state I am
in, therewith to be content.
I know how to be abased, or to
live humbly, and I know how to abound,
or to live in prosperity.
Paul knew both ends of the spectrum.
But he went on to say, Everywhere and
in all things, I have learned both to
be full and to be hungry, both to
abound and to suffer need, but I can
do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
Now, another danger to Christian contentment is that
wealth is not lasting either.
Let's read verse 7.
For we brought nothing into this world, and
as certain we can carry nothing out.
Let me ask you a question.
What did you bring with you when you
came into this world?
Clothes, a car, a bank account?
No.
We brought nothing in with us.
Nothing.
And Paul reminds us, we're going out of
this world.
What we came in with?
Nothing.
And whatever we amass while we're here is
going to go to someone else anyways, right?
So, our children, our heirs, the government, the
church.
Give it to the church before you give
it to the government.
We're going to leave it all behind, right?
Left behind, the true story.
So, we're really called to be a good
steward over the things that God gives us,
the things we accumulate.
But we're not to get too attached to
them.
That's the danger.
The danger of attachment.
Keep a loose grip on the material things
of this life.
And store up your treasures where?
Store them up in heaven, Jesus said.
Where what?
Where moth and rust do not corrupt.
Where thieves do not break in and steal.
That sounds and looks like my neighborhood lately.
Lots of rusty cars and stolen tools.
I keep telling my neighbors, keep your garage
door shut at night.
They complain that they're getting ripped off all
the time.
Well, shut your garage door.
But that shiny car that you have, that
you wash and you wax, and then of
course it rains this weekend.
It's just going to fade in time.
And you can't take it to heaven with
you.
Be a good steward over it, but don't
be possessed by it.
Don't be consumed by it.
Be a good steward with it.
And maybe someone else has more need of
it than you.
Are you willing to give it away?
Boy, that's a real test, isn't it?
If possessions possess you, that's a test.
Are you willing to give it away at
any given time?
Yes, Lord, it's yours.
Or it's yours, brother.
Or it's yours, sister.
God bless you with that.
Jesus also said in Luke 12, 15, that
one's life does not consist in what?
In the abundance of the things he possesses.
So really, money and material things start getting
dangerous when we begin to use the word
what?
Mine.
Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine.
It's mine.
Get away.
You know, we take too much ownership over
things sometimes, and really, God owns it all,
doesn't he?
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills,
and he owns everything that we have.
We need to remember that.
We're just the stewards.
We're not the owners.
That's what can really trap us.
To illustrate that wealth is not lasting, Pastor
E.V. Hill was invited to speak in
a suburban church of a large city in
the South.
In the introduction to his message, Pastor Hill
commented on the difference between the affluent suburb
and the poor urban area where he ministered.
I know what's missing, he said.
You folks don't have any graffiti anywhere.
I'd like to volunteer to provide some for
you.
I'll get a bucket of paint and walk
through your neighborhood writing this one word on
your million dollar homes and expensive European cars.
Temporary.
That's it.
Temporary.
None of it will last.
Good illustration.
Maybe we need some paint brushes and paint
buckets after church today and we need to
paint that on some of the things that
we have.
Temporal.
It's going to be here one minute and
gone the next.
Don't get too attached to it.
Get attached to the Lord, right?
Detach from things and attach yourself more to
Him.
That's the key.
We enjoy and we take care of what
we have, right?
And that's as it should be.
But Jesus said we shouldn't be, again, possessed
by our possessions because they won't last into
eternity.
A house is just a box, isn't it,
in which to stay warm and dry.
A car is a way to get us
from one place to another, usually.
And since we can't take them again with
us when we die, we're far better off
to view them as Jesus did.
And again, that's as temporary.
Remembering that the temporal can be the enemy
of the eternal, can't it?
The temporal can be the enemy of the
eternal if you're not careful.
Materialism is really sucking the life out of
many a Christian today, especially here in affluent
Southern California.
We really need to be on guard to
keep up with the Jones mentality.
We've really got to be on guard that,
no, Lord, that's not what you've called me
to do.
Help me to be content with what you've
given me.
And be ready to give it away if
necessary, remembering that all is temporal, Lord.
Keep my mind on the eternal as I
live in the temporal.
Verse 8.
Here's a good verse.
In having food and clothing, with these we
shall be content.
How many of you today are content with
food and clothing?
Okay, a few of you.
That's a start.
What's Paul saying here?
The basic necessities of life are what ought
to make the Christian content.
Thank you, Lord, for the food you've provided
for us at this dinner table tonight.
We as a family are thankful and content
with it.
It may not be steak and lobster, but
instead soup and crackers, but it will meet
our need of hunger tonight.
Thank you, Lord, for the new shirt.
I was able to buy at Target today.
Yes, Lord, it is not from Macy's or
Bloomingdale's, but it will meet my need for
warmth and covering today.
Our basic needs.
These are what God has promised to meet
and provide for us.
Not what we think we need, but what
God thinks we need.
Big difference, right?
You may think you have need of a
new Suburban, but God knows instead you have
need for something smaller and more economical.
Don't fight him on it.
You'll be miserable.
Take the smaller economy car.
Quit whining about the Suburban.
Be content with the basics.
Warren Wiersbe was reminded of the simple living
Quaker who was watching his neighbor move in
with all of the furnishings and expensive toys
that successful people collect.
The Quaker finally went over to his new
neighbor and said, Neighbor, if ever thou dost
need anything, come to see me, and I
will tell thee how to get along without
it.
How true.
Could we get by today without our cell
phones?
A few groans.
Would our lives fall apart without the use
of our laptops?
High-speed Internet?
Shall we go on?
Too many of us today know the price
of everything, but the value of nothing, it
seems.
We have acquired so many luxuries compared to
most in the world today that we've forgotten
how to enjoy the value of our basic
necessities that God has so graciously given to
us.
And you know, most of all, in this
fast-paced society in which we live today,
I think many of us have forgotten the
value of one another.
Isn't that the greater value?
The value of one another.
We've forgotten the value of friendship, forgotten the
value of love and kindness and compassion and
concern for others.
It's the longing for more material things that
puts this kind of wedge between us, and
it can be deadly.
We're so busy trying to keep up with
the Joneses that we forget about the Joneses
in a sense, about the people, about the
person, about your neighbor.
When was the last time you took a
visit to your neighbor's house just to say,
hi, how are you doing?
And introduce yourself and your family to them.
And put value on them and not on
their stuff.
Well, I like them because they have these
nice things.
No, like them for who they are and
who they are in God's eyes, not for
the stuff that they have, but for who
they are as a person.
Value what's important today.
Value friendships, value people.
Of course, Jesus did say in Matthew 6,
Do not worry about your life, what you
will eat or what you will drink, nor
about your body, what you will put on.
Is not life more than food and the
body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air, for
they neither sow nor reap nor gather in
the barns.
Yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you of not more what?
Value than they.
What did he put the value on?
Those things were important, but he put the
value on us.
We are the apple of his eye.
We are important to the Lord.
People, right?
Ministry is people, not paperwork.
People.
Seek first the kingdom of God who is
righteous and all these things shall be added
to you.
Application there.
Be content in first seeking God's kingdom and
rule in your life.
Don't seek after things, seek after God.
And he will provide the things and the
stuff you will need in this life.
So God should still be, again, our most
valuable possession.
Next to people, God should be our most
valuable possession.
Our relationship with him.
Our friendship with him.
The incredible gift of himself to us.
Not even the gift of eternal life to
us, but the giver of that eternal life.
He is my reward.
Not eternal life in a sense, but himself.
He is my reward.
Not even where I'm going, but to the
one I am going to.
That should be my one and greatest desire.
Amen?
As David cried out in Psalm 27, I
love this verse.
One thing, David said, one thing I have
desired of the Lord, and that will I
seek.
Here it is.
That I may dwell in the house of
the Lord all the days of my life
to behold the beauty of the Lord and
to inquire in his temple.
That was his primary thing that he desired.
To behold the beauty of the Lord.
Does this describe you and I at the
beginning of the day?
Beholding and fixated on his beauty?
In the middle of the day?
At the end of the day?
Is my quest the pursuit of God?
Or is my quest in things?
Am I content with Christ and Christ alone?
If everything I had was taken and stripped
away from me, would I still be desiring
that one thing as David did?
I'd still be content more because I have
you.
You can take away all that I have.
Job said, Though he slay me, yet will
I trust him.
Right?
Can we say that?
That's a tough one, but that's God's desire
for us.
Verse 9 and 10 But those who desire
to be rich fall into temptation and a
snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts,
which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root
of all kinds of evil, for which some
have strayed from the faith in their greediness,
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
This is a picture here of a man
who's drowning, right?
He's going under, he's going down, he's drowning,
sailing along, having the good life, all that
this life has to offer, but missing out
on the abundant life and maybe even the
everlasting life that God has to offer in
Jesus Christ.
And then suddenly, what happens?
A storm comes, his sails burst, and he
sinks.
Likewise, the person who has to have more
and more material things in order to be
happy and feel successful sailing into a trap,
sailing into possible bondage and destruction, and notice
there it says, his desire to be rich,
not God's desire for him, but his desire
to be rich is his constant temptation and
snare.
Greed has become his God.
How many of our dear friends lately have
been shipwrecked by greed at the gambling casinos?
Too many.
And I want to encourage you today and
exhort you that if you're involved in gambling
at any of these casinos that you flee
and run away now.
It's not of God, it doesn't honor him,
you're throwing away his money to the world,
you're not being a good steward of what
he's given you and you're going to fall
into sin and it's going to shipwreck your
faith.
Stay away from them, they're not from the
Lord.
But notice it's their love for money, not
money in and of itself, right?
Since money is a gift from God, isn't
it?
But the love of money that brings them
down and still brings countless millions down today.
The love of money.
You can't serve God and mammon, Jesus said,
you can't serve both, right?
You have to choose one or the other.
You're going to serve God or mammon.
You're going to serve one of the two.
Proverbs 23.5 warns those who would be
rich in this world that riches certainly make
themselves wings.
They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
Riches are flighty and fleeting.
Here in one minute and gone the next.
We should be like Solomon though, who instead
worked to be rich in wisdom, not rich
with riches.
So, you know, rather than wearing yourself out
pursuing wealth, instead pursue the wisdom of God.
That's wisdom, isn't it?
Pursue the wisdom of God and what glorifies
Him, and He will bless you with prosperity
as He chooses.
Remember too that Jesus warned in Mark 8
.36 What shall it profit a man?
What shall it profit a man if he
gains the whole world but loses his own
soul?
Application.
To have all that the world has to
offer yet not have Jesus Christ is to
be bankrupt eternally.
All the world's goods will not compensate for
losing one soul eternally.
You can have everything the world has to
offer and it still will not get you
to heaven.
Better to be rich in God's forgiveness.
Better to be rich in God's love.
Better than to be rich with riches.
And even then, somebody will always be lusting
after what you have and trying to figure
out a way to get what you have,
right?
You know, all it takes today is one
stumble into sin and a corresponding lawsuit and
you can go from prince to pauper overnight
in this country.
One look at Hollywood today reminds us of
that.
Hollywood, though, should be reminded of Jesus' words
in Luke 18.25 that it's easier for
a camel to go through the eye of
a needle than for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of heaven.
Translation?
That's next to impossible, isn't it?
It's next to impossible for a rich man
to go to heaven because those who are
rich delude themselves into thinking they have no
need of God.
Money is their God.
Things are their God.
That temporal satisfaction that those things bring is
their God.
They're self-sufficient, self-made men and women.
Yet deep inside, they're what?
They're miserable and they're empty.
Many Hollywood stars, many sports superstars have confessed
to this after years of indulgence that something
is still missing, right?
You've heard the interviews.
They're miserable after living a sinful, wicked, perverted,
polluted life and they go, what is missing?
We know what's missing.
His name is Jesus Christ.
He can satisfy the soul.
Jesus meets man's most deepest needs and desires
for love and for acceptance and for forgiveness.
It's found in a person, not in a
program.
There are no substitutes to Jesus Christ.
James 1 says of the rich man, as
a flower of the field, he will pass
away for no sooner has the sun risen
with a burning heat than it withers the
grass.
Its flower falls and its beautiful appearance perishes
so the rich man will also fade away
in his pursuits.
You know, let's pray for Hollywood.
Let's pray for the salvation of those in
Hollywood who are lost in the colors of
green and of gold and of silver.
And I pray that they instead would find
the joy and forgiveness of Jesus Christ through
the color red.
Right?
Through the shed blood of Jesus for them.
That's the blood.
That's the color that we glory in because
it was his blood that gave us the
opportunity to be saved.
The shedding of his blood.
The color red.
The color red for that whosoever would believe
in him would not perish but have everlasting
life.
Verse 11 Okay, Timothy, but you, O man
of God, flee these things.
What things?
All the things we were just talking about.
Flee those things and pursue these things.
Righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.
Fight that good fight of faith.
Lay hold on eternal life to which you
were also called.
And then also be faithful.
The four F's of this passage.
Flee, follow, fight, and be faithful.
If you're taking notes.
Let's talk about these very briefly.
Flee.
There are times when running away is a
mark of cowardice.
Right?
But there are other times when fleeing is
a mark of wisdom and a means of
victory.
A good example of that was with Joseph.
Remember Joseph fled when he was tempted by
his master's wife, Potiphar?
In Genesis 39, for you men in particular
today, remember it says that so it was
as she spoke to Joseph day by day
that he did not heed her to lie
with her or to be with her.
When she finally pounced on Joseph and grabbed
him, it goes on to say that he
left his garment in her hand and fled
and ran outside.
His method of victory, men, and your method
of victory today over sexual temptation and sin
which is all around you, run away.
Run away as fast as you can.
You are not strong enough to stand up
to it on your own.
Flee.
Run.
You got two feet?
That's why God gave them to you.
Run as fast as you can.
What was Joseph's motive for victory?
Because men, let me tell you this.
Your feet will run when honor is in
your heart.
Your feet will run when honor is in
your heart.
Your heart for God will move your feet
to victory.
Your heart for God and for his glory
will move those feet to victory.
Joseph's motive was, how can I do this
thing and sin against God?
That should be embedded in our hearts and
minds, men, especially.
How can I do this thing and sin
against my Lord who died for me?
His love for God was preeminent, first and
foremost over any lust for women.
And men, if Jesus Christ is the love
of your life here today, if Jesus Christ
is the love of your life, you'll have
no problem loving your wife.
And the victory comes for you because it
says in the Bible that a three-fold
cord is not easily broken.
Right?
A three-fold cord is not easily broken.
Nurture, maintain your personal walk with God and
with your wife.
Be a man of prayer.
Be a man of the word.
Love your wife as Christ loved the church
and gave himself for her.
Be satisfied with the wife of your youth.
These are the hedges of protection in this
sexually perverted world in which we live in
today.
Amen, men?
We're also told to flee fornication in 1
Corinthians 6.18. We're also told in 2
Timothy 2.22 to flee youthful lusts.
We're also told in 1 Corinthians 10.14
to flee from idolatry.
There are things the Bible specifically states you
are to flee from.
From fornication, from lust, from idolatry.
Remembering that an idol is anything in your
life that takes the place of God.
What's an idol?
Anything in your life that takes the place
of God.
Now, you may not bow down and worship
a stone idol or a stone image, but
you may be bowing down to keeping up
your self-image or your self-esteem and
to what others think about you more than
what God thinks about you, right?
Sometimes what the idols in our life are
self-esteem, self-righteousness.
Anything doing with self and protecting our self
can often be idolatry.
We're often our greatest idols.
We worship ourselves.
We love ourselves too much.
I'm often my greatest idol.
I idolize me.
I'm too much in love with me and
that's why I can't love thee as well
and you because I'm too concerned about me.
Me, me, me.
Mine, mine, mine.
I, I, I.
I have an eye problem.
You've heard that before.
I didn't make that up.
Do you have an eye problem today?
Think about it.
But any possession, any person we put our
hope in to bring us fulfillment, any goal
or aspiration even that becomes more important to
us than God.
Even if it's a goal or an aspiration
these are the little gods that attract our
daily allegiance and subtly control our lives.
Our idols often set up their homes in
the hidden places of our heart, right?
So where nobody can see them.
That's why we always need the light and
conviction of the Holy Spirit, don't we?
And we need to pray daily.
Search me, O God.
Try me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there be any wicked way in
me and lead me in the way everlasting.
Idolize God if you're going to idolize anybody.
Worship Him and Him alone.
As the commandment says, Thou shalt have no
other gods before me.
And that includes you and me.
There can't be two people on the throne
at the same time of your life.
So Paul warned young Timothy to flee.
And really he's talking about separating himself.
Separate yourself, Timothy, from these false teachers.
Flee from those who don't consent to the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Flee from those teachers who are full of
pride and conceit.
Flee from those teachers who dispute and argue
over words and silly semantics.
Flee from those false teachers who stir up
envy and strife.
Flee from those greedy false teachers who say
that godliness is a means of gain.
Flee from those who desire to be rich.
Flee from the love of money.
1 Timothy 6.5 Withdraw yourself, Timothy.
Flee.
Run away.
Let me say this, too.
If you find yourself supporting any false teacher,
any false teaching today, don't support them any
longer.
Separate yourselves from them.
Stop supporting them financially.
Stop watching them on TV.
Stop receiving their tapes and videos and destructive
literature.
And get back to wholesome words, even the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ, who never
ever taught the present day false teaching of
health, wealth, and prosperity.
Our precious Lord, who had nowhere to lay
his head.
Our precious Lord, who didn't ride into Jerusalem
on a chariot, but instead used a lowly
donkey.
Our precious Lord, who chose to drink the
full cup of suffering for sinners like ourselves,
who humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross, who chose a
crown of thorns instead of a crown of
gold.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 8, that for
you know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that though he was rich, yet for
your sakes he became poor, that you through
his poverty might become rich.
But not rich primarily in material things and
stuff, but primarily in spiritual things.
Some would teach otherwise, falsely.
That it's your godly inheritance and divine right
to be rich and wealthy and to prosper.
It's a false teaching.
But we become spiritually rich in salvation, rich
in forgiveness, rich in joy, rich in peace.
We become joint heirs with Christ when we
get saved.
We are rich beyond measure in the Lord.
Now yes, some Christians are blessed with wealth
and riches.
That's not necessarily a sin.
But they're not ruled by those riches.
But they're ruled by Christ.
And they give away their riches and wealth,
just as Jesus temporarily gave up the riches
of heaven to bring to earth the riches
of redemption for sinners as ourselves to promote
the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of
self.
Rich Christians who love the Lord are promoting
the kingdom of God and giving away a
lot of their wealth to build and establish
God's kingdom here on earth.
They're not controlled by their possessions and their
riches.
They're still controlled by the Lord.
Now after we flee, we're to follow, verse
11 tells us.
We're to pursue and follow six important things
as we wind down here.
What are they?
Righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
And really all that's a description of Jesus
there, wouldn't you say?
Jesus is my righteousness.
Jesus is my godliness.
Jesus is the object, the author, finisher, perfecter
of my faith.
Jesus is loving.
Jesus is patient.
Jesus is gentle.
Therefore, I want to follow his example.
I want to follow him.
If I hang out with him, he's going
to make me more like himself, right?
How do you get to know somebody?
By spending time with them.
And the more time you spend with Jesus,
the more he makes you like himself because
you're following him.
You're pursuing him and him alone.
Your prayer closet, your private time of worship
and prayer and devotion with him, that's where
he's conforming you into the image of himself.
But where am I falling short in these
areas?
If I'm consistently falling, failing in these areas,
it means maybe I'm not following the master.
Maybe I'm being mastered by my own selfish
passions and desires.
Paul is telling Timothy here that we must
pursue.
Are you a pursuer?
We must pursue.
We must cultivate and develop these things in
our lives to remain content in Christ.
This is our part in the sanctification process,
right?
That I follow, then God forms.
Forms me more and more into the image
of his son.
But here's the key.
Again, he only forms as I follow.
It's a two-way street, not a one
-way street to sanctification and a practical holiness.
Yes, there is God's part in this lifelong
process of making me more Christ-like, but
there is my part as well, right?
My part is to yield and to surrender
my will to him on a daily basis.
I'm not getting born again and again.
I'm simply stepping off the throne, because when
I wake up in the morning, I know
about you, I'm typically on the throne of
my life.
And so I have to consciously step down
and invite Christ to step on that throne
and be the Lord over my thoughts, the
Lord over my words, the Lord over my
actions, the Lord over my attitudes.
Jesus, rule and reign afresh in me today.
But we have not because we ask not,
Jesus said.
It's not some magical process where you just
wake up and, oh, I'm more like Jesus
today.
No, you've got to yield.
You've got to surrender.
It says, he is the potter and I
am the clay, that he will, what, mold
me and make me after his will while
I am waiting, yielded and still as the
song goes.
So there's that justification.
That's the past work of God in your
life.
God declared you innocent, not guilty of all
the charges against you and granted you forgiveness
and redemption.
But then when justification and his sanctification began,
and that's that lifelong process whereby God conforms
you into the image of his son.
You were predestined to be conformed to the
image of his son, it says in Romans.
And some of us will be further along
in that process than others when glorification comes,
right?
Justification, sanctification, the present work of God, and
then glorification, the future work of God.
When we see him, we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he
is.
Then at that point, I will be fully
like my Lord.
I won't be my Lord, I'll be like
my Lord.
What a glorious day that's going to be.
So you're following him.
As you follow, he begins to form more
of himself in these following six areas.
Righteousness.
That means to do what's right in relation
to both God and man.
What is your relationship like with God today?
What is your relationship like with others today?
Whatever's not right, make it right.
Don't put off till tomorrow what you need
to do today.
Don't be the hopeless procrastinator that can get
you into grave trouble.
Secondly, godliness.
That refers to one's reverence for God and
can be translated godlikeness.
Faith might better be translated faithfulness.
Are you a faithful Christian here today?
Love, the sacrificial love, selfless love, giving love.
Patience.
God's love is patient.
God's love is kind, it says.
Be patient with those around you who frustrate
the living daylights out of you, right?
Patience carries the idea of endurance.
I'm just not putting up with them.
I'm loving them along the way because God
is patient with me.
Gentleness.
You know, gentleness is so lacking in our
culture today.
We live in such a rude society it
has become.
What happened to gentleness?
Kindness.
Just general respect for one another and honoring
one another, higher and better than yourself.
And then we're not only to flee, but
we're also to fight.
That word for fight there means agonize.
It was used both in the military as
well as in an athletic way to describe
the concentration, discipline, and extreme effort needed to
win.
It described a person straining and giving his
best to win the prize or win the
battle.
You're giving your best in this battle that
we're in.
You know, we're in a battleground.
Christianity is not a playground.
It's a battleground.
You're in a war.
The flesh wars against the spirit.
The spirit's warring against the flesh.
We're in a battle, folks.
But Paul said at the end of his
life, he wrote these words to Timothy.
I have fought the good fight.
I have finished the race.
I have kept the faith.
Can you say that today in your own
life?
Fought the good fight.
Finished the race.
Kept the faith.
And let's remember, folks, that we're not in
a fight against one another.
Let's remember who the enemy is.
Too many Christians in the church are at
war with one another.
You're at war with the wrong person.
We're at war with the devil, who wrestles
not against flesh and blood, but against powers
and principalities, it says in the word.
In Ephesians 6 in the spiritual warfare chapter.
Remember who your enemy is.
And if you're at war with someone else
in the church today, be a peacemaker and
go get it right today.
And get back into the battle fighting against
the devil and his minions with the help
of the Lord.
You know, let's let our church be known
for love and acceptance and forgiveness.
That won't give the enemy a foothold here
at Calvary Chapel.
He's trying to take this work down, folks.
And he's looking for any little foothold he
can get.
And he'll use you and me to do
it, if we're not careful, right?
We can't just be bebopping along, thinking that,
okay, everything's fine and dandy today.
If you've got ought against somebody, or you're
at war with somebody, you need to get
that right, because the destroyer's going to come
along and try to wipe out our fellowship.
And there's no false teaching going on here.
We know that because Pastor Pat's teaching the
word, okay?
But he can work in more subtle ways.
Wolves in sheep's clothing may come in, sit
in the audience and try to draw you
away after the service with something false.
Be careful.
There may be a young man in here
just here to hit up on young women.
You're a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Okay?
Well, God exposed you, if you're here today.
And don't come back here again, because we're
going to find out who you are, and
we're going to ask you to leave in
love.
You stay away from the young ladies of
this church.
They belong to God.
Look at your bulletin.
There's a shepherd with his staff watching over
a sheep, and there's a wolf in the
distance, right?
We have that on our bulletin for a
reason, because that's one of our jobs here,
to watch over you, and for you.
We love to shake your hand and say,
hello, and God bless you, but out of
the other eye, we're looking for and being
discerning here at Calvert Chapel.
It is a warfare, folks.
Pastor Pat, you know, when he gets up
here to teach, there should be intercessory prayer
going on constantly for our pastor, because God
is wanting to speak and move in these
services, and he's God's man for this church,
and you think he's not coming under great
assault and attack right now with what he's
going through with his wife?
He is.
We need to be lifting him up like
we never have before, and for him to
still get up here and preach in this
church with his wife having cancer is an
awesome testimony to his love for God and
his love for you, and his love for
the Word.
So you've got the best you can get.
So, I don't know why I'm saying all
that, but just don't give Pat the tape
of this particular service.
But the bottom line is, in closing, we're
to flee, to follow, fight, and then to
be faithful, because the appearing of Jesus is
soon.
Jesus is coming back.
Matthew 24, 30.
The Son of Man is coming on the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Jude 14.
Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of
his saints.
Revelation 1, 7.
Behold, he is coming with clouds, and every
eye will see him.
So nothing, nothing should spur us on more
holiness and godly teaching and godly living and
faithfulness than the imminent, any day return of
our King of Kings and Lord of Courts.
He is coming, but as we sang in
that song, is your prayer, come, Lord Jesus,
come.
He's coming no matter what we say or
do or think, but is your prayer, is
my prayer, yes Lord, come.
I want you to come because I am
living my life full on for you.
Let's finish well this year in 2004 and
live as if Jesus Christ is coming back
today.
And if you will live your life every
day like that, you will turn this world
upside down for Jesus Christ.
And if you believe that, we say it,
but do we believe that Jesus is coming?
It's not that he might be, he is
coming back to this earth, and we're going
to be with him forever.
But will, can we hear, well done, thou
good and faithful servant.
You want to be great in God's kingdom,
learn to be the servant of all.
Let's pray.
Lord, we surely love you this morning, and
it is our desire, Lord, to not compromise
in any area, Lord, and if materialism has
crept into our lives in any way, Lord,
just forgive us and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness, Lord, and get us back to loving
you and not the things that you give
us, Lord.
That we love you and you alone, Lord.
And we want to thank you for the
things you've blessed us with, Lord.
We are a blessed people, Lord.
And help us to be content again, Lord.
I just have sensed that some of us
are not very content lately, but you promised
us true contentment, Lord, if we just keep
looking to you, living for you, and spending
time with you, Lord.
Make us a contented people.
And let the world see that and want
that, Lord.
And I just thank you for this body
of believers here.
Bless them, give them a great week in
you.
Give them victory, Lord.
And we love you in Jesus' name.
Amen.