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[0:00] 1 Timothy chapter 6, starting in verse 11 and going to the end, which gets us to verse 21. If you have been with us or if you have heard one or two of the sermons as it applies to this book, you will know that Paul is writing this letter to Timothy in the city of Ephesus for the intended purpose of raising up elders within the church.

[0:21] So Timothy is pastoring the church at Ephesus. If you do a little bit of church history and study the church at Ephesus, it is astounding the pastors that they had there, the Ephesian church.

[0:33] Not only was Timothy a pastor of an Ephesian church, the number of elders that were risen up there in the Ephesian church, John the Apostle becomes the pastor of the church at Ephesus for some time.

[0:45] It is from there that he is exiled to the island of Patmos, that he writes the book of Revelation. After coming out of exile in the island of Patmos, he goes back to Ephesus and he dies an old man of old age.

[0:55] But it is the church at Ephesus that really... Now that ought to catch a little bit of your attention. It has some context of what's going on here. Because if you know your church history, and in particular you know how John ended up on the island of Patmos as an exile, he was put there after the leaders tried to kill him.

[1:15] Because, as it says at the end of the Gospel of John, that some had said that this apostle would never die. But that's not what Jesus said. Jesus says, if I will that he should live until I return, then what is that to you?

[1:28] Because if you remember, after Peter is reconciled with Christ, and Christ tells Peter he's going to be led against his will and die a death, that just like his Savior Peter...

[1:38] And points to John. And John said, for this reason many people believe this apostle will never die. Well, the political leaders of his time, and this does have application to our message, so stay with me, thought they would test that hypothesis.

[1:53] So they did a number of things in order to kill John. They took him to the height of the temple, the pinnacle of the temple, and threw him off. And it didn't kill him. So they heated up a pot of boiling oil, and they put him in oil, and it didn't kill him.

[2:07] They turned off loose wild beasts in the arena, and they just stopped and stood still. And they didn't kill him. And they got frustrated, so they sent him to the island of Patmos to get rid of him.

[2:17] And it is there that he wrote the book of Revelation. So it's astounding, right? And then when he comes back to Ephesus, he dies. So that shows us a little bit of background. Ephesus was not necessarily an evil pastor.

[2:30] There are trials and struggles, and there are difficulties there. Because if that is going on much after Timothy is there, when Paul writes this letter, because that would be near the end of the first century, near 90 A.D. when all those matters were going on, then how much more so in the early stages of the church as it pushed against the culture.

[2:54] But if you remember, 1 Timothy is a book about being the church, what it looks like to be in the church. He states the purpose in the third chapter, that the church exists for the intended purpose, pillar, which holds up the truth in society.

[3:08] And society is not always receptive of the truth. It is often receptive of a multitude of truths, but not the truth. And it is for that society wrestles against the church and the believers.

[3:20] And so it is with this admonition that Paul ends his letter to Timothy, but has application to each and every one of us. So if you are physically able and desire to do so, I'm going to ask if you would join with me as we stand together and we read the word of God found in 1 Timothy chapter 6, starting in verse 11, and going down to the end of the book.

[3:40] He says,

[5:10] Let's pray.

[5:22] Father, we thank you that you've given us this day. We thank you that we have the grand opportunity of being gathered together with your people as we have fellowshiped with one another.

[5:34] Lord, we have lifted up our voices in song alongside one another. Lord, we've been able to worship you and to adore you. Now, as we hear your word, we pray that your word would speak to our hearts and minds.

[5:48] We pray that we would worship you through the reading and hearing of the word of God, that it would be your word that would penetrate to the very depth of our being, conforming and moaning us to be more and more like Christ, for your glory and yours alone.

[6:03] And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Last week, we were looking at the church in the marketplace, how our relationship with Christ completely changes and even dictates how we behave in the marketplace of society, that it changes who we are as an employee.

[6:24] It changes who we are as an employer. It changes how we see the resources that this world gives us. It changes our love affections no longer for money, but for the Lord God.

[6:36] It changes how we behave amongst one another. And now we come to this point here where Paul is bringing this letter to a close as it pertains to the church and who the church is.

[6:48] And I want you to see this morning the character of the church. The character of the church. Paul declares in the third verse of that sixth chapter that if anyone advocates a different doctrine that does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus with the doctrine conforming to godliness.

[7:10] So he speaks of the doctrine of the church which conforms one towards godliness. It is the character of the church that is a testimony to the world. Now, make no mistake about it.

[7:22] It can be said to us very innately. Character, like, brother, let's just shift to this mic. Mine keeps cutting out. So let me just deal with that one because I hear it so I know they hear it and it's bothering me.

[7:32] That does better. I'll be still, I promise. So anyway, character is not something that comes to us naturally. Paul declares there in the book of Romans, in Romans chapter 5, that we ought to rejoice and exult even in the hope of the glory of being in the presence of God through our redemption with Christ Jesus.

[7:51] And in the very next verse, he says in Romans chapter 5, that we ought to exult and rejoice in our tribulations. That is, our response to tribulations ought to be the same response that we have to the hope of being in glory.

[8:05] But he answers why we ought to rejoice in tribulations, because he says that our tribulations produce perseverance. And our perseverance produces proven character.

[8:16] That is, how we persevere displays and even dictates who we are as individuals. Character is something that is proven in the fires of this life.

[8:29] And it is this reality that we understand, as Timothy is not left behind at an easy place of ministry. Timothy is not left behind at even a friendly place of ministry.

[8:42] As a matter of fact, he is in a hostile environment, one that is opposed to the doctrine that conforms to godliness. And it is Paul admonishing him, and even us, that we ought to be people of character.

[8:56] In spite of how the world sees us, in spite of how the world pressures us, in spite of what the world displays and declares to us, we ought to be first and foremost people of character.

[9:07] That character is proven in the perseverance of the individual. And we see here what it looks like to be the character of the church. The first way that we form and fashion character is through the challenge that is before us.

[9:22] It says, but flee from these things. What are these things? And it is the longing to be rich and the desire to have the blessings of the world. It is to walk in the ways of the world.

[9:33] It says, but flee from these things. You man of God. Friend, listen to me. Sometimes the best way to beat temptation is to flee from it.

[9:48] We don't always have to stand toe to toe and fight with it. Sometimes we just run away. Running away and fleeing does not mean we are weak. As a matter of fact, when we open up the pages of the Old Testament, we see godly men.

[10:03] We see Joseph. You remember Joseph, the one who had a coat of many colors. You remember Joseph who was thrown into a bottomless pit. You remember Joseph who was sold by his brothers into slavery.

[10:13] You remember Joseph who God remembered while he was there. And all of a sudden he was the head of Potiphar's household. You remember Joseph who was overseeing that household and was being blessed of the Lord.

[10:24] And then the temptation came to Joseph and it said he ran out of that place. He was a man of power. He was a man of prestige. He was a man of position. But when the temptation came upon him, he ran away.

[10:36] Now you want to tell me that Joseph is weak? We'll read a little bit further. Joseph becomes second in all of the realm of Egypt only under Pharaoh. Sometimes the best way to beat temptation is to flee from it.

[10:52] To run away. It is to understand who we are. Some people say, oh, I've been set free in Christ. I can face that. You better not. Your freedom in Christ is giving you legs to run away from it now.

[11:04] Your freedom in Christ is giving you the mind of Christ to know you don't need to be there any longer. Don't put yourself in a position where you know you're weak. Don't trust yourself more than you ought to.

[11:15] It says, but flee from these things. Sometimes the greatest challenge, I believe we ought to know it. Kenny Rogers used to sing about this.

[11:25] You need to know when to hold them. You need to know when to run, right? Sometimes somebody, I can't believe you listen to Kenny Rogers. Friend, listen to me. It's okay. All right. I know the name of that song is The Gambler. I know there was somebody doing something in there they shouldn't have been doing.

[11:37] He put out a cigarette and he died on the train. I get it. But it's a good line. Sometimes you just need to know when to run. It says, flee from these things. You man of God.

[11:50] And you woman of God. Flee from them. There are some sins we ought to be running away from. You say, well, what are they, Pastor? Well, you know them. Sometimes in your own personal life, you know what you can and cannot resist.

[12:03] You say, well, how do I know? Well, what do you keep submitting and succumbing to? Quit standing around it. Run away from it. But flee from these things. And as you're running, here's the challenge.

[12:15] And pursue. Do you know that when you are fleeing from sin, you are pursuing something else? It is like the man who had the demons that were cast out of him.

[12:25] Jesus spoke of a man who had a demon cast out of him. And his house was swept and put and cleaned in all kinds of order. Right? And the demon was out. His life was all in order. And that demon went out here and there and went to all these waste places and couldn't find any way to go.

[12:38] Went back to the man. And he found the man's life was all in order. Went and found more men and brought more demons back to him. And the last state of that man was worse than the first state of that man. People say, what is that all about?

[12:48] Well, it says the reality that there's no such thing. Nature abhors a vacuum. You understand that. And when the demon is cast out, if you don't fill it with godliness, you're just positioning yourself to be filled with more demons.

[13:00] If you are fleeing from these things, then pursue something else. You are pursuing. Look at what it says. Flee from these things, but pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love.

[13:13] Here's our word, perseverance and gentleness. Here's the challenge. Run away from that which is holding you back and pursue those things which Christ has called you to.

[13:25] You ought to be running away, but you're not running somewhere or anywhere. You're running to a specific thing. You're pursuing these things. I want to tell you, friend, listen to me. If you pursue these things, I can guarantee you, you will be fleeing from your sin.

[13:38] Because you cannot pursue righteousness and at the same time be hanging around sinfulness. You cannot pursue godliness and at the same time be hanging around sinfulness.

[13:50] You cannot pursue faith and love and perseverance and gentleness and still be hanging around sinfulness. You say, well, how do I run away from them?

[14:01] Well, change what you're chasing. You're chasing something anyway. Oh, my favorite pastor of all times, and you know him and you've heard me quote him, is S.M. Lockridge.

[14:13] Some of you have heard and you've been around long enough. You've seen me play the clip. I've played it a couple times of That's My King, S.M. Lockridge. But That's My King is about an eight-minute clip from the greatest sermon ever preached is what it's titled.

[14:24] S.M. Lockridge is about an hour and a half sermon. And I love his introduction to that. He said, in this world, men are forever chasing bubbles. We're chasing the bubbles of pleasure.

[14:37] We're chasing the bubbles of sophistication. We're chasing the bubbles of wealth. Listen, we are always chasing something. If you're pursuing the right thing, I promise you, you'll be fleeing from the wrong things.

[14:50] There's the challenge, but he moves on. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called. If someone told you that if you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, things would get easier, then, my friend, I hate to break it to you, but they lied to you.

[15:09] It says, fight the good fight of faith. Coming to Christ as your Lord and Savior is enlisting you into battle. It is not excusing you from the conflict.

[15:22] You're excused from the conflict when you're on the enemy's side. You don't have to wage in the spiritual battles with the spiritual forces of darkness and the forces of this earth and things not of this realm.

[15:33] And the darkness of their, they'll leave you alone when you're on their side. But the moment you come to Christ, their aim is positioned to you and you have to fight the good fight. You have to wage war.

[15:44] It is the believer that is told to put on the armor of God. The unbeliever is never instructed to put on armor because there's no attack coming against them. Fight the good fight and take hold of the eternal life.

[15:54] That is, there's some intentionality in the life of the believer that the challenge before them is, is this is something worth fighting over. I'm going to fight this fight.

[16:05] Sometimes the fight is an internal battle that I know these things should not take place. And sometimes this fight is a fight with another brother or sister saying, I'm going to walk with you in the trenches of your ugliness of sin and I'll help you fight your way out of that.

[16:18] I'll be with you as we pursue righteousness and godliness and faith and love and perseverance. Sometimes it is fighting along with someone else. Sometimes it's fighting solely by yourself with your Savior by your, by your side only.

[16:31] Take hold of the eternal life. It makes the implication there that you must put forth the effort. Here is the challenge. Where is the character of the church fashioned in the challenge before it?

[16:45] Will it fight the good fight? Will it take hold of the eternal life? And will it flee from those things which are holding it back? Unfortunately, in our world of easy believism and even easy churchism, not many people are fighting.

[17:01] Again, I'm a believer and many of you know of history and church history in particular. Read your church history, ancient and even modern, and you'll find that the strongest churches are the churches that have the greatest requirements.

[17:22] When we ease the requirements, we weaken the body. Because we're not employing them in a battle anymore.

[17:33] If we say, well, you guys just come, watch the show, and we'll fight for you. Then we're not empowering anyone to go fight their battle every day.

[17:46] Fight the fight. Meet the challenge. It is the character of the church. Number two, look at the charge given to the church.

[17:57] He says there, fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

[18:09] Don't bypass that. He is here declaring to Timothy and reminding Timothy that at some point in the past, you stood before witnesses and you made a confession. We don't know.

[18:20] Bible scholars go back and forth, and it probably applies to both. If this is the confession of Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, which he made public, or if this is the confession of being called into the public ministry before he was ordained, we don't know.

[18:32] But we do know that there was a point in history in the past in which he stood before many witnesses and he made a confession of faith. Friends, listen. Confessions of faith are important.

[18:44] Let me just stop right here and give you a little side note. I'll give you a little sermon inside of a sermon. If Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, then it is very becoming of you to confess that to others.

[18:57] You say, well, I'm not a public speaker. I'm not very comfortable with being in front of people. Well, I'm not really a public speaker either. You say, well, Pastor, you're up there all the time. You're right. I know, but I'm not a public speaker per se.

[19:08] That's just my calling. And I'm not saying you've got to go confess it to thousands and thousands and stand before, but it is a public confession. I was reading this morning. And some of you are reading the same thing where Jesus had healed the demoniac, went to the other sea, and he's going to Jairus' house.

[19:24] You remember the story, right? He's on his way to Jairus' house, and there's a crowd around him, and there's a woman with the flow of blood that's in the crowd. And she says, oh, if I can just touch the fringe of his garment, I'll be healed. Mark tells us that great harm had been done to her by all the physicians and cost her a lot of money.

[19:38] Luke, who is a physician, said that her disease was incurable, so it wasn't the physician's fault. It doesn't really matter. It's the same story. But anyway, there are all the crowds pressing around, and the woman reaches out, and immediately she's healed.

[19:49] She's healed. You say, oh, well, it's done. It's over with. She's healed. Hallelujah. And then it says, but Jesus stops. And he turns around. And I've got a question for you, right? Jesus says, who touched me?

[20:00] And they say, well, look at this crowd around you. Who touched you? But Jesus made this statement. Jesus says, but I felt the power come out of me. Now, wait a minute. Jesus is fully man, but he's fully God, right? So if he has the power to heal because someone touched him, and if he has the ability to know that someone was healed because they touched him, just a question.

[20:19] Don't you think he knew who it was in the crowd who touched him? But what did he do? He said, who touched me? He asked a question, and he waited.

[20:32] Jairus' daughter is dying, but he's waiting, and he's waiting because he knows when he gets to Jairus' daughter, she's just asleep. She'll wake up, but he's waiting, and what he's waiting on is the woman. And what is he waiting on? The woman, it says, and she came forward and told everything.

[20:47] She made a public confession. She had to talk about the ugliness of her past. She had to talk about the desperate conditions she was in. She talked about the power of the Savior to redeem and restore her. And then Jesus says she is forgiven.

[21:01] Do you notice that? He knew who it was, but he was waiting on her to make the confession. Friend, listen to me. If the power of Christ can restore and redeem and renew you, then the power of Christ can move you to make a confession before others.

[21:13] It's just a sermon inside of a sermon. You made the public confession. If you don't make the confession, then you don't have the motivation to face the charge.

[21:26] You say, well, why should I stand before others and tell them that Jesus is my Lord? So that someday in the midst of the battle of your life, when it's not all roses and buttercups and sometimes it's going hard, some brother or sister can walk beside you and say, friend, do you remember when Jesus was Lord of your life?

[21:45] Do you remember when you made that confession? And they encourage you because you raised an Ebenezer up. Now, you set a stone of help saying thus far the Lord has helped me because there are times when somebody needs to come beside you and say, don't you remember?

[22:01] Because Satan's going to make you forget. And if you don't ever confess it to someone else, no one can call your memory back. Make the confession.

[22:13] Look at what it says. Remember the confession. Therefore, I charge you in the presence of God. Now, who we get the charge in front of matters.

[22:27] Right? Who you're standing in front of when you're given a charge matters. If you come before me and someone says, I want you to tell the truth, and you look at me and go, well, that's just Billy Joe. I don't have to tell the truth.

[22:38] But what if they take you into the courtroom and there's a judge up there on the court, up on the bench, and they say, but now you have to tell the truth because I charge you in the presence of the judge that you tell the truth. Now you are under legal obligation to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.

[22:51] Why? Because the charge you have received is before the judge. Now, what if I take you all the way to the courtroom of heaven and you are standing before the king of kings and lord of lords and I charge you there? See how it matters?

[23:03] Who you're standing in front of when you're given the charge matters. Paul says, I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things.

[23:14] Now, the greatest challenge that Timothy faced is they could kill him for his profession. Well, he said, well, I'm going to give you a charge in front of the one who has all life in the palm of his hand. Man may try to kill you, but it is God who gives life.

[23:27] I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and I'm going to give you this charge in the presence of Christ Jesus who, by the way, testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate.

[23:39] Now, you remember that, right? When all Jesus had to do was deny the reality that he was a king and Pontius Pilate would have let him go? But he made the good confession. It's astounding.

[23:50] Jesus is silent the whole time during all of his trials. There are about six trials that Jesus faces the night of his betrayal. And there's six trials. They all go through three Jews, three Romans. There's all these trials.

[24:00] He's going back and forth and getting bounced around. And most of the time, Jesus is silent, not saying a word, not saying a word, not saying a word. The only time he speaks up is when the religious leaders say, are you the son of God?

[24:10] And he says, I tell you the truth, you will see me ascending on the clouds. You will see the son of man coming on the clouds. They knew immediately. He was referencing Daniel chapter seven. And they knew all of a sudden he is calling himself the ancient of days.

[24:22] He is saying that he is God. And that's why they cried out, blasphemy, blasphemy. They said other things. Jesus was silent. They took him before Pontius Pilate. He said all these things. Jesus was silent. Pontius asked him a question.

[24:32] Are you a king? He says, I am a king. But my kingdom is not of this world. For if my kingdom were of this realm, I would, my people would follow up and you would have no authority over me.

[24:43] He makes the good confession. He didn't have to, but he did. Why? Because he knew he had life within himself. And now in light of those two, in light of the reality that it is God who holds life and Christ Jesus who gave his life, I give you this charge.

[24:57] Look at this charge. That you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the charge. Keep the commandment. You say, what commandment? The commandment.

[25:08] That's the scripture. See, faith in Jesus Christ does not remove you from obligations to maintain the standards of scripture.

[25:19] As a matter of fact, it heightens your obligation to maintain the standard of scripture. Keep the commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself.

[25:35] Upon these two, our Savior said, all the commandments hang. I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or stain. You say, well, I can't do that without reproach.

[25:46] You're right, you can't, but that's the charge before you. How do you build character? Answer the charge. How long should I do this? It says, until our Lord Jesus appears, which he, that is God, will bring about at the proper time.

[26:00] He, and he reminds us again of the position of God. He says, he, that is God, is the blessed and only sovereign. Now, in Timothy's case, this matters because the sovereign of the land, that is, the Roman emperor, claimed to have authority over the lives.

[26:15] He said, God is the only sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see.

[26:26] To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. How we see God has application to the third thing, and that is the command.

[26:37] You see the challenge, you see the charge, now you see the command. He says, instruct. The word there can also be translated command. Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God.

[26:54] Here's the command. If God has blessed you, that's not your hope. Instruct them not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

[27:10] God is not a big mean God. Rather, he is a God who provides us with all things to enjoy. Everything that is of enjoyment and pure pleasure to us is given to us by God alone, who richly supplies us, it tells us.

[27:25] Our riches are not our confidence, but the provider of our riches are our confidence. Instruct. Again, the word is a command there. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, to do good, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.

[27:54] Here is the command. Rightly see who God is so that you will know how to rightly live before others. It is the command not to see your worth as your confidence and your hope, but you have fixed your hope upon God who gives you these things to enjoy and to use and to be a supporter of.

[28:19] It is an astounding thing. I was, again, reading this past week and reading on the Lord's Prayer and the power of the Lord's Prayer and says, you know, the reality is if we're praying the Lord's Prayer and we say, you know the Lord's Prayer, right?

[28:32] And it says, if we're in there and we're saying, and give us this day our daily bread and we're praying for God's provisions, the moment we say us, we're not just talking about our family. In context, you're talking about all your brothers and sisters in Christ and the author said, if I say that, if I say give us this day our daily bread and all of a sudden I get a raise the next day, I can go, oh, praise be to God, he gave me my daily bread.

[28:51] He said, but then if my brother gets laid off that next day, all of a sudden I come to the realization that maybe the us in context was more than my family, so maybe my raise was given to help meet the need of my brother.

[29:04] He said, oh, wait a minute. Because my hope is not fixed in my raise, my hope is fixed in the God who provided my raise and I'm united. He said, are we really united like that?

[29:15] Well, Peter says, we're spiritual stones built up to one another. Right? Here's the command. It's not that we all have to live in this Marxist society or even a communist society where everything is all common, but rather that we enjoy the things that God has given us, but we also say, God, here I am.

[29:34] I want you to use me. If there's a need that I can meet, then Lord, I want to be able to do that wisely. So there's the challenge, there's the charge, there's the command. Fourth and finally, to be a church of character, look at the calling.

[29:48] Look at the calling, record it there for us in the last two verses. He says, O Timothy, again, the application is to each and every one of us. O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you.

[30:04] Here's the calling. Guard what has been entrusted to you. He said, well, what's been entrusted to Timothy in application?

[30:14] What's been entrusted to us? If you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then my friend, the gospel has been entrusted to you. You know how man may be set free.

[30:29] You continue on that SM Locker sermon after he says, this world is forever chasing bubbles. There's another great line in there. He says, but I know where a poor man can get rich.

[30:41] I know where a hungry man can be fed. I know where a broke man can be restored. And I know where a homeless man can find a mansion. He starts talking about his king.

[30:52] See, what you've been entrusted with is the desire of the nations. It is the peace that passes understanding, the joy that goes beyond every circumstance, the reality that an individual can stand up and they can honestly say, I am well.

[31:08] They don't have to say, I'm happy because happiness is determined upon circumstances but being well is dependent upon a position. And that's why, and you know if you ask me how are you doing today, I'm doing well.

[31:18] I'm not always happy. I'm not always in a giddy mood. Sometimes life hits me pretty hard but it is always well with me because I know my Savior, right? So we understand this.

[31:29] We know this reality. We understand the thing that the world is longing for. We have been entrusted with a treasure that is beyond measure and it tells us to guard what we have been entrusted with.

[31:40] Well, how do you guard it? He says, to avoid worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge. That is, if you come to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, don't let the world start to define the gospel for you.

[31:56] You don't need Jesus plus something. You don't need Jesus and something. You don't need Jesus and all these other things. Know what the gospel says. Be careful in the commentaries you read on scripture.

[32:09] Be careful on the things and choose what I read. I read broadly, okay? I read way outside my denomination. I always have. I don't pigeonhole myself.

[32:19] I read pretty broad. But friend, I'm telling you, as broadly as I read, there have also been times where I've taken whole sets of books off my shelves and thrown them away. There have been times where I've walked through Goodwill and bought books to throw away.

[32:34] You say, well, that's not nice. Well, it is when I understand that I am to guard the gospel. And just because it positions itself as being one who declares the truth, it does not mean it is the truth.

[32:47] Right? We understand the reality that we are called to guard what has been entrusted to us. Don't let the things and the thoughts of this world and this false knowledge of this world lead us astray.

[33:03] It says, which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Many scholars of the past will tell you because the word knowledge there is this pseudo-science, false science, which in the Greek just means false knowledge, speak of the reality that the greatest trial and tragedy that's ever faced the church is this evolutionary Dharanism.

[33:33] And how the sciences have waged such war against us. Now, I was a science major. I understand it. I didn't graduate with that, but I love science.

[33:44] I absolutely love it. And I don't think that Christianity and science conflict at all. As a matter of fact, I think they complement one another. I think science is trying to discover what God has already put into motion and it's a wonderful thing that God gives us there.

[33:58] But there's some danger because so many worldly scholars and science have made it clear that their whole aim is to discount the reality of God so that they can free themselves from a moral obligation thereof.

[34:14] Your greatest secularist, your greatest atheist, have all made this one declaration that they're not so much about trying to just discount scripture.

[34:25] They want to remove the reality of God because by removing the reality of God they will free themselves from any moral agent to which they will be accountable. And the aim of that is so that they can do whatever they want to do when they want to do it.

[34:40] But you be careful that you guard that truth that's been committed to you in Christ. You can't live in a vacuum.

[34:53] You live in the world in which you've put into but don't let the world define the gospel. You define the gospel to the world. And don't let anyone tell you that if you come to Christ you've got to throw your brain away.

[35:06] You don't. Some of the greatest scientists and greatest thinkers of past ages have all been believers. Don't let them define you in a certain way.

[35:19] Understand. And if you say well I need help in that well great come to me I can help you with that. It's not that I'm a great thinker but I can give you the resources to equip you right. I can point you to some things that will make your brain smoke.

[35:29] I read on my left. I'm like well I don't understand all that. I've got to think about that for just a moment. Things that are beyond me. But it is very reasonable. You need to understand these.

[35:40] Guard it. You say well why do I need to know the gospel? Why do I need to study to show myself approved? Why must I guard it? Because the knowledge of this world is fighting against it and you want to be a people of character.

[35:53] We are called to be a church of character in a world that is constantly waging war against it. Will we accept the challenge know the charge keep the command and obey the calling?

[36:04] For the glory of the king and the king alone. Let's pray. Father I thank you so much. I thank you for this day.

[36:15] And I thank you for these people. I thank you for each one that has gathered here. I thank you for the way you've led and guided each one of us to be here today. So Lord we also realize that in the world in which you've placed and planted us that at times it can be difficult.

[36:32] Lord we want to be those who persevere because we know in our perseverance it proves our character. May our character as men and women of God may it shine through even in the most difficult of seasons.

[36:50] May we be those who pursue godliness and righteousness. May you call us to yourself. Lord Jesus if there's one here today who doesn't know you as their Lord and Savior we know that's the first calling.

[37:05] So Lord maybe there's one who needs to make a public profession. Lord whatever you're declaring to us may we be sensitive to hear your word today. Not for our comfort but for your glory.

[37:19] And we ask it all in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Thank you.

[37:58] Thank you.

[38:28] Thank you.

[38:58] Thank you.

[39:28] Thank you.

[39:58] Thank you.

[40:28] Thank you.