The Bible says this, But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. You know, just that last verse right there does such a tremendous job in one verse of encapsulating the life and ministry and death and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the mystery of godliness. This is who God is. This is what he's done for us. And it's a tremendous verse of scripture I had in college. these several chapters here in the middle of 1st Timothy that had opportunity to commit to memory. Every time I read these couple of verses in particular, it just makes a tremendous impression on me. You think about Paul, the older preacher, writing to Timothy, a young pastor now, and challenging him. And he says in that first verse, if I tarry long, he says, I plan to come to you. He had said in the previous verses. Verse 14, these things write I unto you, hoping to come unto thee shortly. He says, I'm writing these things and I'm hoping to be there myself shortly. But then he gets to verse 15. He says, but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God. He said, the reason I wrote these things, I plan to be there myself shortly and to help you with some of these things. But in the meantime, and if I'm not able to be there shortly, I want you to know how you ought to behave yourself. One of the reasons, as we look at 1 Timothy, it's a great book to go over. 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus as well, they're written to young preachers, but it's a great book to go over with somebody that's a new Christian. They're great for discipleship. Why? Because of what it says in that verse right there, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God. There's something about Paul saying let me let me teach you and train you that this is what is to be expected And it's not just true. I tell people all the time you think about the qualifications in Timothy and Titus of a pastor or a bishop And we think about those things, we think those are things that we ought to look for in a pastor or in a deacon, you see those things as well. But I always tell folks, just because it says for a pastor or a deacon doesn't mean that it excuses everybody else from those qualifications. Because you never know, as a man, there's maybe tomorrow, it may be five years from now that God wants to use one of the men in this church or five of the men in this church as deacons. And we certainly wouldn't want to do something that would disqualify us from being able to be used. Or as preachers, I know men that have been called to preach at 30, 40, 50, 60 years old that God's called them to preach. And wouldn't it be a shame if you had to take that and then go back and look and say, well, because of some things that they've done in their life, they've disqualified themselves from being a pastor. I believe, and I know that this is a point of contention with some people, I believe that God can use anybody to preach, but there are some things that he sets aside, some extra qualifications for somebody that's going to pastor. And for a lot of reasons, I mean, just common sense things, simple things, such as if a man's going to be counseling people on their marriages, it's probably a good idea if it'd be somebody that's married. For a single man, somebody that's never been married, to be doing a lot of marriage counseling, you can read the Bible and you can share with people what the Bible says, but really, there's some things that you can only understand about being married if you've been married. It's kind of like raising kids. There's only the only experts on raising kids or people that have never had kids Anybody that's ever had kids knows there's no such thing as an expert on raising kids, right? Because it just you know, there's some that yes, we can look at the Bible and we can teach people on different things biblical principles but there's something, my wife and I, when we were young, first married, even before we got married, talking about when we were preparing to get married, discussing how we were gonna raise our children and stuff, and you see different things in other people, and you would see somebody else's kid, and you would say, my kid would never do that. Have you ever said that? And then have you ever found your kid doing exactly what you said they would never do? Yeah. It's amazing. Well, I didn't teach him to do that. That parent probably didn't either. They've got the devil inside of them. That's why they learn to do that You know, hey, there's something about that but Paul says here to Timothy says look I wrote these things so that you'd know how to behave yourself and then hey, you know summarizes the life of Jesus Christ some the under the Heading there at the top first Timothy. It says introducing or I'm sorry instructing rather instructing a young preacher. I Keywords doctrine the word doctrine used eight times and if I mean it just goes to figure that if you're instructing a young preacher It's important for all of us, but particularly for a preacher because he's instructing others that they be sound in doctrine So Paul uses you see the word doctrine used eight times first time chapter 1 verse 3 the most significant time chapter 4 verse 16 Let's look at that for just a minute Chapter 4 verse 16. It says this take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine Continue in them for in doing If we're in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee Take heed to thyself. Hey, you're the pastor, you're the leader, people are looking to you. And can I say this morning, whether you're a husband, or a wife, or a dad, or a mom, or a grandparent, or a young person, we all need to take heed to ourselves. Watch the way that you behave. He said earlier in chapter 3 how you ought to behave yourself. And then he says, take heed to thyself. Watch yourself, pay attention to how you're behaving, how you're acting. And then he says, and to the doctrine. Watch your behavior and keep a close eye on doctrine and make sure that you stay doctrinally right, that you stay in line with the word of God. It's so important. It's very dangerous when we get too far from the Word of God in our teaching and in our preaching. And when we start, when we begin to, you know, we can use illustrations. The Lord used illustrations and other things, but He always came back to the Word of God. Always. And it's That's one of the reasons that I preach the way that I preach in general, is I like to stay close to the Word of God and just going through passages of Scripture and not to get off too much in man's ideas and theories and man this, that, or the other thing, but to just stay close to what the Bible says. Paul says, pay attention, take heed to thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them. Continue in them. That means stay there. Stay in the doctrine. Continue in them. For in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. You know, the worst thing that we can do for our children as we raise children is to be inconsistent in our Christian life. If we're inconsistent in our Christian life, it will damage our children. Not just our children, but again, whether it's Sunday school teachers or other people, brothers and sisters in Christ that are part of the family of God here at our church. When we're not consistent, when we're not faithful, it does damage the people around us. You may not think so, but here's the thing. If I just say, well, usually I'm pretty good about this, and I watch this, and I stay close to the Word of God, and I behave myself wisely, and I'm faithful in the Word of God, all those things, but I just kind of had an off day. Here's the problem. What if, whether it's one of your children, or your husband, or wife, or just a brother or sister in Christ that sees you and happens to be around you on that day, We don't get to take days off. We don't get to say, I just don't feel like being a Christian today. Your testimony, your reputation, my testimony, my reputation takes a lifetime to build and about five seconds to ruin. It doesn't have to be, you don't even have to have an off day. Just an off minute and off, you know, where you just, I just lost it that one time. It can be rebuilt and regained, but it's going to take a lot of work. It's going to take a lot of work. The next word we see is the word good used 23 times. You think about that. You've got a man that's instructing another younger man. how to behave and how to act and how to do things and he says this is good and this would be good and it would be good if you would do this it's good let's look at some things here first time use chapter 1 verse 5 most significant significant time chapter 6 verse 12 let's look at that He says, "...fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." Fight the good fight of faith. You want to know a lot of times why people won't fight that fight? Because they're not convinced in their heart and mind that it's a good fight. What are you... Again, with what I'm preaching on this morning in the main service, what are you convinced is a good fight? What to you is something that's worth fighting for? Many people will say, well, you know, of course the Word of God is worth fighting for, and I believe that with all my heart. My kids, my family is worth fighting for. And a lot of people will say that, but then when it comes down to it, they're not willing to fight the battles. If it's really worth fighting for, I've said it before many times, parents, they have rules and guidelines and things in their home, and then their kids get to be teenagers, and for some reason they just all of a sudden instantly become possessed of the devil, I don't know what happens to them, but they go crazy, and mom and dad think, man, They'll use the phrase, and I use this phrase, you just have to pick your battles. And I believe that that's true. But a lot of times, parents decide not to pick any battles. They decide, you know what, if I'm gonna save my kids, if I'm gonna save my relationship with my kids, then I'm gonna have to just let them do what they want. We have no idea the amount of damage that that really does. The battles are worth fighting. And it may not be till 5 years later or 10 years later or 15 years later, but if you stay consistent and if I stay consistent, the Lord carries His coming, those children will come back and say, thank you for not giving in. Thank you for holding that line. There's a lot of things in my life now that I look back at with my parents, that when I was growing up, I thought they were nuts, I thought they were crazy, I thought they were overbearing, I thought, all those things. And I loved, I always loved my parents, but now I look back at it, and now that I'm an adult, and now that I have teenage children of my own, I'm so glad that they fought those battles. And my parents would tell you, and I'll tell you for myself, we didn't do everything right. We haven't done everything right. I make mistakes as a parent all the time. But the battles are worth fighting. fighting for the Word of God. I had breakfast yesterday morning with Brother Stringer. Brother Phil Stringer is staying at Documus Pats. He's preaching this week down south of here about an hour. I had breakfast with him yesterday morning and him and I were talking and talking about colleges because AJ is going to college and we're talking about accreditation at Christian colleges, being accredited and some of the different things that go along with that. and he was talking about a pastor that him and I both know that was a good man, a good church, God was blessing and had a Bible college and they decided to go for accreditation and with that you have to do some things that the state tells you to do and what they ended up doing because of that is brought in a bunch of, in order to have the professors and things that they needed and the administrators that had the qualifications that the state wanted They brought in a bunch of people from the Southern Baptist seminaries and things. And next thing you know, he said, it wasn't six months later. I was talking to that preacher and he said, do we really know that the ESV came from a different manuscript? How do we really know? Brother stringer, of course, you know, he's part of the King James Bible Research Council and all these different things He preaches and teaches on the King James Bible. He said look at the front page of the ESB It tells you that it comes from a different manuscript It tells you write it but there's something about when we begin to stray when we begin to this side Well that battles really not worth fighting preachers that have said, well, we're going to drop, I know preachers preach all over the United States at a lot of big, good Baptist churches. He pastors a church, a young man about my age. And he said, we're going to drop the name Baptist off of our sign, off of our church, because it just lends itself to too many fights and battles, and we want to reach as many people as possible. So we're going to change the name of our church and just drop Baptist off. Everything else will be the same. We're still going to be the same. Everything will be the same. But it's not. You look now five years later, everything has changed. Why? Because they decided they didn't want to fight the battles. When Paul says to Timothy, he says, fight the good fight. We need to figure out in our hearts and minds as Christians, as children of God, what battles are worth fighting and then we need to be willing to fight those battles. Let me tell you, more and more today in our society and in our country, we are going to be faced with more and more battles and we're gonna have to decide, do I really want to, is that a hill I'm willing to die on? What am I willing to fight for? Even to the death, what am I willing to fight for? Memorial Day, one of the things, the whole reason for Memorial Day, is to honor those who gave their lives in fighting for our freedom and fighting for our country. That's what Memorial Day is. We need to do the same. We need to take some time to think about the sacrifices that have been made, and not just as far as our freedom, but as far as to have this book. You know how many people have lost their lives in order for you to sit there with a Bible in your lap? And yet so many Christians today say, well, it's not really something worth fighting over. Tell that to the person that gave their life for it. Obviously, they thought it was worth fighting for. So many things. Paul says, fight the good fight. The theme of the book, the conduct of pastors and members and the qualifications of leaders. We need to all keep ourselves, as I mentioned earlier, in a position where we would be qualified to be a leader. You say, well, I don't have a leadership position, so that doesn't apply to me. God may have a leadership position in your future. And so we all need to keep ourselves in a position where we would be qualified. Written A.D. 63 and 64, the writer, of course, the Apostle Paul, written to Timothy, a young pastor at Ephesus there, from Rome between Paul's first and second imprisonment, It's the 54th book of the Bible, 15th book of the New Testament, 6 chapters and 113 verses. The purpose for the book, Paul exhorts Timothy in chapter 1 to do several things. Number 1, he says, stand firm. Let's turn back to chapter 1 for just a minute. Let's look at a couple of these things. Paul's challenging or exhorting Timothy, encouraging him to do some things as a pastor. And can I tell you, 2,000 years later, every pastor still needs to be exhorted in these areas, including myself. First of all, he says, stand firm, verse three. And as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went to Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. He says, stand firm. Know what you believe and stand firm on that. Then verse number 4, to speak up. Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying, which is in faith, so do. He says, speak up. And then He says, take care, verse 18. This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare. Fight on, verse 19, holding faith in a good conscience, which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck. He says, hold on to it, fight on, and then keep true, verse 20. Whom is hymenos and Alexander whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme He says we need to stay true we need to stay faithful is exhortation to a preacher he says all of these things and if you read the whole chapter, it's The whole book really is Paul saying to Timothy Stand for what's right. Do right. Fight the good fight. This is what's right. This is what's worth fighting for. This is what's necessary. The divisions of the book. First of all, how to deal with heresy in chapter 1. Secondly, how to regulate church life, chapters 2 and 3. And how to conduct our daily living, chapters 4 through 6. The outline. First of all, pure doctrine, chapter one, Paul's message was authentic. His message was authentic, his message was acceptable, and his message was adaptable. All three of those things in verse 15 says this, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. It's faithful, it's authentic, it's acceptable, and it's adaptable. It applies to everybody. The public responsibility of church in chapter 2. First of all, public praying, verses 1-8. And secondly, presentable women in verses 9-15. What was expected of the ladies. And then he goes on in chapter 3, for the prerequisites for church officers, qualifications of pastors, qualifications of deacons, and the quality of their message." Let me just say briefly on that, there's people that may be as far as the qualifications, you may say, well, yeah, they seem to meet the qualifications, but it's important that the quality of our message be right, that we understand the value of what we are preaching, of what we are teaching, and of who we are preaching and teaching, and that it be something that would be honoring to God. The pastoral pattern of church, chapter 4, expressed concern over false teachers in verses 1-7, and then exhortation to young pastors in verses 8-16. Again, some very familiar verses in 1 Timothy 4, there are verses 8-16 in Paul's challenge to Timothy. Then preparation for church widows. He says, okay, you've got widows in the church. Here's how you take care of them. Here's how you prepare for them. Advice on their relationships. action towards widows, and accountability of pastors. Then lastly, in chapter 6, the practical conduct of believers concerning servants, verses 1 and 2, concerning subversives in verses 3 through 6, concerning substance, verses 7 through 10, and concerning soundness in verses 11 through 21. There's a lot, again, another book that there's just so much information. It's a great study. I, you know, when a young Christian, and particularly a young man, comes to me and says, hey, where would be a good place for me to start reading? One of the first places I always tell him is 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. Because there's so much basic teaching and training and information that's given to us. that we can learn and apply that will make a difference in our lives. Some miscellaneous things. Timothy was the son of a Greek father and a Jewish mother. We see that from Acts chapter 16, verse 1. He traveled widely with Paul and often served as his messenger. He also seems to have been timid at first. 2 Timothy 1, 7 tells a little bit about that. But tradition says he died a martyr for standing against an idolatrous celebration. Some things about Paul. First of all, he gives his name in this book. He gives his name as Paul, Latin Paulus or Saul, Hebrew name. He states his office. He is an apostle, author, and an authority. And he gives titles of the Lord, these three things. Jesus is the Savior. Christ is the Sanctified and Lord. as the sovereign. Some titles that he gives to the Lord Jesus Christ throughout this book. There's so much again. Look with me. We've got just a couple of minutes. Go to chapter 4 with me. 1 Timothy chapter 4. The second half of 1 Timothy chapter 4 is Paul exhorting a young pastor and encouraging him with some things, and I'm just going to go over a few of these verses because we've got a few minutes, and just look at some exhortation that each and every one of us can apply to our own lives. He says in verse 8, For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. First of all, he does say bodily exercise profiteth little and I know a lot of people I see I don't need to exercise But he does say that it profits. Okay, he doesn't say it doesn't profit at all He says it profit if little but it does profit we need to we need to take care of ourselves But then he says this but godliness But godliness is profitable unto all things and the importance of us exercising godliness at all times. He says there's not a single area of your life that godliness won't profit. You say, well, how can godliness benefit me in this area or that area? There's not an area in your life that you could think of that godliness isn't profitable. Because when we begin to understand you say well, what do you mean by that? If you think about everything that godliness being like God Following his example You think about every area and everything that that really entails You know you think about we've been going over these biblical principles on Wednesday nights every single one of those things and us living according to those biblical principles, that is godliness. We've been talking recently about forgiveness and about humility and the next one that we're coming to is charity. All of those things are godliness. This is godliness and patterning our life after the example that God has set for us in his word. It profits us in every area. You say, well, I work in a heathen environment, or I have to spend, you know, my family or my neighbors or whatever, they're heathen and worldly people, and they don't know God, and how can being godly profit me? Look at the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at His life here on earth. Who did He spend all His time with? Publicans and sinners. Why? Because they needed the Lord. And why did they turn to Him? Well, yeah, they began to follow Him because of His miracles, but they believed on Him because of His life. He got their attention with the miracles, but His life and His genuine love and His sacrifice is why they turned to Him and believed on Him. because of his godliness. Godliness is profitable in all things. You say, well, I'm thinking about right now, Brother Joe and I were just talking earlier about the garden and how the garden is dry. And you think about gardening. Well, how can godliness profit me in gardening? if you read your Bible and you take Bible principles and apply them to gardening and about the preparing. You're talking about this was written in an agricultural time, agricultural society. You look at all the examples that are used in the Word of God of how soil is prepared and how things... how God takes care, God does give the increase, but you look at the examples of how we're supposed to work and to prepare and to plan and to care for things that we've been entrusted with, you do all those, you take all those biblical principles and you apply them to gardening, it's profitable. Everything in our life, a lady taking care of her home, if you apply biblical principles to that, it's profitable. Godliness is profitable in all things Having he says this it profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come It's profitable now godliness is But you know We also have some things that we've been promised when we get to heaven when we stand before God That we'll find that living a godly life today Will profit us in times which are to come when we see Christ. Verse number 9 says this, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. He says it's something that's worth listening to and worth accepting. Verse 10, for therefore we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, which is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe. Why do we labor? Why do we work? Why is it so important? Why should I be faithful to church? Why should I be faithful to read my Bible? Why should I share the Gospel with people? Why should I stand for what's doctrinally right? Why should I uphold high standards in my home and in my life? Why should I do all those things? What is he saying? Therefore, we both labor and suffer reproach. Why? because we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe. Because we trust in God. We trust what He says. We trust Him to do what He says. That's why we do what He tells us to. Because God is faithful. These things command and teach. Verse 12, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believer. Word and conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity One thing that's always made an impression on me is where he said one little word two-letter word in that verse He said be thou an example of the believer Be thou an example of the believer. What's he challenging Timothy to do? He's challenging Timothy to keep himself in a place that when people look at him they say I That's what I think a Christian ought to be. That's what a Christian ought to be like. This is an example of the believer. If you were to take in your heart and mind, if you were to say, if I said, who is the best example of a Christian that you know? There's probably a particular individual that comes to mind. And what Paul is saying to Timothy is, you ought to be that person. You ought to be that person that when people say, what is a Christian supposed to be? They think Timothy. Timothy, that's what a Christian ought to be. He says in word, the things you say, conversation, the way you live, in charity, the way you love, in spirit, your spiritual life, in faith, the way that you show your belief in God and in purity, in all of those things, Paul says, you ought to be the example. You say, well, of course he should. He's the pastor. But really, this applies to each and every one of us. We are to be an example of the believer. It doesn't matter. We've got some young ladies sitting on the back row. It doesn't matter if you're a 14, 15, 16-year-old young lady, or if you're an 81-year-old man, or anywhere in between. God says you and I are to be examples of the believer. The people that know us, anybody that knows you, ought to be able to say, when I think of a Christian, when I read my Bible and see this is what a Christian is supposed to be, that's the kind of person that I think of. That's a pretty weighty responsibility. That's a pretty heavy, heavy, heavy weight for us to carry to say, this is what God expects of me. That is what He expects of each and every one of us. Be thou an example of the believer. Verse 13, Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. We ought to always be reading, reading our Bibles, reading other books that can help us to grow in our walk with the Lord, help us to be more pleasing to Him, help us to be that example. How can I be that example? By doing what it says in that next verse. to give attendance to reading, give attendance to exhortation, to give attendance to doctrine, to pay attention to those things. Moms this morning, your daughters look up to you if you have daughters. You are their example of what a godly Christian lady is supposed to be. Dads, You are your son's example of what a man of God is supposed to be. Grandparents, you may have grandkids that don't have Christian parents or don't have parents that are following God. And so they may be looking to you to say that's what a Christian ought to be for your own benefit and for the benefit of others. It's absolutely vital that we live according to this. Verse 14 neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prop by prophecy With the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery says don't God has given you a gift Don't neglect it use it God given each and every person in here gifts. Don't neglect them use them Use them for the benefit of the ministry of Christ for the Word of God for the family of God we ought to be using the gifts that God given us and Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this morning. Thank you for the example of Timothy. Thank you for the challenge of Paul to Timothy. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to take this book, and apply it to our lives, that we would please you, that we would live a godly life. I pray that you'd bless the service in just a few minutes. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. You are dismissed. Be back in about 10 minutes.