Good morning, my friends. This is missionary James Robinette with Mission Africa. And by the Lord's marvelous grace, I am blessed to meet with him in worship today in the teaching and preaching ministry of the Word of God. It is also my joy to meet with you, dear radio listener. Learn more about our ministry, Mission Africa, at www.missionafricajk.home.blog. We continue today in our verse-by-verse exposition of the book of 1 Timothy. Please turn with me in your Bibles, as you can, to 1 Timothy chapter 6, and we'll soon begin reading in verse 11. In the verses that we are looking at today, we are reminded that the Lord Jesus Christ, the potentate, that is the absolute sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, meaning that he is the eternal God who cannot die, dwells in unapproachable light, absolute holiness. No human being can see Him, has seen Him, in His absolute essential holiness, In fact, a man cannot look upon God in his unapproachable light, his absolute essential holiness and glory. This great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is coming again. Paul reminds us, reveals to us, that Jesus will appear in his own time, that he is the blessed God. Glory to God. Salvation is found in Him, in Him alone, dear friend. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ with all of your heart and be saved from your sins. Hear now the word of the Lord in 1 Timothy chapter 6 beginning in verse 11. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called, and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless, until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. Praise the Lord. That's through verse 16, 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 11 through 16. May the Lord add his blessings to his holy word. Friends, let us pray. Praise you, Lord Jesus Christ, God over all, that you're coming soon. And you are the awesome, holy God, absolute sovereign, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And we give you praise that in your own time, you will manifest yourself to this world again. And that this time you are coming for judgment. Praise you that you came to save sinners from our sins, but you are coming again to finally judge the creation. Every soul you will save and you will condemn in your absolute holiness. And so have mercy upon us in that day, O God. Forgive our sins now and give us grace and wisdom assurance that our sins are forgiven now in time. and therefore surely forgiven at the last day, when you will come in your absolute holiness, which no mortal man, a corruptible man, can look upon. But enable us, Lord, to behold you face to face in your grace and glory and worship you and love you supremely. And we ask it in Christ's name, amen and amen. Friends, we've seen in the section of verses just before verse 11 that Paul is once again identifying false teachers. He is teaching what they are like. He is showing us their characteristics that they may be recognized as the false teachers that they are. And here, beginning in verse 11, Paul will encourage, he will bring final exhortations to minister Timothy and to Christ's pastors, to Christ's people, the church, as he will contrast the way of a Christian and a minister with that of the false teachers, of lost sinful men. Paul begins this section of verses by calling Timothy a man of God. The exact words are, O man of God. Such an apt expression. With feeling, with zeal, with strong love, Paul encourages his son Timothy, a son in the faith, to flee the sin and evil that the false teachers are swallowed up in, to flee these things. And that Timothy, as a true man of God, would pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Paul's thought here is that Timothy is encouraged to pursue, strive after, seek after with all of his heart, follow after Christ, and seek these virtues, these characteristics, which are so pleasing to God. We have here again a good picture of Jesus Christ, who is the righteous, godly man, the faithful man, the loving, patient, and gentle man. As Timothy pursues righteousness, that is approved godly character and conduct that is very pleasing to God. As Timothy pursues godliness, a love for God that so impacts a man that he turns from sin, truly living with Christ, for Christ, and living in accord with God's desires, his stated will in the Word of God, in God's ways. As Timothy pursues faith, that is an ever-deepening and growing trust and knowledge of God. Praise the Lord. As Timothy pursues love, true love, sincere love for God and for his fellow man, especially for believers. And as he perseveres in this great striving after virtue, as he is gentle, that is not violent, but a kind, good shepherd like the Lord Jesus Christ, he will persevere, fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life, as we see in verse 12. Paul reminds Timothy that A life of faith is indeed a fight. It is a good fight. It is not an evil wrangling, an evil conflict, an evil war, but it is a good war. It is the fight of faith. This reminder helps us, too, because we see in this that we, too, are fighters. We are fighting as faithful Christians. We are fighting against the world, which destroys lost people, and we are fighting for Christ, for his righteous kingdom's sake. As we fight the good fight of faith, again, a remarkable expression, a good fight of faith, we are to lay hold on eternal life. In other words, take hold of it, pursue it with all of our strength. Take a hold of life and don't let go of life. Take a hold of Christ who is our life and don't let go of Christ. Paul reminds Timothy, he reminds Christians that we are called to this, effectively called by God into his marvelous light. The particulars of his life as a Christian were ordained before by God, before the foundation of the world. And in this calling, God moves Timothy to walk in his pre-appointed plan. a plan made before the foundation of the world personally for Timothy. Timothy's call to the marvelous light includes his call to the ministry. Timothy has been called by the Almighty God to come to him as a believer in Jesus Christ and as a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Timothy, in this reminder, sees that he is bound in the effective call, the effectual call to salvation in Jesus Christ. He is effectively bound to Christ, ordained by God to eternal life, ordained by God to the blessed ministry that he was called to by God. In his calling, Timothy has been led to confess the good confession. in the presence of many witnesses, meaning that he confessed his faith in Christ before many who believed in Christ. Timothy must have spoken to many, many people in his lifetime about the Lord Jesus Christ. In this confessing his faith, he must have ministered to many, many Christians in his lifetime. In this confessing his faith in the presence of many witnesses. These are words of exhortation in that he is encouraged to continue in his pursuit of God, in the good confession. In verse 13, which says, I urge you in the sight of God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate. And in this, Paul is giving Timothy a solemn charge. a divine apostolic commandment. This is God's will, comes to Timothy through this solemn charge, and Paul urges Timothy to obey God in these most important issues, these vital issues, remembering that he lives in the sight of God who gives life to all things. This is a reference to the Father. the giver of life to all things. And I love to see in Scripture these wonderful reminders, these statements that God the Father is watching us. He is the all-seeing God. He sees everything. Nothing is hidden from His sight. He knows about everything that can happen, that does happen in the creation. He knows the thoughts of men's hearts. He knows everything that can be known. All things are naked and open to Him to whom we must give an account. We are helped to live in the holy presence of God who sees all things as we remember that we live in the sight of God, that He is the creator. He alone can give life to creatures. Paul's solemn charge is also made before the Lord Jesus Christ. The text says, and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate. In other words, Paul calls upon this truth. God is watching Timothy. And Christ Jesus, who witnessed a faithful good confession, even unto death, He confessed the truth of his nature, of his identity to Pontius Pilate in light of God's knowledge and sight of you and your life and ministry, Timothy. Remember Christ Jesus's, that is the God-man's good confession before Pilate in that with great courage in the face of death, The faithful man, Jesus Christ, Paul refers to him as the God-man, Christ Jesus here, related to God the Father, the giver of life, was true unto death. He was true in the face of suffering, and he witnessed before Pontius Pilate. In this solemn charge, Timothy, too, is to be true to God. And as verse 14 tells us, keep this commandment without spot. William Barclay believes that this is a reference to verse 12, to fight the good fight of faith, to lay hold onto eternal life, to which Timothy was called. In other words, here, Paul solemnly adjures Timothy to believe in Christ, continue to pursue Christ, and serve Christ well in the ministry faithfully, again summed up in fighting the good fight of faith, as a true believer, as a true Christian overcoming his fears, And as he does so, he will also keep the sum of Paul's instructions in this letter. This truth of fighting the good fight of faith and laying hold on eternal life, confessing the good confession, is really a great summary statement of all of Paul's specific instructions in this letter. And as he does so, he will keep the particular instructions that Paul has delineated, that Paul has given to him. Timothy's obedience, indeed a Christian's obedience, a minister's obedience, is to be without spot. That is, in purity and holiness. Such a powerful exhortation. The picture there is that one's clothing, because the saint is dressed in white clothing and glory, resplendent clothing, a white robe, this white robe, or if you will, life of holiness as a believer, as a minister, is to be maintained so that his clothes, his clothes, a white robe that he wears, is not to be spotted or stained. Even once, his holiness is to be maintained in such purity that he is unspotted, that he is blameless, that is, He is free of scandalous sin, which leads to doubt as to the reality of his faith, his walk with Christ, and leads to doubt of his ability to minister the Word of God. We are drawn in this picture to remember that Jesus Christ was the spotless lamb of God who never sinned. And he was, if you will, in this picture, clothed with a robe of righteousness, of absolute purity, perfectly white, a whiteness, a glory, a splendor that no human being could create or maintain. Jesus was clothed in absolute righteousness and Paul urges Timothy to be so clothed in purity, without stain, without spot, and to be blameless. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. This is strong encouragement for a Christian, for a minister, because we are so keenly aware by the presence of the Spirit in us of our sinfulness. But our sinfulness, the inner corruptions that we all struggle with as believers, perhaps especially as ministers, must be mortified. It must be killed constantly so that our lives are in reality holy, we are holy in our inward parts, in our hearts, souls, minds, imaginations, desires, intentions, our words and actions. And this inner holiness and purity, as we conquer sin, though we are so keenly aware of it, is then not reflected and expressed in our outward carriage, our outward bearing, in our behavior, so that we are outwardly seen to be free of scandalous sin, sin that is evident to any person who would look upon us. Praise God. And though we are very sinful, the best of us, the best ministers of us, nevertheless, God has set us apart in real holiness and clothed us with a spotless robe of righteousness, and we are to walk in that spotless robe of righteousness with Christ in real holiness. And when we do sin, confess our sins to God as we are blameless, free of scandalous sin. in this sense, overcoming the world, living without spot, and living in blamelessness. Praise the Lord. Here again, the minister is a picture of how Christ was in a measure. He is to look like Christ looks. in a measure, praise God, such a high calling, absolutely impossible for a human being, for a man without Christ's saving grace, but such a high calling to live a life like this in purity and a life of blamelessness to love God and serve God, serve the people of God in the gospel ministry. Glory to God. God help us to be ministers, to be believers like this. Timothy is to maintain this life of purity and blamelessness until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing." Here, Paul reverses the order in the name. In verse 13, he said to Timothy, remember that you live in the sight and before Christ Jesus, the God-man. Here, Paul tells Timothy that he is to keep this commandment until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing. until the man-god appears. In verses 14 through 16, we once again have Paul's outbreak into doxology. He glorifies God. He writes of Christ in such a glorious, awesome way. He is coming again The man Jesus Christ is appearing. God the Son is appearing. His appearance will be absolutely glorious beyond our ability to even imagine or comprehend now. The God who is all-powerful, who created this entire creation. The vastness of the universe. The vastness of the invisible world. The vastness of human life and existence. This God, an infinitely great and powerful Almighty God, is appearing in His glory. This appearance is going to be revealed in Christ's time. At His appointed time, He will manifest Himself. Verse 15 tells us, imagine for a moment in your mind's eye, in your heart, that He will appear in the sky, His shining countenance and radiance no man can look upon apart from God's saving grace. He will return and the mountains will flee. The creation will collapse into a great consuming fire. He will first raise the dead. He will simply speak. God over all, Jesus Christ will speak. He will raise the dead. All people who have ever lived, every created man will rise up before the King of glory the man God, Jesus Christ. He comes in unapproachable light, his absolute glory, and every knee shall bow before him. Every tongue will confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father, and he will judge each precious soul. He is coming. He is the blessed and only potentate The absolute sovereign, the ruler, the king of kings, the Lord of lords. Revelation chapter 19, beginning in verse 11 through 16 says, and he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, and he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords." Paul reminds Timothy of Christ's appearing again, that Christ will manifest himself in his absolute glory the God that he serves, and that Timothy, as all human beings do, will live before Christ, the eternal God that he has loved and served, trusted and obeyed, preached and declared, that Christ alone has immortality. That is, he essentially has inherent and unending life. Jesus said in his humiliation and his incarnation when he came the first time that he is the way, the truth, and the life. Indeed, Christ is life. Christ will declare and manifest himself to the creation that he is life, he has immortality. And Christ, the eternal Son of God, in his essential nature and holiness, dwells in unapproachable light. It emanates from Him. He is the light of the presence of God. He is the creator of light. Absolute holiness and truth emanates from Him and we can only approach him through his shed blood. No man has seen God in his absolute glory. No man can see God in his absolute glory. No corruptible man can stand in the presence of God in his absolute glory, in his essence. and he is coming again to judge the world. The invisible God that no man can see will be seen in Jesus Christ. He will manifest himself in Christ Jesus. He will be seen, known, approached by God's people, and worshiped by every man. Amen. so that in this high song of praise and glory to God, in this doxology, Paul lifts up the name of Christ. Paul declares, preaches Christ to Timothy, to us who believe in him, as a solemn reminder that we must follow him and obey him. He to whom is honor and everlasting power Amen. God the Supreme Sovereign alone is true. God the Supreme Sovereign Christ Jesus has all honor and everlasting power all power. He never weakens. His power never diminishes. He is all-powerful. And in light of the preaching of Christ that we find here, Timothy is helped and preserved through these words, through this exhortation, through this doxology, And we today are helped knowing that as believers and ministers, pastors, that we too can persevere in the sight of God and before Christ Jesus, who is returning through all oppositions and hardships. Paul's solemn commandment will be kept as Timothy perseveres in the presence of Christ. So it is, my friend, you who believe in Christ, that you persevere, that I persevere, that we persevere. as in the presence of Christ who is preached, Christ crucified, Christ risen, Christ God over all, all-glorious God who is coming again. Let us remember often that he is coming again. Let us remember often that we are preserved by His grace. Let us remember often that we, though we may die in this world, will rise again and stand before Him in eternal life and love and glory and honor and worship Him. Praise the Lord. Let us persevere through all opposition and trouble in this world so that we will glorify Him. Now in verses 17 through 19, Paul gives instructions to Minister Timothy about the rich, that is, how the rich are to conduct themselves in the church of God. We'll continue at that point next Lord's Day, God willing, but let us close our time now with a reflection upon Paul's solemn charge that Christ Jesus, that Jesus Christ is coming again. His return is near. He knows the time when He will return. No man knows that time, but Christ knows that time, and He is coming. God in His glory is coming, and we will stand before Him. How awesome. How wonderful. Beyond description. how truly glorious this is. And so, dear friend, trust in Him with all of your heart that you may stand before Him in His essential glory as His beloved child, as His Son, a believer in His great name, as one forgiven of every sin, as one redeemed, made alive from death, as one who will forever and ever live for the glory of Christ and his love and mercy and grace. Praise the Lord. Trust in him. Praise the Lord. Friends, let us pray. Jesus, I am overcome. Thank you for this wonderful vision, this picture of yourself in Paul's writing. O come, Lord Jesus, have mercy upon us weak, failing, sinful men and ministers, and use us for your glory. Have your glory in us. Show forth your power as we conquer sin and as we persevere and live so that we will rise in your very presence as the sons of God, truly in love with you. worshiping you, Jesus Christ, forever and ever. In Christ's name, amen and amen. And so, my friends, until next Lord's Day morning, may the Lord bless you.