If you were asked a question, what kind of verbs or actions would you associate with the Christian life? I wonder what kind of list of actions you would start to write. Maybe words like believing, trusting, those would be some ones near the top of the list for sure. Fellowshiping, worshiping, certainly actions and verbs that belong. Hoping, suffering, waiting, blessing, teaching. These are all actions associated with the Christian life. And surely on that list, we would include persevering. We would include the word persevering because we believe the Bible teaches the perseverance of the saints. This is a dear and important doctrine. Christ preserves his people. And by the preserving work of Christ, He ensures the perseverance in faith of those who are his. Perseverance is important when it comes to hardship and suffering. This is true. Perseverance is important when it comes to sound doctrine and Christian growth. Those things to learn and grow in take time. It takes perseverance. Perseverance is important when it comes to facing threats to the gospel. That's especially important to Timothy. Timothy's facing threats to the gospel in Ephesus. He's to combat these false teachers who are undermining sound doctrine and who are leading people astray. The emphasis in our paragraph, if we were to borrow a word from the list of what we can associate with Christian living, we would use the word perseverance as the dominant idea for this morning's teaching. Persevere, Timothy, and this idea of perseverance is laid out in five commands. Five instructions for Timothy as a man of God, all of which commands seem to serve the emphasis of keep persevering, Timothy. Persevere in the faith. The reason he's gonna start talking about Timothy and directly to Timothy with some commands probably has to do with the way he's been writing in the letter up to this point. To this point, he has addressed false teachers and described them in very graphic ways, warned about their wily demeanor and methods. And when he does that, he will often follow it up by contrasting those false teachers with Timothy's example. He'll say, well, these false teachers were like this, but you, you, Timothy, be like this. You set this example, you pursue these things. What has he just done in verses six through 10? He has described the false teachers. He has, once again, with some graphic language, warned us about them, and now what he's gonna do is what he's done before. He's gonna talk to Timothy by way of contrast. What's Timothy to be like? What's Timothy to pursue? If the false teachers are certain ways that verses six to 10 lay out, how is Timothy gonna live differently in five commands he gives to Timothy? Command number one in verse 11 is flee. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. This first of the five commands, it's not just flee these things. There's a lead up. Do you see that? But as for you, O man of God, that's not irrelevant language. He knows Timothy's name. He doesn't forget near the end of the letter and say, O man of God, you know, like, who are you? You're Timothy. He knows this is Timothy. He's calling Timothy a man of God for Old Testament reasons. This is a phrase rarely used in the Old Testament. To call someone a man of God would remind us of Deuteronomy 33 when Moses is called a man of God. Or 1 Samuel 9 when Samuel is called a man of God. Or 2 Chronicles 8, 14, when David is called a man of God. 1 Kings 17, when Elijah is called a man of God. 2 Kings 8, Elisha is called a man of God. Not an often used phrase, but when used is applied to very significant leaders and prophets and rulers and men in the Old Testament used of God in mighty ways. And he says, as for you, Oh man of God. And I wonder if Timothy read that and said, I'm going to have to start over and read that again. Did he just, did he just write, oh man of God, because Timothy is well-versed in the old Testament and he knows the gravity of applying that kind of label to someone. As for you, man of God, he says, flee these things. What's he to flee? Well, the context in verses 6 to 10 before this first command tells us about these false teachers who stir up controversy. They have an unhealthy craving for dissension. They cause friction among others and divisiveness. But Timothy needs to know that godliness with contentment in verse 6 is great gain. Because these in verse 5 that he's combating, they think godliness is a means of gain financially. They desire to be rich and fall in temptation. And so these divisive people who use others and who are greedy in their hearts, it's these kinds of things in mind. And Paul says, flee these things. That's what characterizes those false teachers. Timothy, you gotta run from that. Don't slow walk it. You gotta flee. That flee is a verb of intensity, right? If you see somebody walking along the way, you wouldn't say, look at that person fleeing. You know, you wouldn't see them fleeing, but if they are running and they are panting, you'd think, where are they fleeing from and should I join them? And in this case, we should join Timothy. When Paul tells Timothy to flee, he's telling Timothy to flee, not from what is neutral, but from what is indeed a spiritual poison and threat to the well-being of the saints. Flee these things. And when Timothy's told to flee them, it's not because Timothy's got a problem and it's fine for everybody else. Instead, he tells Timothy, as for you, O man of God, flee these things. And then the second command, also found in verse 11, pursue. Flee, pursue, those work well together. If he's gonna flee something, what's he heading toward? So there's a logical connection there, right? If he's fleeing something, where's his aim now? Where's his heart oriented? And we're told in verse 11, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. And Timothy can't pursue these if he doesn't flee the things mentioned earlier. You can't pursue all of these things, the things in verses six to 10 that he's told to flee from, you can't pursue those things and at the same time pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Don't you see that the things Timothy's told to flee are an absolute compromise upon these ideas, these virtues, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. So in this second command, pursue these things. It is a one, two, three, four, five, six fold fruit in Timothy's life of obedience, righteousness, godliness. These things go together as terms of outward working of obedience and upright conduct. Timothy's to pursue righteousness, to live uprightly. He's to think about the standard that's God's word. That's how he knows whether he's upright. That's how he knows what righteousness is, because the living God has spoken. And so Timothy knows the word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he's internalizing sound doctrine. And the standard of the revelation of God is what determines Timothy's righteousness or unrighteousness. his upright life or a wicked life. So when Paul says pursue righteousness and godliness, these are things that are in keeping with the gospel and doctrine Timothy has been learning and that he used to pass on to others. Stems from faith, his third word. Faith in Christ, trust in Christ. Pursuing faith and trust is a way of saying, it's not Timothy, have you not had trust before? But keep trusting. Pursue trust. Pursue faith. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, making this Timothy's goal, his aim. This is what preoccupies Timothy's mind. What you pursue is what preoccupies you. And Timothy is to be preoccupied with becoming a kind of person who knows God and lives out the gospel of Jesus Christ. The fourth term, love, fits well with faith, because as James would tell us in his letter, as 1 John would tell us in that letter, faith and love are both the internal and outward realities of a work of God. Both the trust that one has in Christ and one's genuine faith worked out, achieve above all virtues, love. Righteousness and godliness, faith, love, steadfastness is about endurance. For Timothy to be steadfast, Timothy's to keep going. He's not to run really fast in some five meter dash, and then he's like, all right, I did that. I'm to pursue these things in steadfastness is a word here that reminds him of the long view that he's to take. To be a disciple of Christ is not a seasonal activity. To be a disciple of Christ is the long-term pursuit. As Eugene Peterson put it once in a book title that I've shared with you from time to time, it's a long obedience in the same direction. It's a long obedience in the same direction. Faith and love, steadfastness, gentleness here, no doubt the opposite of the false teachers. Timothy's not to be a harsh person. Gentleness is about treating others with care and respect. Gentleness, as one writer put it, is about that tender and patient self-control. Gentleness is not weakness. Gentleness is strength rightly applied and rightly channeled and being able to act wisely and with discretion and discernment to be a gentle person. Gentleness we recognize as the fruit of the Spirit, just as the word love is in Galatians chapter 5. So in other words, the overlap that we can notice in Galatians 5 with the fruit of the Spirit in these words, it's as if Paul's saying to Timothy, flee the acts of the flesh and pursue the fruit of the Spirit. Those are just another couple ways we can try to describe what's being commanded here with the second term pursue. So flee, pursue, third command. Fight. The third command, fight. He says, fight the good fight of the faith. Some have wondered whether this is about Timothy's subjective trust in the Lord, that Timothy is seeking to persevere in faith. He needs to keep fighting to believe, fighting to keep going. The original article in the Greek language could suggest, however, more than just Timothy's internal subjective sense of trust. The faith could be referring to something outside Timothy, which Timothy believes. In other words, the body of doctrine and confession about who Jesus is, the faith. The faith taught, the faith passed on, the faith delivered to the saints once for all, like the letter of Jude says. When he says, fight the good fight of the faith, we recognize the relevance of this in the context of Ephesus, because sound doctrine and the gospel are being undermined. What's Timothy to do? Sit idly by? No, he's to rise to the occasion and he is to charge the false teachers to cease what they're doing. He's to rebuke them. He is to expose their ways. He is to charge those false teachers with teaching no more. And he is to teach sound doctrine and read the scripture and explain it to the people of God. Fighting the good fight of the faith looks like those things. Opposing false doctrine and teaching and exhorting sound doctrine in the ears of the people. Fight the good fight of the faith for Timothy will mean defending the gospel against the false attacks that are hurled its way, things that might distort who Jesus is and what he has done, or bring confusion about how someone is saved and what it means to know Christ. To fight the good fight of the faith is to recognize that the gospel is not something unopposed in the world, but rather something that the devil and all of his legion of armies seek to spiritually deceive others about all the time. And Timothy, to fight the good fight of the faith, would pursue discernment and sound doctrine, to be someone who grows himself in sound doctrine, for sure, but also to exhort others in this faith. And one writer says that Christian faithfulness is a struggle that demands discipline and determination, not unlike that of an athlete or a soldier. And you think of this language, fight the good fight of the faith, that can be both a military and an athletic metaphor. You can think about the imagery of boxing, which Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 9. To fight the good fight, it brings to mind engagement, determination, focus. And if the military image is proper, then fighting the good fight would imagine the pursuit of what is right. And this metaphor of determination and resolve, this metaphor of discipline and commitment, to fight the good fight means that we're not lax with this stuff. This is what C.S. Lewis calls the serious, joyful business of heaven. Joy is the serious business of heaven, Lewis says, and it's a joy found in Christ and the truth about Christ, and that therefore, this is not something to be treated lightly, but something we're to focus upon and be resolved and committed to following and growing in, and to fight the good fight means we are defending the gospel, preaching and teaching the gospel with discernment and discretion. Timothy must see the relevance of both the second and third command. Do you see how the word gentleness at the end of verse 11 is followed immediately by the word fight? Does that seem weird? That the word gentleness at the end of verse 11 is followed immediately in verse 12 with the third command, fight. These are not contradictory ideas. They're to be rightly applied as Timothy lives out a graciousness and a godliness within the saints but also to oppose forthrightly, boldly and courageously those who would contradict the gospel. There is a time to fight, Paul is saying to Timothy, and the good fight of the faith is what he brings to Timothy's mind. Why is it a good fight? Why is it a fight worth having? Because the gospel of Jesus Christ holds out the savior and friend of sinners to those who need pardon. those who need life. And it's found only in Christ, the words of life that are only from Christ, the living water found only in Christ, the bread of life, which is Christ alone. And therefore, this is the most important news and the most important message. There is nothing greater to proclaim, nor greater to defend. That's why this is a good fight. Fight the good fight of the faith. The fourth command, take hold. I'm going to use the word seize. just to keep with our pattern of one words, okay? So you got flee, and you got pursue, and you've got fight, and now seize, or to take hold. And the end of verse 12 lays out this fourth command, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Well, there's a scene being brought to mind here of Timothy in some sort of public setting where there is this good confession. All right, more about that in a moment. Think about this fourth term. To seize or to take hold requires focus as well. If fighting the good fight is primarily an athletic metaphor, then let's imagine someone striving and reaching now for the prize. So you got this scene where there is this event, there's this contending that's necessary, and now there's this striving and reaching. There's a seizing of the primes. Take hold of the eternal life is a way of rewording the term perseverance. That's what this is. To persevere or to endure can be described as taking hold of the eternal life to which you were called. A past act has happened. were called by whom we must ask and we must say out loud by no mere man called by God that's Timothy is to take hold of the eternal life to which God has called him. That is the sovereign work of the Spirit of God bringing about a work of salvation in the heart of the dead sinner. The one who is spiritually trapped in their transgressions with no spiritual life in their soul and God calls them to himself. Timothy is called to this life. This doesn't mean eternal life apart from Christ. There is no eternal life apart from Christ. So to be called to eternal life is to be called to Christ Jesus. Take hold of this life, he's saying. Timothy, live it out. Pursue the life that is in keeping with your calling. This is a life to which you were called. There is nothing greater defining Timothy's life or ours than the salvation call of God upon your heart and mine. that brings us to life in him. This is the greatest thing that is true about the saints of Christ. There's nothing else about our lives, no hobby, no vocation, no pursuit, no ambition, no dream past, present, or future, that is in any way close to rivaling the glory of the salvation call of God, where the dead sinner is told, live, and we live. This is a call to life. Timothy has experienced this. And what's he to do? He's to take hold of this life. It's been given to him. He's been called into it sovereignly by the power of God. And Timothy is now to respond by living in perseverance, endurance, steadfastness. Take hold of this life to which you were called. Now this salvation is something that is then described as having some kind of setting in which Timothy made a good confession. At the end of verse 12, this eternal life is not only to which you were called, this eternal life is about which you made the good confession. Now, some people have read this and they thought, well, maybe this is Timothy being set apart for ministry, because earlier in chapter four, we read about these council of elders, people laying hands on Timothy, and a particular gift that he's had in verse 14. It's possible that here in 1 Timothy 6, 12, that it could again be in mind this set of witnesses who are praying over Timothy for the important ministry task God is going to equip him with. But I think there's more in favor of the view that this is more like a scene of public baptism. One of the views that commentators will suggest that I find the strongest interpretation here is that eternal life that God has called him to is now a life about which Timothy made a good confession in the presence of many witnesses. It doesn't speak about a council of elders laying their hands on him here. It talks about many witnesses and a confession that Timothy has made. And we know from church tradition in the early church, confessions sounded something like Jesus is Lord, or Jesus is the Christ. It was some kind of confession about who Jesus is. So what I like about this is in verse 12, there's a good fight, a good fight of the faith. And it's the faith Timothy has already confessed. He made a good confession about this good fight of the faith. This is a good fight because it's part of this gospel news, good news, and Timothy has made a good confession, which means he has made it clear to others, perhaps at his very baptism, I am a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's my confession. We thought about this this morning, didn't we? Witnessing Aaron Armstrong's baptism, thinking about the importance of many witnesses, and to hear about the good news of Jesus dying on the cross and rising from the dead, and one saying out loud yes to these things as a confession, one who wants to follow after Christ. Timothy is told, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, about which you made the good confession, in the presence of many witnesses. So while Timothy's some sort of ordination or setting apart of ministry could be the case, I think more likely you have something closer to that time where Timothy was saved by the sovereign call of God. God has called him to life and Timothy has made that confession. And now Timothy's to fight the good fight of the faith with this third command and take hold of this life that is worth fighting for. Now the fifth command is the longest. And this fifth command is so strong and so glorious. I thought about just making it an entire sermon on its own, but I want to hold all five together. So we're doing all five commands, but I was this close. Okay. I was this close. They're just making versus 13 to 16, its own sermon because versus 13 to 16 are all command number five. And the command is in verse 14. Keep the commandment unstained. That's the charge. Keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach. But verses 13 to 16 are the whole thing. So the command to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach, it's preceded by some stuff and it's followed by some stuff. It's all hanging on this idea with this fifth exhortation. And my goodness, this is amazing. All right, let's marvel at this. Verse 13. He says, I charge you in the presence of God. who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession. You notice some things that are present here in verse 13 in light of what we've just noticed. To be charged in the presence of God, meaning here God the Father and the Son, the Father and the Son Christ Jesus, and the presence of the Father and the Son, he's already made a confession, Timothy, that is in front of many witnesses. But there are higher witnesses than even Timothy made a good confession in front of all back when. These witnesses, what Timothy is being charged according to that is the Father and the Son. I charge you in verse 14 to keep the commandment. So that's the plea there, the order, the command. And I charge you in the presence of God. There is a solemn demeanor to that. Can't you feel the tone of gravity here and seriousness at work? I charge you in the presence of the Father and of the Son, God and of Christ Jesus, who is God. He says this God is the God who gives life. So this is the living God. Life comes from him. He is so alive that all things living derive life from Him. He is that alive. He is maximally alive. He is the living God, and He is the giver of life to all things. So this God is supreme. The God who has called Timothy to eternal life, He's the life-giving God. This God who gives life, the Father, is then followed here by Christ Jesus. This is the Son. Christ Jesus is described as the one who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession. We're transported in our minds, aren't we, to the gospel stories on Friday of Passion Week, when in the early hours of Friday, he was put through Jewish proceedings and Roman proceedings, and there were some questions. Pilate says to Jesus, are you the king of the Jews? It was an identity question. It was about what Jesus is willing to confess about himself. And Jesus receives that title that Pilate has given and announced aloud in the question. You have said so, Matthew 27, 11. Not a denial of Pilate's question, but an affirmation of it. And that question is asked in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, are you a king? Are you the king of the Jews? In fact, in John's gospel, John 18, 36, Jesus says, my kingdom, which implies he's a king. Pilate says, so you're saying you're a king. My kingdom is not of this world. And in John 18, 37, he says, you say I'm a king for this purpose I was born. And for this purpose, I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth, and everyone who's of the truth listens to my voice. So in other words, when Jesus was before Pontius Pilate, his confession about who he is and his kingship, and that he is the Christ, is clear to Pilate. Pilate's willing to say, because he says his kingdom's not of this world, he doesn't seem like a earthly threat, and so I find no guilt in this man, but it's not because something true wasn't confessed. And that confession, that good confession is being invoked here by Paul in chapter 6 of our letter. Christ Jesus in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made that good confession. So he's telling Timothy in verse 12, take hold of that eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession. in the presence of many witnesses. And Jesus made a good confession in the presence of Pontius Pilate. And now I charge you, Timothy, before the Father and the Son, the life-giving God, and the faithful testimony of the Son, I charge you, Timothy, and here it is in verse 14, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach. That means to obey and to keep obeying. Because what commandment would he have in mind? The commandment flee, the commandment pursue, the command fight, the command take hold? We can notice something in the book of Deuteronomy. We've seen this in our series together in the previous months where Moses will speak about the commandments and the statutes and the laws as the commandment. Using a singular word like the commandment as a way of summarizing everything. Keep the commandment, Israel, he will say to them. And he has in mind all the things he's laid out. So I'm inclined to say what he has in mind here by keeping the commandment unstained and free from reproach is he wants Timothy to keep everything he has been instructing him to do in the letter, perhaps especially these most recent commands. But for Timothy to keep it unstained and above reproach, what does it mean to have the command kept unstained and free from reproach? I think the stain would be compromise and disobedience. So if Timothy's to keep the command, he's to keep the command faithfully, not occasionally. He's to keep the command consistently with the direction of life, honoring God, not treating his role and his responsibilities as something he might get around to. He's to keep the command unstained and free from reproach, reproach from others, no doubt, but certainly from the Lord's rightful conviction of the spirit, should Timothy be deviating from this instruction. It would bring reproach on to Timothy's life, reproach on to Timothy's ministry. So for him to keep the commandment is for him to walk in such a manner that Christ is exalted. The instructions of Paul the Apostle are honored because from Paul, these are not just instructions from him, he represents as an apostle the Lord Jesus Christ. So by following these commands of Paul, Timothy will be submitting to the Lord Jesus himself. Now, when is Timothy to let up on this? Well, let's just look at the end of verse 14 here. Until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. There it is. Okay, so we're like, what is this? Is this for like a few weeks, Paul? How long am I to be at this? Keeping the commandment, unstained, free from reproach, and you know, fleeing and pursuing and taking hold and fighting and all the language here. How long am I to be about this stuff? And the answer is until Jesus comes. This is the responsibility to love the gospel, grow in the news of the gospel, proclaim the gospel, defend the gospel, walk in step with the gospel until the clouds part and the Lord Jesus descends with the glory of his angels. This appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ is the second coming. The second coming, meaning the first coming at his birth, his incarnation, the advent of Christ. His second coming or his second advent is the appearing mentioned here. And this appearing is followed up in verses 15 and 16 with a lot of language that don't introduce any new commands, doesn't introduce any new commands. It just further describes the supremacy and glory of this appearing and the God who sends his son. Which he will display probably refers to God displaying the coming of his son, he who is the blessed and only sovereign, the king of kings and lord of lords, who alone has immortality. One of the reasons we would refer to this as not the son of God, but the father, is because at the end of verse 16, it says whom no one has ever seen or can see. And yet in the incarnation, we know that the incarnate son is one to whom people came and approached, spoke and interacted with. There was a genuine seeing of the incarnate son. So this likely refers to God displaying the coming of his son at the proper time. In verse 15, he will display it, which is a way of saying you're not going to miss this. This is a display of such grand proportion and power and sovereignty and glory that this is a display that brings to an end all the things that have preceded. It is a display not at the wrong time. God sets the times and the seasons. And you should know that everything God does is in the proper time. God's never done anything at the improper time. So when the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ takes place, we ought to be able to know without saying, but here we are saying it, it will be at the proper time, won't it? He who is the blessed and only sovereign. That language, blessed, was used earlier in verse 11 of chapter one. Interpreters have noticed that some sort of doxological praise occurs near the end of chapter one, and it occurs near the end of chapter six. This statement of doxological reflection and praise has been a way that you could frame the letter. where the meditation on the glory of God, his blessedness, in chapter one, verse 11, the glory of the blessed God, we were told. That's the first term. The word blessed means full of abounding vitality, flourishing to every extent, happiness to the uttermost. This is the blessed God, the one who is the source of all life and happiness, the one who himself is felicity in the most excellent and utter way. He is the blessed one. And he is not only blessed, he is the only sovereign, which is a statement of his rule. A sovereign is one in control. A sovereign is someone who has power and authority. And by calling him the only sovereign isn't a denial of actual earthly authorities in Paul's day. To call him the only sovereign is a statement of his supremacy. that there is something true of God's authority that is not true of man's authority, and namely that God's authority reigns supreme in all the earth. In that sense, he's the only sovereign. He's not one of many. He's not one of two. He's the only sovereign. He's the only sovereign, and then the third expression here, after blessed and after only sovereign, he's the king of kings. Because if he's this ruler with such supremacy, then we see following logically right along with that of all the rulers who ever ruled, of all the kings who ever kinged, he's the king of kings. He reigns above them all. He reigns longer than them all. He reigns everlastingly. Lord of lords. Another way of speaking about rule, perhaps not just in a physical sense, an earthly sense, but in the invisible principalities of this world and the so-called gods of the ancient Near East, the lords that were worshiped, who were sought for some kind of display of their power and their benevolence, gods who were no gods at all. He's a lord over them. He's a king of kings and a lord of lords making a statement of his supremacy over all things visible and invisible. It's like Colossians 1, 15 to 20 all over again. He alone in verse 16 has immortality. We learned earlier in verse 13, he gives life to all things. As the life giver, he is not conquerable, he is not conquered by death. He alone has immortality, which means he is the death defeater. He's the giver of life, and he gives life to such an extent that death cannot inhibit him. He alone has immortality, and then he dwells in unapproachable light. He dwells in unapproachable light as a way of speaking about His purity and His holiness. It reminds us of the Old Testament where Moses and the Israelites were not to approach the blazing mountain of Sinai or the newly glory-filled tabernacle where they couldn't even enter because of such glory on display. It may remind us of Psalm 104, verse two, where the psalmist says, you cover yourself with light as with a garment. Someone who dwells in unapproachable light, that's not a negative statement about Him. The fact that it's unapproachable is a negative statement about our sinful state, about our condition, needing to be reconciled to God. But who is this God? The God who is light and in Him is no darkness at all, 1 John 1.5. This is a God who dwells not just in total supremacy, but in absolute holiness and righteousness. And then the last expression in verse 16 in this sentence, whom no one has ever seen or can see. And I think it goes along with this idea of dwelling in unapproachable light. We again see his invisibility, kind of a paradoxical statement I just realized I said, we see here is invisibility. And we also can emphasize his infinite holiness. No one has ever seen or can see. There's something unique about God and who God is in his nature. where there is none like Him in all the earth, Lord of lords and King of kings. We may be reminded in Exodus 33 verse 20, where God said to Moses, you cannot see my face for man shall not see me and live. These are statements about the supremacy of God, about His glory and holiness, about His blessedness and power. And given that truth, Here's what Paul says in verse 16. Doesn't this make sense if these other things are true? To him be honor and eternal dominion, amen. We are not those to whom these other adjectives can be described and can be attributed. No one has ever seen or can see dwelling in unapproachable light, who alone has immortality. These are not claims we make about ourselves. When he says these things are true of God, this would mean the only right response is to praise and honor and glorify this being above all things. To him be honor. He lives in a world, Paul lives in a world like Timothy does in the Roman Empire, where honor was shown to local lords and kings. But if this is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords that we're talking about, then this sort of honor is not the kind of passing thing that's true for this ruler as long as that ruler exists. This God alone has immortality. And so the honor that he is due, he's never not do it. This honor that ought to be described to him, there's never an occasion where it ought not be. In fact, that's why eternal dominion, not just dominion, but eternal rule, sovereignty over all things. It's unending because this God is a God who never begins and never ends. This is the eternal God, the unapproachable light God, who no one has ever seen or can see. To Him belong honor and eternal dominion. Other writers in the New Testament speak this way. In Revelation chapter five, singing of God and his son, to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. This acclamation of unending praise and adoration to the one for whom these things are true. The doxology ends with the word amen. The word amen We can use it so often we forget the power of what amen means. The word amen is a word of assurance that sounds something to the effect of let it be, as you've said. May it be so. As you have said, bring it to pass. It's an echo of affirmation to what has just been proclaimed. And here he is proclaiming that honor and eternal dominion belong to this God who alone has immortality and all the other things said of God. And Timothy, and all the saints in Ephesus, all those in their right spiritual mind would be able to echo with Paul, Amen, let that be the case. We want this God, who alone is God, who's the giver of all life, who's the possessor of immortality, and who has given us His Son, who has saved us from our sins, who has come, and that in the person of the Son of God, divine wrath would be satisfied. so that on the cross, our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, would die the death that we had deserved to receive instead under judgment. Instead, however, the substitutionary work of Christ means that he has taken the wrath we deserved, that we might receive mercy that we don't deserve, and to him be honor and eternal dominion. The word amen is a fitting end to this part of the chapter, even though it's not the end of the letter. Paul has experienced an outburst of praise. And yes, he could have leaned back in his chair, moved by the person and deity and glory of the Son of God and the Father, and he could have just basked with worship, but he wrote it out also. He was not only moved personally by these truths, he wrote them out for Timothy to join him in praising God in these ways. And in the preservation of these words, we join Paul and we join Timothy by declaring that these are the things true of God, and that we, as the people of God, have been delivered by this God. And therefore, we should flee, and we should pursue, and we should fight, and we should seize, and we should keep. We should do these things. Beyond and beneath it all is the work of Christ. The work of Christ, who on our behalf has secured for us everlasting pardon. Life to which his sovereign call and voice summons us. Eternal life to which we are called. My friend, this morning, you should follow Christ. You should trust him. We would urge you to not leave this place without thinking about the seriousness of the gospel news that left to ourselves, there is no deliverance from sin, no forgiveness of our guilt, but Christ has taken our sin and shame upon himself, flee to Christ. Turn from your sin, trust what God has provided that on the cross, he took our sin and satisfied judgment for it. Rose again on the third day and now lives As the one who is the light of the world and the bread of life, let's come to Him. Let's flee to Him. Join me in prayer.