Well, you might pay attention to the themes in that song reflected in our text. First Timothy, chapter six, beginning with verse eleven. First Timothy, chapter six, beginning with verse eleven. As we have set before us. The calling of the man of God the child of God in response to the grace of God. People of God hear the word of our Lord. First Timothy six verse eleven. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, Patience, gentleness, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life to which you are also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 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 appear, until our Lord Jesus Christ 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 life, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. Well, people of God, This word comes to us in the context of first Timothy and and now Paul is coming to the conclusion of his letter, driving home some of the key points that he has attempted to make throughout this letter itself. The title for the sermon really comes from verse 14. In that verse, it says that you keep. And there is a declaration of you're doing all of these things that you may keep this commandment. And that phrase keep this commandment is is really a broader phrase than that. Keep a commandment like there's one commandment, because it's very difficult to find even in the context of this scripture, one commandment that you would go back to and say, well, this is the commandment. And that's because this phrase keep the commandment is really a phrase that's talking about guarding, taking hold of, preserving, completing. And not just a commandment, but a charge, a calling, a lifelong task. So the commandment here is it can't be thought of in terms of a single command, but it ought to be thought of in terms of that command, which is complete your calling, complete your calling. That's what keeping the commandment. You're doing all these things so that you might complete the calling that God has in your life as a man of God, as a child of God. Indeed, these words in this text are specifically addressed to the man of God, to Timothy, a pastor who has a calling. But people of God, every child of God has the same calling as we see in these verses. This is a unique to a minister of the gospel. Everyone has a calling. We can think of it broadly as Christian, as a calling to be prophet, priest and king. Now, how do we? Fulfill, how do we complete that calling that God has given us individually in our lives that God gave Timothy and the pattern for completing the calling is the same. It's a basic pattern that God would set before us. In that sense, this is a text that's specifically addressed to believers, not unbelievers. And so in that sense, it's not an evangelistic text, however, Everyone must examine their hearts and minds and lives according to this. And of course, if you find that this pattern of life doesn't exist in your life, then you may conclude that you are not a man of God, not a child of God, and that you would need to confess your sin and and turn to God that you might have this kind of life that our God sets before us so that you might know the calling of God in your life. The phrase. In this text, keep the command, which is the equivalent of fulfill your calling, complete your calling is very similar to Philippians chapter two, twelve and thirteen. Therefore, my beloved, as you have already obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. This passage about keep the command or complete your calling is a is a command that's given in the context of working out what God has already given us. It's a working out, not a working for. We don't work for a calling. We don't work for salvation. That's already given. And that's a given in this text. Salvation has come. The spirit has been poured out. Your life has been transformed by grace. And now, how do you respond to that? What is the daily activity of the child of God in response to that? It's working out just as you have a body and it's impossible to work out to work so that that body is in better shape if you don't have a body. Well, you can't work out salvation if you don't have salvation. You can't complete a calling if you have no calling and calling and salvation come by grace and grace alone. We receive it without any works. It's it doesn't we can't save ourselves. We can't make ourselves have our own calling. But once God does say this, then we work out of that salvation and we work that salvation out. Then we have a different lifestyle. We have a different daily task. Lived in the presence of witnesses for God's glory, and that's what the text sets before us. that our daily task is is now stated in three different with three different illustrations that that ought to drive home in our hearts and minds the pattern in which we would live. They help us to see what it's like to be a child of God and what it's like to live the life that God has called us to. And these three are pursue. The new attributes that you have fight the good fight, lay hold of eternal life, pursue new attributes. Well, they're new because they're something that is far different than what we were born with. And those things that we have to put off in chapter six, verse 11. But you, old man of God, flee these things. The things described for us in previous verses, even previous chapters of First Timothy, the things that we would crucify that were part of the old nature that we put off that are part of the old man. Those things we want to flee from, but so we're always fleeing from something, but those were some of the previous sermons, this sermon, this text focuses on what we now pursue. To pursue is to run swiftly in order to catch some person or something. That's the nature of the word pursue. It implies that there's something you're running to. It's not like just running a race or running around in a circle. You're actually pursuing someone or something. And it's a pursuit. You have to run hard. You need to exercise discipline. You need to be engaged in the process. Now, that which we are to pursue in the text. Our gifts of grace that we've already been given Galatians five verses twenty two through twenty four would set before us this truth that these are the fruits of spirit. This this list of what we pursue, these attributes that we pursue, This style of life that we seek after is really the fruit of the spirit, isn't it? Galatians five, verse nine, five, twenty two through twenty four. where we read, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. They flee those things and they pursue the fruit of the spirit. Ephesians 5 verse 9 sets before us these fruits of the Spirit. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness and truth. So righteousness is not only that which God establishes us for us in the in his own presence, that we have a righteousness that is not our own. It is it is a righteousness that has been that is imputed to us from Christ. But righteousness is also a fruit of the spirit in our lives. It's both those things. So when we see the word righteousness in Scripture, we may have to ask ourselves, now, is this righteousness talking about the result of justification or initial salvation? Or is this righteousness a fruit of the spirit that God is now infused into our lives, a righteousness that we now pursue and that we chase after? And so we have an attitude. That as God has so begun his work in us, that doesn't mean that now the pattern of our life is, well, I've been saved by grace and now it's time to sit down on the couch and it's to sit there and just kind of, you know, open myself up to all these attributes as I wait and do nothing. No, it's pursuit. It's running after, it's engaging our minds and hearts and activities. It's more than desire. It is that these are things that we actively pursue. We fight the good fight. To complete our calling, we must run after and pursue the fruit of the spirit, but we also must fight the good fight of faith. And so now you have another illustration that is set before us. What is your Christian life like? Well, it's flight from flight from the evil passions, but it is also a fight for the faith. In the previous verse, we saw the word faith as a fruit of the spirit, as that which God has given us that we now engage, we live by faith in this, the fight of faith, the word fight of faith is really the fight of the faith. And again, in Scripture, the word faith has two different emphasis. One is that fruit of the spirit, that gift of God's grace that comes to us, that is not a part of who we are in our sin. But the other thing is it talks about the faith being like the song, the faith of the fathers. And I think that song has this connotation. I won't argue about it with you. It's not. that critical of a matter, but the fact that we talk about the faith and we talk about the faith, we're talking about the Christian faith, the Christian truth, what the Bible teaches. So we have faith in the faith. We have faith in what God has revealed, and that's sometimes called the faith. And so we fight the good fight of faith. We have to fight for the faith. The faith can summarize all that Paul has been speaking to Timothy in the context of the truth of God's word, avoiding error. The faith is the truth of the gospel, the truth of Christ and and how he was manifested in the flesh. It's the mystery of godliness. And we fight for that. Well, why would you have to fight for that? Doesn't everybody just believe it? Why would you think that fighting for truth would even be necessary? If you're fighting for truth, aren't you being disruptive? Aren't you being unloving? Who would ever talk about fighting for the faith? Well, at the very beginning of the church of Jesus Christ, it is described for us that the true man of God, the true child of God, ought to expect in their lives to have to fight for the faith. Because there will always be those who fight against the faith. There will always be those who challenge the faith. There will always be those who deny the faith. There will always be those who compromise the faith, the truth of God's word, the truth of the power of the gospel. The truth of the New Testament, the truth of what God has revealed in First Timothy or Romans or Revelation. If you expect that the Christian life is something like this. We all love Jesus and we all love the gospel and we all get together and we all have a wonderful time all the time. And there's no fighting for the faith. You will lose it, says Paul, because the true man of God. The true child of God will manfully fight for the faith. Onward, Christian soldiers. who hold to one faith, one doctrine, one Christ, one way of salvation. We fight the good fight of faith and Second Timothy, chapter two, three through four, Paul describes it like this. No one engage three. You, therefore, must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. You are a soldier of Jesus Christ. And sometimes we must fight the fight of faith, but it's the good fight. This isn't a fight that will ultimately destroy. This isn't a fight for the sake of fighting. This isn't a fight that exists because we want to be obnoxious and have nothing to do with anybody else. No, this is the good fight. It is good because it. will uphold the gospel. It is good because it brings before people the Prince of Peace. It is good because the gospel of Jesus Christ is at the very heart of the fight. And the gospel of Jesus Christ is upheld. And it is the gospel of Jesus Christ that is the power of God unto salvation and transforms lives, rearranges marriages, soothes the guilty conscience, Brings peace to those in distress. Brings forgiveness to those who know their sin. That's why we fight the good fight. In addition, Calvin said that it's a good fight because it is not a fight that you're going to lose. It's good. He writes this. For the purpose of encourage him to fight such a fight courageously, he calls it good that is successful and therefore not to be shunned. For if earthly soldiers do not hesitate to fight when the result is doubtful and when there is a risk of being killed, how much more bravely ought we to battle under the guidance and banner of Christ when we are certain of victory? Reminds you of onward Christian soldiers, doesn't it? You're marching on, but you're marching on victorious because God has promised you the victory. And so the fight of faith, the fight of the good fight of faith is not one in which we ought to believe that the true church of Jesus Christ is ultimately going to lose. We win, we're victorious. Now, that victory may not always come in ways that you might expect. Hebrews, in the great hall of faith, talks about some of those who have lived by faith and who would fight the fight of faith. Oh, it says they closed the mouths of lions and they were sawn in two. So it doesn't always look the same. In this earth, you might say, well, that one really he lost the fight. He was he was murdered. He was he was martyred for the faith. He lost the fight. Oh, this one. He was he was delivered from the lion's den, went on to serve in the second most powerful position in the whole kingdom. He won the fight. They both won the fight. Didn't look the same. They both fought the good fight. And so, too, God would have us fight the good fight. It may not always look exactly the same. Our own lives may be filled either with turmoil or they might find a blessed pastures green, but it need not matter where you are, you're still fighting the good fight and and there is victory in Christ. Finally, it declares that we are to lay hold of eternal life. Once again, this is a pursuit. It's a fight. It's a laying hold on. These are all imagery, this is all illustrating the mindset that we have as God's people, as we approach out fulfilling our calling. We pursue. And we lay hold of. To lay hold of in this set is to grab it, to hang on to it, though it's already been given us, John 316 makes that clear, doesn't it? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but has everlasting life. It's an everlasting life is already a gift, just like the fruit of the spirit. And yet God doesn't say, well, you have everlasting life. So go over there, sit down and, you know, just wait, wait until the second coming, wait until Christ returns, wait until the resurrection and just kind of go find yourself a hole and dig deep and just stay there. Do as little as possible, engage as little as possible, not at all. Is it take hold of it? Grab it. Hold on to it. Pursue. Fight. Hold on. These are the words that God sets before you. This is a mindset that he wants you to have as you're engaged in the Christian walk in fulfilling, completing the calling that God has given you as his child, as the man of God, as the child of God. For you were called. We see that once again in our text, we do this because we already have been called. And so fight the good fight. They hold on eternal life to which you were also called. This is something that has now been done to us. This is now rooting our present experience in our past experience, our present endeavor in what God has already done, because who has called you? God has called you. It is something that has been done to us. And this calling certainly God may use the means of preaching the word is a means of the calling of God, the training of a child by a mother or a grandmother is the calling of God. But this calling here, you were called. This is a reference to that effectual calling that we see in Romans chapter eight, verse 30. Romans chapter eight, verse 30. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called and whom he called. These he also justified and whom he justified. These he also glorified. This is God's work. You have been called. And because you're called, you have a calling. And you seek to complete it by pursuing and fighting and holding on. And so our past experience is this calling. Paul also says there's a past experience in the life of Timothy and in the life of all those who are truly. Men of God, women of God, children of God, O man of God, what are you? You are one who has made confession. And it says it says it as it declares that there is a confession that has been confessed. In verse twelve. And we're called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses, you have confessed the good confession. It's the English translation here strives to get at the heart of the of the Hebrew. It's the Greek. It strives to do that. It's the verb and the noun are the exact same word root, the same root word confession confessed in the Greek language. There's another emphasis here. Not just on this thing that we have spoken something together, but it's that we have spoken one word. In fact, it literally means you have one worded one word. It's a word that that literally means one word. And the focus of this is the unity of faith. the unity of doctrine, the unity of believing the truth of God's word. You have declared together in unity the truth of God's word. I remember when I was pastoring in New Jersey, there was a Baptist pastor and he said to me, well, I strive whenever I go to a church, I guess he rewrote whatever confession the church had to make anything that we say that we all must agree on as little as possible. And if we can get down to about three sentences, I think we're doing well. We ought to have at least three sentences of of a statement that we can all agree that we agree to. Well, that's not the heart and intent of this text, you have confessed a confession. You have declared your agreement with the truth of God's word. And people know what that means. And we have a common confession. It's a lot longer than three sentences. It's called the Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgian Confession and the Canons of Dort. These are these are doctrinal declarations. These are truths of God's word. And we agree on them together. And I would submit to you that if you take seriously first Timothy and if you take seriously the word of God, the goal of God's word isn't to have as small a confession as you can possibly have. God exists as another group and another group of ministers. And they decided that the one thing that they could all agree on was monotheism. Oh, that was really wonderful. They all believed in different gods, but at least they didn't believe in more than one god. And even if it was a false god, it didn't really help, did it? We're monotheists. That was their confession. So they didn't think they should allow Hindus into the group because Hindus were polytheists. For such a group that wasn't Christian, I didn't care if they were polytheists or monotheists. I was really excited to witness to all of them. Because I didn't consider hardly any of them Christian. Did happen to be a group of ministers or those who claim to be, but they didn't have a calling from God. It was a sad state of affairs, but God has said we have a confession. One word that we declare together, and so this was the past. Timothy had a confession and he's to continue in that confession. And his present experience of striving for all of these things, pursuing and fighting and holding on, were rooted and grounded in the fact that he was trained by his grandmother and his mother, that he had been trained by Paul, that he had heard the word of God, that he had read the word, that he was steeped in the Old Testament, that he knew the New Testament and that he now even has further revelation coming to him. And he was preaching that word. There was a confession that he held to. And so when we're striving, when we're pursuing and fighting and in a good way, right, fighting and when we are taking hold of, we ought to know that we're doing that in the context of God's calling and of our confession. But we also know that we do all of these things. as those who would bear testimony and witness and that we made this confession and that we live this life. In the presence of many witnesses, if you professed your faith, you did that in the presence of many witnesses. There are others who would witness to what you said in your profession of faith. Which is very similar to these words, these could actually be a very good text for a profession of faith time when people would make profession of faith. This is what it's all about. You confess in the presence of many witnesses, but there are two witnesses that stand out. Yes, there were many, but there are two witnesses that are always there in your life. And that those witnesses are set before us in verse 13. I urge you in the sight of God. I urge you in the sight of Jesus Christ. I urge you. To live before the face of God. Remember who are your witnesses, who are witnessing you, witnessing your pursuit, witnessing your fight, witnessing your Taking hold and your confession. It is God who is your witness. In a marriage form, it talks about do you promise in the presence of God and before these witnesses, we always are reminded that we live in the presence of God. You know, you children, you may I suspect that maybe once or twice in your life, maybe even more, probably more right. You have done something. And mom and dad weren't around, maybe even no sibling was around. And you thought to yourself, I can do this. I know it's not what I'm supposed to do, but nobody is going to see. But we know that's not true, don't we? No, because God sees, doesn't he? God is the one who sees everything. Not only does he see what you do, he hears what you do. Not only does he hear, he even knows what you're thinking in your mind. He is your witness. And that ought not to scare us, people of God, that we ought not to be driven to fear. We ought to rejoice. We live in and before the face of God. He is my witness. He's right there. That may well help if I'm going to say, well, nobody's going to see me. I can step out into this sin and then I'm reminded God is here. God is my witness. He's right here. He's watching every single thing I do. He knows what I say. He knows what's in my mind. I ought to be a little more careful knowing that God is right there, but it also ought to encourage me that he's there. God is our witness. Jesus Christ is our witness. The one who himself was a witness. The one himself who gave testimony before Pilate. Jesus knows what it's like to live as a one who bears testimony and gives a witness to those who live around him. He suffered. He died. He witnessed by his death to the truth of God. To the significance of sin. and to the grace and the mercy of God that. You live, you live in the presence of God so that you can fulfill your calling. Now we come to the to the title of the sermon in the text, although it's always been there, because this is that ultimate goal that you keep the command, that you keep the calling, that you stay the course. Living before. your Lord, seeking in all things to be blameless and without spot. We know that doesn't mean perfect, perfect, but we would strive to be perfect. But we would seek to honor our God by the life that we live. Until the appearing of Jesus Christ, which God is the one who decides when he's coming. God. That one who is our witness, that only potentate, that one who is omnipotent. That's what the word potentate here means. It's all powerful. That one who is sovereign over all things and sees all things, that God is our witness. That God who we could never approach on our own, that God who we can never please in ourselves. That God who saves us by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, by grace. But that God who calls us children of God, men of God, women of God. That God who is alone, immortal, having no beginning and no end. That God who deserves all honor, all glory, all worship, all praise. That God who has everlasting power. That God who is our witness and sent his Son to die for us. It is before that God that we would seek to fulfill our calling. By pursuing the fruit of the spirit, by fighting the good fight of faith. By holding on to eternal life. To his honor. To his glory. Amen. Heavenly Father. We thank you that you are the almighty, sovereign, all powerful God who watches every move we make. who has granted us the fruit of the Spirit, salvation and a calling and has called us to a calling. And so, O God, we pray that we might live and work and fight and pursue and hold on to Your name's honor and glory, resting in Your grace and mercy, rejoicing in Christ and looking for His appearing when all of these kinds of struggles will be put away and we will enter into eternal rest and glory. And so, bless us in our calling. Help us to complete it to the end of our days. This we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.