About this sermon
Paul charges Timothy, as a man of God, to flee the love of money and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. He is to fight the good fight of the faith and take hold of eternal life, to which he was called when he made the good confession before many witnesses. Christ Jesus made the good confession before Pontius Pilate. Believers who profess their faith, including a new member received that day, are called to the same lifelong fight, as many believers in hostile lands do at great cost.
Sermon transcript
passages first of all to Romans chapter 10 verses 9 and 10 and then we will turn to 1st Timothy 6 11 through 13 I know that the bulletin says 12 I thought it best to add one more verse 1 Timothy 6, 11 through 13. And in the middle of those, we will make a stop off at what I think is the center of the book, which is 1 Timothy 3, 16. 1 Timothy 3, 16. That will be the middle passage. Let us read then God’s word from Romans chapter 10, 9 and 10.
Listen very closely. This is the Word of God. If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
1 Timothy 3.16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. God who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. Speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, now to the focus of our sermon of the day. 1 Timothy 6, 11-13 But flee from such things, you men of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
Fight the good fight of faith, take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate.
And we’ll end there. I would not normally end on the first half of a thought, but there’s a lot in that 13, so we’ll end with an incomplete sentence. But there is a complete thought there in 13. Let us pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity to confess the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, to confess of what He has done, and to also hear our brother who made a confession of faith. We ask, oh Father, that this public preaching and singing and worshiping service would be also a public confession of our faith. For we believe that Jesus Christ has come and that he has been raised and that he is our Lord who has set up government in our hearts, but who rules the nations as well. We ask that you would be with us, oh Lord.
In Jesus’ name, amen. Today is a blessed day and today is a joyful day. Why? Well, this is the Lord’s day. This is the market day of the soul. This is a joyful day. This is the day in which we are able to sit under the ministry of God’s Word and learn about our salvation, to be instructed about the Lord Jesus Christ.
But our Lord adds blessing upon blessing today because we are able to partake of all these things, but we are also able to be the witnesses to a profession of faith. And we saw that today. We saw our brother, Mr. Sam Rainey, make a profession of faith, or a reaffirmation of faith. Questions were asked him, and he said, yes, I believe that. I believe that about the Word of God. I believe that about my sinfulness. I believe that about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today we are able to see what the Lord has done in one man’s life, and it reminds us of what the Lord has done and is continuing to do in all of our lives. It is about what He has done and what has the Lord done. The Lord has been crucified. The Lord has been raised and He has drawn us into Himself, drawn us unto Himself that we might be united with Him and might be partakers of His death and of His resurrection. And we have this passage that we read, verse 13, about the Lord Jesus who makes a profession or a confession or He gives testimony before Pontius Pilate. We know a fair amount about Pontius Pilate.
He even makes it into one of the creeds of the church, the Apostles’ Creed, does he not? There he is, this man who seemed with some reluctance to stand before the Lord. He did not seem to want to convict him right away, but surely he stood before the Lord Jesus Christ, and he did challenge the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus gave a profession to him. He confessed. He gave testimony of who he was. Why was it that the Lord Jesus Christ had to come and give a profession or a confession?
It’s because of the fact that Adam and Eve did not do so. You know the story of Adam and Eve where the serpent, the anti-Lord, comes into the paradise sanctuary, into the temple? which is the garden. And what does he do there? He tempts the woman. He comes to her first. And what does he say there? He tempts her and tries to get her to believe what he says.
This is a very important thing because Eve knew better. She may not have known as well as Adam knew, but she knew better. She had been instructed. What should she have done? She should have given a profession of who God was. She should have confessed that right there. And she should have given testimony of what she had heard from God. She did not do that.
And by beginning to think about it and consider what the anti-Lord said, that was undoing what the Lord had said in her mind and in her actions. She began to make herself the arbiter of truth. By making herself the arbiter of truth, no longer was God the one who would decide what truth was and what truth is. And that is why we are in the issues that we are in, the problems that we are in, the sin of the world, the rebellion, death, all of these things come because of Adam and his lack of doing what he ought to have done, which could have been stopped by Eve, could have been stopped by him. But because of that, the Lord Jesus Christ came and made profession. He bore witness of the truth.
We read about the exchange of Jesus and Pontius Pilate in John chapter 18. Listen to this exchange between them. So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me.
What have you done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world. Then Pilate said to him, So you are a king? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king for this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.
And everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Do you understand? Jesus Christ comes and He confesses. He proclaims who He is. And He proclaims who God is, His Father. He proclaims what heaven is about and what His kingdom is about. He makes a profession before Pontius Pilate. And then He brings us into it. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. And that is what our brother Michael has done. He said, I am listening to the Lord’s voice. I am hearing Him. He made a profession about Himself, and now I am making a profession about Him as well.
And it is interesting, as we read through God’s Word, We encounter the most glorious concept, which is union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I have spoken of it elsewhere and in past sermons. What I want you to understand is that that which happens to the Lord Jesus Christ in redemptive history is brought to bear upon us. later on. Do you understand what I mean by that? We’ve talked about Jesus being, enduring the cross, right?
Being baptized by judgment. Equally so, we are baptized into Christ. He has been raised from the dead. The Bible says that you are raised from the dead because of that. I think it’s very clear that the Bible talks about the justification of the Lord Jesus Christ.
His public declaration of His righteousness, which we read in 1 Timothy 3.16, that He was vindicated by the Spirit. Now the Holy Spirit is by the resurrection causing the Lord Jesus to be raised. And His resurrection is an open declaration of His righteousness. That’s what happens in redemptive history.
But for you, you are by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ justified. The same is the case with adoption. I can show you many places that point to the fact, implicitly and explicitly, that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is His adoption. Are you believers in Christ? If so, then you have been adopted and you are able to cry out, Abba Father.
And Jesus’ resurrection ultimately is His sanctification. Not that He was a sinner in the least, but He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, Romans 8, 3. And His resurrection was the putting off of this present evil age, though He was not a partaker of that. You understand the way that what happens in redemptive history God brings that to bear and causes these things to happen to us, his people.
Oh, what about profession or confession? I hope it’s very clear to you that the Lord Jesus, in redemptive history, stood before Pontius Pilate and confessed many things. He talked about who he was and his father and the kingdom and the glory, many things he spoke of.
And we, as believers in Christ, are called to be those who give a testimony and give a profession before those who are witnesses. And that is what we see here today. Paul also says some other things in the verses that we have read. Looking at 6.12, what does he say?
He says, fight the good fight of Faith. Fight the good fight of faith. So what I want to say to our newest member, fight the good fight of faith. I want to reaffirm this to all of you. Fight the good fight of faith. Life as a believer is not easy. Life as a resurrected believer will be, I believe, by comparison, very easy and very wonderful. But this side of the resurrection, we have a fight on our hands.
Now, you might think when we talk about fighting the good fight, that we are bringing about war words. We’re borrowing from the military list of words and we’re saying fight in that sort of way. Well, Paul uses that kind of language elsewhere, but when we read fight the good fight of faith, I’m not convinced that we have war words. We have rather sports words. If you were to go to 118, you would there find war words. Paul says there, wage the good warfare. This is war language borrowed from a military. Our words here, we have that which is more often used in sports. Surely in all of Paul’s use of this word has to do with sports.
What does he mean then? What is he saying? What he’s saying is, fight the good fight like a boxer would. The Christian life is as a boxing match. That’s what he’s saying. It is that sort of struggle and that sort of training. The same might be said of a wrestling match. Wrestle the good wrestling match of the Christian life. The same word can be used in association with racing, with running. So we might say race the good race of the Christian life.
That is what we might understand. I just want you to understand the particularities of the words that he’s saying, and so that we don’t get lost and start to think that he’s talking about declaring war. He certainly does that. He makes use of those kinds of metaphors and analogies, but here he is saying, fight the good fight like a boxer fights the good fight.
Why is it a good fight? The reason that it is a good fight is because you are guaranteed the victory. Any athlete who seeks to compete is not guaranteed the victory, but we are guaranteed the victory in the Christian life at the resurrection. I want you to see then that this, though it is a fight, though it is a struggle, it is a good fight. It is not a bad fight. But now that we understand fight the good fight, we might ask ourselves, well, how are we to do that? How does one fight the good fight of faith?
Well, Paul defines his terms, I think, in the second half of verse 12. Look what he says. Second half of verse 12. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called. Take hold of that eternal life to which you were called. And also, this eternal life that you partook of and that you take hold of is something that many witnesses see you do.
Understand, one would not be fighting the good fight if he would not go to church and ever speak of the Lord Jesus Christ. I’ve known many people who would say, I don’t need to go to church. I can worship God at home. Maybe you know someone from school or from work who would say that. I can do that at home. I remember one time I had, I was listening to two non-Christians and one was saying that, I can worship at home. You know what the other non-Christian said to the other? He said, yeah, but you won’t. You know, that’s the case.
If we didn’t have this kind of structure where we come as witnesses, we would not do it. Our lives are difficult to structure. Maybe some of us would, at least for a time, right? But we come here to hear a profession of faith. We come here to worship God. And if we did not do it as a corporate body, we would not be in the habit of doing it. And the habits surely would fall away. to simply do it on our own. One who would say, I don’t need to go to church, is not able to do what Paul is saying.
That is, to fight the good fight, meaning to take hold of eternal life and the profession of the faith of that eternal life that you have received. Now Paul is talking about the calling, the effectual calling, which believers are recipients of. They call upon the Lord Jesus Christ because they have been foreordained to do so. And the fruit of that is being a part of the congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ wherever that may be. This may very well be in a worship context that Timothy is told to do this, to fight the good fight of faith and more so to make the profession of faith or to confess Christ. Many people do think that this is, that what Paul’s writing, he is talking about a worship context.
But it’s interesting as you read these words, especially of 12, that there doesn’t seem to be an audience that is hostile to the gospel. But if you look at the verses preceding and the ones that come after 12, you see that there is much hostility in these verses. The verses that precede talk about those who are wealthy and are using that for gain, and using the ministry as a way to get wealthy, and they’re abusing that.
But surely these are people who are not in favor of the true Christian faith. They are hostile to the gospel. We also have the hostile nature of Pontius Pilate when Jesus Christ stood before him. And so maybe the worship context is not what he is talking about.
Maybe he’s talking about Timothy, telling Timothy, you must make a profession of faith in front of many witnesses who are hostile witnesses. Do you understand the difference? We have many here who are witnesses, who witness a profession of faith. But I don’t think there are any hostile witnesses here, those who are chomping at the bit and grinding their teeth that someone made a profession of faith today.
But it may be the case that we separate things superficially as Americans and as those who live in the time in which we live, we are able to have a worship context little or no hostility. But the first century was not guaranteed that. Any corporate worship service like this one in the first century all the way till about 313 A.D. had the potential to have much hostility. That was for the whole church.
And it is the case that there are many places in the world where it is very dangerous to make a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you understand that there are people today who when they come to make a profession of faith, They will die because of it in Muslim countries and in certain Islamic republics. Also, we would think of atheistic and communistic countries where what we have been able to freely watch and see done is something that has to be kept under wraps a little bit. We must never forget our brothers and sisters who are needing to make a profession of faith, and when they do so, they come under great danger for doing so.
But whether there is hostility or lack of hostility, whether it’s before those who would be witnesses who would love what we’re doing or not, We are to fight the good fight of faith and we are to make the profession of faith and not shrink back from telling someone. I believe in the gospel. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have been saved by him. Certainly not all are called to be evangelists or pastors, but when asked, to give a profession of faith whether there is hostility or whether there is not.
But you might look at this passage and think it a little bit strange. Isn’t it a little bit strange that Paul is telling Timothy, take hold of eternal life. Doesn’t seem like Paul has things a little bit backwards, Wouldn’t you take hold of eternal life and then become a pastor? Timothy’s a pastor. Maybe Paul has put the cart before the horse and maybe he is thinking, Timothy’s not converted. Well, that’s not it at all.
Paul does know that Timothy is a believer. He says in verse one, one, verse one, two, he tells him that he is his true son in the faith. Paul knows. Timothy is a believer. He is a minister of the gospel. The understanding is he is a believer. He has met the qualifications of chapter 3. So then why is it that he tells him to take hold of eternal life? Is he saying to get saved again? No. Paul here is not talking about a one-time thing.
That might sound strange to us as well. There is a sense in which we partake of eternal life. We take it because God has given us the gift of faith and the gift of repentance. And we take eternal life and it’s ours because God has given it to us. Because the Lord Jesus Christ has died for it and he has secured it in his cross and in his resurrection.
But This passage, and especially the verbal form that Paul uses, it is a timeless verbal way of speaking, not a one-time. What it is saying is, continually do this. Continually Fight the good fight of faith. Continually, this is where the verb is, continually take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.
What Paul is saying is, not become a believer. He’s saying, because you are a believer, you must continually take hold of these things. Grab onto them. You must grab them because they are yours. He’s not saying, take what you do not already possess. What Paul is saying, grab on to that which you already have. Take hold of the righteousness of faith, which is yours in the gospel.
Paul uses other types of ways of speaking like this, where he would say, don’t become something that you are not. He would say, be what you are in the gospel. Colossians 3, one through three. Whenever you think of Colossians 3 and the beginning of Colossians 3, that chapter, I want you to think, be what you are, not be what you are. are not.
Right? Listen to the Apostle Paul as he writes, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. The implication is, you have been raised with Christ, therefore seek that which is above where Christ is.
Be what you are. You are not of this world, therefore do not seek the things of this world. You are of the heavenly realm, therefore seek that which is yours. Seek that which is heavenly. Seek Christ. You understand the analogy here? Be what you are. Take hold of what you already have. Take hold of what you possess.
What would you say of a married man who says, I have partaken of my wife. I have taken her to myself. I have held her. And so my job is done. That’s not how a relationship like that works. A husband will continually take his wife to himself, continually pulling her, receiving her, because he loves her. He holds her close. And he does so regularly. He does so continually.
You might think, Take hold of your wife. I already have her. Yes, but you need to regularly and continually partake of her, holding her equally. You must regularly fight the good fight. That is to say, take hold of what is yours. And that is because it is by grace. And we must make the confession. the confession of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we must meditate on the confession of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is a way of fighting the good fight. I know that life is sometimes hard.
And some of you wonder, is the gospel real? Maybe in the deepest depths of your heart, Sometimes you are on high highs, you read a passage of the Word of God, you hear a sermon, and you are so high off of it, you are so grateful for what you have heard, and God has never seemed so close to you. And then there are low lows where you wonder, is God real? Is He true?
That is the good fight that Paul is talking about. Not of doubting, but continually confessing the Lord Jesus Christ, continually making profession and meditating upon the confession of Christ. that you might not doubt. And when you struggle with doubt, to confess Him more and to meditate upon professing the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is why it is so wonderful this passage which is the acme, the pinnacle, the high point, the mountain peak of the gospel that is found in 1 Timothy 3.16, the high point of the epistle 3.16. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. Jesus was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. The Lord Jesus Christ professed what is true.
I take those as somewhat words that are synonymous. Confession and profession. Certainly they have their distinctions, but I’m taking them in this sermon as synonyms. We confess the Lord Jesus Christ And because of that, He gives us godliness. He gives us grace. And so, how would we be those who fight the good fight? I think He’s given it not only after the verse, and in the verse. but he’s given it to us before the verse, which is verse 11.
He says, flee from these things. That’s worldly materialism and pastors who are in love with worldly materialism, not in love with the gospel. You, men of God, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. When I say this, I would not stand before you as one who could say that I have done these things right, but I would say to you that you can take these things and receive them continually.
Because God has given you new obedience. God has given you new obedience. So you can continually take hold of righteousness, and of godliness, and of faith, and love, and perseverance, and gentleness. These are not things that are Not yours already. You have them in the same way that a spouse has his or her spouse, that a husband has a wife. But continually taking these things that you might not lose faith and that you might be strengthened by them. Brothers and sisters, in a world that is dark, and very sad and very grim, we must never cease to confess Christ publicly. We’re not called to preach, we’re not all called to teach, but given the opportunity. It doesn’t matter what the outcome is. It doesn’t matter if people will listen or not. We don’t want to be bossy about it. But when asked, we say, I believe in Christ. He loved me. He died for me. He rose again for me.
Because we understand that the Lord Jesus, who confessed truths, calls us to confess truth. Saying that everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. Jesus promises that he will save the people who are confessing him. This is not for those who are faking, not for those who will one day abandon the faith and show that they are not his, but those who struggle and fight to make profession of faith. And it is because of that we have His promises, and we can look to the promises of the gospel and hold on to them and understand that if we confess the Lord Jesus Christ, He will save us, as Romans said. If we believe in His resurrection, that He is going to save us. It’s not saying that He will not save those who are doubting. for we all go through our times of doubt. But he is going to save and has saved and does save those who are trusting in him.
But I will end letting you know that Paul is not a hypocrite when he tells Timothy to do this. He is not one who would put a bondage or a burden upon Timothy that he would not take upon himself. Do you understand that Paul takes this upon himself and he says to himself, fight the good fight of faith. Because that passage right before he is going to die, I believe it’s right before he is going to die, it’s probably his last epistle. Second Timothy, chapter four. Turn with me there, where you see Paul, the non-hypocrite, says, I will fight the faith, and I have fought the faith.
Paul is looking forward in Timothy’s life, and when he gets to the end of his life, he is looking back. What does he say? Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Why is he able to talk about the crown of righteousness and the Lord, the righteous judge, and what God is going to give him? It’s because of the preceding verse. He says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Paul’s fighting the good fight is forward-looking.
It’s not simply about the here and now. It’s looking to the end of life when we will continue to profess the Lord Jesus Christ. And even while the body is passing away, we will proclaim the goodness of the Lord and what he has done for us. that we might look back and say, I have fought the good fight. I have continually partaken of, grabbed onto what was already mine. Righteousness and faith and perseverance and hope and all of these glorious things. The Lord Jesus confessed, professed, and today we profess Him. We proclaim Him who died for us and rose again. We fight the good fight. We fight the fight in which we are guaranteed victory. Let us pray.
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