About this sermon
Paul charges Timothy to keep the good confession, as Christ Jesus made the good confession before Pontius Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world. For this purpose I was born, to bear witness to the truth.” Christ spoke the Father’s words with perfect purity, though he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. Believers make their own confession of faith, not as elite Christians but as sinners who need a Savior. The doctrine confessed and the Christ confessed stand or fall together.
Sermon transcript
Let us open God’s Word to a couple of portions, a couple of passages. First, John chapter 18, 33 through 38, and 19, 9 through 11. And then after that we will go to 1 Timothy 6, 13 to 14. I’ll actually read 12 to 14. It will help us out a little bit. Our first two readings are Jesus Christ in his trials before Pontius Pilate, when he spoke to this magistrate, this one who was a leader of people. First, let us read John 18, 33.
Therefore, Pilate entered again into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, are you saying this on your own initiative or did others tell you about me? Pilate answered, I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?
Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm. Therefore Pilate said to him, so you are a king. Jesus answered, you say correctly that I am a king.
For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Pilate said to him, what is truth? Chapter 19, verse nine through 11. And he entered into the praetorium again and said to Jesus, where are you from? But Jesus gave no answer. So Pilate said to him, you do not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you? And I have authority to crucify you. Jesus answered, you would have no authority over me unless it had been given you from above. For this reason, he who delivered me to you has the greater sin.
Now turning to first Timothy six, 12 through 14, first Timothy six, 12 through 14, wherein What we just read about. Jesus discussing many things before Pontius Pilate. That is brought up in our passage. 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, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus ends the reading of God’s holy, inspired, inerrant word.
Shall we pray? Most gracious God, we ask that we would have these truths written in our hearts, etched upon our minds. We ask that these words, that their meaning would be a part of who we are. We ask, O Father, that your word would be in our bones, that it would be in our marrow. Do your work in us this day, O Father. Cause us to know you and to exalt our Savior. Help us to prepare for that heavenly Sabbath eternity, which is ours by grace because of your love.
In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. I would take for this morning a verse that we would meditate upon, and that would be outside of our target verses that we read, but one that we sang. I would take for our target, or rather for our meditation for this sermon, Psalm 12, verse 6. You may remember we sang Psalm 12 verse 6.
Wonderful words. Jehovah’s words are words most pure. They are like silver tried in earthen furnace seven times that has been purified. God’s words are pure. We could say that there is a sense in which there is no purer substance in all the earth than God’s word.
And we have a command given to us in 1 Timothy. What is that command? We read it in 1 Timothy 6, 14, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach. I’ll say that again because that is what is laid down upon us. Keep the commandment without stain or reproach. That is the imperative, the command that is given to us.
Paul writes to Timothy, he must keep the commandment pure. And therefore, by virtue of this and by deduction, I must speak to myself. And I must speak to Pastor Knox and say that you must keep the commandment pure and undefiled. But also, that is something that we would be right to apply to the elders. You must keep the commandment pure and undefiled. But it’s something that we would also bring to all believers.
This is not something that applies only to ministers. You, in the pews, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, must keep the commandment of God pure and undefiled. But you may ask, of which command do you speak? Paul doesn’t tell us, does he? He doesn’t tell us which command or which commandment we are to pay such great attention to that it is found undefiled, that it is found pure.
Well, we will come to that shortly. We’ll come to that in just a little bit. We’ll examine what that command or that commandment is. But first, we must look at the context in which this command is found. The context is like a gold ring in which the diamond of this command is laid in a setting. Paul says that there are witnesses before Timothy to this command that he is going to give. And the witnesses that witness this are Those who raise the stakes above all others. For who are the witnesses of Paul giving this command to Timothy?
They are none other than the Father and the Son. The Father, the creator of all things, and the Son, the creator of all things. These are the witnesses. And what does it say about the Father? The Father who gives life to all things. Do you understand how Paul is upping the ante, showing how glorious God is? This is the one who is laying this burden down upon you to keep the commandment pure. He is saying, God who gives life to all things. Do you understand the significance of a being who is able to give life? Isn’t that amazing? Just the concept, just the idea of a living being.
Children, young people, I would ask you, how complex would you have to work with your Legos so that your Legos would eventually realize that they are Legos? How long would it take? How complex would it have to be? What if you had an eternity to do so? Is it possible that your Legos, or that your Tinker Toys, or whichever it may be, could eventually realize, we exist! We are Legos! There is no possibility. You have the most complex and the most infinite amount of time. It would never happen.
Are you amazed at God’s ability? That he is able to make something say, I am me, I exist. And God has given me life. That’s who lays this commandment upon Timothy and on the pastors and elders, and upon all of us. But also, he says that Jesus Christ is a witness before this.
Don’t let anyone tell you that Jesus Christ is not all-knowing, or Jesus Christ is a witness to what Paul is telling Timothy. And what is significant about Jesus Christ, or what is mentioned? What is mentioned is that Jesus Christ Himself, who was God over all, He made profession, or made a confession before Pilate. And He was not confessing His sin.
Jesus Christ was speaking of glorious heavenly, amazing truths. And there he says, there Pilate says, what is truth? Is that not interesting? That Pilate asks, what is truth? Now I think he asks that in a mocking tone. What is truth? Trying to be a relativist. Trying to be like one, even in our day, who is a post-modernist, who does not believe in any sort of truth. What is truth? My dear Pilate, truth is being spoken before you.
Jesus Christ speaks of His Kingdom, speaking of heavenly realities. And Jesus Christ is not speaking of some geographical national kingdom. He is talking about an international, but far greater than that, an inter-terrestrial kingdom. He’s saying that he is king of heaven and of earth. He is king of all things, as I said when I greeted you this morning, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who is king over all the kingdoms and all the kings of the earth.
What else does Jesus speak about before Pilate? He speaks of other truths. He speaks of Judas’ guilt. He also speaks of Pilate’s power, or Pilate’s lack of power. For Pilate would speak of the power that he supposedly thought he had. I have power to crucify you. And Jesus told him, you would have no power were it not given to you from above. Do you see Jesus? Jesus spoke the good confession before Pilate. In summary, Jesus spoke of his kingdom, of his birth, of his power. What is truth? Pilate, truth itself is standing before you. Are you able to recognize it?
But I would like to refer you to what we sang and what I mentioned at the outset, that God’s words are words most pure. There is nothing purer than God’s words. The psalmist is taking earthly things, a furnace and fire and silver, But he’s speaking about heavenly things. He is speaking about God’s Word. He is using earthly things to speak of that which is beyond our understanding. But for God’s condescension, God’s coming down and lisping to us, speaking in words that we can understand. And when God speaks, His words are pure.
They are undefiled. They are of most clean substance. We could put it in Johannine terms or in John’s terms. We could say that there is nothing in God that is darkness. God is light and there is no darkness in Him. So you understand Jesus speaks pure words. Jesus cannot lie. That is, there are things that God cannot do, and He is yet all-powerful. God cannot lie. He could not do it if He tried.
Jesus speaks the Father’s words, and the Father’s words are pure and undefiled. Do you understand that the Trinity itself, when it speaks, each member speaks the words of the others, and they pour out words of utmost purity, like no water or no light could ever rival. Jesus Christ comes in the likeness of human flesh. It’s very important. Romans 8 3.
He comes in the likeness of sinful flesh. He was human. And if you would have looked at him, he would have looked like a sinner, like all of us. but it was only the likeness of such. He was one who was pure at his birth, had no original sin. We must understand that Jesus Christ, by virtue of his divinity, speaks pure words. And Jesus Christ, by virtue of his pure, cleansed, undefiled humanity, speaks pure words. Undefiled. So that the person of Christ, which is composed of his two natures, of his divine and his human, speaks words of clarity and of purity when he speaks to us. His speech is wholly unlike sinful man’s speech.
You might think of that psalm that we read. What is the psalmist complaining about? What is he describing? Psalm 12. All the people around me are liars. Their words are defiled. That is the case, is it not? Do we not live among people with defiled words? And as we look at our own hearts, do we not see that it is true that out of the mouth, the abundance of the heart speaks our words? tell about our hearts that they are impure. But Jesus Christ is the faithful witness. That’s what Revelation 1 and 5 says. He is the faithful witness. Everything he says is true. That is the one who witnesses Timothy’s burden being laid upon him.
But what is the commandment about which Paul speaks? As I said before, Paul does not use the word commandment. Understand, he doesn’t use the word commandment until 614. Now, usually when we read the Bible in context, if someone uses a word, and he seems to be referring to something, We might look earlier on, we might look afterwards, we might look earlier on especially and say, well, what does he mean by commandment? How are we to keep the commandment pure, unstained, undefiled? The problem is, We have no instance of that word, commandment.
So you can imagine, this opens up the doors to much speculation in many people. He could be talking about a particular commandment that was mentioned to him. Some people would say that the commandment that was laid upon Timothy is the commandment or the commandments, just speaking of one apart for the whole. Some people would say that what he’s talking about is his ordination vows. That Paul would be saying, Timothy, remember the vows that you took, the commands that were given when the presbytery laid hands upon you and your gifts were shown When that happened, those commandments, you must keep those undefiled, you must keep those pure. And I think that’s a very good guess. Might just mention. Remember, once again, Friday night is a special night. Very, very special night.
For we are going to see David Graves, the soon-to-be pastor of the church in Franklin, Pennsylvania, not far from Grove City. And many commands are going to be given to him. Commands are going to be laid down upon him. commands are going to be given to the congregation as well, I would invite you to come see that. Understand that we’re really going to probably hear three sermons that night, at least.
It was only about a year ago that I was ordained and it was a special night and we had pretty much four sermons that night. And it was wonderful. Many of you were there and what a joy it was. And this will be the first man who will be ordained in this Presbytery after me. I’m no longer the newbie as of Friday.
We understand that this is a very good guess that the commands that are given to Timothy are the ones that are given to him at his ordination. But I don’t think that that is it. The command that is given is the sum and substance of this letter, 1 Timothy. Is it not understandable that the men who were the rivals of Timothy in the city in which he ministered, they were men who had defiled lives and taught strange doctrines. They were defiling the commandment, which is the gospel. We do not look in 1 Timothy to find what Paul is talking about when he speaks of the command. So, where’s the proof? Where’s the proof that when Paul says the command, it is the sum and substance of this letter? The proof is in another one of Paul’s letters.
If you would turn with me, if you’d like, to 1 Corinthians 14, 37. Don’t feel obligated to go there because I am going to be reading it. Paul has been talking about prophetic gifts. He has been speaking of tongues and prophecy, what it means when in the first century, God would make someone speak and the very words that would come out of his mouth or her mouth would be the word of God itself or this strange first century occurrence which was the speaking of tongues, wherein someone would be able to speak a language he had never ever studied, because the Holy Spirit would fall upon that person, and that person would speak in another language. 1 Corinthians 14, 37, Paul says this, if anyone thinks that he is a prophet or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command. of the Lord. The things that I am writing to you are command of the Lord.”
And so we see that there’s no mystery here. When Paul says to Timothy, you must keep the command pure, it is everything that Paul writes in this letter. But we would certainly be wrong to think that It does not apply to all of the rest of Paul’s letters, and all of the rest of the apostles’ letters, and the evangelist’s gospel, and also the book of Revelation. The commandment which we are to keep undefiled is all the whole of the deposit of inscripturated truth which the Holy Spirit has given us. The commandment is the whole of the Bible. Keep it and protect it. Keep it from being defiled. We also have discussion in verse 12 of Timothy’s profession or his confession of Christ. Let me just read that here. Fight the good fight.
Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and you made the good confession, the presence of many. Again, there are people who think that certain parts of this are talking about his ordination exams, or his ordination vows rather, but that is not the case, because look, in verse 12, he is talking about eternal life. One does not enter into eternal life by taking ordination vows. We hope that the person has eternal life before they would take ordination vows. Not at all.
This context is all speaking of making a confession of the Lord Jesus Christ publicly. coming before an assembly like this one or another church and saying, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am undone. I am defiled in and of myself, and I cannot save myself. I am a sinner, and I need the Lord Jesus Christ. And some young people are at an age where they could do that. If they would say, I believe in Christ. Those people who come before the church do not come as the elite Christians who have reached a certain plane. They come as those who say, I am a sinner and I need a savior.
There is a sense in which God saves his people through making a public confession of Christ. Now certainly it is the case that we are saved because God predestines us to be saved. We are saved because Jesus died for us. We are saved because Jesus rose again for us. We are saved because Jesus intercedes for us.
Even when we, after having become believers, continue to sin, But there is also a sense in which. We are saved by making public profession of faith. Romans 10, 9 and 10 tells us, 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.
We must confess Christ and say that we are His and that He is ours. We deserve death because of our sins, but He endured the cross in our place. The question must be asked though, how can we confess Christ when we are sinners? Did we not say that our hearts are defiled? Did we not say that our mouths demonstrate the uncleanliness of our hearts? Does not the Bible say, all men are liars? Did not the psalmist compare the words of the sinners in Psalm 12 with the words of God, which are words most pure? Yes, it did. And yes, it does. So how is it, we might ask, how is it that God would even honor our profession of faith because we are unclean? We might ask with Bildad, one of the friends of Job, one of the counselors of Job, one of the men who accused Job. Listen to what he says. It’s very pointed. Bildad in Job 25 verse 4.
How then can a man be just with God? Or how can he be clean who is born of woman? If even the moon has no brightness and the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man, that maggot and the son of man, that worm. understand what Bildad is saying.
Not all the things that the accusers of Job say are wrong. Much of what they say is true. And many of the things that they say are just in the wrong context. You understand? There’s much truth in Job, even in his accusers. And this is a good question. How can man make a profession of faith? How can he be clean before God? Don’t you understand? He is a worm. He is as a maggot. And that is not a compliment.
He says, how can man be cleansed or undefiled before God when He is born of woman. There is an understanding in our Old Testament, you read in the law, that there was cleansing that needed to be done after a birth, according to those old Levitical laws. There was a cleansing that needed to happen for the woman was defiled, was she not? And so was the person that comes out of her. How is it that one who is born out of uncleanness and begins to speak, speaking lies, how can he come before God and say, I believe in God and I need a savior?
The way that it is possible is because of the fact that Christ did it for us. To understand that Christ with his virgin birth is undefiled. He had no sin and he confesses every time he speaks truth, pure undefiled truth. The lips of sinful men are defiled, but the lips of Christ are pure. Do you remember what happens in Isaiah’s call narrative, where Isaiah is called to be a prophet before God?
He says, I am undone. Surely we can understand that. He is a sinner and he is in front of the pure God. But he says, I am unclean and I dwell among those of unclean lips. And what does the angel in the throne room of God do? He takes a coal from the fire and he touches it on Isaiah’s lips. Now understand that that is Isaiah’s calling to be a prophet.
And we do not undergo that. God does not touch our lips with something so that every word that we speak will be prophetic. But it certainly is the case that God cleanses our defiled lips. And He makes atonement for us just as He did in Isaiah chapter 6. Cleansing His lips. Cleansing our lips because He has cleansed our hearts. That we might make a right confession of faith before men. That we might follow the One who made a confession before Pilate.
And that we might keep the commandment clean and pure. So, keep the commandment. Pure, unstained, and without reproach. But you must understand this. There is an intimate link between three things. Those three things being our profession of faith, Christ’s confessing heavenly truths before Pilate, and our keeping clean, pure, and undefiled the words of Paul and the rest of the Bible. Don’t misunderstand me.
I’m not saying that God’s Word can be made impure. Our lives or our doctrine do not make Word of God defiled. It is words most pure. What I am saying is that in the viewpoint of the world around us, is it not the case that a minister defiles the Word of God in the minds of the other people by teaching false doctrines and by living an immoral life as an unrepentant hypocrite.
These three things go together so well. They hang together. I would ask you to think of a man. Think of a man who comes to you and says, I believe in Christ. This is good. And he says, Christ made a confession, a good, pure confession before Pilate, this is good. And then doctrinally he says, I believe that Jesus Christ is the first created being of Jehovah.
What would you think of that? I hope you would understand that the doctrine that he holds to are impure. Therefore, his understanding of Christ’s confession becomes impure and defiled. But more than that, the Christ that he confesses becomes defiled as well, does it not?
These things stand or fall together. They hang or they drop together. If someone were to come to you and say, I believe in Christ, good. And he were to say, again, I believe that Jesus made a confession, a good confession before Pilate, that’s good. And he says then that after that, I believe that Jesus is our example and nothing more. We say, no, do you understand, sir, that these are defiled, all three of them now.
Equally, it is the case of those who would be ministers of the gospel, who would be caught up in all kinds of worldliness. Think of many of the preachers on TV that preach a gospel of prosperity, that in this life I can have great prosperity if I would just confess with my lips prosperity into existence. it would come about.
That is not a good confession. It defiles his understanding of Christ and it defiles the fact that he even professes faith in Christ. There are many things that undermine our confession of Christ and make the commandment impure, but they are primarily false doctrine and hypocritical, unrepentant life before the world.
When we sin before the world, we must be quick to admit our wrongs. We must say, I am a sinner that needs grace. And we must keep the commandment pure by learning and knowing right and true doctrine. And I truly believe that ministers of the gospel must understand false doctrine as well.
There are many who would give something, you’ve heard it in a sermon many, many times. You only need the word of God. Someone who examines currency only examines the legitimate currency. You ever heard that in a sermon? Talking about the Word of God, they’ll say, you only need to study the Word of God, don’t study anything false. Equally, people who print money and examine look at counterfeiters, they only look at true money, they don’t look at the false stuff.
And I think that is a very bad thing to say. Pastors, ministers of the gospel must understand very well and study false doctrine so that they might explain and teach and preach against that which is false. And we must do that. It is a part of a pastor’s and of an elder’s keeping the commandment undefiled and unstained. And brothers and sisters, we in the pew keep it undefiled by knowing it, by learning it. I would have everyone here able to spot error a mile away because you know God’s word so well. We must keep the commandment unstained until Jesus comes back, lest we be found like that unworthy servant in Jesus’ parable who thought, my master delays, so I will eat and drink and beat the men servants and beat the female servants. It was not long before his master came.
Equally so, we must keep the commandment of God. That is, the teaching of God. Every word that comes out of the mouth of our God, we must understand it and love it. Jesus speaks of everything I have commanded you, Matthew 28, 20. And Paul would write about the whole counsel of God. May we come to understand, know, and love everything that God has commanded, the whole council. And may we teach it to our children and to our grandchildren, to our friends and to our family. And may the commandment of God be undefiled from our lips and from our lives.
God is a gracious God who forgives our sins. May that be the primary way that we understand God’s grace and keeping things impure by being quick to repent and slow to accuse. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that Jesus Christ went before us and spoke of pure heavenly things before that wicked magistrate which was Pilate.
And we thank you that you have given us eternal life, that you have given us ability to be cleansed by you, and that salvation is all of grace, that your cleansing of us is of your grace and also Our profession of faith comes from lips that have been, in a sense, purified by Your Word. May we understand that when we make a confession of faith, it is pure when it is according to Your Word. We ask, O Father, that You would forgive our sins, for we have been as those men who would speak false things. But when we speak your word, we understand how pure you are.
Help us to sing and to praise and to speak to one another with the words of Christ to build one another up in these things. In Jesus’ name, amen. Let us open in the blue to 419. 419 is, I need Thee, precious Jesus, for I am full of sin. My soul is dark and guilty. My heart is dead within. I need the cleansing fountain where I can always flee. The blood of Christ, most precious. The sinner’s perfect plea. Let us stand as we sing and close with 419.
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