We are going to look at at first, Timothy,
But before we do, I really need to make some preparations. Why are we studying this book? Now, we can say a lot of things. We can say, you know, we're studying for the
glory of God. We're studying for the benefit of the church. And all that is is true or it should be true. But I want you to see that also we are
studying for ourselves. Just look for a minute in in First Timothy
Chapter four and look at verse 16. Paul's admonition to Timothy, that's first
Timothy Chapter four of verse 16. He says to Timothy, Pay Close attention to
yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things for as you do this,
you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. You know, there there are ministers. Those are there are men who are called
ministers of Christ who are not converted. We all know that that is a great Possibility. We also know that that you and I, though,
called into the ministry are men that are fallible, that we can be deceived. Not only
about doctrine, but about our own relationship with God and not merely with
regard to salvation, but also just are we being pleasing to Him. And so we study first, Timothy, not only for
the benefit of the church, but for the sake of ourselves, That we be found faithful on
That day, that we can be assured through the scriptures that we are in the faith, that we
truly have believed in Christ. Also, I can speak this from scripture, I can
speak this from history, and I can speak this from personal experience. Those of us who are given to ministry
oftentimes have an outward look at caring for the souls of others. And we become so busy that we do not care for
our own souls and oftentimes we do not See when we are walking outside Of God's will,
maybe not with regard to Doctrine, but with regard to practice, with regard to our our
attitudes, our speech, the wholeness of our life and the whole part of our life is very
important in the ministry. If you look at first, Timothy, chapter three,
you see that a man who does not manage his own household well does not qualify for the
ministry. You will also see that all the
characteristics or requirements Of an elder, all of them except one, are specifically
dealing with character and practice. And so we have a great need not to be So
introspective that we lose view of Christ Never. But we do have a need to think about
studying the scriptures, not just to preach them, but to know more of Christ ourselves
And to be able to apply them. Ezra is a great example, you know, and Ezra
Chapter seven, first 10, That he studied the law of God, he practiced the law of God,
and he taught the law of God. And that should be something that is for
foremost in our mind. Now, it does little good to study first,
Timothy, merely as an academic endeavor. The Bible was not intended to be merely an
academic endeavor. It does require academics, does require
learning, study, rules of grammar and so on and so forth. But it is far more than that. It's not less than that, but it is more than
that. It is for the transformation of our lives and
the transformation of those who hear us preach the Word of God. And so I want to talk to you for a moment
about I think maybe the root, maybe the greatest root of evil in modern day
Ministry. And unless we settle this studying first,
Timothy will just be studying another option for you in the ministry, and that is the fear
of the Lord. The fear of the Lord, the ideal Levitical
priest in the book of Malachi, he was he was marked by the fear of the Lord, the greatest
reverence for God and absolute mistrust of self. And an absolute trust and Fear of God, it
must come home to each and every one of you that you will along with me. We will stand before Christ one day. And as Ministers of Christ, we will be
judged. Now, here's something that I want you to
think about there. The Bible gives us absolutely everything that
we need to know for faith and practice to prepare us for that great day. Yet at the same time, there is an element of
mystery in the sScriptures. There are some things that are hard for us to
reconcile and we must hold those things in attention. For example, I know that salvation
is by works. It's true. It's just that salvation is not by my works. Salvation is by the works of Christ on my
behalf, His perfect life, on my behalf, His death under the penalties of the covenant on
my behalf. I am saved by works. They're just not mine. They're the works of Christ. I contribute nothing to my salvation but sin. If you were to Look at the work of
redemption, Christ, burying my sin in some way tells me that really the only thing I
contributed was my sin for which he had to die. And so salvation is grace and grace
alone. Even our repentance and our faith are the
result of grace. So everything of grace. And we will stand before Him on that day with
joy, inexpressible and full of glory because of him. But that does not negate other texts of
scripture that says, as ministers of Christ, We will be judged. I want you to look for just a moment. Let's go back to first, Timothy. I mean, First Corinthians, Chapter three. And in verse 11, Paul Says, for no man can
lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ, there's only one
foundation of the church and that foundation is Jesus Christ. And if you lay any other foundation, You may
build something, but you will not Be building a church. Now, then he goes on and verse 12. Now, if any man builds on the foundation with
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, Each man's works will become evident
for the day, will show it because it is to be revealed with fire and the fire itself will
test the quality of each man's works. If any man work, if any man's work which he
has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. But if any man's work is burned up,
he will suffer loss. But he himself will be saved yet. So as through fire this when it really makes
it into your your heart. When you really begin to comprehend
what Paul is saying here, it adds a great gravity, a solemnity, a solemnness to to our
calling. And although it should not overwhelm us, it
should not paralyze us. It should be there that one day my work with
regard to the church and the church is the most precious entity of Christ. One day my work regarding his Bride will be
judged. And I can assume, since I am far from
perfect, That I will see some aspects of my labor burned Up. Now, holding that to be true, A sane man, a
reasonable man who was called into the ministry would be struck down within
security, a reasonable man would be so full of fear that he would come close to being
paralyzed if he really believed what I Just read, because he would be constantly asking
himself, even though I labor 18 hours a day, how do I know how can I know that my labor
will not be burned up? Because realize this, there are evil men who
work 18 hours a day. So the amount of work you do. Is not necessarily proof that you are doing
the will of God, Also apparent success in this world, even within Christendom, even
within evangelicalism, apparent success is no evidence whatsoever that your Ministry will
remain on that day. We all know that there are mega churches,
Some of them that are built upon entertainment, personality, popularity
methodologies, giving the people what they desire. And we do believe, hopefully, all of
you, that those works will be burned up. But we don't Have to consider those works at
this moment. We need to consider our own works, our own
lives. How can we sleep at night? I would submit To you there's only one way we
can sleep at night, and that is if, as Honest men, We have made a decision to strap
ourselves down to one thing Scripture alone, scripture alone, that we reject all worldly
methodologies, whether They come from sociology or psychology or leadership
manuals, our church growth books, we reject it all. And we determined that we will serve the
bride of Christ only according to what is written, that we will not be clever, we will
not be inventive, but we will do only what is written. I will not be judged on that great
day for not being inventive enough. I will only be judged on that great day
according to what is written. Did I submit To the dictates of our Lord? That's the only thing. And that's where we come down with what has
been known throughout reformed theology is the regulative principle. Of doing only in the church that which is
prescribed in the scriptures by way of command, illustration, context. Being fearful, fearful to do anything other
than what is directly commanded and I submit to you today men, that the great majority of
so-called Christ ministers are not even aware of the things I Have just said. And many who are aware are aware only with
their tongue. One of the reasons why the whole sort of last
15 years of reformed movement and the young reformed and restless and all this other
stuff that's happened in the last 15 years, the reason why right now it has almost
disappeared. Is because you're not reformed simply because
you adopt some academic view of Calvinism, are you like to read the Puritans? You're reformed because you believe the
primary doctrine of the Reformation, which gave birth to all the other correct doctrines
and practices, and that is scripture alone, I'm going to base my life on scripture alone. I'm going to serve in the church and
scripture alone, which will actually make my service to the church very, very simple And
very, very focused and will require of me faith when all the other ministers are
running to the latest idea, usually from the United States, the latest idea that makes
churches grow and they're seeing what seems to be apparent success. But I hold true to what is written. I am going to appear many times as a failure. But the question is before whom do I want to
be a failure? Before the movers and shakers? Do you realize
that that most probably the most neglected doctrine in the Bible is ecclesiology? Do you realize that here's what happened. Somebody in the United States comes up with
some inventive idea on how to make a big church. Then they do it and then They write a
book about it and then everybody else buys the book and tries to imitate the same thing. Why? Because the goal is bigness. And it's as wrong as it can be. Now, I know some churches that, you know, in
comparison with the church I attend would be considered very large and they're good
Churches, but they didn't Attempt to become big Churches. They decided That they would study and preach
and live the Word of God. And God bless the work you say and You young
men, you have to make a big decision. And if you make the right decision, I want to
guarantee you something. You're not only going to have to go against
the current. Of all your other friends, But you're going
to have to go against the currents of your own tendencies. But do you want to be God's man or do you
want to be, I don't know, a conference speaker? One of the things that I am quite
aware of for some reason, I have been asked for the last several years to preach in many
large places, but I'm no fool. I look out in that audience sometimes and I
see men who are pastoring churches of seventy five people who have forgotten more about God
than I will ever know, who are more wholly more worthy, more knowledgeable And more
pleasing yo God. You'd be surprised who I call on the phone
when I have a question about scripture, it's usually some guy who pastors a church of
about 150. Now, I'm not trying to glorify small churches
or say that larger churches are bad, but what I'm telling you is neither of those things
matter when it comes to being a man of God. What matters is this. Are you going to be faithful to what is
written? Are you going to do what is right in your own
eyes? And I want to tell you something, in this
last year, not just politically in the United States, but religiously in the United States,
we have seen the true colors of many who claim to be reformed, conservative and
evangelical. And so you're going to have to make a stand. The question is, what are you going to stand
on the latest church growth book, the latest book that tells you how to be relevant as a
Christian in culture, some silly little piece of trite like that. Are you Going to stand upon the word of God
So It doesn't matter if we study first Timothy. If you don't fear God, if you don't
fear God. And you can't fear the God you don't know. You see, and how do you know Him? Through the
study of scripture and through prayer. Now, let's look at another text that I want
you to see before we go on to first Timothy, we may not even get to first Timothy. Look in Second Corinthians, Chapter five. In verse six of chapter five of Second
Corinthians, Therefore being always of good courage and knowing that while we are at home
in the body, we are absent from the Lord, For we walk by faith and not by sight. Now, we hear a lot about faith today. Faith comes down to trusting in the character of
God and trusting in the arm of the Lord, and the more you trust in the arm of the flesh,
The less you are going to see the arm of the Lord. The more you give yourself only to
those weapons of warfare that the Lord has given you, the more you will see His power.
And the more you stray from that, the less you will see His power, you may see
false fire. You may see all kinds of rattling and noises
and everything else, and you may become very, very popular. But God is not with you. It's the man who refuses to trust in anything
except what God has written. And that's the kind of man that God will
bless. What are the real weapons of our warfare, if
I were to boil it down, That'll come in the sessions that we study, but what are the real
weapons of our warfare? I'll tell you what they are. The proclamation of the word of God,
unadulterated, not filtered through culture, not filtered through felt needs, not filtered
through what the culture wants, but the Word of God proclaimed. What's another Weapon? Intercessory prayer. Intercessory prayer. What's the third? A godly life, a godly life. Those things are always assumed in those
silly little books you read about church growth. Problem is, they shouldn't be assumed
because there's so few men today who depend only upon the three things I mentioned. Now we walk by faith, we trust When I walk
out in a pulpit, I am Ezekiel. And that field in front of me, that pulpit,
dead bones, and no one's coming out of there alive unless the Spirit of God does a
supernatural work among men and God has promised to do that work when I submit to
doing what I've been called to do, and that is proclaiming God's word and calling dry
bones to live and recognizing, "Can these bones live?". Lord, only you know. I will not say no
and doubt You. I will not say yes and presume upon You. I
will only do what I have been commanded to do, and that is preach the Word of God. Now he says, 8, we are of good courage, I
say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be home to be at home with the
Lord. Therefore, we also have is our ambition,
whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. That was Paul's great ambition to Be
pleasing to God. That was it. He did not judge his ministry by comparing it
to other ministries of young men the same age. He did not do that. How did he know whether or not he was being
pleasing? Only if he could judge his life by the
standard of the Word of God and see that there was conformity. And that's all You need to concern yourself
with, you stand only before one Master and He has given you His Word. He has not given you
one bit of authority to invent something new or to recycle the old and give it a new
presentation. He's not giving you that right. Not at all. And when you do it, you would you adulterate
the Word of God. You distort the Word of God. It is never men who tried to conform their
culture that conform to their culture, that change culture, it's the men who look at
culture and say you're dead wrong. Everything about you from the top of your
head to the bottom of your feet is wrong. I'm not going to try to build bridges. I'm not going to try to make a truce with
you. You are wrong. I'm not going to come on your side so that
you'll come on mine. No, I'm not moving. I've drawn a line in the sand and I am
telling you what God's Word says. Thus saith The Lord. Be pleasing to Him. Be pleasing to the One
who died for you, And the only way you can know whether or not you're pleasing is by
doing what the Word of God says. It is the only inspired writ -scripture that
we have now. It goes on. And he says, now, why does Paul say he wants
to be pleasing to the Lord? He's going to tell us two reasons. But look at the first one, For we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his
deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. I don't exactly know how to make this fit, I
know what I know about sovereign grace. I know that my salvation is only in Christ
and Christ alone. And I know I'll stand before Him on that
great day, in spite of all of Paul Washer's failures, with great joy. But that does not take away from what I have
here. My ministry will be judged not just my
ministry, my family, the way I treated my family, my children, my Wife, it'll all be
judged. And to be honest with you. Yes, it does make me tremble. Now. Verse 11, therefore, Therefore, knowing
The fear of the Lord, we persuade men this verse has been misinterpreted may be more
than any verse In the Bible. I mean, This it's least in the top 10. People
have the idea that Paul is saying here, Knowing that Men are in danger, that their
souls are in danger, in danger of eternal destruction, knowing that I'm preaching to
Lost men, I'm going to persuade them. I'm going to do everything in my power. Knowing the fear of God and the judgment that
awaits those men, I am going to preach to them the true Gospel and I'm going to beg
them to be reconciled to God. That's not what this text is saying. Paul saying this, Paul Saying, Knowing that I
will stand Before Christ and be judged for my ministry and my preaching to men, I'm going
to persuade them with the Truth. I'm not going to change my message To please
culture, accommodate culture. I am going to preach only the Word of God
that has been entrusted to me. Do you know why there are men today that two
years ago I stood on a platform with and preached that I will no longer preach with? It's true evangelicalism Has been shaken to
its very core. And you know what, if I had to if I had to
nail down what is the biggest problem, it's this. Men desiring to appear academically and
culturally sophisticated, Doing everything in their power to make the
world think that as Christians, they're not as dumb as or imbecilic as the world thinks
they are. That their actual great academics and culturally sophisticated and they believe
in Jesus and that has caused them great harm. Again, we are not seeking to please culture
or the world. We love the world, we want the world to come to know Christ, but it's not
going to come to Christ by us trying to appear as much like the world as Possible. Our men, who are in a constant state of
wanting to dialogue with the world but never tell the world they're wrong. So this is for we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body
according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we
persuade men, But we are made manifest to God. And I hope that we are made manifest
also in your consciences. Now, I want us to go down here for just a
moment because we're not not here to study the book of First Corinthians, I want you to look at
something. Look at verse 13 for if we are beside
ourselves, it is for God, if we are of sound mind, it is for you, for the love of Christ
controls us. I need To be of sound mind when I preach. My rationale ought to be reasonable. I ought to move with a logic. I ought to truly teach the Text. I ought to be reasonable in my presentation
of the text. I ought to have fine arguments with regard to
the text. But I'm never going to avoid the fact that
the enemies of the Gospel are going to say, I'm out of my mind. The cultural elite are going to say, I'm out
of my mind. The academics are going to scoff at me as one
out of his mind. I cannot change my message because of that. I remember one time I was asked to give a
lecture at a university in Lima, Peru, and in Spanish, of course, and that's not my first
language. So it was going to be difficult giving an
academic lecture with regard to certain things about Christianity in a language that
wasn't my first. And I realized that the crowd was very, very
hostile to Christianity and very hostile to very hostile to the Gospel. And so when I walked out on the platform, the
first thing I said is this. Before I say anything, know this. I believe that Jesus Christ is God in the
flesh, the Eternal Son who became a man who lived a perfect life and went to Calvary and
on that cross bore the sins of His people and was crushed under the wrath of God. He died and on the third day He rose again
and is now seated at the right hand of God and will judge every one of you in this room. Now that we got that clear, we can go on with
the lecture. I'm not going to sit there and dance back and
forth where people walk out of the building and try to figure out what I am. This is who I am. And so it matters little to me if a world
that applauds the murder of millions of babies tells me I'm out of my mind, that
matters little to me. And that's the stand you have to take as a
man of God. Now, you're not to be mean, you're not to be
belligerent, you're not to be brash. You're not to seek to humiliate. But you stand your ground in love and
service, but you stand your ground. Now, look at verse 14 for the love of Christ
controls. So he's already told us that one thing that
is a motivation in his life is the knowledge that he will stand before Christ. He says here that I must appear we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and that was one of the motivations in Paul's
life. Now here's the greatest verse 14 for the love
of Christ construal controls us. Now, again, people get this wrong. They think Paul's saying that his own great
love for Christ is what motivated him. That's not true. It was Christ's love for Paul that motivated
him. And yes, there is a big difference. If I look in the mirror of God's Word at my
Own love for Christ, there's not a lot to be motivated about. I find my love up one day, down one day. Inconsistent, mutable. My my greatest sorrow is in not loving Christ
as I should, But when I look at Christ's love for me now, that's a whole other story. Immutable, infinite, performed, accomplished. Proven time and time again, even after the
one great proof that required no other proof, which is Calvary. That's the motivation. That's why we're faithful like Polycarp. They
have to burn us because for all the years of our life, Christ has never betrayed us once. And so we will not betray Him. We will not betray him at the stake, and we
will not betray him in the pulpit. And so this is this is some things that we
really need to come to grips with that are extremely important before we even look at - I
don't want you to look at the pastoral epistles and think it's just another option
or another methodology for ministry. If I said I'm going to out of first Timothy,
I'm going to draw some options for you with regard to methodology for ministry. Every seminary in the world would let me
teach there. But when I tell you, no, I'm not going to do
that, I'm going to tell you the only way to minister. And if you don't minister this way,
you're wrong. Well, that's completely different, isn't it? Do you really think that Christ would allow
would turn a group of men like us loose on his Bride without giving us very specific
commands with regard to what to do? Do you think he would allow us just to think
up ideas with regard to what the Bride ought to look like and how she ought to be fed and
led and cared for? I wouldn't let you do that with my wife, nor
would you with me. And so this is we're not here to to find some
you know, some methodologies you may want to apply, we're here to look at the Word of God. and if you don't do it this way, you're in
sin. Now, yes, there will be certain texts In
which Godly men have differed. Even those who hold to the regulative principle. Sometimes-
one of the arguments against the regulative principle is this. But if 10 of you guys who believe in the
regulative principle get together in one room, there will be some differences among
you. You know what? That's true. You know why the differences are there? Because we're fallible men. But what group would you rather be in? A group
of men who say it really doesn't matter what the word of God says, we're going to invent
the best way to do the church. Would you want to be in that group? Or would
you rather be in a group with men who, although imperfect, different understandings
and everything, are fighting for one thing and the fear of the Lord to only do what he
has commanded? Which group would you rather be in? Hopefully it would be the second group. Now I want us to look at one other text and I
promise next time we will get the first Timothy. But I'm laying the groundwork and it's going
to be in first Timothy. And we'll go through this in several sermons
from now. But I want to hit it at the beginning because
it's so important. Looking first, Timothy, Chapter three and
Look in verse 13, I think this is one of the most important texts with regard to the
church in the entire Bible. And yet it's oftentimes just looked over as
just kind of an introduction to something else. But first, Timothy, chapter three,
verse thirteen. Well, verse fourteen. I am writing these things to you. So Paul is writing these things to Timothy. I'm writing these things to you, hoping to
come to you before long. But in case I am delayed, I write. So that you will know how one ought to
conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the
pillar and support of the truth. Now, notice here. He goes out of his way to to
describe the Church, the household of God, the Church of the living God. Do you see that in each case, it belongs to
God. It belongs to God. And then he says, the Church of the living
God, usually when you hear living God in the Old Testament, God's in a dispute, God's in a
war with idols, And he's fixing to do something. And it's not going to be pretty. When you hear "living God", you kind of brace
yourself. Well, that's what's going on here, it's
really saying the Church belongs to God, do not touch, do not touch. This is not your Church. If you came into my house And you started
telling my Wife, look, you need to stop doing that, you need to do this, you started
telling my wife what she needed to be doing. You wouldn't be in my house very long. You wouldn't. I'll tell you, get out of my house. You're not going to come into my house and
set a bunch of rules. This is not your house. It's my house. It's my wife. They're my children. Now, you want to talk about the fear of the
Lord, you're going to go into God's house and you're going to ignore because either you
haven't studied or you just don't fear God, You're going to ignore what God said about
how he wanted his Bride to be taken care of. And then you're going to apply some silly
little ungodly rules that were invented by some kind of marketer in the United States to
build a big church of lost people. No, brother, do not, do not, do not. I was with somebody one time and they didn't
know a whole lot about snakes. When I was a little boy. We would one of our games there was this
really poisonous snake that was in our area and we'd get him to chase us. I remember walking through the woods one time
with this person and they said, oh, look at that pretty stick. I said, it's not a stick. And they said, Well, I'm going to grab it. I said, no, you do not. And they acted like they didn't believe me. So I walked over there and I kind of hit it
by the back of its tail and then backed up real quick. And that thing spun around and was ready to
kill somebody. There are certain things you don't touch, and
one of them is the Church of the Living God. Well, I think we ought to do it this way. Well, we took we went out with a
questionnaire among the city to find out what kind of church everyone would like to have. I don't even think you're saved. If you are saved, you do not need to be in
the ministry. Really, you're going to do something like
that. The church doesn't even belong to the church. The church belongs to God. Now, let's talk about our Bride for a moment. When I was in Peru, there were places where
my wife would go with me in the Jungle because it was safe. There wasn't any war going on. There wasn't any terrorism. There weren't really bad military movements
and things like that. I take my wife. There were other places where I would go
where my wife could not come, because if we're going through some place on a boat,
military pull us over or in some old bus. The military pull us over and they pull me out of
the van and push me around and yell at me and everything else. No big deal. No big deal. But if one of them had laid a hand on my
wife, Oh, it wouldn't have been pretty and I probably wouldn't be here today. You do not touch someone's wife. You touch a lot of things. You beat me up all day long. You touch my wife. No, it's just not going to happen. Now, I'm not saying that because I'm an
American, hopefully all you guys feel that way, if you d on't, then probably shouldn't
come back next time. It's my wife. Now, I want you to think about something
Jesus talked about us and our relationship to our children, and he said if we, being evil,
could give good gifts to his children, how much more the Father in heaven. So if we as men love our brides enough to die
for them, how much Does Christ love his bride If we're zealous and very protective of our
brides? How much more is Christ protective of his
Bride? Now, I'm going to close with an illustration,
and this will set the tone for when we get into first Timothy and we start in chapter
one, verse one, imagine a great and fearful King, who Loves his Bride more than anything
else, more than his entire kingdom. He loves his Bride, but he has to go on a
long journey. So He calls you as his steward to come forth
and it's fearful stand before Him. And He tells you this. I'm going on a long journey and you have been
entrusted with the care of my Bride. She is most precious to me. I have given you I have written it out what
you shall do with her and what you shall not do with her. You are not to add to this list and you are
not to take away from it. If you serve Me faithfully, you will be well
rewarded. If you do not, it will not go well with you. And He goes away on a long journey. And as time goes by, the people in His
kingdom become bored with the King because they become bored with His Bride. You know, she's dressed in just a simple
white dress. She's beautiful, but her hair is not made up
in any worldly fashion. She doesn't need or use much makeup or
anything else. There's a beauty to her, a simplicity to her, a
purity to her. But the men of the kingdom have lost interest
in her. She's old fashioned. And so you decide you're going to help the
King. You change her simple white gown for an
extravagant robe. You give her a new hairdo and you paint her- You paint her face like a prostitute. And you
begin to march her around the Kingdom, having dressed her in a way that will attract
carnal men back to the King. When that King comes back, what will He do
with you? He will kill you. I submit to you that's what many evangelical
pastors have done in the United States and Europe. People aren't interested in the
church. People aren't interested in simple
preaching. They're not interested in prayer meetings. They're not interested in sermons and
teachings on holiness. They're not interested in calls to deny
yourself take up your cross. They're not interested in all that. So we need to find out what they're
interested in in order to save the King's kingdom. I want to tell you something. On the day that Christ return, you don't need
to fear for the atheist as much as you do those kind of ministers. Now, this does not mean that we all dress in
Puritan clothing. This does not mean that we all walk around
with faces of nothing but solemnity. One of the greatest marks of the fullness of the
Holy Spirit is joy. There's a winsomeness, a kindness, a
joyfulness to true Christianity. But as ministers of Christ, we need to be
extremely, extremely careful. Now, do you see why I begin with first
Timothy, chapter four, verse 16. Pay close attention to yourself and to your
teaching. Persevere in these things for as you do, this
will ensure your salvation, salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. Yes, dear brothers, we have been granted a
great privilege, but we have been given a tremendous burden. And you need to see what a
success is. It's not defined by how many conferences you
speak and it's not defined by how big your church is, It's defined by your submission to
the Word of God. And that brings great comfort. A man can go to bed at night knowing, I am not
greatly popular. I am not well known, But I have served my
King this day according to what is written. That man will
be highly honored. You see? Let's ask a question. Why would God plant the most beautiful rose
He's ever planted in a forest through which no man or angel ever walks? How would God get glory from that flower if
no one sees it? God gets glory from that flower because every
day He sees it. And he glories in what He has made. I know pastors and missionaries that
would be considered failures by evangelicalism standards today. And yet God
looks at them every day with the greatest pleasure and the greatest glory. That's the kind of man you want to be. Let's pray. Father, thank you for Your Word. But please,
Lord, God, help us to live it. To know You. And to serve You. In Jesus name. Amen.
