The Good Fight (1 Timothy 6:11-16)

well in this passage and first Timothy 6 were 11 to 16 Paul has just finished describing false teachers and he just finished saying the material gain is not the end of the Christian faith he's warned Timothy against them and this morning we're going to look at what he actually then points Timothy toward so the passage before he's warning Timothy don't go there if you go there you're going to die in today gloriously we get a scene oh there's something better as we look to what he holds before us in Christ and see that there is a better way so what does it look like to walk as a Christian so we're gonna ask what does it look like to do Christian ministry because really walking as a Christian and Christian ministry are almost one in the same we'll see that the command is to pursue holiness were to pursue it we'll see that he commands us to fight for faithfulness but most importantly we'll see that we aren't alone in this because he's given us power in order to do all these things so let's read this passage we'll pray and then we'll start walking through this text first Timothy chapter 6 starting at verse 11 says but as for you O man of God flee these things pursue righteousness godliness faith love steadfastness and gentleness fight the good fight of faith take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things in of Christ Jesus who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the peering of our Lord Jesus Christ which he will display at the proper time he who is the blessed and only sovereign the king of kings and Lord of lords who alone has immortality who dwells in unapproachable light whom no one has ever seen or can see to him the honour an eternal Dominion a man will you pray with me our Father the king of kings and Lord of lords the only sovereign we prayed that all glory and honour and eternal Dominion would be yours and even as we walk through this text together I pray that you would sanctify people in this room that you would even justify those who are not under Christ we ask be with us I pray be with me pray that you would anoint me in a spirit in Jesus name Amen so after warning Timothy against false teaching that greed is the end of the Christian walk Paul's going to point Timothy to pursue holiness he's going to point him that we must in our Christian walk pursue holiness so look at verse 11 this is a direct contrast to what's come before he says but as for you so we look at the previous section and we see that Paul is describing the false teachers then we get to this and he says no but as for you you see the life of Timothy is to be intrinsically different than those who are outside the faith those are outside the faith those who are greedy and godless your life Timothy he says must be different but as for you he calls a man of God this is a personal statement but it also shows Timothy to be a spiritual leader he's a man of God just like Elijah was a man of God just like John the Baptist was a man of God he is showing Timothy to be a leader and he has to be different he is to be a man of God not a man of this world this is in contrast to those who have wandered away from the faith in verse 10 so he says but as for you it's got to be different you're a man of God there's something important about you you're a spiritual leader and then he says this he says flee from these things flee flee from greed flee from false teachers flee from ungodliness understand the danger and get away flee like Joseph from Potiphar's white you drop your tunic and you run get away that's what the whole previous section was about but then as in many other circumstances in the New Testament we are not merely told what to run from but Paul shows us that we are actually commanded to run towards something better and we get to the first imperative where he says pursue but as for you o men of God free flee from these things and pursue this word as the meaning of striving it's hard this is something that takes effort as we'll see and we're going to pursue it the same fervor as which we flee we flee from danger and we know that if that catches us we're going to die so we run as fast as we can away from it but then we notice something better there's something better on the horizon and it's not so much about running away from the danger it becomes more about running toward what is glorious this is a present verb this meaning that it's continuous we're not to stop this isn't something you do in Sprint's you sprint you stop you sprint you stop no this is continuous you don't stop you pursue he's saying you continually pursue you don't stop pursuing what are we to pursue well he give us six specific things and each one contributes to our personal holiness as we're to pursue holiness how do we walk our Christian walk what do we do we pursue holiness the first one is pursue righteousness righteousness this is conduct in accordance with God's will this is moral uprightness now in today's age we might come to this and then some might say hope not many but some righteousness how can we know what righteousness is for for one person it might be righteous for another it might be something completely different we don't know everybody's heart how can we know what righteousness is well we know righteousness according to Paul in his next letter to Timothy and second Timothy 3:16 a very well-known passage this is what it says it says all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work so righteousness is not something that is for one person and not for another this isn't a subjective thing there is an object of righteousness and that is found in the word of the Lord it is found in the scriptures you see all Scripture is god-breathed all scripture is the standard for righteousness we emphasize all we're not just going to look at the New Testament at the loved one and other passages and ignore all of the passages in the Old Testament we need to take it as a whole because it is all written and inspired by God and infallible so when Paul says the Timothy and and the Lord says to us this morning pursue righteousness he's saying look at the word and make sure your life lines up with what the Word of God says he goes on says pursue righteousness godliness other word for this could be piety its righteousness put into action it's knowing what the righteous thing is but then godliness is when you do it behavior that belief produces that's what godliness is and just like Paul says but you O man of God it needs to be different when he says pursue godliness what he's saying is your life should emulate the righteousness that you have and if it doesn't it's a problem but it's something to pursue he moves on he says pursue righteousness godliness the next one is faith this is trust in God I love Hebrews 11 's definition of faith where it says Hebrews 11:1 now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen it's the assurance of those that God has promised and even though we don't see it we're taught in the Bible that were to walk by faith not by sight we're commanded to trust God and I love that this is a command we're to pursue it this is one of the things that God is actually telling us we need to work on and continually do faith isn't something that I believe and now I have faith it's something that you work on it's something that you pursue continually trust God actively trust God he goes on these two are always linked faith and then love the word for this is agape it's a covenant to love a love that emulates the love that God has and we are commanded in the scripture to love God and to love others love is a choice it's not a feeling so much when we see the word love nowadays in our society we think of the rom-coms that we've watched well I haven't watched any and we get this this thing thinking that love is a feeling and it's just this as soon as it goes away it's gone and you can't do it anymore but the Bible again and again and again it commands love it's a choice it's what you do it's putting others before yourself I love first Corinthians 13 this is the passage you go to if you want to know what love is it says love is patient and kind it does not envy or boast it is not arrogant or rude it is not insist on its own way it is not irritable or resentful it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth love bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things and we're commanded to this to God and to one another the next one the fifth one after love come steadfastness this is patient endurance usually this word is associated with suffering not always but usually it's patient endurance through suffering the semantic domain or the other things you could translate this word eyes would be fortitude or perseverance or expectation and I think there's a little bit of each one of these in that think of steadfastness of a platoon in the army that just took a hill and now the enemy is coming back and if you are steadfast you you hold that hill you don't run away there's fortitude there there's endurance there you're not moving and that's what he's calling us to steadfast it's patient we're not moving no matter what the last one is gentleness and I do find it interesting that he has steadfastness and right next to it is gentleness or meekness it means that while we are steadfast while we are towing the line and while we are here and we say we will not move we do that in a way that is gentle slow to anger this is a trusting of God knowing that we can't do this in our own strength this is the opposite of jealousy this is the opposite of selfish ambition we're to be gentle but steadfast these aren't opposite you're there and you're say no I'm not moving but you do it in a way that shows you have trust in God and not trust in yourself these are the types of things that we are to pursue these are the things that he is pointing us toward as we flee from one thing we run to another I know the people that live close to water know how dangerous it can be I remember that tsunami in East Asia years ago the pictures and the videos were horrific as people were just fleeing this water is it just flooded in and flooded in you saw people climbing trees and buildings as they were running away and I think what Paul is trying to describe here is that as we look at ungodliness and false teaching we're supposed to see a tidal wave coming toward us that will destroy us and we need to run far as way as we can but as that water is coming it's not just enough to run right what happens if you run toward the water you die what happens if you run toward a valley you're going to die you have to run to somewhere very specific you have to run to the higher ground you have to find that strong tower you can run to that the waves will crash against but it will not crumble and this is what Paul is showing us that if we are to run to a place where we will be safe from destruction it is to running to Jesus Christ who exemplifies these things and it is doing and pursuing as much as we can righteousness and godliness in love and faithfulness and steadfastness and gentleness he's pointing Timothy toward that strong tower and these are things that show the mark of a changed life so as we come to the close of this section and we start asking ourselves questions about our lives the question is this are we fleeing from ungodliness do we understand the danger when you see the thing pop up on the TV or the computer are you turning it off and getting out of the room finding someone when you're with friends and those obscene conversations start happening are we walking away and saying no that's not building anything up or going away when when you're next to someone and they start gossiping and saying did you hear about so-and-so you say no we're commanded not to gossip and you walk the other way we're to flee from ungodliness but like I said more than that we're called to something better and the question becomes how are you and how are our families pursuing each of these things are we doing our best to train our families and righteousness and godliness and faith and love and steadfastness and gentleness and how are you doing it these aren't things that happen through osmosis these are things that you have to pursue these are things you have to teach and pursue are you reading the Bible together are you praying together are you even singing together in hard times who do you point your children to who do you point your spouse to all these things help cultivate a spirit of righteousness and godliness and faith and love it's interesting here that Paul is giving an exhortation to a man of God I found that fascinating and what this shows is that even spiritual leaders need to be encouraged in this in fact you never outgrow the need to pursue these things you never make it your entire life is one of pursuing these things Timothy here is an elder of the church he is commissioned by an apostle he has two books written to him in the Bible that's phenomenal and what does Paul do he says you man of God you need to pursue righteousness and don't stop so we should be praying for our leaders no matter where you are on your walk you need to be pursuing these things no matter where I am on my walk I need to be pursuing these things this isn't something we grow out of this is something I think that as we continually grow in Christ we see the need more and more that we have to keep pursuing because the second we stop we go backwards you see the call of the man of God is to flee false teaching and the godless lifestyle that it brings in to pursue holiness to pursue it like it is the greatest treasure in the world and a place of safety but with Paul's use of the pursue in the strive we get a sense of the next section where we're told to persevere we aren't just waiting we're fighting we fight for faithfulness he goes on and says this fight the good fight of faith it's one of my favorite verses in the Bible it's the command or to fight the good fight of faith when it says fight the good fight it could be an analogy talking about warfare it could be an analogy talking about athletic we're not sure but the metaphor isn't important because they both point to the same thing he's talking about a struggle just like a battle is a struggle just like an athletic event is a struggle it's hard but in the struggle we are called to fight to persevere to not give up that's the call don't give up just like he said pursue continually now he takes it to the next step and he says fight the good fight and again the fight is a continuous verb it's saying you don't stop fighting don't give up but notice it's the good fight it's not useless it's good you're not just fighting anything this isn't a call just to go out and start having fights with people this is a fight for the good fight the good fight of the faith now the question has to be asked as we come to this phrase because if we're to fight the good fight of the faith one of the most important things to understand is what is the faith what are we talking about here people have posited various suggestions but I think in the context of personal holiness that we had in the preceding verse and Paul's Commission of Timothy in this letter when Paul says of the faith what he's talking about is both Timothy's personal concerns and his Christian ministerial concerns meaning this this is his his life his lifestyle and his ministry and I think it's because you can't separate the two you can't separate the personal life of a Christian from his ministerial life because we're all ministers of the church and I think this is a parent in the qualifications of an elder in chapter 3 of first Timothy where you notice very few of the qualifications are actually qualifications about ability they have to be able to teach they have to have their house in order but what are the other ones it's must be above reproach the husband of one wife sober-minded self-controlled respectable hospitable not a drunkard all these things that have nothing to do with how good they are making sure of budget balances or how good they are making sure that we get all the seats filled you want to know what's important it's their personal lifestyle because you can't separate the true it's impossible so the struggle is in being faithful in the way we live our lives and also in the way we follow and serve Christ in each other the fact is that a struggle or a fight means that we need to persevere through it it's not an easy thing like I said the word fight is a continuous one it's one that doesn't end so what we're talking about here is a never-ending continuous struggle it's hard but you know true faith demands a struggle because it will instill in you a desire to fight the good fight of faith Paul's next exhortation gives a motivation for continuing the fight so he comes up here he says you have to fight the good fight of faith you have to live in such a way that will be righteous and godly and all the things that came before and in order to do so he actually gives some motivations to do that he says this next look there in verse 12 says fight the good fight of faith take hold of the eternal life to which you were called so he extends the metaphor you see in the midst of the struggle in the midst of the fight what does he say he says now take hold of the eternal life grasp it this is the same word used when Jesus grasped Peter and pulled him out of the water when he was sinking when Jesus was walking on water its to grasp tightly we're not talking about take hold that like you would a pencil you're like take hold of eternal life like you would a life preserver as you're drowning in the ocean this is part of the struggle as part of the fight is to actually look ahead to the prize because he says take a hold grasp like it's it's everything eternal life take a hold of the eternal life you see when you run erase your eye is on the gold when you when you fight a battle your mind your thoughts are on the objective and here our prize our objective is nothing short of eternal life with Jesus forever it's glorious that's what we're to look to that's one of the reasons why we fight because we know the end and then Paul adds something here he says take hold of the eternal life to which we were called the first question this brings us to is called by who well in our context here we can see that were called to eternal life therefore we're not talking about Timothy being called to ministry this isn't his ordination if he's called to eternal life we're talking about salvation and we know from many many other passages in the New Testament that those who call us to eternal life is God therefore Timothy was called by God so Paul is saying because you were called by God because he called you to eternal life therefore take all of it live your life in such a way that it lines up with one who was called to eternal life and fight the good fight of faith it's the basis of our struggle the basis of the struggle that Paul is calling Timothy to is the fact that he is called in fact the reality of the call is shown by the struggle by fighting the fight by taking hold we know were called by the continuous struggle Paul goes on and he actually gives the historic response to Timothy's call he's called and then it says right after that to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses so what's the good confession here well again there are two options it's always good to ask these questions don't just skim over these things the first would be that Timothy's confession was his first confession through baptism when he was saved his public confession of faith there the second is when he was ordained and the elders laid hands on him and he made the public confession there but I think in the context where we find ourselves we can see that we're actually talking about Timothy's call and destiny of eternal life therefore what's being discussed here should line up with that and we're talking about when he was saved and baptized so when we look and we say fight the good fight of faith why fight the good fight of faith why endure well it's because you've made this confession in front of many witnesses it's interesting that what followed his calling in salvation is his public confession it happened he got saved he was called and then he had his public confession with many witnesses this is a call to be baptized this is the paradigm of scripture that you're called and you're saved and then the first step of obedience is baptism the first step and we see that here because he says take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses you were called and you were baptized so if you're here and you've never been baptized then the call to you now is to get baptized if you call yourself a Christian if you believe yourself to be born again and you've ever actually taken that step of obedience to stand in front of a group of people and publicly proclaim that Jesus as your Lord then you're living in disobedience because we are told to do this and I know for many of you it might very nerve-racking to stand up in front of a group of people and speak but we're told here that this wasn't done in private the good confession happened in the presence of many witnesses and as we'll see later Christ made a good confession - and that confession led to the cross and as we've said before it's the least we can do to actually stand up in public and proclaim that Jesus is Lord of our life be baptized our next one is Easter we would love to see you baptized there if you have not Paul then gives Timothy a charge and this charge links to his fight for faithful he says I charge you but before he gets to the command to add solemnity to the charge he needs two persons of the Godhead he says I charge you and then in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus who in his in the testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession he names two witnesses God the creator and sustainer of life he is our Creator the Bible says that in Christ all things hold together he is the sustainer but he's also the one who we just found out called us to a new life and when it says God who gives life to all things I think there's a sense of all of that within this yes he created us and yes he sustains us but he also calls us to new life in him but then it says of Christ Jesus in the presence of Christ Jesus who in the testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession so we've talked about Timothy's good confession in front of many people and now he goes to Christ good confession most people think that this is Jesus declaring himself king in front of Pilate Matthew 27 11 says this just listen and Pilate asked him are you the King of the Jews and he answered him you have said so in other words yes that's what you said it's me you see God gave you life in Christ endured and he made his good confession even though it led to his death therefore this is what Paul is saying he's saying fight the good fight of faith why do you do that you were called to eternal life you made a confession and Christ made a confession - and he took it all the way to the grave therefore don't stop keep going and dear so he goes on he says I charge you and here's the command to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach to keep the commandment and again we have a phrase that you can't just skip over you're reading this in your home and you get to a passage like this and you're just reading and you're like to keep the commandment uh-huh and you have no idea what the commandment is how are you going to keep it so a great question to ask when you come to a passage like this as you stop and you say well what's the commandment and you take context here and you see that Paul is telling Timothy to pursue holiness and to endure and to fight and I think what we're talking about here again is his life in ministry this is the Christian rule of life he's to keep it unstained and above reproach he is to live a life on the same and above reproach unstained this is the language of sacrifice you to make your life a sacrifice like Romans 12:1 to 2 says live in such a way that it will be pleasing to God free from reproach this is one of the primary qualifications of an elder both in his life and his doctrine make it so that no one is gonna look and say how can that person be a Christian that's his charge and he actually gives the timeframe for how long were to keep this commandment and because I hearted as I'm sure that some are are waiting and saying well how long does this have to go well he says it I charge you to keep the commandment unstained and free from approach and tell the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ so the obligation is to keep the commandment until Christ returns you see it's something that we don't stop doing when we fight the good fight and when we take hold even when we pursue righteousness and godliness and faith and love we are to do it as we wait for the appearing of Jesus and what that means is we're to do it through the entire Christian era so that this command is for all Christians not just for Timothy we're to fight the fight and then just to show who's in control he adds this at the end which he will display at the proper time it shows who's in control it's not up to us when Christ comes back it's not us to say I'm tired I want it to be done no God says I'm in control I will display it at the proper time it's in God's time that Christ will come back whether it's tomorrow or a hundred thousand years from now therefore if he's called us and we are commanded to keep his commands and God is in charge of all the timing then he'll give us the strength to persevere you see most things that are worth doing are hard most things that are worth doing are a struggle and when I was preparing this this week I was thinking of the building project over there at the new place there in LOB singer and maybe this isn't necessarily enduring through suffering and at least I hope it's not but there are guys there week in and week out that are working hard and plugging away and really you could say fighting the fight of getting it done you see they see all the work that needs to be done in order to get us move there and they don't stop even though if you get hard and I'm sure some of them sometimes get up on a Saturday morning and it's just a man it would be so nice to sleep in but week after week weekend after weekend they're there and they're working and I cannot express how thankful I am thank you to all of you who have been involved it has been amazing but you see one of the things they're doing I think is that they're looking ahead just like we're told to - what's ahead so for instance they see that when this is done we'll all be worshipping there together there'll be a suitable place for our kids to be able to worship in our kids program there'll be a safe place for our kids to worship in our kids program we'll be there and and you want to know something we are going to plant churches all the way up the corridor the Tobermory it's going to be amazing and they see that and they're fired up forward and so they keep fighting the good fight and they see that the school's launching and that could impact kids for generations to come and they see that and they come and they work late nights and they work early mornings and they're there and it's and it's awesome why because they look to the prize just like we're told - we're told to look to our eternal life we to see that in we're told to take hold of the eternal life and to fight the good fight knowing that the end is worth it so as a point of application we should expect our Christian lives to be a struggle really it's not meant to be a breeze it's none and if our Christian life is a walk through the park we have to ask why is it a walk through the park and when it becomes hard it shouldn't shock us we're told to fight the good fight to struggle to pursue so when life does get hard don't give up don't give up fight that good fight be steadfast pursue righteousness pursue holiness we're also told to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach we are to endure and fight for our holiness so we must continue to do that and it's a fight it's a dogfight but don't give up don't give up if you fall down don't give up get back up and we look at this and we think men to pursue holiness to fight for faithfulness these things are hard they're hard but the final motivation that Paul gives to Timothy is also the power to which we accomplish all that came before you see after telling Timothy to pursue holiness in a fight for faithfulness Paul as he is prone to do actually just goes into doxology he goes into worship he gives glory to God and it's here that we see the power that we have in order to fulfill these commands and that power comes from God himself so look at verse 15 he who is the blessed and only sovereign God is blessed he's perfectly happy in himself but he's also the giver of perfect happiness living within the Lord so funny when people come and they say that God created us humans because he was lonely but he wasn't because he who is blessed he's perfectly happy within the Godhead he had everything he needed through his sovereign decree that he created us for his glory but he is also the giver of perfect happiness the giver of being in the state where we are under the lordship of Christ so we must run to him said he who was blessed in the only sovereign he alone who is in control of the universe you see sovereign is only used of God in the New Testament and it's interesting because at that time that word would have been used for the emperor of Rome and this is in direct contrast to Caesar the entire Roman world would be declaring Caesar as sovereign but here Paul is and here we are declaring our Lord and Savior Jesus as the only sovereign this can be true for any absolute ruler in our time is our government sovereign no God is is the academic community sovereign no God is is everyone who's telling us what to do and how evil we are sovereign no because God is sovereign and he has told us what accounts for morality and he is sovereign meaning he is powerful he has all power goes on to say the king of kings and the Lord of lords he who was blessed and only sovereign the king of kings and Lord of lords again this goes toward Authority he's the highest power he's the king of all Kings again this is this is a direct shot this is a shot across the bow at the Emperor if that King of Kings was the exact title that was given to the the Persian Emperor's back in the time of the exile they were all called the King of Kings but they were not the true king of kings no because the king of K the Lord of lords is our Lord the Lord Yahweh there is no higher authority this is only used a few other times in Revelation the king of kings and Lord of lords but again it goes toward Authority he's the only sovereign he's the king of kings and Lord of lords there's no one more powerful no one says who alone has immortality this is unique to God in terms of no beginning and no end he alone has immortality it goes on who dwells in unapproachable light what a great line this echoes Exodus 24 17 when God was on top of the mountain and the glory of the Lord was like a devouring flower fire there you see light is a characteristic of his existence that is his goodness and righteousness and truth darkness cannot be near him and he cannot be approached by someone who is in the who is not in the light and if you're not in the light you can't approach our Lord he will consume you it goes on and says whom no one has seen or can see you see sinful mankind cannot see God and live when sinful mankind comes before God we will not see a God who welcomes us we will see a God who is wrath because of our sin and that's what we deserve it says in first John 4:12 that no one has seen God and of course this is linked to the unapproachable light and then at the very end Paul concludes by saying to him the honor an eternal Dominion he gives respect to God and then he gives all honor and praise to God and then he bestows on him eternal Dominion again in the theme of his power and authority it's never ending he has it now and always will have Dominion and here's the point when Paul goes into this doxology it's right after telling Timothy to persevere in his holiness and in all these things those six things we listed and to fight for faithfulness and he has now shown the struggle and how hard is going to be but immediately after what he does is paint this glorious picture of our Lord and he's saying this is the power that we have to do this if we've been called to eternal light if we've been truly fighting the good fight if we pursue him then the king of kings and the Lord of lords will give us the power and the ability and the motivation to carry on as a point of application you can't fulfill these two commands under your own power you cannot pursue holiness and you cannot fight for faithfulness if you do so on your own it's impossible you need the life-giving power of Christ to empower you to fight the good fight without him you're sunk but with him you can't be stopped so pray to Him rest in him fight the good fight in his power and he will give you the strength to carry on it's never oh this is so hard but I can do this I can do this and if that becomes the language in your head it has to stop it has to go to know Christ can do this Christ is in me and Christ can do this he is who gives you the power to pursue holiness he is who gives you the power to fight and to not stop and without him you can't and it doesn't say here that who dwells in unapproachable light whom no one has ever seen or can see you see God cannot be seen by sinful humanity if you're here today and you've never called upon the name of the Lord and you are not born again and you've not put your faith in Jesus then like I said when you come face-to-face with God you will be approaching unapproachable light you will see his wrath he will send you to hell where you will only experience his wrath for all eternity but God loves you and so we made a way for you that if you turn to Christ through whom we have seen the father the Bible says you will be blessed if you put your faith in Jesus then you will gain immortality even though God alone has immortality and you will be able to dwell in unapproachable light because you have been clothed in Christ's righteousness the only way to approach God is in the righteousness of Christ you put your faith in him then your sinful ragged self will be clothed in Christ's righteousness who was perfect and when you approach God he it's not his wrath that you see because his wrath was poured out on Jesus at the cross he'll look at you and he'll say welcome my child and then you were called to eternal life and you'll be with him forever and if you are not there if you have not put your faith in Christ then I implore you you are on a path bound to help but if you put your faith in Jesus you will be with him forever and it will be glorious put your faith in Jesus and finally our struggle here should lead to praise I find it interesting that right in the middle of Paul saying fight the good fight fight the good fight it's gonna be a struggle he just breaks out into song essentially and I think our struggles can lead to praise just like our good times can lead to praise and I think it's appropriate to praise God in all situations if we are truly his you see Paul's exhortation ZAR heavy we are not to stop fighting were to pursue holiness at all cost but we're not to do it alone he gives us a picture of this great God that will give us strength and power in life to keep fighting we're told to flee but more than that we're told to run toward something to pursue holiness it won't be easy it's a fight we are to fight the good fight faith this is the mark of a true Christian one who will run after holiness while understanding the struggle and enduring to the end when either we see Christ face-to-face or Christ returns but we are not alone we have power that has given us when we are born again the Holy Spirit will indwelling us and we are given the power to forsake sin and pursue righteousness and we are given the power to not only fight the good fight but to win the good fight you see we are no longer slaves to sin but we are slaves to Christ a slave to sin has to follow its master but if we're truly slaves to Christ if we've truly been born again then we are given the power and authority to live a looot new life and those who are slaves to Christ will follow their master so pursue holiness and endure to the end and in order to do this we have to look to Jesus he gives us strength and through him we fight and through him alone we will be able to keep the commandment until the end [Music]

Channel: Trinity Bible Chapel

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Id: Q88scyuL5oo

Length: 45min 50sec (2750 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 09 2020