Sunday’s Sermons

Text: 1^st Timothy 6:11-16                                               6/22/08 p.m.

Thesis: The godly man lives life with a biblical and big view of God

 

Intro: You may have left last Sunday thinking a number of things. One of them being, was he really crying?

The answer is yes I did and the reason is I love you and I want God’s best for you.  When I begin to think you are missing Christ and trading Him for something shallow like money I get worked up. It makes me sad for you and angry for the glory of God.

The second and more important thing is some of you may have gone home realizing that greed has its deadly fingers wrapped around your neck but you still feel trapped.

You realized the foolishness and emptiness of more money but you didn’t confess your sin, your wife and kids were waiting on you to say something but you never did, you didn’t put the boat up for sale, and you skipped Sunday School this morning.

What are we going to do with you? What we’re going to do is give you a big dose of the gospel.

The gospel is the power of God unto salvation.  The truth of Jesus will change you and with the hope of the gospel you will cut the ugly head off of greed.

I want you to be a godly man whose biblical and big view of God causes you to live a faithful life.

 

Read 1^st Timothy 6:6-16

 

I) Being a man of God requires a big view of God

We’re going to start in verse 16 this morning and work backwards

The word, “Amen” in verse 16 is a testimony to the truthfulness of all that is being said as well as a call for others to join in affirming what is said.

 

a)      To the big and biblical God belong honor and eternal dominion

i)        To honor someone is to give that person the respect they deserve. It’s to put your self in the proper place in relation to them.

ii)      To honor God is to realize He is the greatest and most glorious being that has been or ever will be.

iii)    That is displayed in the fact that he has eternal dominion.  There is no power greater than God.

iv)    Before the universe was created God exercised perfect control over all things. When the universe was created God did not give up perfect control of all things.

v)      When sin entered the universe through the rebellion of Satan and the fall of Adam and Eve God did not give up perfect control of all things.

vi)    As the world seems to spin out of control with wars, pain, and crazy elections God does not give up His perfect control of all things.

vii)  If you refuse to honor God and if you will not accept the fact of God’s eternal dominion that changes nothing about God and it hurts only you.

viii)            If you do not honor God it robs him of nothing. If you deny God’s eternal dominion it doesn’t weaken him a bit. Why is that?

b)      We are dependent on Him and separated from Him

i)        God alone has immortality and He dwells in unapproachable light.

ii)      God is the only who doesn’t die. We are utterly dependent on Him.

iii)    If you never existed, if I never existed, if all of humanity never was created God would still be honored and in complete control lacking nothing.

iv)    But if God never existed we would never exist. The sinner and the saint are both completely dependent upon God for this life and for life after death.

v)      Hell is eternal and heaven is eternal because God has decided they will be that way.

vi)    And it is our sin that keeps us from God.

vii)  The reason the light of the presence of God makes him unapproachable and the reason no one has ever seen him or can see him is because he’s perfectly holy and we’re perfectly sinful.

c)      This fact does not change God’s joy one bit

i)        The middle of verse 15 states, “he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.”

ii)      Is your view of God big and biblical enough to understand that God could have left us in our sin and sent every person rightfully to hell and that wouldn’t make Him one bit unhappy?

iii)    God, in and of the perfect Trinity, is blessed. He’s joyful. He’s happy. He lacks for nothing.

iv)    And he cannot be swayed. He’s the only Sovereign.

v)      He has no competitors. He’s the only potentate that word means ruler. God is the only ruler.

vi)    There are kings there is no doubt about that. There have been those who ruled over lands and people.

vii)  But God is the King of kings. They rule and live only because God says they can. When they’re time is up they are killed or disposed.

viii)            And there are lords. There are those who have authority over other people. There are parents and bosses and pastors and husbands.

ix)    But God is the Lord of lords. We have authority only because God gives it and he can take it away when he desires.

x)      The only Sovereign King of kings and Lord of lords is blessed and we are separated from him.

d)     So a big view of God also means you understand that it is God who brings about perfection in His time.

i)        Verse 15 tells us that God will display Jesus Christ at the proper time.

ii)      The end of time will come when God says its time.

iii)    The new heaven and the new earth will be instituted when God says so.

iv)    The appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ is the return of Jesus Christ to bring about the perfect realization of the power of God.

v)      The unrepentant that did not trust their lives to Christ will be thrown into hell by the angels of God.

vi)    The repentant that trusted their lives to Christ will be given perfection. Sinless, painless, Christ-centered, God approaching perfection.

vii)  Our Lord Jesus Christ is a phrase that is on the lips only of the redeemed. Only Christians know Him as Lord Jesus Christ.

viii)            He is our gracious ruler. He is our perfect savior. He is the anointed one sent by God to bring us to God.

ix)    He has overcome our sin. He has overcome our shame. He has overcome our doubts and our fears. He is our Lord Jesus Christ.

x)      All of time since the beginning of time has been moving toward the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

xi)    Do you want Jesus to come back? Hebrews 9:28 says,

“so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”

xii)  If you don’t want God you’re not a Christian.

xiii)            If you don’t want Jesus to come back and make you and everything right then you should not expect Jesus to save you.

xiv)            It is only those who have a big and biblical view of God the Father and Jesus Christ who are able to deal the deathblow to sin and greed.

xv)  With that foundation lets get into the commands

II) The man of God understands that Christianity it about commands

a)      Verse 14, keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ

i)        Keep the commandment. Don’t just listen to the commandment. Don’t just understand the commandment. Keep the commandment.

ii)      God demands that we obey him. This is included in the Great Commission.

iii)    Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.

iv)    A Christian is a person who desires to learn and obey all that Jesus has commanded.

v)      A Christian does this because as a sinner he has seen amazing forgiving grace poured out freely for sins.

vi)    This Jesus is amazing. This Jesus has given me all I need. He has given me godliness.

vii)  I will be content with the things of the world and I will be passionate for the things of God.

viii)            So you are told, I am told, and Timothy is told to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach.

ix)    But that is so hard. What do we do? Think of Jesus

b)      To be godly you must see your life through God’s perspective

i)        Read verse 13

ii)      It is God who gives life. Terrorists don’t end lives without God’s permission.

iii)    Babies are not born without God’s permission.

iv)    The saints are not skinned alive, tortured, and martyred without God’s permission.

v)      Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell (Mt 10.28).

vi)    Jesus understood this so when he was on trial for his life before Pontius Pilate he made the good confession.

vii)  Jesus stood firm in his faith when faced with his own death because Jesus had a big and biblical view of God.

viii)            Timothy must keep the commandment unstained like Jesus. You and I must keep the commandment unstained like Jesus.

ix)    How do we do that?

c)      Verse 12 gives us the starting point as well as our mode of operation as Christians (read verse 12).

i)        The starting point of every Christian is answering God’s call unto salvation.

ii)      God calls us to eternal life. God calls us to be restored to 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.

iii)    God calls us to Himself by way of faith in Jesus Christ.

iv)    Jesus said in John 10:44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”

v)      Salvation does not start when we call out to God. Salvation starts when God calls us to Christ.

vi)    In response to God’s calling we do two things. We take hold of eternal life and we fight the good fight.

vii)  Taking hold of eternal life is faith. !Jesus is for me! Jesus has forgiven me. Jesus has restored me.

viii)            Salvation is realized when grace is poured out on us through faith.  Faith is the pipe that connects us to the water source of grace.

ix)    If you feel yourself in need of salvation. If you desire to be with God but know your sin separates you from Him take hold of eternal life.

x)      Exercise the faith God has given you. It is faith that owns up to sin and it is faith that trusts in Jesus.

xi)    Take hold of eternal life and make the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

xii)  This “good confession” is the confession of faith, or as Baptists call it, “the profession of faith.”

xiii)            Stand up in the congregation and testify to the fact that once you were blind unable to see God but now because of Jesus you see his glory.

xiv)            Tell the church and the world that once you were deaf unresponsive to the word of God but now because of Jesus you rejoice to hear God’s truth.

xv)  Once you were dead and unresponsive to the things of God but now because of Jesus you have been given new life.

xvi)            Make the good confession. If you are unable or unwilling to testify to the grace of God poured out on you through Jesus then you may not be a Christian.

xvii)          The starting point of salvation is God’s calling and our confession. Our mode of operation is to fight the good fight of faith.

xviii)        Let me tell you what every boy and every boy at heart wants to hear, “It’s good to fight.”

xix)            As Christians we were made to fight. But it’s not any ole fight with anybody who talks about our mamas.

xx)  We were made to fight the good fight of faith.

xxi)            Even as Christians our sin and doubts cloud our eyes and we must fight to see God in our situation.

xxii)          As Christians our ears get filled with lies. We must fight the good fight of faith. We must fight to believe what is true and reject what is wrong.

xxiii)        So let me put it this way, if you do not think Jesus is worth fighting for you are not a Christian.

xxiv)        And we’re not fighting against people. We are fighting against our own flesh and the devil.

xxv)          Both of these war against us and pull us away from contentment with godliness and into a desire to be rich.

xxvi)        The flesh and the devil will tell you Jesus won’t do it. He’ll let you down. He’ll let you down in this life and he’ll let you down in the next.

xxvii)      He doesn’t want you. Jesus will turn you away.

xxviii)    How do we respond to that? Fight the good fight of faith. Great Pastor, how do we do that?

III) Be a godly man

Read verse 11

a)      Flee from sin and pursue the things of God

i)        Being a Christian is not being free from all sin, safe from all struggles, and following Jesus with a smile and no doubts.

ii)      Being a Christian is turning your back on sin, running from it, and by faith taking hold of Christ.

iii)    What does it look like to practically, day in and day out take hold of Christ?

iv)    Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness.

v)      Being a Christian is realizing we don’t live the righteous life we should. We don’t walk in godliness like we should.

vi)    We don’t exercise faith like we should, love like we should, persevere like we should, or treat people with grace like we should.

vii)  Being a Christian is realizing things need to change and through the gospel of Jesus Christ, the power of God, we’ll seek change.

viii)            Being a Christian is not being at a bachelor party. Being a Christian is being on the practice field of life smashing heads with the enemy, dripping sweat from working hard, and always hoping and looking for the return of Christ.

ix)    Jesus is worth it and I will live like a godly man. Men let’s be this. Women pray for this. And this church will be blessed.