 Our sermon title this morning is Conduct Worthy of King and Cause. Conduct Worthy of King and Cause, and we're in part three of this series. Walking through this paragraph in 1 Timothy chapter 3 verses 14 to 16 here. And we have been looking at Paul's exhortation to those Christians in Ephesus to conduct themselves rightly. Rightly in response to Paul's correction and instruction that he's given here in this letter to Timothy. They are to conduct themselves rightly because they are members of the house of God. Because they are part and parcel of the church of the living God. And today we'll look at because the function of the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. Here in 1 Timothy chapter 3 in verse 14 the Bible says these things I write to you. Though I hope to come to you shortly, but if I am delayed I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God. Which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world and received up in glory. Paul had hoped to come to them. Paul knew he needed to come to them. The church was in trouble. They were in great difficulty. However in his absence he needed to felt the urgency, the necessity to exhort them to write conduct. That's not unusual. We see that exhortation throughout Scripture. We are exhorted to obey the Lord. We're exhorted to be testimonies of him. We bear his name. We bear his image. We are to obey the Lord. We are to conduct ourselves rightly. And we're to conduct ourselves rightly because of who we are, whose we are and where we are, who we're a part of. We're a part of the body of Christ, the house of God, the church of the living God. Last week we began looking for reasons here in verses 14 and 15 primarily to respond to Paul's correction here with right conduct, to respond rightly. And Paul gives several very important reasons for why we're to respond correctly and why we're to respond with right conduct. And that we looked at specifically in verse 15. We'll continue that today with the phrase in verse 15, the church as the pillar and ground of the truth. There are reasons for this throughout Scripture. Let me give you some examples. In 1 Peter 1, verse 14 to 16, Peter says that we, as obedient children, not conforming yourselves ourselves to the former lusts as in our ignorance, but as he who called us is holy, we are also to be holy in our conduct because it is written, be holy, God says, for I am holy. We're to have our conduct holy because he is holy. We represent God. In 1 Peter 2, verse 12, Peter says, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. And here from the pen of Peter, you can see the importance of your conduct as it relates to your testimony to the lost. In 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 10, Paul says this, you are witnesses, and God also, how devotely and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe. As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom in glory. It is all about walking worthy of God. And if you're a genuine disciple of Christ, you're indwelt by the Spirit, then the desire of your heart is to walk worthy before God. He saved you, didn't he? He drug you out of the mirey clay of your own sin to set you apart to himself, his own special people. Kind of a grateful heart and a thankfulness to Christ. That should be great motivation to obey him. But you hear, we're to walk worthy of God who called us into his own kingdom in glory. In Colossians 1, verse 10, Paul writes again that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. This is so important. It is throughout Scripture. It's so important that your conduct be worthy of God, that your conduct be worthy of a good testimony to those lost people in the world who need a savior. How readily are they going to be to believe your life, to believe your testimony, to believe that which you preach if your life is a wreck? If your life is a poor testimony of Christ, poor testimony of the power of the gospel to change a life. It's so important, in fact, that Paul in 2 Thessalonians 3 says that we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly. And not according to the tradition which he received from us. There are those among us that walk disorderly, that don't walk in a way that their testimony is a proper testimony of God, a proper testimony of Christ, a proper testimony of the truth that we're to withdraw from them. This witness, this testimony, this conduct is important. And the Lord says over and over and over and over again how important it is. Let me give you another example. Turn with me to Philippians. Philippians chapter 1, it's important. And this exhortation is all over the place in Scripture. And here in Philippians chapter 1, we see it again beginning in verse 27. Here in Philippians chapter 1 verse 27 where the Bible says, Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Now this is very similar. If you're looking at this passage here in verse 27, already some striking similarities between this verse and what we're studying in 1 Timothy chapter 3. In 1 Timothy chapter 3, Paul also said, I hope to come to you. I plan on coming to you. But if I am delayed, this exhortation, this command will serve in my absence to exhort you to write conduct. Here it's I'm hoping to come to you and whether I come to you, he says in verse 27, and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs and hear of your right conduct. The point here in Philippians chapter 1 verse 27 is the same point being made in 1 Timothy chapter 3. The point here is right conduct. The way that you behave yourself as a Christian, the way that we are to live, the way that we represent Christ, and this is a critical point in Scripture, isn't it? Do you see that? What is important here is how they behave, how they conduct themselves, the character that they display. It is to be character, it is to be behavior, conduct that is worthy of our King and worthy of His cause. We are to be worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're to walk worthy of the calling with which He called us. It's all the worthiness of here, the gospel, worthiness of Jesus Christ. And He says, whether I'm here or not, be careful, be watchful, be careful to conduct yourselves rightly in a manner that is worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In verse 27, He begins that paragraph there with the word only. Paul, in exhorting this church in Philippi, boils down all of his exhortation to them in this one statement, conduct yourself worthy of the gospel of Christ. It gets summarized in that way, right conduct. This is it. This is a summary of what your Christian life should visibly and observably exemplify. Your behavior is to always be worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Worthy of the King and worthy of His cause. Worthy of that that you say that you believe. Worthy of that which you should always be preaching. You say you believe it and you should be telling others about it. That which you believe and that which you preach, your life must exemplify. It's why your conduct is so important. And here in Philippians chapter 1, moving into Philippians chapter 2, there's a very important purpose statement that will make this point. Here in chapter 2 now in Philippians, He gives instruction in verses 1 through 4 there for what that right conduct looks like. He gives some practical instruction. In chapter 2 beginning in verse 5, He gives us the example of Christ. Christ was worthy in all His conduct in Revelation. It says who is worthy to open the scroll and John cries because no one is worthy. Christ Jesus our Lord is worthy. He was worthy to open the scroll. His life exemplified worthiness, exemplified righteousness. He was obedient even to the point of death on the cross. So Christ becomes our perfect example. We're to be marking our lives after His. We are to walk just as He walked. Christ exemplifies this worthiness. But then in chapter 2 beginning in verse 14, there's more practical instruction for working out this statement. And then this statement that began in verse 27 with the phrase, only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, finds its purpose, finds its eventual understanding in this statement in chapter 2 verse 15. Here, look at this statement. It says that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. We're to be lights in the midst of this wicked and perverse and despicable and disgusting generation. That's the purpose here given in verse 27 chapter 1 that our conduct is to be worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's to be worthy of God. It is to be worthy of this walk that holds a Christian up. The power of God displayed in the gospel in living terms of the life of a Christian so that you may be blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you are to shine as lights in the world. You're to be a light. You're to be a lighthouse. You're to be a witness for Christ. You're not to behave of this world as a child of God, as a child of the kingdom. You are a member of the house of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Interesting enough here in Philippi that this letter was not written under the same circumstances or in the same context as our letter was written to Ephesus. In Ephesus the church is in trouble and they're having difficulty. False teachers have infiltrated. False teaching has infiltrated. There are those who have forsaken the gospel and forsaken right conduct. Here in Philippi this is a letter of love. This is a letter of gratefulness. He loved those in Ephesus. He loves those in Philippi but here it's thankful to the Philippians. It's a joyful letter. It's encouraging. So under these circumstances and those in Ephesus, Paul writes this same exhortation, this same command. The reason he did that in Philippi is because as Paul knows we know also how quickly things can decline even in the strongest of churches. Think about your own Christian life. The hymn says that we are prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. If you are so prone to wander and you admit that and you sense that reality, you know how quickly your spiritual life, your walk with Christ, can decline into real danger. How fast, even a strong biblical, faithful, obedient church, if they're not vigilant, if they're not disciplined, if they're not earnest, if they're not fervent, if they're not zealous, how quickly even a strong biblical church can decline into real danger. And Paul wasn't there. He was absent from them. So he wrote this with great love but great concern. And he's writing the same thing in 1 Timothy chapter 3. It begs the point here that whether a church is strong or whether a church is having some difficulty, whether they're running well and running good or whether they're in trouble, the same exhortation holds true. The same exhortation must be preached in both contexts. For you as a Christian, you may be running strong. Take heed lest you fall. You may think that you've got this thing figured out and you've got no trouble. Or whether you're a Christian and you're in real danger and you have started departing from the living God, the same exhortation holds true. Conduct yourself rightly. Take heed to yourself and to your doctrine and obey the Lord. And you can find yourself in real trouble. You must stay vigilant. And here that's why the exhortation is so prevalent in Scripture. Stay vigilant to write conduct. The main point here with respect to what Paul preached in Philippians chapter 1 and 2 and what we see in 1 Timothy is that hypocrisy kills the message and mission of the church. Hypocrisy kills the message and mission of the church. Your life must be consistent with who you represent and what you say you believe and what you preach. Your life must be consistent. The church, the church of the living God, cannot live beneath its theology and mission. The church has to live up to its theology and its mission. We cannot live beneath what we believe and what we preach. It requires the highest standards of conduct. The highest standards of conduct in life and in doctrine. The professing church today is in shambles because it has compromised that standard. It is in shambles today because it's compromised that conduct. It is mocked and ridiculed because it is not the pillar and ground of the truth. It is the pillar and ground of charlatans and hypocrites. And it is right to be mocked. We're to be the pillar and ground of the truth. And Satan, the enemy of the church, the prince and power of this air, the ruler of this world, has attempted to swamp the true message, the true church, the true people of God, has attempted to swamp that message in a sea of sin and error. Such that the world by and large asks the question today, well tell me what this Christianity thing is all about. And you answer and say, it is salvation from sin. Salvation from the penalty of death through the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ. And they answer and say, what are you talking about? We see pastors falling all over the place into immorality. We see professing Christians divorcing their wives, professing Christians complaining and grumbling and whining just like the rest of the world. We see professing Christians cheat and lie and steal and gripe and argue and whine and complain and covet and lust just like the rest of the world. They're just as angry as everybody else. They break the same traffic laws. They're just as lazy. They act just as uncaring, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful, just like the rest of the world. The kids in their homes are just as wicked as the rest of the homes. Their home lives look just like the home lives of those in the rest of the world. They're just as much a wreck as everybody else. Just like the rest of the world. They need to drink every now and then to get themselves by. Just like everybody else. Listen, the world is not stupid. They spot hypocrisy. They smell hypocrisy a mile away. Don't you? They look at the church and they observe that it's full of hypocrites. It's full of hypocrites. According to Paul in Philippians chapter 1 and Philippians chapter 2 and here in 1st Timothy chapter 3, we're to know how we are to conduct ourselves in the house of God, the church of the living God, because it is the pillar and ground of the truth. And this statement from 1st Timothy in verse 15 encapsulates yet another reason why we are to conduct ourselves rightly. We looked at first the reasons for a right response to the correction. Then we looked at what those reasons were from verse 15, that we are members of the house of God. We are God's people. We are members of the church of the living God. And now he gives us other very valuable reasons. This is because the church is the pillar, is to be the pillar and ground of the truth. And we looked at the identity and nature of the church. Here this speaks more to its function, more to the church's function. With so many today that want to play church. I don't know what they're doing. When people come to church, if it's that they want to placate or sue the guilty conscience, and so they go through the motions of playing church, playing this Christian life so that they can somehow appease themselves, that it's going to work out in the end, they'll be okay and make it into heaven. Or if they're just because of their upbringing, because of the force of habit, or whatever it is. But this playing church today, it's not to be the people of God. The people of God are to embody, to be a living embodiment of the truth of God. We are to fervently live the truth, to fervently proclaim the truth. As that organization of Christ redeemed that were birthed by the truth. The truth gave birth to the church where to act like it. He gives us great reasons for this. These reasons are contained within our understanding of the identity, the nature, and now the function of the church as the pillar and ground of the truth. Verse 15, back in 1 Timothy chapter 3, says this, But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Here he begins with this word pillar. Pillar is stulos in the Greek. It means literally a support column, something that supports a building. It's a pillar, okay? Again, here Paul is employing the use of a metaphor. A pillar is designed to hold up the roof, to hold something up. We'll see the importance of that in a minute. There's no definite article for you, Greek guys. There's no definite article in the Greek. It's not the pillar, it's just pillar, a pillar. It means that the Lord has more arrows in his quiver, if you will, to ensure that the truth of God is maintained. God himself is truth. Therefore the truth is just as eternal, just as indestructible, just as incorruptible, just as immutable and unchangeable as God himself, because God is truth. So it's not dependent upon the truth of the church to support it. The Lord has many arrows in his quiver. It is a pillar and ground of the truth. This is opposed to Catholic theology, which believes that the church is the beginning and ending of all truth. They are the author and finisher of truth. Truth doesn't exist apart from the church. That's not what the Bible teaches. The truth of God is reflected in God himself. This is contrasted. Pillar and ground of the definite article now, the truth. The church is a pillar, a pillar and ground of the truth. This is the truth of God. This is that, which was once for all delivered to the saints, the truth of God. But then he uses another word. That's pillar. He uses the word ground, edryoma in the Greek. It means basis or support. Some translators have infused a meaning here, meaning buttress or bulwark, adding a protective sense to this. It means basis or support. Some of your translations may say ground or foundation. A bulwark is a defensive wall or structure. There's a protective element stated there. But the only way that we can likely draw some understanding from this word, from these two words, pillar and ground, or pillar and foundation, pillar and basis, is from their context here in Ephesus. You remember Paul uses frequently, doesn't he, metaphors to describe a spiritual truth. When Paul was chained to a Roman guard, he used the example of the Roman guard's armor to communicate spiritual truth right in Ephesians 6 with respect to taking up the whole armor of God. He also used when he was in Athens, preaching on the Areopagus, when he was speaking to those about using their altar to an unknown God in order to present the one true and living God to preach the gospel to them. So he uses examples, uses metaphors, and here I believe he's using another one with pillar and ground of the truth. In the first century, if you had come to Ephesus, you likely would have come, as many did, by boat. At that time it was a trade route, and there were many that came by boat. As you docked your boat in the Bay of Ephesus, and you were looking at Ephesus from the bay, you would have seen directly in front of you, directly in front of the bay, a long road that led to this great theater. If you remember from Acts, this is the theater where the riots broke out, alright? But it's a great theater, a huge theater down a long road, and a theater built into the hillside. This was a massive structure. It seated 25,000 or more, and it was, many times it was used for plays, obviously dramas, the Greeks loved those, but also it was the site of gladiator fights. They found a gladiator graveyard near the theater. This was a theater, a place where a lot of people hung out. However, if you were coming into the bay by boat, you saw that theater directly in front of you. If you looked over into a flat marshy area to the right, you would have seen in Ephesus at this time one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. And that ancient wonder of the world was this massive, monstrous temple to Artemis. This temple to Artemis was huge. There was a man who put together those seven wonders of the world. His name was Antipater of Sidon. Antipater of Sidon wrote this list of the seven wonders of the world. Here's what he said. He had seen the other wonders. He had been in front of the great pyramid at Giza, and had seen that pyramid. And listen to what he said. But when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy. And I said, Lo, apart from Olympus, this was a Greek pagan, right? Apart from Olympus, the sun never looked on anything so grand. All other wonders were put in the shade. This was a site to behold, this temple at Artemis. As you walked up to the temple, you would have first walked up many steps onto a foundation that had to be built up off the ground because the land was marshy. Had they built it on the ground, it would have collapsed. They built up the foundation, and this foundation was a massive slab, more than 100,000 square feet slab that the temple was built on. This temple over the centuries had been torn down, had been burnt down, and rebuilt many times. Each time that it was rebuilt, it was rebuilt more magnificently, if you will, than the one before. But you would have walked up onto this massive ground, this massive foundation. If you've ever been to Washington, D.C., instead of the Lincoln Memorial, this will give you some scope. The Lincoln Memorial is 100 feet or more high. It has 36 columns. Those columns are 44 feet tall, and they are 23 feet around at the base. Standing next to one of these columns, you feel dwarfed. Standing in front of the building you feel dwarfed, the builders of the Lincoln Memorial, base their structure on ancient Greek temples. And in a sense, this temple at Artemis was built much the same way. However, this temple at Artemis was more than double the size of the Lincoln Memorial, more than double the size of the Parthenon in Greece, where the Lincoln Memorial had 36 columns. The Temple to Artemis had 127. With the Lincoln Memorial, those columns were 44 feet high. The columns at Artemis were 60 feet high. The structure was far taller than 100 feet. Interesting, too, that at the base of those columns, and we'll use this example in a moment, were reliefs into the columns were carved people, Ephesians, in some cases, Amazonians who were thought to found the city of Ephesus. There were people that were carved into the base. This was a massive structure. It would have felt dwarfing. And then even from the bay in your ship, looking at the temple, you would have thought, looking at the temple, that its sole purpose and sole function alone was to support the roof. And it took 127 of these massive columns and that massive 100,000 square feet marble foundation to support this massive roof structure. The entire purpose of the structure was simply to uphold the roof. And here in Ephesus, Paul certainly, the Ephesians certainly would have understood this picture in light of Paul's statement of the church as the pillar and ground of the truth. It was a powerful, in their mind, it was a powerful metaphor, a massive roof. Looking at the temple, the roof would have been its most prominent feature. Despite the double colonnade of columns, despite the massive size, the roof was by far its more prominent or most prominent feature. And Paul used this as a picture. In this sense, here's what I want us to get. In this sense, the church, the church of Jesus Christ, the church of the living God, is that body which is to hold high and to display the truth of God. Its purpose, its function is to hold up and display the truth of God in this wicked world. Not just simply in supporting it. It certainly does that. Not even necessarily in defending it, but in displaying it. In, if you will, proclaiming it. There were temples all over the Asian world at this time, the Greek world at this time, but Artemis dwarfed them all. It displayed its prominence, its roof. It was a display here. The church is described as that which displays, proclaims, contends for the truth of God. The intent here is proclamation. We are a structure called by God to hold up the word of truth. We also find it necessary to hold it up to professing Christians sometimes too, don't we? Even to professing Christians, we often need that person to come alongside to give us accountability, to display or to hold up God's truth before our eyes that we might persevere to the end and be saved. We need that in our lives. Truth here is the content of the Christian faith once for all delivered to the saints. But it's also the truth here of that life-changing power of the gospel that transform a person, to transform a life that we can be set free from sin and death. Jesus Christ said this in John 14, chapter 14 verse 6. I am the way Christ said I am the truth and the life. In John 14, 17, the Holy Spirit is described as the spirit of truth. In John 17, verse 17, the content of scripture is truth when Jesus says, when he prays, sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth. In Romans chapter 2, verse 2, Bible says that the judgment of God is according to his truth. In Proverbs chapter 3, verse 3, says that we are not to let mercy and truth forsake you, but we are to bind them around our necks and write them on the tablets of our hearts. And as Christians, in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 2, listen to this, we have renounced the hidden things of shame not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Manifestation of the truth there is preaching. It is proclamation. It is gospel sharing. It's evangelism. It's witnessing. It is by manifestation of the truth that we commend ourselves in the sight of God. We're to proclaim. We're to display. We're to hold it out to a lost and dying world that lost people might be saved. That's the function of the church and the power and ground of the truth. Truth is that which the wicked deny. In Isaiah chapter 59 verse 4, the Bible says no one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies. They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. Need the truth. Need the truth. Do you remember your state before the Lord saved you? How you denied the truth? You have a Bible in your hands and yet you have no ear to hear it, no eyes to see it, no heart to understand it. And by your life, you say, you know what, I'd rather have my sin than that. And you just continue to deny the truth. The Bible says that no one seeks for the truth. Here in Isaiah, they don't plead for the truth. They trust in empty words. The wicked, the Bible says, are destitute of it. Turn with me to the right. Chapter 6. Look at an example of that beginning in verse 3. The wicked are destitute of it. In 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 3, Paul says, if anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, which are synonymous with truth, right? And to the doctrine, that's truth, which accords with godliness. Now interesting here, if you have the truth, it transforms your life. If you have the truth, the Lord works by his spirit through his truth to change you. It is the doctrine that accords itself with holy living, with godliness. And here he goes on to say in verse 4, if that person does not have that, he is proud knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Apart from Christ, you are destitute of the truth. The wicked are always resisting it. Drop down to 2 Timothy chapter 3, 2 Timothy chapter 3, and look beginning at verse 6. Here Paul says, for of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just getting your head filled with information, but without Christ, apart from the spirit of God, never coming to a knowledge, a true knowledge of God's saving truth. Here it says in verse 8, So do these also resist the truth. They are men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith, but they will progress no further for their folly will be manifest to all as theirs also was. They are destitute of the truth. They are lost without it. The wicked will always turn their ears away from the truth. Turn down just as chapter away in 2 Timothy chapter 4, and look beginning in verse 3. Here Paul says for the time will come when they will not endure truth sound doctrine there, but according to their own desires because they have itching ears they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. But you Christian, be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry. They are applicable to every Christian. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. Be watchful. It's not the the overt lie that you have to be concerned with. The truth is not going to be undermined in this church by anyone walking through the front door saying worship Satan. It's that insidious, wicked, insipient lie that is wrapped in the skin of truth that you have to be aware of. It is that which comes disguised as truth which is so dangerous. You're to adhere faithfully, meticulously to the word of truth to protect yourself from it. Don't believe the deception in Ephesus. There were false teachers that were I'm sure teaching much of what they said was true. But it was that which they said that was causing destruction. Shipwreck of the faith. That's the way that it works. You must adhere meticulously to the truth. When the Bible says repent and believe and don't believe for a second that you can come and ask Jesus in your heart. Preach the truth. It is the truth of God. Think about this truth for a moment. This truth of God. It is that which is as eternal as God is because the truth is a reflection of Him. Therefore it is as immutable, as indestructible as incorruptible as God is. God is truth. Will the efforts will the lies will the deceptions of wicked men have any effect on the eternality or immutability of God's truth not a wit because God's truth is as eternal as indestructible as incorruptible as God is. In that sense it doesn't have to be defended. Let every man be a liar and every man is a liar. But God is true. God is true. Charles Spurgeon said this Scripture is like a lion. Whoever heard of defending a lion he said just turn it loose and it will defend itself. That's true. That is what must happen in the church today. The truth must be turned loose. There are there are many so called churches that hoard what they think is the truth to themselves within the four walls of their building. Is this wicked world flooding in to hear truth? No. They're turning their ears away from the truth. Therefore the church must hold up and display God's truth because it is the pillar and ground of God's truth. It must be displayed. It must be proclaimed. It must be heralded. It is to be a light that is set upon a hill. It is to be unleashed. It is to be unharnessed. Set atop the pillar and ground of God's people living the truth and proclaiming the truth. What was true then in the first century is also the true, even more so true of the church, the provising church today. Satan is attempting to swamp out the truth with an endless barrage of error. There is so much error that the truth is threatened with being unheard in the hearing of those that need it. It's power. Its efficacy must be displayed. It's not that the truth must be defended in that sense. The truth must be fought for in the sense that those who need it can hear it. The truth must be fought for, contended for in the sense that those Christians who are in danger of slipping from it can be exhorted back to it. They're not listening to these liars on TV or these liars but they hope it's giving them a false message that will further deceive them. The truth must be contended for, fought for so that they can hear it. So the Lord by His Spirit will do a work in them. Its character must be displayed. Its obedience must be commanded among God's people. Its protection must be availed of by God's people. We must not allow the world or the devil to undermine it in the hearts of God's people in the hearing of the lost. That's what it means to be a pillar and ground of the truth. It's not that the truth needs to be defended in that sense, it needs to be battled for. It needs to be fought for. It needs to be pressed forward. God's people need the unvarnished truth, don't they? It's a persevere to the end. The lost need the unvarnished truth, don't they? That's right. It needs to be contended for, fought for, battled. In that sense, we must shout that truth from the rooftops over the chaotic screaming of the wickedness of this world that's going on in the gutter below us. It has to be pushed forward. It has to be lifted up. It has to be displayed. It has to be set forth. It has to be heralded. It has to be proclaimed. In that sense, truth is what we fight with, right? I love this from John Bunyan, from Pilgrim's Progress. Listen to this. They went on and just at the place where little faith, I love the names that Bunyan uses, just at the place where little faith formerly was robbed, there stood a man with his sword drawn. We'll find that this sword is the sword of the spirit, the truth of God, the word of God. He had a sword drawn in his face all over with blood then said, Mr. Great Heart, who art thou? The man made answer, saying, I am one whose name is valued for truth. I am a pilgrim, and I'm going to the celestial city. Now, as I was in my way, there were three men that did beset me and propounded unto me these three things. One, whether I would become one of them. Two, or go back from whence I came. Three, or die upon this place. To the first I answered, I had been a true man for a long season, and therefore it could not be expected that I should now cast in my lot with thieves. Will you stand for the truth that way? Will you stand for the truth when your friends, so called, are running off into debauchery? Will you stand for the truth when mom or dad wants to separate you from it? Will you stand for the truth? The Lord says that he is to be supreme. He that doesn't hate father or brother, mother or sister is not worthy of me. Will you stand for the truth as Mr. Great Heart and Mr. Valiant for truth did here? He goes on to say that they demanded what I would say to the second. So I told them that the place from whence I came, had I not found in commodity there, I had not forsaken it at all. But finding it all together unsuitable to me and very unprofitable for me, I forsook it for this way. He forsook the city of destruction for the way of a pilgrim, for the way to the celestial city. Then they asked me what I said to the third, the third being would he die of that place. And I told them my life cost far more dear than that I should lightly give it away. Besides they said you have nothing to do thus to put things to my choice wherefore at your peril if you meddle. There are many that will try to meddle in your faith right, meddle in your life. Then these three in the city of their names wild head, inconsiderate and pragmatic drew upon me and I also drew upon them. So we fell to it one against three for the space of above three hours. Then they have left upon me as you see some of the marks of their valor and I've also carried away with them some of mine. But they are but just now gone I suppose they might as the saying is hear your horse dash and so they betook themselves to flight. Mr. Greatheart said but here were great odds three against one. Valiant for truth said his true but little and more are nothing to him that has the truth on his side. Three to one three hundred to one three thousand to one when you have truth on your side victory is already won. It's just a matter of knowing how to how to wield it, right? It is an unloosable battle. Little and more are nothing to him that has truth on his side and notice with here that truth was on his side as he fought. He was fighting with truth. He said though a host should encamp against me said one my heart shall not fear the war should rise against me in this I will be confident. Beside said he I have read in some records an army and how many did Samson slay with a jaw bone of an ass? You have the truth on your side. You can stand with the truth. Come what may. No matter what assails you, no matter what difficulty you face, no matter what temptation, no matter what onslaught, no matter what lie you have the truth of God. You can stand with that truth. So Greatheart said then said the guide why did you not cry out that some might have come for your support, for your help? Valiant for Truth said so I did to my king who I knew could hear me and afford invisible help and that was sufficient for me. When you fight with the truth on your side you have that promise and lo I am with you even to the end of the age. The power of God. Trust him. Do you believe it? Then proclaim it. Greatheart then said to Mr. Valiant for Truth thou hast worthily behaved thyself let me see thy sword and so he showed it to him and this is the sword of the spirit the word of God the truth of God and when he had taken it in his hand Greatheart looked there on a while and he said ha it is a right Jerusalem blade Valiant for Truth said it is so let a man have one of these blades with a hand to wield it and skill to use it and he may venture upon an angel with it he need not fear its holding if he can tell but how to lay on its edge will never blunt it will cut flesh and bones and soul and spirit and all and Greatheart said but you fought for a great while I wonder you were not weary Valiant for Truth said I fought till my sword did cleave to my hand and then they were joined together as if a sword grew out of my arm and when the blood ran through my fingers that I fought with most courage when you fight with Truth on your side it is often that fighting its that contending for the Truth battling for the Truth pressing the Truth forward taking a stand for Christ taking a stand for the Truth that welds the Truth to you the Truth becomes a part of you when you open your mouth the Truth fall out here you fought with most valor and the Truth became as a part of him get in the fight are you taking a stand for Christ or does your life just look like one flow of compromises after another are you taking a stand for Christ with a loss to see them saved or is your life just a a witnessless, evangelist less existence of thinking you have Christ taking a stand when you fight for Truth it is as if Truth becomes a part of you it is as if that sword cleaved to his hand and then when the sword cleaved to his hand he fought with most valor when the Truth becomes a part of you in that way you become mighty in the Truth on behalf of the Lord the Lord will use you mightily the Truth today must be fought for as much as ever professing Christians in this world who are professing Christians alone far far far outnumber real genuine true Christians the proclamation of that which is damnably false far far far outweighs the proclamation of that which is genuine and true and it's a stark reminder isn't it there is a broad way that leads to destruction there are many who are on it and it is a broad way that is marked with a sign this way to heaven deception and lies it's a false way that leads to hell and there is a way which leads to life that is narrow marked by a little gate it is difficult to find and when you find it hard is the way that way that is marked this way to heaven that's life eternal it's Christ have you found it have you found it you're not going to find it on tbn you're not going to find it in the catholic church you're not going to find it in your dreams in your experiences in your speaking in tongues those are all lies and distractions that will turn your ears away from the truth look for that little wicked gate you find it alone in the truth of God as revealed in his word you'll find it in the person and work of God manifested in the flesh you'll find it as he says when you search for it with all your heart he stands calling with his truth will you come the Lord holds out to you this glorious truth which is as water in the middle of a desert when you've been dying of thirst this world holds out one wicked deceptive lie after another and if you're outside of Christ you've been sucking that in you've been sucking it in you have within you both that wicked bait and the hook that will eventually drag you to hell you spit that filth out take the truth of God abandon your life in this world no longer living for yourself put your faith and your trust in Christ alone in the truth of God alone as revealed in the word of God alone and follow him alone to life turn from your sin and turn to Christ God's truth was displayed in Ephesus the rest of the story is is that the church in Ephesus as a pillar and a ground of truth upheld the truth of God that massive structure it upheld it so faithfully that Paul in his teaching and sharing the gospel in displaying and proclaiming the truth started a riot there the gospel was so faithfully proclaimed so faithfully heralded so faithfully displayed held up for the lost to see for the lost to hear there were so many saved that Ephesus became a Christian city it was eventually a couple hundred years later that Chrysostom an early church father and a bunch of faithful believers tore down that wicked pagan temple to Artemis in Ephesus that's the truth winning out the truth will be victorious Christ said I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it God's truth will prevail where are you at today I want to preach and display and proclaim the word of God I want our church our brothers and sisters so faithfully that pagan temples pagan idols are torn down all over this place amen that the Lord would make this place a Christian city it would be an awesome thought it just requires faithfulness it's faithfulness faithfulness with the truth that's our job Christians the pillar and ground of God's truth displaying and proclaiming his truth let's pick up the sword of the spirit and fight amen Father in heaven we praise you God for your truth thank you Lord that it is pure converting the soul thank you that in your great grace and your great mercy too that you proclaimed it in our hearing Lord in that our hearing by your grace and by your mercy that you saved us out of bondage to our sin out of slavery to the lies of this world out of slavery to the lies of the wicked one the lies of our flesh that which would deceive us to our own destruction praise be to you God for saving us we are unworthy but Lord as now redeemed ransom children of God sons of the kingdom Lord we desire from the heart and by the power of your spirit the walk worthy now of the calling with which you've called us we know that in our own strength in our own flesh we are completely incapable of that or you've promised Lord that sin will not have dominion over us you've promised Lord that we will overcome and so we by faith in Christ claim that glorious promise to overcome in genuine repentance genuine faith by faith in Christ for your glory help us Lord strengthen us to that end and as Lord you strengthen us as you sanctify us as you purify us with the washing of the water by the word God that you would embolden us to proclaim this truth God to display it to herald it for the good for the edification of our brothers and sisters in Christ but God for the salvation of lost souls who were in that same wicked and destitute condition condition that we were once in you hold out your mercy and you say come and you call out to the rebel to the sinner and you say come Lord how can they come when your church is silent where we want to be faithful to you in proclaiming and heralding and displaying your truth that the wicked might turn from their wicked ways and that you Lord in your grace and mercy would heal them for your glory for your everlasting praise and worship worthy is the Lamb we love you Lord in Jesus name