 Our sermon title is The Good Servant, The Good Servant, and we are in part three of this series as we work through 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 6 through 16 predominantly, and here in the first three weeks of this series, verses 6 through 11. And as we've been working through this passage, we've been looking at what it means to be a good servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your Bible is there, it begins in verse 6 with, if you instruct the brethren, Paul says in these things, you will be a good minister, a good servant, a good diaconess, as the Bible says, of Jesus Christ. Nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. Our first point in this series was that we must, in order to be a good servant, take in a healthy and robust diet, a voracious diet of God's word. We must be nourished by the word in order to be able to faithfully instruct. We must be nourished by good doctrine and we must carefully follow that. But beyond a good diet, you need exercise. You got to put those nutrients in the word of God to work, and in verse 7 we read, but reject profane and old wives' fables and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. We've got to put that robust diet of God's word to work in exercising ourselves toward godliness. That word exercise there, gumnazo, where we get our word gymnasium. Literally means, gymnasticize yourself toward godliness. It is rigorous, arduous, and demanding work. That is counter-cultural. You don't hear that preached often, but the Christian life is work. Why? Why would we exercise ourselves and why would we work that way toward godliness? Because unlike physical fitness, godliness or Christlikeness is profitable for all things. Listen, you can have six-pack abs, you can have buns of steel, an iron core, right? You can make yourself so skinny that you have to run around in the shower to get wet, you have to stand under a clothesline to get out of the rain, and what ultimately is that good for little? But godliness is profitable for all things. If you do not have godliness and you are most to be pitied, if you do not have godliness, your body will only rot. If you do not have godliness, your body will only rot. In the same way that physical exercise, physical discipline, spiritual exercise, spiritual discipline, lead to spiritual strength. Holds a promise for the life that now is and that life which is to come. Holds a promise for the life that now is and that life which is to come. With that, this godliness with promises there. With that, Paul exercises, you've got to remember, this is an imperative command. Godliness. Exercise to the Christian life. To the life where we just need to relax. And many believe that the Christian life is a life where we just need to relax. Flowery beds of ease. Never mind our feet up. Just ease along. Flowery beds of ease. The Christian life is a life of labor. Toils. Striving. The Christian life is a life of labor. Toils. So point driving. Taking a healthy diet of God's word. Point two, we get our exercise. So point one, we're taking a healthy diet of God's word. Point two, we get our exercise. We exercise ourselves Jesus Christ. Point three is that worker. The good servant of Jesus Christ is a Lord's vineyard. Verse 10. We put those to work in the Lord's vineyard. Verse 10. And suffer to this end because we trust in the living God. And suffer to the Savior of all men, especially in the living God who is the Savior of all men. Especially of those who believe. The Paul goes further here to explain the commandment and exercise yourself toward godliness. The Paul goes further here to explain the commandment and exercise yourself toward godliness. And give reasons for our confidence in that command. And we are to get a healthy diet of God's word. And we are to exercise or work ourselves toward godliness. Why? Because one godliness is godliness for all things. Why? Because one godliness has a promise for all things. And two, a promise for that godliness has a promise for that life which is to come. That is the faithful statement that is worthy of all acceptance. Then in beginning in verse 10, we now get further clarification. Why should we respond? We now get further clarification. Why should we respond? The promises that come as a result of godliness. We both labor and strive. We exercise ourselves, right? It points back to that idea of the Christian athleticism. The Christian exercise. Why? Why do we labor and strive? Because we trust the living God from whom those promises come. Pointing back to the promises again. Because he is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. You see the flow of the argument here? The flow of the statement. For various reasons, some people want to take the faithful saying that is worthy of all acceptance in verse 9 and have that point forward to that which comes after in verse 10, right? For several reasons. Similar to, we see the argument in chapter 1 verse 15, the faithful saying that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. We see another faithful statement in chapter 3 verse 1. This is a faithful saying. If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good thing. But here, for several other reasons, reflecting back on the pronoun this, this is a faithful saying, what is a faithful saying? Points back to its antecedent in godliness. Exercise yourself toward godliness. The labor and striving of verse 10 pointing back to the point of exercising yourself toward godliness in verse 8. A trusting God, trusting in the living God for his promises. Pointing back to the promises that we see in verse 8 and particularly the flow of the statement here and how that harmonizes together. There's more to it than just that, but that's why we would look at verse 9. This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance as pointing back to that which was said in verse 8. That being said, you can't go wrong either way. How many statements in Scripture are you familiar with that are not faithful? There's none. They're all faithful. How many passages in Scripture are not worthy of all acceptance? There are none. They're all worthy of acceptance. So you can't go wrong here, but footnote for this. In our Bible study, we'd have to take Bible study. We have to make progress in our study of God's word. In moving on from milk to solid food, right, from milk to meat, we've got to begin making observations in the text, observing the text, interpreting the text, and applying the text. And so, I encourage you, I exhort you to study deeply. If we're going to take in a healthy diet of God's word, we've got to move on from the milk and on to the meat. And so that takes work. That takes diligence. If you're going to do good observation of this text as you study through it, then one of those observations that's going to come up is going to be the question, what is this faithful saying referring to? Does it refer to verse 8 or does it refer to verse 10? And you study and you think, and you're pointed to other passages of Scripture that'll inform your understanding of that and you'll come to a decision, all right? The purpose of that work is so that you can rightly interpret the Word of God so that you can rightly apply the Word of God to your life. It's good to read Scripture and it's good to study the Scripture, study the Bible. The right way to avoid error, the right way to avoid or to keep from falling into this false teaching, this error that is permeating the church at Ephesus, is to be precise with the text, to be careful with how you handle the Word of God. And in that we are to be a diligent worker, right? Not ashamed, rightly handling, rightly dividing the Word of God. Now Paul is explaining here in all that that there is a heavenly promise. There's a heavenly promise to godliness, promise for this life and the life to come. But there is a difficult and strenuous earthly work that must be done. And the reason that we enter into that strenuous work is because we trust God, we trust the living God. So let's break down this text. We're in 1st Timothy chapter 4, looking beginning at verse 10. He begins for to this end. In your observation of the text, you have to ask what is this pointing to? For what end? Or for what reason? For the reason of godliness. And the promise is just referenced in verse 8. He goes on to say, for to this end, we both labor and suffer reproach. That word labor there is copioman. It means hard labor. There's no way around it. Hard, diligent labor. Labor to the point of exhaustion, right? And with that sufferer approach, the manuscript evidence supports a derivative there for agonizomai. It's where we get our word agonize, strive, okay? So we have hard labor to the point of exhaustion and strive, agonize. It emphasizes here the wearisome nature of the Christian life, the wearisome nature of Christian work. That's in the present tense. It means it is ongoing. The Christian life is a life of an ongoing, present, active life of hard labor to the point of exhaustion and agonizing, striving. And Paul knew well what it meant to labor and strive for the Lord. At the end of his life, Paul said to me that I have fought the good fight. What are you talking about? Fight, Paul. Christian life is a fight? Yes. Yes, it's a fight. And he says, I have run. I have finished my race, Christian life. Again, back to that Christian athleticism. It is a race. It's a fight. Colossians 1. 29 says this. To this end, Paul says, I also labor, striving according to his working. This is the same words, right? Labor, striving, toil. Striving according to his working, which works in me, mightily. At the same time that you labor for the Lord, the Lord is laboring in you to do into will according to his good pleasure. But we are to strive and the Lord works in us. In 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 12, the Bible says in we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. That's the Christian life. I remember witnessing to someone in their driveway not too long ago, just could not get over the fact that the Christian life was a life of effort. And it was just this let go and let God mentality where I don't do anything. God does everything. And the fact that I don't do anything, God's grace just covers all of that. I just go to God for forgiveness. This is not a right biblical understanding of the work of God, the labor of God, the life of the Christian. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 23, Paul talks about labor's more abundant. Paul talks about being beaten. 40 stripes minus one, right? Whipped. He was once stoned. Shipwrecked in constant peril, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in thirst. He says there in wearisome, in weariness, and in toil. And all of that over concern for the churches. Paul was in labor for the Lord. And doesn't Paul, you see that in Scripture throughout the Bible, that Paul in laboring was always concerned that his labor would be in vain. Sometimes compared it to childbirth, that his laboring for them would be in vain if they didn't repent and turn to Christ. If Christ wasn't rooted and grounded in them, always concerned. All that agonizing, all that exhaustion, if done in vain would be for nothing. But our labor in the Lord is not in vain, amen, amen. It is a slow, laborious work over a lifetime. This is not a sprint. The Christian life is a marathon. It is a slow, laborious work over a lifetime. Charles Spurgeon tells a story of running into a little girl working. He says this. A poor woman had a supply of coal laid at her door by a charitable neighbor. Very little girl came out with a small fire shovel and began to take up a shovel full at a time and carry it to a sort of bin in the cellar. So I said to the child, do you expect to get all that coal in with that little shovel? And she was quite confused at my question, Spurgeon said. But her answer was very striking. Yes, sir, if I work long enough. You see the point? Humble worker, Spurgeon says, make up for your want of ability by abundant continuance in well doing. And your life work will not be trivial. Sometimes we have the misconception that all our labor for the Lord needs to be some grand and glorious work. It's just faithfulness, faithfulness in little things over time, the laborious work of the Christian over the extent of the Christian life until the Lord takes you home. And it is a glorious work, and it's all that work. Humble worker, make up for your want of ability by abundant continuance and well doing. And your life work will not be trivial. The repetition of small efforts will affect more than the occasional use of great talents. Seriously, when you consider the Christian life, we consider impending death. When you consider impending death, the death of others, your death, shouldn't we cultivate an eternal perspective with respect to the diligence with which we pursue labor for the Lord? Is there any other reason but an eternal reason to labor and work and toil in this life? The Lord gives us the greatest reasons, gives us the greatest hope. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last, right? Many, many, many labor in this life and toil for nothing more than fleeting temporary pleasures. No thought given whatsoever to their eternal destiny and laying up for themselves treasure in heaven. Those things that will not rot, that Russ will not destroy and all their labor and toil, there is no gain. But Paul says to Timothy that godliness with contentment is great gain. Amen. Word of labor for the Lord. Ecclesiastes chapter one, verse 14 says this, I've seen all the works that are done under the sun and indeed all is vanity and grasping for the wind. All the work done under the sun, vanity, grasping for the wind. Ecclesiastes chapter six, verse seven, all the labor of man is for his mouth and yet his soul is not satisfied. This is, it's vanity. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter two. Let me give you another example of this. Ecclesiastes chapter two, just after Proverbs. Ecclesiastes chapter two and here Solomon wisest and richest man on the earth seeking to indulge himself in a little experiment. Many in their work, right? Many today seek to simply satisfy their earthly desires. Seek simply to indulge themselves to gain some temporary satisfaction. Here Solomon had all the resource, everything he needed to be able to indulge his every desire and he labored to that end, right? Labored to do that. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter two, the beginning in verse nine, verse nine. So here Solomon said, I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure. Solomon's wealth allowed this for himself. He didn't withhold anything from himself. He had all the wealth. Now think about it. Not many that are wealthy. Well, no one wealthy like Solomon was wealthy or all that wealth. You just provide for yourself your own indulgent. The next boat, the bigger house, the nicer car, whatever it is, you're just providing for yourself your own self indulgence. And Solomon goes on to say at the end of verse 10, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor. You can gain satisfaction, joy, if you will, from those things. And that is by the grace of God to you. God's common grace in allowing you to enjoy the fruits of your labor. But here Solomon had the sense of satisfaction of rejoicing in all that wealth and all that could supply for a temporary fleeting self indulgence. His heart rejoiced in all his labor. Now the value of that, what is the value of that? We'll go on to hear the value of that is nothing. It is worthless because it is fleeting and temporary. This was a reward from all my labor, he says in verse 10, verse 11. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled. Indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun. You can have everything. You can be wealthy beyond your imagination. You can have all that Solomon had and enjoy, even rejoice in your heart over the temporary satisfaction that that gives you and there is no real gain. There's no real value. It is vanity and grasping for the wind at the end of the day because this life is fleeting. This life is a vapor. It pops up for a moment and vanishes away with time. There was no profit here under the sun. Verse 12. So I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who succeeds the king only what he has already done? In other words Solomon sets out on this experiment of his to indulge himself. He has everything. All the wealth that he can imagine all the wealth that he needs. And so who can exceed the king in this he can only be matched. This is the experiment that Solomon is running. Verse 13. Then as a result of this right thinking through it you think through it this morning. Think about what you are doing that lasts for eternity. And that what you are doing to just build bigger barns for yourself. Think about the meaning of your life the purpose for your life. That which you labor and toil and strive for. Does it have real lasting eternal value? Or with everything else in this world is it just going to be burned up in the end as wood, hay and stubble? Will it be as gold and precious stones right? Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. The wise man's eyes verse 14 are in his head. But the fool walks in darkness yet I myself perceived that the same event happens to them all. What event is that? Death. Death to the wise and to the fool death comes to the rich and to the poor death comes to the active the working and the lazy death comes death comes the same event happens to them all. Verse 15. So I said in my heart as it happens to the fool it also happens to me and why was I then more wise than I said in my heart this also is vanity. You see Solomon's thinking here. You see the train of the argument progression of the argument verse 16. For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come and how does a wise man die as the fool? Remember hearing in the news not long ago of Steve Jobs death. Steve Jobs had an impact on the world has he not? Everyone's account you know what he did impacts the world as we know it today and what will happen to it? It'll burn up with everything else. His work because it wasn't of eternal value will be wood, hay, and stubble like the rest and he takes place in the same place next to the fool at his death. What eternal significance are we working for? What are we doing with our lives? This is vanity. It is grasping for the wind. Look at verse 17. Therefore Solomon said I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me for all is vanity and grasping for the wind because it is temporally, temporarily minded, earthly minded of no eternal significance right? Not eternally minded. Reminds me of John 12 verse 25. He who loves his life will what? Will lose it. If you love your life you'll lose it. He who hates his life in this world will what? Will keep it, keep it to eternal life. I imagine that Jesus Christ thinking of these words and Ecclesiastes even as he said those things in John 12. He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Verse 18. Solomon goes on that I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun because I must leave it to the man who will come after me and who knows whether he'll be wise or a fool yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. Verse 20. Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun for there is a man whose labor is with wisdom and knowledge and skill yet he must leave his heritage to a man who is not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. For what has man for all his labor and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? The answer to that question is nothing, nothing. You can toile and strive and work for all those things on this side of eternity that bring you temporal joy, that bring you a fleeting self-satisfaction, a fleeting self-indulgence and in the end it is vanity and grasping for the wind. There is nothing that lasts. You have nothing because it will all be burned up. We all will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Verse 23. For all his days are sorrowful and his work burdensome. Even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity. Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. Again, that is the grace of God. In this earth, as the Lord in his grace and in his mercy gives you another breath. Take a breath. It's the grace of God to you. It's the grace of God to you. And we can in this life enjoy in some temporary way the satisfaction of the labor of our hands. It's the grace of God to you. Might as well enjoy it. Listen, if that's the way you're going to live, apart from Christ, apart from laboring in the Lord's vineyard for those things that have eternal significance, then it is your best life now. You're not going to have the best life to come. Enjoy it now. It's the grace of God that you can. This also I saw was from the hand of God. Verse 25. For who can eat or who can have enjoyment more than I considering all that Solomon has? Verse 26. For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in his sight, but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and collecting that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind. It all comes down, right, in Solomon's thinking and in the thinking of the Christian. The chief end of man, the purpose, Ecclesiastes 12, to fear God and to keep his commandments. Amen. That has eternal significance. Back in 1st Timothy, people live to enjoy this life only. They strive and they labor to build bigger and bigger barns. Listen to this parable that Christ preaches in Luke chapter 12. Listen to this. He spoke a parable to them saying, the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully, and he thought within himself saying, what shall I do since I have no room to store my crops? I mean, so he said, I'll do this. I'll pull down my barns and build greater. And there I will store all my crops and all my goods and I'll say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease. Eat, drink and be merry. Does that describe your life? Does that describe, I mean, I've just got to grow my nest egg, got to grow my 401k, got to get to the next car, the next house, the next pleasure so that I can indulge myself, the next paycheck so that I can consume it on my lusts. Is that the direction of your life? Is that the motive of your heart? Is that how you live despite what you say? Where are you this morning? God said to him, verse 20, fool, you fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be what you have provided? So is he, Christ says, who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God? Only one life will soon be passed. It's only what's done for Christ that will last. So what should be the motivation, the mindset for the Christian concerning labor, concerning work, concerning toil? We're to strive, agonize, we're to work to the point of exhaustion in the Lord's vineyard. What should be our attitude toward that? Why should we labor and toil and strive and strain? To be a good worker for the Lord. To be a diligent worker. To be a faithful slave, as the Bible says. What draws out this work ethic in the Christian? What draws it out? Verse 10, back in 1 Timothy chapter 4. For to this end, we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the savior of all men, especially of those who believe. That word trust there, very interesting word. It's the word El Piso. It means I hope. It means hope. We have fixed our hope on the living God because we hope, we trust in the living God, not on a dead idol. Right? Not on the dead idol. This is the living God because he is the living God because Jesus Christ was risen from the dead and conquered death. God in Christ secures a promise for us, for the life that now is, and for that life which is to come. Because we hope in the living God, our hope, as Peter says, is a living hope. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Is your hope a living hope? Is it a vibrant, active, working, laboring, striving, toiling hope? Is it a hope that engenders in you, that draws out that Christian work ethic for the Lord? Is it a living hope? This is trusting in God. This is faith in Christ. Hope being a product of faith and hope in the promises of God. What fear cannot do? What external conformity cannot do? What hypocrisy cannot do? What fake, ascetic, mindless, ritualistic religion cannot do? Hope and faith in Christ can. If you'll put your hope and faith in him, hope in the power of the Holy Spirit is what draws out this labor, what draws out this motivation for labor and toil and striving and exercising yourself toward godliness in the Christian life. It's hope in Christ, faith in Christ that draws that out, that motivates that, motivates our labor along with love, gratefulness, thankfulness in our hearts to Christ. Hope draws out great anticipation for godliness. Hope draws out great anticipation for holiness without which no one will see the Lord. It's hope that draws out fervent service, fervent labor. Listen to this from Paul in Acts 26. Paul, the life, the service, the labor for the Lord as a result of that labor and as a result of the persecution that Paul was under goes to stand before a grippa, king of grippa. In Acts chapter 26, and listen to what Paul says. Paul stands to give testimony before king of grippa and he says, and now I stand in verse 6 and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. To this promise, our 12 tribes earnestly serving God night and day hope to attain. Why? Why were they serving God night and day? Because they hoped in the promises of God. Why was Paul standing before king of grippa? Because he hoped in the promises of God. Why did he endure the affliction? Why did he endure the persecution? Because of hope in the promises of God. It's because of hope. Night and day they hoped to attain. For this hope's sake, king of grippa, I am accused by the Jews. Are you struggling in your service to the Lord? Where's your hope? Are you apathetic, indifferent? Are you wallowing in self-indulgence? Where is your hope? Where's the hope of his coming? Have you lost an excitement or a zeal in your service to the Lord? Have you lost that fervor, that earnestness, that diligence that is the fruit of genuine repentance? Have you lost that? Where is your hope? Have you lost a fervency in laboring for the living God? If you have, then in some way, in some manner, in some manner you have lost sight, some sense of the hope for that life which now is and that which is to come. You must inform your hope. You must hope in Christ. Romans 5 says that hope is a product of patience and character poured out in your heart by the Holy Spirit. Are you walking under the control of the Holy Spirit? If you're walking according to the flesh, you will quench your hope. How can you hope if you're in the flesh? How can you hope if you're not walking by faith in Christ, according to the Spirit? You must walk according to the Spirit. Romans 15, verse 4 says that hope comes, and listen, right along line with what we're talking about, hope comes from a healthy diet of God's Word. For whatever things were written before were written for our learning in verse 4, it says that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope that comes through the patience and the comfort of the Scriptures. Are you neglecting a daily diet of God's Word? If you're neglecting a daily diet of God, a daily diet of God's Word, then your hope will be weak or non-existent. Hope in Christ is a byproduct of faith. Romans 15, verse 13 says, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that's faith, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Hope in Christ is a byproduct of faith. Are you lacking faithfulness in evangelism? Are you weak when it comes to evangelism? Do you shy away from those opportunities in sin, disobeying the Lord, not sharing the gospel? Where is your hope in Christ? Second Corinthians chapter 3, verse 12 says, therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech. Hope will inform and empower your evangelism. Are you weak in evangelism? Hope in Christ. Are you dull-hearted in your worship? Are you cold toward the praise of God? Psalm 71, verse 14 says, but I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. Our worship is informed by hope. Are you struggling in your battle with sin? Are you apathetic or indifferent in the battle? Are you suffering defeat? Examine yourself, where is your hope? 1 John chapter 3, verse 3, and everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. Hope will help you in the battle. Are you waiting around for God to do something? You're not going to take that step of action yourself. You're not going to step out in fervent, diligent service to the Lord and labor for the Lord. You're waiting for the Lord to do something in you. Sitting around waiting for the Lord to give you a sign, some experience, some whatever to do a work in you. The Bible would say, act in hope. Romans 8, 25 says, we are eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body, for we were saved in this hope. But hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Don't wait around to see some reason for your hope. Hope, because the Lord has said it to be true. Hope in Christ, our hope in Christ even produces perseverance, patience. We eagerly wait for it. Romans 8, 25 says with perseverance, waiting for the hope that is to be revealed. This is the kind of hope that is the product of genuine saving faith. This is the hope that abides in Christ, regardless of circumstances. Going gets tough. You don't know where that next check is coming from. You don't know how the next meal is going on the table. Marriage is rocky. Difficulty with the kids. Hard time at work. Car is breaking down. Whatever it is, this is the kind of hope that perseveres despite circumstances. That's someone that you love. You're pouring your heart and soul into them to share the gospel with them. And they're just as hard-hearted as they always are, as they always have been. Hope in Christ. Hebrews 6, verse 19 says, this hope we have as an anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast. Think about Aaron. When Nadav and Abihu brought strange fire before the Lord. His sons and the Lord killed them. What did Aaron do? How did Aaron respond? Aaron had a job to do. Aaron worked in the temple and Aaron continued on the work. He had to. He had to. He continued working, hoping in God. Are you going to make excuses for why you don't? Paul, despite all the beatings, despite the shipwreck, despite the stoning, despite all the persecution, just continues in hope serving the Lord. What excuse do you have for not? It's too hot outside? What are you going to say? What's going to fly before God when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ? Allow hope in Christ to inform your service, your diligence for the Lord. Think about the woman with a flow of blood that just hoped that if she could stretch out and just touch the hem of his garment, that she'd be healed. Hope in Christ. Are you struggling with sin? Are you losing in the battle? Hope in Christ. Faith in Christ. To hope in anything else is idolatry. To hope in circumstances is idolatry. To hope in the next check, a relative helping out. Hope in that scratch-off thing. It's idolatry. It's idolatry. When circumstances go bad, when people turn on you, when you lose friends, when you lose loved ones, when you lose that job, when your family is a shambles, when your finances go down the tubes, where is your hope? Your hope is in any of that. You're going to be shaken. You're going to be shaken out of the tree. Where's your hope? I love this prayer. There is none all good as thou art God. With thee I can live without other things. For thou art God all sufficient. Can you say that? With thee I can live without other things. For thou art God all sufficient. And the glory, peace, rest, and joy of the world is a creaturely perishing thing in comparison with thee. Help me to know that he who hopes for nothing but thee, and for all things only for thee, hopes truly. And that I must place all my happiness in holiness and godliness, right? Place all my happiness in that godliness. If I hope to be filled with all grace, convince me, God, that I can have no peace at death nor hope that I should go to Christ unless I intend to do his will and have his fullness while I live. You can have no hope that you'll go to Christ unless your hope and faith in Christ drives you to do his will and to live wholeheartedly for him. It's interesting in 1 Timothy 4 that in the event or in the case that you may feel alone in that, you may feel like the struggle. You're all by yourself, right? And no one goes through this but me. No one's ever endured this but me. Woe is me, right? Unless you feel as though you're alone in that battle, Paul uses a very important little word. Look at verse 10. For to this end, we, we, both labor and sufferer approach, because we, we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men. A little word we, right? We've got a church, a church family, a body, brothers and sisters who love you, who care for you, who will encourage you and exhort you, who will stir you up to love and good works. It's we together. What does Ephesians 4 verse 4 say? There is one body and one spirit just as you were called in one hope, one hope. That's the hope of the Christian. The wicked have no hope. Their hope is a vain, wicked devilish hope at best. Job chapter 8 verse 13 says, the hope of the hypocrite shall perish. Job 11, the eyes of the wicked will fail and they shall not escape and their hope loss of life. Ephesians chapter 2 says that the wicked are strangers from the promise and without hope in the world. No hope for the wicked. Where is your hope this morning? Think about it for a moment. Where is your hope? Don't be deceived by your own lying words. Examine your heart. Where is your hope this morning? Are you hoping that it will all work out in the end because you are a good person? That is a vain and empty hope. Hoping that the Lord will just forgive you while you continue in your sin, in your rebellion, in your hard-hearted, wicked self-indulgence, living life for yourself. That is a vain lying and deceiving hope. If you are not consumed, whole heart, whole mind, all your strength, all your soul consumed with hope in the person and work of Jesus Christ, then you have a vain, empty, lying, deceiving hope. Consumed with hope in the mercy and grace of God in Christ. That's where your hope needs to be. If your hope isn't the hope that flows from faith, that hope that drives you, drives your life, produces godliness, produces obedience to the commands of Christ, then all your hope is in vain. You have no hope. Do you hope for heaven while harboring lust in your heart? Do you hope for heaven while you harbor unforgiveness in your heart, anger in your heart? Do you hope for heaven while all of your temporal enjoyments are wrapped up in the trappings of this wicked world? That is an empty vain, false hope. There's no love or delight in your heart for the Word of God, such that you actually invest in studying the Word of God. There's no burden in your heart for evangelizing the lost that leads you to actually evangelize the lost. There's no hatred in your heart for the sin that caused our Lord to suffer. There's no hunger or thirst for the righteousness that is demanded by God. Do you hope for heaven and you don't see yourself as wicked or how holy God is? You hope for heaven and you've never mourned over your sin. You've never really turned from your sin. You still enjoy the pleasures of your sin. You plan to go back to your sin, making provision for the flesh, even though you know it offends God. Do you hope for heaven even though God has never radically changed your life? You've never been born again. Do you hope for heaven even though your hope for heaven includes all kinds of hopes except the hope that Christ will be there welcoming you? Is your heaven your idea of heaven a christless heaven? You have no hope. You have no hope. You have a wicked, baseless, devilish hope at best and the longer that you persist in that kind of hope you are treasuring up for yourself. Wrath in the day of wrath and the righteous revelation of the judgment of God. Turn to Christ and live hope only in him. He secured our hope. The promises of God in him are yes and amen in Christ when it is hopeless for you to live a life that is pleasing to God. Listen, if you're outside of Christ, it's hopeless for you. Hopeless for you to live a life that is pleasing to God. When you come to grips with the hopelessness of that, come to grips with the fact that Jesus Christ lived a perfectly sinless life fulfilling the righteous demands of God and in him there is hope that you can apply his righteousness to your own wretched, bankrupt account. That in him you can be made righteous before God so that you can stand before a holy and just God. Not a God who's going to wink at sin or sweep sin under the rug or turn a blind eye to sin. A God who is just in condemning sin, who will judge sin, who will exact payment for every sin. Will you pay for that yourself or will you have the Savior? Will you have Christ pay it for you? The only way is for you to turn from your sin to trust in Christ buried. Risen again on the third day according to the scriptures, God in the flesh who died as a substitute for those that would turn from their sin and place their faith and trust and reliance and hope in Christ. If you don't turn from your sin and you don't begin fully with all your life hoping and trusting in him now and you will one day suffer one of the greatest torments of hell. One of the greatest torments of an everlasting hell and eternal hell is the utter hopelessness of it. When you've set out and you've burned for a million years you've only just begun. It's hopeless. There is no escape. There's no escape. There's two options. Heaven with hope realized in Christ or hell and it's utter and eternal hopelessness. God's offer, his offer extends to all. For to this end, verse 10, we both labor and strive because we trust, we hope in the living God who is the Savior of all men especially of those who believe. This is our God, God. Despite all of those pagan gods, those wicked false lying gods which the Bible says are all demons. God in light of all of the gods of the wicked false religions of this world is the only God and in that sense he is God the Savior of all men. There is no other Savior. This does not teach universalism that all men are saved. There are many, many, many who will go to hell. Second Thessalonians chapter one verse seven says the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ these shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. In contradiction to the anti, I mean the Pope's false statement about atheists all you have to do is obey your conscience and you'll be right with God and go to heaven. Wicked lies from Satan. The lie of a wicked one. Hope in Christ. There are many who will go to hell. We're to understand this God as being the Savior of all men in exactly the same way that we discussed in chapter two verse six where Jesus Christ has said to have given himself as a ransom for all. Does God actually save all? No, there are many who go to hell. Does Jesus Christ actually ransom all? No, there are many who go to hell. In chapter two verse five there is emphasis there that there is only one Savior for all men. There is one mediator, right? One mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. God here is the only Savior for all men in that sense Savior of all of them. He's the exclusive Savior as opposed to all of those other false gods who are no saviors at all. Regardless of who you are, regardless of what you believe, whether you're the Pope or that atheist, God is the only Savior that you can look to for salvation in Christ. There is no other. He is the only Savior for all men. This is further clarified by the word melista in Greek especially there. Savior of all men especially of those who believe meaning namely or particularly. Doesn't really fit if you're familiar with an all kinds of interpretation there, it really doesn't fit. God is the Savior of all kinds of men, all kinds of plumbers and CPAs and presidents and whoever and especially those who believe. No, God is the Savior. God is the only Savior but especially praise God for those who believe saying that only believers number one will be saved. That said, is it your belief that saves you or God's grace? It's God's grace that saves. God doesn't choose you based on your belief, based on your faith. He chooses you for salvation based on His grace. In other words, as opposed to Arminianism, typical in a lot of churches and chronic about producing cheap grace or easy believism because it's a false theology. God doesn't look down the quarter of time and choose you based on your belief. God writes the script of time and chooses exclusively based on His grace. In other words, it's for knowledge not foresight as the scripture plainly teaches back to being precise with the text. A theology is all mixed up because there's no precision with the text of scripture. Your belief does not accomplish your salvation. The grace of God in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ accomplishes your salvation. Faith is not the ground of your salvation, it's the means. Christ is the ground of your salvation. Ephesians chapter one verses three through six, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ just as He chose us in Him when? Before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to foreseen faith, according to our belief, according to a free act of our will, no. But according to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of the glory of our free will, to the praise and the glory of our decision to follow Him, to the praise and the glory of our choice, no, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the beloved so that God may be glorified in all things. In this again, back in verse 10, He applies this, He ties this labor, this grace of God, this hope, ties it directly to the gospel. This is where our labor is to be. Look in first Sunday chapter four verse 10, for to this end we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially those who believe. Tying it to the gospel really quickly. Turn with me to second Corinthians chapter five. Listen, you guys have got to listen faster. Second Corinthians chapter five. Look at verse nine. All right, we labor. We labor. The Lord calls us to labor. We're to hope in Christ to motivate that labor. We labor. Why do we labor? Look at verse nine. Therefore, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. That's one reason we labor, to be well pleasing to Him. Why? Because we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what He has done, whether good or bad. That's a good reason to labor. We're going to stand before Him, to be pleasing to Him. Here's another reason. Verse 11. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men Paul and his labor, us in our labor. There is reward both for himself and reward eternal benefit to the lost. One to be accepted of him, to hear those words, well done, good and faithful slave, to be well pleasing in his sight, but also knowing the terror of the Lord. There's an eternal benefit to the lost. It goes back to our purpose, right? In chapter four, verse 16, that if we continue in these things, you'll save both yourself and those who hear you. To be well pleasing to God and to be of eternal benefit to the lost, we must preach the gospel. In verse 11, Paul wraps up this paragraph or this section with these words. These things command and teach. Command there, a very strong military word. It came to be known as an authoritative statement, an announcement, a command. But it's command and teach. If you instruct the brethren in these things, right, you'll be a good minister of Jesus Christ. It's command and teach. It has to be here a combination of both commands. We don't have just blind commands in scripture. The Lord is gracious. We always have reasons for commands. We always have instruction that supports the command, right? It's grace from God to have the why that motivates obedience to the commands of God. So all commands have reasoning behind them. We're to command and we're to teach with that. But it is wrong, listen now, it is wrong to teach and not command. That's what the professing church by and large does today. There are no commands from the sayeth the Lord. There's a bunch of what they would call teaching, and most of that doesn't come from the word of God. We are to command and we're to teach. We're not only to teach and not command. It is wrong to sit in a church and never feel conviction. The Lord Jesus Christ commands you this way and you aren't doing it. What will you say to the Lord? You must have application, exhortation, command. The Bible is not a book of helpful advice, self-help tips, you know, little colloquialisms to live a blessed happy life. The Bible is a book of word of the Lord, full of commands, full of good instruction, good doctrine. How do we speak, teach, and command with authority? You can't do that on your own. You can only do that with the authority that is derived from God himself through his word. We're to teach, instruct from the word of God. The word of God is authoritative, and from the word of God, we both can teach and command, okay? Regardless of your youth, regardless of your timidity, regardless of your weakness, we're studying Pastor Timothy a little bit here as we go through first Timothy, regardless of how inadequate you may feel, regardless of where you're at, regardless of your circumstances. If you're in Christ, listen to the law and to the testimony. We must teach and command from the word of God. You must instruct from the word of God. You must evangelize from the word of God. You must inform your own understanding from the word of God. You've got to have diet. With that diet of God's word, you have to exercise yourself toward godliness. And with diet, exercising yourself toward godliness, you'll become more godly, and you are to be at work in the Lord's vineyard. And we're to do all that in hope, right? He who plows in hope should, or he who plows, should plow in hope. Get a good diet of God's word. Exercise yourself toward godliness. Be hard at work in his vineyard. Do it all in hope. With hope in Christ, and you'll be a good servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, thank you for this time and your word. God, thank you for the instruction that we have from this beautiful passage, God. And just thank you for the exhortation. Thank you, Lord, that you both command and teach. Help us to be faithful by the strength supplied in your spirit, God, to do the same. To be faithful in your work, God, to be motivated by hope in Christ. And, God, we pray, break through the wicked concrete around our hearts sometimes, where that hope is, to one degree or another, smothered out, or corrupted, or covered up. God, please sanctify us. Cleanse us, Lord. Empower us. Strengthen us by your spirit. We believe, God. Help our unbelief. Help us, Lord. Again, by the strength supplied in your spirit, to follow you fervently. For your glory, God, for the advance of your kingdom. Knowing, as you say in verse 16, we say both ourselves and those who hear us, Lord, that to be well pleasing to you, but knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade God, both understanding the kindness and severity of God. We love you, Lord. We thank you, God, for Christ. And thank you for your spirit, Lord. And we hope and trust in you, and we know, Lord, that you are faithful to your promises. All glory, praise, and honor be to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.