 is in 1st Timothy chapter 4, and we'll be looking specifically at verses 6 through 11. The title of our sermon this morning is The Good Servant. The Good Servant, and we're going to begin walking through these paragraphs. First paragraph from verses 6 to 11, the second there from 12 to 16, and both passages dealing with what it means to be a good servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. We begin with our passage in verse 6 through verse 11, where Paul says to Timothy, if you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of the Lord Jesus Christ nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. 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. This is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptance. 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. These things command and teach. It begins in verse 6, if you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ. That word there minister is the word diaconos. We saw that when we studied the servant in chapter 3, right? The deacon, the role of deacon beginning in verse 8 in chapter 3. In this sense, it is the undercurrent of the good servant that consistently lies just beneath the surface throughout each of the pastoral epistles. Paul continuously exhorting Timothy to wage the good warfare and in so doing being a good minister of Jesus Christ. To instruct the brethren to command and teach these things. To carefully observe his life and doctrine. In chapter 6 he is the fight, the good fight of faith. To guard that which was committed to his trust. In other words, to be a good servant. Again, that word translated minister there in your New King James is the word diaconos. It means servant. Here, certainly, this word is profitable for Timothy, isn't it? As a minister of Jesus Christ, he's to be a good servant of Jesus Christ, but it's also profitable for all of us, isn't it? We're all to be good servants, good ministers of Jesus Christ. And being a good servant of Jesus Christ leads to an ultimate purpose. And we find that ultimate purpose in verse 16. In verse 16 he says, Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them. That summarizes what it means to be a good servant. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. As a Christian, isn't that the desire of your heart? Lord, preserve me to the end. I need it. I am prone to wonder. I need help. But also God, save my family, save my kids, save my spouse, save my loved ones, save my co-worker, save my neighbor. We'll see over the next several weeks as we study this passage that being a good servant requires first taking care of your own spiritual life, making sure that you are rooted and grounded in the faith. And we have very clear instruction from the Lord with respect to doing just that. It's also an exercising and a striving toward godliness. And in that striving toward godliness, there's going to be an expectation that you reject certain things, that you stand in opposition to error. And then we must be fervent in continuing in them. We must continue in these things for your own sake, for your own soul's sake, and for those that hear you. Richard Baxter wrote this. He says that this work, this work of the Christian life, this work of the good servant, must be managed laboriously and diligently being of such unspeakable consequence to others and ourselves. I want to take that phrase lightly. It is of unspeakable consequence. We sometimes forget that fact. The Christian life, your godliness, your labor for the Lord, your labor in His kingdom is of such unspeakable consequence because your salvation depends on it and the salvation of those who hear you depends on it. There are people dying and going to hell. It is of such unspeakable consequence to others and ourselves. We are seeking to uphold the word, Baxter says, to save it from the curse of God, to perfect the creation, to attain the ends of Christ's redemption, to save ourselves and others from damnation, to overcome the devil and demolish his kingdom and set up the kingdom of Christ and attain and help others to the kingdom of glory. Can you think of others that you like to see saved? Do you have anyone that you love? Do you want them saved? Do you want them persevering in the faith? Do you want to see them soundly saved and in heaven? Then this is of unspeakable consequence. It is of unspeakable consequence that you take heed to yourself and to your doctrine, that you pursue, that you exercise yourself toward godliness. And these are the works that are to be done with a careless mind or a slack hand. Understanding their seriousness? Do we carry that about with a careless mind or a slack hand? Examine yourself this morning, Christian. Is your Christian life? Does it exhibit a careless mind or a slack hand? It'll be opportunity to allow the word of God to break your heart over your sin and to repent of that and to serve him wholeheartedly so that you might save yourself and those who hear you. Baxter says, oh, see then that this work be done with all your might. Study hard for the well is deep and our brains are shallow. Amen to that truth, right? We could add to that, prepare yourself. For the trials are hard and the flesh is weak. You could add to that, pray fervently for the enemy is great and our resolve is feeble. Gird yourself with God's armor for the enemy's weapons are deadly and we have no armor of our own. You could add to that, give zealous action to your hope. The wickedness of this world is great and the time is short. But the Lord gives a strong statement in verse 16. Listen, take heed to yourself and to your doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. What sounds like promise language, doesn't it? He gives us a strong statement. This is what you do. Take heed to yourself, take heed to your doctrine. Continue in them. Do you think about your Christian life this way? If you and those around you are going to be saved, you must. You must. The Holy Spirit just warned us of those in verses one through five that will fall away. We have clear warning. Are you one of those? Is your wife? Is your husband? Is your child? Is a co-worker? Is a neighbor? Are they one of those? Someone in your circle of influence? Will they fall away? The ruin is real. Pay close attention to yourself and to your ministry. We are so ridiculously prone to forget, aren't we? I am. And until the Lord, in His abundant mercy, in His rich grace, reaches into your self-reliance into your comfort zone and jerks you back to a dependence on Him and a right understanding of what it is we're doing here, we just continue in our self-sufficiency, in our forgetfulness, in our idiocy with respect to these things. How many of you have kids? How many of you have kids? You want them soundly saved, right? They are facing a wickedness that they cannot manage on their own. They must have the force of our Christian life intervening into theirs by God's grace. You have a wife? You have a husband? Well, one day give an account of our stewardship of them. You have a loved one, a relative, a co-worker, a neighbor. Will they hear you? Will they hear us and be saved? We must be more godly ourselves. We must take in the life-saving bread of Jesus Christ and apply ourselves to that end. Paul here, in these two paragraphs, from verses 6 to verse 11 and from verse 12 to verse 16, provides a plan here of diet and exercise. That's pretty popular in our day and age, isn't it? Paul here gives us a plan of diet and exercise with the ultimate purpose that we will save ourselves and save those who hear us. Things are tough here in Ephesus, and things were tough in the lives of these people. Timothy could have, in light of that toughness, in light of that false teaching that was going on, in light of all the false teachers, Timothy could have just run around putting out fires. Paul could have exhorted him. Timothy, just go and rebuke false teachers. Just run around and put out fires. Run around and correct doctrine, but what does he do? Paul prescribes for Timothy and his hearers and us in these verses a steady, disciplined diet of God's word, a steady, disciplined exercise of ourselves toward godliness. As we work through verses 6 to 16, we'll see the fruit of that in an effective, personal ministry. Remember, diet and exercise. Let me say this at the outset. Our lives don't get any easier, do they? Can I get an amen? Amen. You'll pick up in your life competing responsibilities like you can pick up leeches in a Florida swamp, and they will suck you dry. You pick up responsibilities all the time. You get weak. You are drained of your vitality for the Lord. You're pale and tired all the time, and you wonder why. That's because you have responsibility leeches sucking you dry. Anything that pulls you away, listen, Christian, anything that pulls you away from a regular and healthy diet on God's word is like the proverbial elephant on your air hose. It is like the leech sucking the vitality out of you. If you're not exercising yourself toward godliness, if you are not in God's word and you have the elephant on your air hose and for both you and your hearers, you're in trouble. And you must, how many times have we talked about this? You must, like the flight attendant says, you take the mask and place it over your own face first before your child. Who thought you could get spiritual application from flying? But you can. Are you prepared to respond today to God's word with decisive action? It takes decisive action. We can sit back with our air hose pinched and say, there's an elephant on my air hose and do nothing about it. Stab that thing in the rear end and get them off your hose. Get yourself stirred up to life and godliness for Christ. You've got to take decisive action. In Jerusalem, there's gates around the city and they have a gate called a jaffa gate. Next to the jaffa gate, there's a terrace called the terrace of indecision. I believe this is legend, but the Hebrews talk about the terrace of indecision. The terrace of indecision is very flat and so when it rains, it has a problem with standing water. The water that rolls off immediately tends to roll off, they say, as according to the Hebrew legend, rolls off toward the west and so down into the valley of Sharon and it waters the roses. But the water that stands, the water that stands, in other words, the indecisive water, gets a slight easterly breeze and it flows off into the valley of Toffett and onto the Dead Sea. Valley of Toffett is Gehenna, that's hell. Don't be indecisive. You can't be indecisive about the things of God. You can't be indecisive about following Christ. You can't continue to put it off. Even you, Christian, in your Christian life, you can't put off following Christ, repenting of sin. You must be decisive about these things. First, we see in verse 6, the first quality of the good servant is a healthy and robust diet in God's Word. He says in verse 6, if you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. He begins in verse 6 if you instruct the brethren. And this is the first quality, if you will, of a healthy spiritual diet in God's Word. We're talking about diet and exercise. First is you must instruct the brethren. First, Paul points out that Timothy must instruct the brethren. That presupposes that the brethren need instruction. Amen? We need instruction from God's Word. Deuteronomy 8, Matthew 4, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. The word instruct there is hoopah tithemi. It's a compound word. It means the place before them to lay it out. The diaconos we learned when we were going through the passage on Deacons is like the table waiter. Well, the diaconos here, the servant, the good servant of Jesus Christ, sets the table for the brethren. He sets the table for himself. And he sets the table with good food. He says in place before them, if you instruct the brethren, place before them, hoopah tithemi, these things, these things here is all the instruction that comes out of this letter. All the instruction that comes out of the Word of God, right? But certainly out of what we've studied so far in chapters 1, 2, and 3 and the beginning of chapter 4, we're to place before them these things, warnings, instructions, exhortations, commands, and so on, the whole counsel of God. There's a sense here in this word of being purposeful, but gentle, careful, in a servant's way with a servant's heart, place these things before yourself. We're to place them before you. It's the present tense, meaning that it's ongoing. It's consistent, it's repetitive. It is a habit of life. You can gain so much from the original language here with these things. It is a habit of life, a continuing, ongoing, consistent thing. And you, Christian, me, we've got to always submit ourselves to this instruction. And we need to be faithful to always heed or always teach, always give instruction. And again, in doing this, you save both yourself and nourishing yourself, and you save those who will hear you, those who you preach the gospel to. On a side note, as Timothy is told to instruct the brethren and that he, as a result of instructing the brethren in these things, he will be a good minister of Jesus Christ nourished in the word of faith. As Timothy teaches and as Timothy instructs the brethren, the gospel is nourished. So instruction, then, is a way yourself to be nourished. You want to learn something, teach it, and you'll learn it. When you study the Scripture, teach your family, teach your wife, teach your kids, teach your neighbor, witness, share the gospel, you'll be getting out what you've gotten in. You'll transmit what you've digested, and that's a good way to learn. In doing this, if Timothy does this, he'll be a good minister, and we're good there, meaning blameless, meaning excellent. You know, in our own site, it's hard to say, isn't it, that when you've done all you can do, and who here would admit that they've done everything that they can do. When we've done all that we can do, we've just done our duty. But one day to hear, well done, good and faithful slave, that's what we're shooting for. I like the translation here, good. The word has an intrinsic goodness, an inward goodness that it communicates. I shudder to call it excellent when it comes out of us, but it comes out of us by God's grace, by His mercy through the power of God when you're just faithful to Him to take in a good diet of God's word yourself, and then turn around and instruct the brethren, or instruct the lost. If you place these things before the brethren, you'll be a good minister. If he does not, then he will not. If you don't, then you won't. Right? It's entirely here, about the word of God. It's not your dreams. It's not your experiences. It's not self-help nonsense. It's not clever sayings. It's not worldly reasonings, your best life now. It's not about what makes you feel good in your sin. It's not about some man's opinion. It's about the word of God. And that's what we need placed before us constantly. If that's not done, then the servant is not good. Look at, for an example of that, Jeremiah chapter 5. And again, to remind ourselves, God is serious about His word and serious that His people are faithfully taught His words. In Jeremiah chapter 5, those teachers in Israel at this time were not faithful to God's word. They were teaching the people myths of their own making. And we see God's anger aroused against them and His judgment on them. Jeremiah chapter 5, beginning in verse 12. Here, speaking of these false teachers, again, it's just failing to stay to stick with God's word. Think about it, Christian, for you. Failing to have a steady, healthy, good intake of God's word in your life. Verse 12, these teachers, they've lied about the Lord and said it is not He. Neither will evil come upon us nor shall we see sword or famine and the prophets become wind. If you don't put a steady diet of God's word before your family, before that co-worker, before that lost neighbor, you're not putting a steady diet of God's word before yourself, then what are you subject to? You're subject to the wind. The winds of doctrine, just error. He says, the prophets become wind, for the word is not in them. Thus it shall be done to them, and the Lord gives judgment. Look down at chapter 5, verse 30. Just flip the page, verse 30. 29, shall I not punish them for these things, says the Lord? Shall I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely because they weren't speaking God's word. And the priests rule by their own power. And my people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end? What will you do when you face judgment? That's such a horrible thing to have said. But it is true, and it is true today. People love to have it so. Lord, give me the that empty, shallow, sugary, no good, false lying doctrine. Take that over the truth of God, which is fresh water to your soul, bread of life. And this just demonstrates the wickedness of our own hearts. The wickedness of our own minds. Look at 6 chapter 6 verse 13. Again, these worthless prophets, these worthless shepherds. Because from the least of them in verse 13 to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. They work in deceit. They peddle deceit. They've also healed the hurt of my people slightly saying peace, peace, when there is no peace. They're man-pleasing. Approving of men. They just... They put a band-aid on a cancer sore. Were they ashamed when they had committed this abomination? What abomination had they committed? They had lied to the people. They weren't giving God's word. No, they were not at all ashamed. Nor do they know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall. At the time I punish them, they shall be cast down. Says the Lord. Thus says the Lord verse 16. And now we have a right response. Stand in the ways and see. What are the ways? The ways that we find in Scripture. It's what we find in God's word. Stand in those ways. Don't stand in your own opinions. Don't stand in your own preferences. Don't stand living life for yourself. Stand in God's ways and live those ways and see. Ask for the old paths if it's new, it's not true. Ask for the old paths. We need old paths. Where the good way is and walk in it. And there you will find rest for your souls. Look at chapter 10. Chapter 10. Look down at verse 20. Again, just the absence of God's word. The abuse of God's word. The neglect of God's word. The forsaking of God's word. The willful choosing to believe the lie over the truth of God's word. Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 20. My tent is plundered. All my cords are broken. My children have gone from me. They are no more. There is no one to pitch my tent anymore or set up my curtains. Why? For the shepherds have become dull-hearted and have not sought the Lord. Therefore they should not prosper and their flock shall be scattered. Many think. Many think. I'll seek the Lord. Lord, help me. Come on, Lord. I need help. I'm in a tough time, Lord. Please help me. They never crack their Bible. There's help in God's word. You must yourself. In God's word. There must be a pursuit of these things. Verse 22. Behold, the report has come in a great commotion out of the North Country to make the cities of Judah desolate a den of jackals. Look over at chapter 14. Chapter 14. And look beginning in verse 12. 13. Chapter 14 verse 13. Then I said, Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets say to them, You shall not see the sword. Or shall you have famine. But I will give you assured peace in this place. Again, they're just lying to them. That's what you understand. That's what is the net effect. When you say to someone or teach to someone or even convince yourself that you're okay to live in your sin and still be a Christian. You're saying peace, peace when there is no peace. There is no peace for the wicked. Says my God. There's no peace for the wicked. Verse 14. Lord said to me, prophesy lies in my name. How many lying prophets are out there today? Prophecying lies in the name of God. Saying that they speak for God, but they're not speaking God's words. They're speaking the imaginations of their own art. I've not sent them, God says, commanded them nor spoken to them. They prophesy to you a false vision. Divination. A worthless thing. And the deceit of their heart. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, whom I did not send and who say sword and famine shall not be in this land. By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. And out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword they will have no one to bury them. Them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters. For I will pour their wickedness on them. That's a judgment for not taking heed to God's word. Just prophesying lies. They prophesy lies. Look at chapter 23. Chapter 23. Again, God is serious about His word. It's the word of God that we are to submerse ourself in. It's the word of God that we're to invest our time in. It's the word of God that has to wash through the filth that is in our minds. Wash through the filth that is in our hearts. By Christ, through His Spirit in His word needs to clean out the garbage that we so easily let us entrap our thinking, let us entrap us in our own sin. Chapter 23, verse 1 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed my people. They're feeding them garbage. You have scattered my flock, away and not attended to them. That's attended to them with the word of God. Behold, I'll attend to you for the evil of your doing, says the Lord. But I'll gather the remnants of my flock out of all the countries where I've driven them and bring them back to their folds. They shall be fruitful and increase. I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them and they shall fear no more nor be dismayed. Nor shall they be lacking, says the Lord. Drop down to verse 11. The prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness, says the Lord. Drop down to 14. Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem. They come in adultery and walk in lies. They also strengthen the hands of evil doers so that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to me and her inhabitants like Gomorrah. It's not only the prophets and the priests here who are condemned the net result is that those who hear them are also he says to Timothy in doing this and continuing in them you will save both yourself and those who hear you hear liars liars deceiving spirits professing disguising themselves as ministers of light coming with some other message beside God's word. They condemn themselves and those who hear them therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets in verse 15 behold I will feed them with wormwood make them drink the water of Gaul for from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness has gone out into all the land thus says the Lord of hosts do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you they make you worthless they make you worthless without the words of the living God you will be worthless how is it there's so many professing Christians believe that they live the Christian life apart from studying intake of the word of God they are worthless they're useless how many of them live godly lives holy lives for the Lord how many of them evangelize how many of them are out fervently preaching the word of God to others that they might be saved they won't be saved themselves they're useless in the kingdom of God because they don't invest themselves in the word of God they speak a vision without the words of God you're left with a vision of your own heart not from the mouth of the Lord verse 17 they continually say to those who despise me the Lord has said you shall have peace those listen if your heart isn't inflamed by the spirit of God to love the Lord to love righteousness if you live for him then you hate him there is no in between he gave everything to redeem his people and for us to spurn that to spurn his word to spurn his commands to live before him with thanklessness in our hearts it means that you hate the Lord here you'll have a prophet speak to you it'll be a prophet of his own making a prophet speaking to you words of his own heart and they will make you worthless and they say to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart they say no evil shall come upon you Frue has stood in the counsel of the Lord and has perceived and heard his word who has marked his word and heard it drop down to verse 21 I've not sent these prophets yet they ran I've not spoken to them yet they prophesied but if they had stood in my counsel what's his counsel if they had stood in his word and caused my people to hear my words then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings verse 25 I've heard what the prophets have said who prophesied lies in my name saying I've dreamed a dream I've dreamed a dream how long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesied lies how many of you have known that charismatic churches I've dreamed a dream I have a word I've dreamed a dream lies they're lies that's not God's word they prophesied lies and they are the deceits of their own hearts verse 21, 27 who try to make my people forget my name by their dreams become more concerned about the word listen you're gonna marry that girl over there oh you're destined for greatness you're gonna be a great preacher one day you're gonna get a promotion at your job just prophesying lies lies the deceits of their own heart and they forget the Lord they begin investing themselves in the dreams and those wicked words of lying words verse 28 he has my word let him speak my word faithfully what is the chap to the wheat says the Lord is not my word like a fire says the Lord and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces therefore behold I am against the prophet says the Lord who steal my words everyone from his neighbor be careful not to steal the words of God our own heart many people can read the bible and not read the bible right you can spend time and it's wasted time God is serious about his word if you're to be a good servant you'll have a healthy intake a healthy intake of biblical instruction if you don't then you're no better than wayward Israel and he will follow off you'll go off after lies if you do this then it goes on to say in verse 6 you'll be nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed if you're a good servant you set before you that which is nourishing not spiritual junk food not spiritual fast food not only milk you'll put before you that which strengthens that which fortifies that which matures otherwise you will be malnourished you'll be sick you'll be weak you'll be stunted or you'll be lost you will die from the inside out here's where you need a voracious appetite you need a voracious appetite for the word of God here this nourished is entrefo it literally means being trained in and here we begin to see as Paul moves through this section in 1 Timothy chapter 4 we begin to look at this sense of exercise of self-discipline of effort of action it's being trained in and again this is present tense it's ongoing it means it's a pattern of life so what is Timothy being trained in as opposed to deceiving spirits being trained in the words of faith and the good doctrine and it's that which he has carefully followed this Titus 2.10 says the doctrine of God our savior this began for Timothy when he was young you understand in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 14 the bible says but you must continue speaking of Timothy you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of knowing from whom you have learned them and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures which is in Christ Jesus and this that which he has carefully followed it's also a compound word it means followed along beside followed along beside it carries the sense of a relationship and here a relationship if you will between a disciple and his master an apprentice and his master Timothy follow along beside the word of God follow along beside God's instruction like an apprentice to his master like a slave like a disciple to his master gaining that instruction follow along with the mind and with the intent to understand and then you make it your own you make it your own and this understanding has several very important applications you look at this passage and the implications that come from this one you cannot be trained in or nourished by that which you are not faithfully following Timothy's nourished in the doctrine Timothy's nourished by the word of God the words of faith because he is carefully following them and has been since his youth you cannot be trained in or nourished by that which you are not faithfully following if you're not faithfully following the word of God not faithfully following the Lord you cannot be nourished or be trained in the word of God it's gonna fall on dead ears dead hearts dead minds the effect that you can't do something you can't do anything it takes effort this is not vicarious you can't learn by hanging around God's people or by hanging around instruction you can learn from preaching to a degree but you have to take that preaching and allow the spirit of God to apply it to your heart you have to faithfully follow it if you're not faithfully following it you're gonna be condemned by it you're gonna be held accountable to everything you've heard that you've not applied you can't be nourished by it if you're not faithfully following it it's not by osmosis you gotta train yourself train yourself to godliness next it's gonna take an investment of time all of these if you notice are present tense ongoing patterns of life patterns of life you cannot microwave godliness you cannot microwave spiritual maturity here people do not know how to think anymore they know how to be entertained but they don't know how to think and you must reverse that trend in your life if that describes you you've got to reverse that how do you reverse it by faithfully following the word of God pouring yourself into scripture you're not gonna discipline yourself to godliness you're gonna discipline yourself to a meaningless life a meaningless life and then you die we are so ready to spend our time on that which matters so little third unless timothy had been nourished himself he couldn't have instructed the brethren in anything he has to nourish himself in order that he might instruct the brethren remember our purpose here to save ourselves and to save our hearers if you don't feed yourself if you don't learn you can't teach if you don't follow you can't lead every sermon must be first preached to the preacher don't feel the weight of that don't you brothers that preach you feel the weight of that every sermon has to be preached to the preacher first if timothy wasn't deeply studying the word himself then he wouldn't have been nourished or trained there would be no proclamation no digestion no transmission no proclamation if you're not in the word then you can't give the word if you don't live the word you can't give the word how is that gonna benefit anyone around you this has got to be important to you you must stir up to make this steady spiritual diet a priority is this important to you is it important to you that you will show up in your action it was important to paul in 2 Timothy 4 13 he's in prison about to die and what did paul want bring the cloak and the books especially the parchment is that the latest daniel steele or garbage on the shelves that's better believe that's the word of god studying William tindale man responsible for translating the bible into english in 1525 was in prison facing martyrdom about to die he sends an urgent message to the governor send me a warmer cap a warmer coat and a piece of cloth to patch my leggings then he said but most of all I beg and beseech and entreat your clemency to be urgent with the commissary he will kindly permit me to have the hebrew bible hebrew grammar and hebrew dictionary that I may pass the time in that study wait, think about it for a moment william tindale had a view of eternity he's about to die and what did he want to do he wanted to study hebrew he's got a view of eternity are you studying the word of god if not why not is your study in the word of god nourishing you is it growing you is it fruitful for both yourself and others are you making progress in your christian life 2 Timothy 2 15 says be diligent to present yourself approved to god a worker who does not need to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth lastly with respect to spiritual diet here you must reject profane and old wives fables in addition to that which we must be devoted to there's that which we must reject christian life and think about the implications here for pastoral ministry there's that which you stand for and there's that which you are opposed to and that is the truth of your own life the truth of christian ministry there must be a rejection here it's literally profane or worldly old womanish myths that's not paul being ugly to someone's grandma it's a figure of speech like we say old wives tales right same kind of thing it's a figure of speech here it means fictitious stories worthless pointless stories profane stories lies that are past office truth that gullible people are swept away by in that day it was myths and endless genealogies can you think of old womanish myths that get spoken today that we should reject yeah the diamond doesn't just whisper the prayer it will change your eternity it's as easy as a b c there's no r don't be concerned about your sin we're all sinners everyone's a sinner you can't be expected to be perfect wait sound like they want you to be perfect just be a good person just ask for forgiveness all you gotta do is ask for forgiveness just let go and let god let go and let god when you look at these verses from 6 to 16 1 Timothy chapter 4 what a wicked lie that is there's no let go and let god here the lord is empowering it certainly the lord is enabling it by his spirit certainly the lord gives us instruction to work to labor to strive if you're gonna be a good servant you have to have an intake a healthy spiritual diet if you're here today and you're a Christian and you don't have that spiritual discipline put into your life listen you have got to reverse that circumstance you must labor to put that discipline in your life or you'll be rendered worthless you may end up being worthless to yourself or worthless to others you have to take yourself in hand and put that discipline in your life a healthy spiritual diet in god's word that is nourishing to you that is maturing that is growing you you must do it if you're here today and you're not a Christian then it's these words under which you will be judged you must have the words of god in your heart in your mind, in your ears all the time cry out to god to change your heart cry out that the spirit of god would take these words and stab you through the heart with them so the lord can pull through the scarlet thread of the gospel and save your soul it's the word of god faith comes by hearing the judgment of god cry out to god to see yourself in the pages of scripture to understand your condition apart from christ and to see the just judgment of god digest all of that bad news so that you're prepared to receive the good news and jesus christ came into the world to save sinners and you will turn to him turn from your sin and put your faith in christ he came into the world to save sinners and listen, you qualify for that will you turn to him will you put your faith in him and then will you live for him it comes with a blessed inheritance amen let's pray together father in heaven god thank you for this passage of scripture god we are so weak and the flesh god so it is deplorable and yet god we just fling ourselves god abandoned ourselves to your grace and your mercy in this and lord by your spirit that you would cause us god to cling to you to lay ourselves upon your word to be transformed by them god to grow in the grace and knowledge of our lord jesus christ to be conformed into his image to walk holy before you or to be a testimony to others they might be saved ultimately to be glorified to worship you in heaven god hold us fast god strengthen us to do that which is necessary not to deceive ourselves in the thinking that nothing is necessary i pray god that you would inflame our hearts to serve you god to pour ourselves into your word or that you by your spirit might pour your word into us and we would live for you with all our hearts all mind and strength and bless with the fruit of conversions in those that hear us for your glory in jesus name amen