 In our sermon title this morning is Godly Compassion. Godly Compassion, and we're in part three of this series as we're working through First Timothy chapter five and this section from verses three to 16, dealing with widows, dealing with the compassion of God toward needy widows in a church toward those who are needy. And in these verses, we continue to see the compassion of God certainly toward widows, but also towards the needy and all of that for the purpose of pointing us to the compassion of God and meeting our greatest need, which is salvation in Christ Jesus. We have a great need in that we are sinners and we are separated, enemies of God by our wicked works and we need salvation. And in all the compassion of God toward the needy that we see in the pages of scripture, we're to see that exemplified in Christ. We're to see that godly compassion exemplified in the cross of Christ and the price that Christ paid for wicked undeserving sinners like you and me. All of this points toward that. But even here in these verses, seemingly talking about a very practical, almost mundane subject of how do we care for widows in the church? There's a lesson to be learned here and in the grace of God in these verses, a great contrast that we're gonna look at this morning. A contrast between those who are truly widows, that the church is to support here and then those who aren't really widows, those young, wanton widows that we begin to see in verses nine and 10. And so we wanna end in verse 11. We wanna see that contrast this morning and let me exhort you. This contrast, even here, that I wanna sort of apply to us today, I want you to be convicted by it. I want you to allow the word of God through even this message to widows, the message to the church and how to take care of needy widows in the church, we need to be convicted by this message. We need to be convicted by this contrast here. We need to take this to heart. And we began weeks past, going through this passage with point one from your notes, the compassion to provide. Paul says to Timothy in verse three, honor widows who are really widows. In other words, provide for them. They're widows in the church and we make a distinction between those who are widows who are gonna be deserving or needing support from the church, those widows that we should take in that we should provide for financially. And in verses four through eight, we begin to see the two primary characteristics that distinguish those who are truly widows from those widows that would be supported by someone else. And those two characteristics begin with one, her family circumstances. That widow who is truly a widow is left alone. She has no other resources. She has no family that can support her. She is genuinely left alone and it is up to the church then to provide, up to the church to help. But in the second characteristic, we talked about this last week, that she must, if she's gonna be truly a widow being supported by the church, she's gotta have a godly character, a godly example. Her life should exemplify godliness. And we begin to see that in verses four through eight with her prayer. She trusts in God and her trust and dependence on God expresses itself in praying day and night. And then we begin as we work through those verses, begin to see the other characteristics of this godliness in that widow's life that distinguishes her from those widows who aren't truly widows here as it says in verse three. All right? In a sense now, it is pastoral. We've talked about this. It is caring to apply these characteristics to those that the church is to help. It is not heartless. It is not insensitive. It's not cold to apply conditions here. It is biblical and it is commanded to apply conditions here and that's for a reason. It's for the good of one, the widow. It's for the good of those godly widows. It's for the good of those young widows. It's for the good of that family that should take personal responsibility and obey the Lord in this. It is good for the church. And in all that we saw the compassion of God to pastor these widows appropriately. To pastor the church appropriately. That we make wise decisions with how we support those in need. So it is compassionate here to have conditions for support. The most godly thing that you can do for those in need and for those who must take responsibility is to place godly conditions on this help. And this is God's way and it's the best way. And we think about it. If our country would take those conditions to heart we wouldn't have the problems with entitlement and blame shifting and a lack of responsibility that we see all over the place today, amen? Because that is worldly reasoning and this is God's wisdom. And God's wisdom is always right, always good, always should be applied. God's way is the best way. But then we look beginning in verse nine. We saw the compassion to prove or to test the compassion to apply these conditions to those that need help or assistance. And again, that is an act of compassion. So considering verse nine and 10 who are the widows then who belong on this list that the church is to help? And Paul gives us here three main considerations. From the beginning of verse nine the first consideration is maturity. She needs to be 60 years older or older, all right? From the second part of verse nine it's fidelity or faithfulness. She needs to be the wife of one husband. And in other words, she was faithfully married to her husband, okay? Faithfully, she's not a philanderer. She's faithful to her husband. But then thirdly, we looked at good works. In verse 10 it says that she is well reported for good works. And again, her character here is what is being looked at and her character is being expressed then. Now she lives her life. Her Christian character, her godly character is being expressed in how she lives. She has a reputation for good works. And that reputation means that she's being well spoken of. It's well reported. People know about it, all right? So once again here with this third point in verse 10 Paul is concerned once again for good works. Now we've looked at passage after passage after passage through 1st Timothy. Passage after passage in the scriptures that are concerned with good works. And here we are again in verse 10 concerned with good works. Not because, you need to understand, we need to continue to remind ourselves of this. You need to remind yourself of this. Not because the good works that you do save you. Not because the good works that you're doing somehow commend you to God with favor in his sight that he might return blessing on you just because. It's not because you earn any favor or merit with God because of your good works. It's not because good works save you. It's not because they earn some kind of a merit. It's because good works bear evidence of the work of grace that is in you. Good works bear evidence of genuineness of your faith. Good works demonstrate that you're in the faith. And I wanna say more about that here. And as we look at this issue of good works I'm gonna set this contrast up for you as we go through this passage. I want you to take this to heart. I want you to take this to heart. If you're outside of Christ, you're not saved today. You need to understand there's nothing that you can do. You are destitute. All of your works are as a filthy rag and there is nothing that you can do that will save you. It will be by the grace and mercy of God alone. But if you're here today and you're in Christ then you need to understand the genuineness of your faith will be exhibited in the godly way that you live your life. It's gonna be exhibited in the good works that you do. And I want you to take this to heart. I want you to be convicted. Even now as we go through this passage you need to be praying to the Lord. God, stir my heart up to love and good works. God, stir my heart up, stir my dull heart and don't allow me to sit here blindly, deathly listening to this passage. We need to be stirred up to love and good works. I want you to flip the page with me and first I wanna make the point that we're not saved by our works from the near context of this passage. Look at 2 Timothy chapter one. 2 Timothy chapter one. We need to understand we're not saved by our works. 2 Timothy chapter one and look beginning at verse eight. Here the Bible says therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me his prisoner but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling. Not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. But has now been revealed by the appearing of our savior Jesus Christ who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, a teacher, the Gentiles. And for this reason I also suffer these things. Nevertheless I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day. Again we're not saved by our works but look at what Paul says who abolished death brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. We have this glorious truth that Christ has abolished death and has brought immortality to light through the gospel and that's what we're to live for. That should compel you to give your life in good works for Christ, to live for Christ. And it does here to Paul. It says to which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. But listen if you're in Christ the Bible says you've been given the ministry of reconciliation. So if you're in him, one of those good works that you've been given is also to be a preacher of the gospel, appointed a teacher, an apostle, and a teacher to the Gentiles. We're all to live for those good works that here Paul is an example, right? He's given us that ministry. But flip the page, look at Titus chapter three. Titus chapter three. And again we're not saved by our works but we've been saved to good works. Not saved by our works, saved to them. Look at Titus chapter three. And look at verse one, beginning of verse one. Here Paul says to Titus, remind them, be subject to rulers and authorities to obey, to be ready for every good work. Now this is what we're to do. This is a command from the Lord. And listen, if God commands it, he also gives you the strength and the power and the enablement by his spirit to obey it. He doesn't leave you with a command that you can't perform. The Lord can command it and then you can say, amen Lord, I'm gonna obey you in that because he'll strengthen you to obey it. Here we are to obey. We're to be ready for every good work. We're to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable. We're to be gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish. You used to be foolish, used to be disobedient, used to be deceived, serving various less than pleasures, used to live in malice, used to be envious, used to be hateful and hating one another. But verse four, when the kindness and love of God, our savior toward man appeared, not by our own works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. And he saved us through the washing of regeneration. Man, get a new heart, get a new nature. We're created again. We're born again. And the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our savior. That having been justified by his grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Listen, this is the grace of God that appeared to us in that in his mercy, he saves us and then by his spirit, according to the work of his spirit in us, we live for him, not by our works of righteousness, but this is the grace of God, our savior toward us that we live a godly life for him. All right, so it's not by our works, but I want you to flip the page back to the left. Look at Titus chapter two, Titus chapter two and look beginning at verse 11. We're not saved by our works, but listen, this is the operative, efficacious grace of God at work in your life if you're in Christ. Chapter two, beginning at verse 11. This grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men and this grace teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age. Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people zealous for good works. That's the grace of God. It's not up to you in that sense. You must respond, but it is the grace of God at work in you that produces a life of righteousness. It is the grace of God at work in you if you're in Christ that produces a zeal for good works. And then the Lord commands us to good works. You see how the two fit together? It is the sovereignty of God, the grace and mercy of God and the responsibility of man. We are to be zealous for good works. And I want you to keep your finger, put your Bible ribbon. They're in Titus too, we're gonna come back to it and flip back with me to 1st Timothy chapter five. And in 1st Timothy chapter five, here Paul provides example, an example of what some of these good works are. And I wanna take a look at this and begin to set up this contrast for you. This is obviously in chapter five beginning in verse 10, not an exhaustive list, but it is a representative list of what good works specifically here, these godly widows were to perform, all right? But these are for every Christian, look at verse 10. He says here, if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work. That begins here the list with if she's brought up children. It's not that she's able to bear children, mind you, right? That would negate the bear in widow and it doesn't do that. It's that she can raise children. And it's specifically here in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That involves instruction, it involves care, it involves discipline. A godly mother has to use all those resources in raising children. And here, this godly widow is to show that she has brought up children in the faith. One, in very specific way here, it's if she had children at all, similar to the qualification for elders in chapter three, where it says if they have children, those children are to be obedient, faithful children, all right? And here secondly, it's important that she, as a woman in the church, is to embrace her role as mother. In this day and age we see the contrast of that, where moms forsake their children for other pursuits. They forsake the role of raising up godly offspring, like the Bible says, and they forsake that God-given role for something altogether different, all right? Here the scripture says she has embraced her role, if she has brought up children, okay? But secondly here he says, if she, this godly widow, has lodged strangers, this is speaking of hospitality. Hospitality in this day and age was very important. If you could imagine, the Jews at this time were dispersed all over the place. They lost their family, lost their jobs. They lost everything. They gave up everything for Christ. Not only that, but you had traveling evangelists, men and women going around, preaching the gospel all over the place, and whenever they would enter into a new town, it became very important to be hospitable, to lodge strangers. And so these godly widows should have, with their lives, demonstrated that kind of hospitality, were to be hospitable. And that's also included in the qualification for elders that we looked at in chapter three, and it's also for all of us, all of us, anyone who names the name of Christ is to be given to hospitality. We're to be hospitable toward one another. And this was at a time where that was desperately needed. It's needed today. We need to be hospitable towards one another. But then he goes on to say, if she has washed the saints' feet, now this washing of the saints' feet, you need to understand, demonstrates a humble, loving, caring concern for other brothers and sisters in Christ. This is not establishing some third ordinance of the church, right? Lord supper, baptism, and feet washing. Many of you have come from churches like that. It's not what this is doing, all right? It's not what it means here. This is an example. Foot washing was something that a slave, a lowly, the lowliest of slaves in a house would have done. When someone came over, you would have had your lowliest slave go and as a gesture toward them, you would have had their feet washed. But this was connected very closely to hospitality. It became connected to the example of Christ. And by order of the scriptures in this, did she, did this godly widow, exhibit a caring servant's heart towards her brother and sisters in exemplifying or being an example of Christ toward them? Did she show them Christ-like love? In this, if she's doing this, she patterns her life after the example of Christ. In John 13, the Bible says, Jesus says, he rose from supper, right? He took off his outer garments. He girded himself with a towel about his waist. He filled the basin with water and he washed his disciples' feet. It was a humble act of love toward his disciples, a servant's heart toward his disciples. Mark 10, 45, Jesus says, he did not come into the world to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. He came to serve. Now this simple, humble act of caring in that way for a brother or sister points to his ultimate caring, humble, ultimate act of sacrificing himself on the cross for guilty, undeserving sinners like you and me. There's an ultimate act of love and compassion. Here is just a simple testimony of Christ serving. He came as a bond servant and then he gave himself on Calvary, poured out his blood into a basin, so to speak, for guilty sinners to wash us clean of our sin. And when someone performs this humble act of service for the saints, they are following the example of Christ himself. In John chapter 13, beginning of the verse 14, the Lord says this, if I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet for I have given you an example. Have I given you an ordinance? Given you a command to do this specific? No, he's giving you an example. There's an example of love. It's an example of care that you should, he says, do as I have done to you. Now this is not, again, this is not only for these godly widows. Is it for every Christian? Yes, amen, it's for every Christian. In our works, in all our works, we are to follow the gracious, humble, loving, serving example of Christ who gave his life for you and I. Wicked, undeserving sinners. And yet he gave his life. Point four though, back in verse 10, 1 Timothy chapter five, these godly widows are to care for or to relieve the afflicted. That word afflicted there means pressed upon or oppressed. Has she demonstrated a pattern of coming to the aid of those who are in distress, those who are in need? If she's gonna be cared for in the time of her need, she needs to have shown that same kind of care toward others. See the connection? Now this is a mercy ministry, right? Meeting the needs of those in need. Getting meals or help, just visiting the sick, supporting those who are persecuted. Ask yourself, have you done that? Where have you stepped in to meet a need? Where have you stepped in to support someone who is persecuted? How many times, the brothers are downtown preaching in a hostile environment. Have you gone to support them in that? That is a tough assignment. You're facing persecution by homosexuals and drunkards and adulterers and brothers getting charged and brothers getting yelled at. When do you go and support them when they preach? Have you gone with a church? When the church is out knocking door to door, sharing the gospel, do you faithfully go with the body of Christ to support and encourage those who are suffering persecution for the gospel? Do you do those works to support those in need? When have you stepped in to meet the need of a brother or sister who needs help? Do you do those kinds of things? This godly widow has a pattern, shows with her life that she has stepped in and relieved the afflicted, all right? Supporting those who are persecuted. But point five in verse 10, she has shown the evidence then of devoting herself to good works. This statement simply means this isn't an exhaustive list as much as it is a representative list of those things included in the phrase good works. These aren't specific duties that an order of widows was to do. These are specific duties that a godly Christian would do, right? Examples of godly living. And I want you to see this. Look at all this, all this that she's doing that she has a reputation for doing. It is well reported. She has a reputation for doing good works. And this reputation, one, proves the godly character of this godly woman who is in affliction herself, who is in need herself in the position of being truly a widow. And I listened from this now. There are trials, there are factions, there are difficulties, there are afflictions that are necessary, the Bible says, so that those who are among us may be approved and recognized among us. Paul says that these trials, these difficulties are to recognize those who are approved. And that is for our good. Here, specifically in this passage, it's for the good of those godly widows that we're going to support. It's for the good and the benefit of the church that we recognize those who are godly widows here, that we apply these conditions. Apply that now to the church as a whole. This is good, these afflictions, these difficulties, these trials, necessary and good for us so that those who are approved may be recognized among us, right? That's what the Bible says, and that's what's dictated to us from the word of God. And this recognition, this approval is for our good. It's for the good of that godly man or woman who goes through that trial, but it's also good for us, among whom they are recognized. That's for a few reasons. Listen to this from Puritan George Downame. And if you hear this with a discerning ear, you're gonna recognize this in our own experience as a church. If you've been here for any length of time, listen to what George Downame says. He says, our afflictions are profitable. Our afflictions are profitable as they pluck us from false-hearted parasites who, like the ivy, cling about us to suck our sap and to make themselves fat with our spoil and to discover our true friends who are hardly discerned from the other till this time of trial. Think about it for a moment. He goes on to say, a friend cannot be known in prosperity and an enemy cannot be hidden in adversity. You wanna know who your friends are? Go through a difficult trial. You'll find out who your friends are. You wanna know who your friends are? Go through a time of need, a time of oppression, a time of persecution. You find out quick who your friends are. And those that suck our sap who cling about us who make themselves fat with our spoil don't stay in the test of time. They won't be here. They are a friend and name only. It's the friend who sticks with you. The Bible says a friend loves at all times. And a brother is born for adversity. That's Proverbs 17, 17. Are you that kind of friend? This godly widow here, specifically in this context, was that kind of friend who gave herself to meet needs, gave herself to support those in affliction and she had a reputation for doing it. This is a part of her life. Would you be proven and recognized among us when the trial comes? When the heat of God's refining fire comes on you in a time of difficulty, will you be approved? Will you be recognized among us? That time will come, right? And we've known that, that time will come. So one, this reputation proves the godly character of this godly woman. But number two, what was it about these women that at age 60, they had a reputation of good works? I don't want this point to be passed on us. What was it about these godly women that when it came to age 60, they had a reputation of good works? Here it is. It was that they didn't wait until age 60 to begin living a life of good works. By the time they reached 60, they had a reputation of it. They were well known for it. This was the work of their entire Christian life and it gave them this reputation. Let me ask you, what is your reputation? And don't let this just pass over you. I want you to be convicted. I want you to understand what the word of God says to us and examine yourselves rightly according to the word of God. What is your reputation when it comes to serving the Lord? What's your reputation when it comes to living for him? What's your reputation around here? Are you fervently and faithfully living for the Lord? What's your reputation? You have a reputation that when we go to do something, if we incorporated you, it'd be like stepping on a hurt ankle and or we need to go to someone else because he's not gonna show up. What is your reputation? Are you approved among us? Are you approved in this sense, like this godly widow? Do you have a reputation for good works? Now, flip back to Titus chapter two. Titus chapter two and look beginning in verse 11 here. Again, we're dealing with good works and in verse 11, the Bible says for the grace of God, that bring salvation as a peer to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, verse 14. And I want you to focus in here. Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless need and purify for himself his own special people. What? Zealous for good works. All right, now let's look specifically here at this last verse, verse 14. One, he Christ redeems us from every lawless deed. In other words, he secures our rescue by the payment of a price and that price was the unspeakably high price of himself on the cross. The son of God, the Lord of glory who shed his blood for wicked undeserving sinners like you and like me. He gave himself his life, step down out of glory to secure redemption for you, to secure redemption for me. He redeemed us by the payment of that price from the penalty of our sin that you rightly deserve to pay yourself from the penalty of our sin but also from the power of sin in our lives. He redeemed us from the power of sin. Now has he done that from you? For you. Do you have victory over the power of sin in your life? Has the Lord given himself on the cross to secure that for you? If you've repented and you believe the gospel, you are turning from sin. You have turned from your sin from living life for yourself and you are beginning a life of holiness and righteous living for God, zealous for good works. If you haven't turned that way and you're not living zealously for good works serving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, then you've not been given that. You must repent, turn from your sin, place your faith and trust in Christ and he will rescue you from the penalty of sin. He'll rescue you from the power of sin. But now this says point two here in verse 14. It says this is for the purpose then of purifying us. This word for purifying means removing from us the defilement of sin in our lives. In other words, he's going to make you more and more and more practically holy over time. Turning you from sin, turning you to himself, conforming you into his image. In other words, over time, you're going to see greater and greater progress. You're not going to be sinlessly perfect when the Lord saves you, but over time you're going to see progress. You're going to be moved on to greater and greater faith. You're going to be moved on to greater and greater maturity in Christ. If you can say I've been a Christian for 10, 15, 20 years and you don't know any of his word. Listen, I'm sorry. You've not been a Christian for 10, 15 or 20 years because he's going to give you a knowledge of his word because you're going to be compelled by a love for his word to study his word. You're going to be grown and matured in Christ. You're going to make progress. You're going to be more and more obedient. You're going to hate and despise your sin more and more and more. You're going to live for him more and more and more fervently. He's going to make you more and more and more zealous for good works because that's the grace of God that has appeared to all men bringing salvation. It's that grace. Otherwise, you get a cheap, worthless grace that doesn't do that at all. It's not efficacious in your life. It's not operative in your life. This is a grace. This is grace that brings salvation. It's a working grace and he purifies his own. And he makes them, it says next point, his own personal possession. His own special people. This is his own, the apple of his eye. Listen, if you're in Christ, you were bought at a price and what? You're not your own. You're not your own. You don't live for yourself anymore. You don't make your own decisions in that sense. You run everything through the filter of God's word. You run everything through the filter of God's will for you. You don't say to yourself, listen, I'm going to go in for this country or this country or that country, make a profit and fill my barns. The Bible says you fool. Your life is going to be required of you. You should say to yourself, if the Lord wills, I'll do this, that or the other thing. You're not your own. And you live your life. Are you living your life right now as if you were not your own? You've been bought at a price and again, that is an unspeakably high price. It's the blood of a Lord of glory was shed. Are you living for yourself? Are you dialing around as if there was nothing to do here? No Lord to serve. He is going to make us his own personal possession. Purify for himself, his own special people. Therefore, we are not our own. Does your life reflect that reality? You are not your own. It's supposed to reflect that reality. He goes on in verse 14 to make this point that he says, he makes us then zealous for good works. It was tying this together now with the widow from 1st Timothy chapter five. Are you zealous for good works? Are you zealous for the Lord? Get a thing for a moment and just sort of put yourself on a scale of one to 10. Where is your zeal right now for the Lord? Where's your zeal for the Lord? Are you zealous for God? Are you any less zealous today than you once were for the Lord? Has your zeal weakened? Has it passed altogether? Is it dull? Is it indifferent? Is it apathetic? Is it powerless? Listen, this grace of God from Titus two that brings salvation brings zeal for the Lord. It is that grace of God at work in you. It's not your own work. It's not your own effort. It's not that spirit of man in you that has done all this. It's the grace of God. And when that grace of God brings salvation, it brings with it a purifying effect. It brings with it zeal for God. We're to be zealous for the Lord. Some of you need to examine yourselves in this right now. Don't let this pass over you. Listen, don't allow the word of God just to fall on deaf ears. Don't let it fall on a stony heart. You need to examine yourself right now. Where is your zeal? The grace of God in Christ is that which would produce zeal in you? Are you zealous for good works? Are you zealous for the Lord? Some of you, if the wind shifts direction, you're not gonna show up. You're not gonna do anything for the Lord. Where is your zeal for the Lord? Remember this. This is the grace of God that is in you. You do it. You perform these good works. You become more practically holy. You become more and more faithful. More and more mature. More and more strengthened. More and more working for the Lord. More and more zealous for the Lord because he is at work in you. You don't do that. You don't do that because he is not at work in you. That can happen for the unbeliever. It can also happen for the person who claims to be a Christian. If you're an unbeliever, you have no spirit of God within you. And if you don't have the spirit of God within you, you're not gonna see that kind of progress in your life. But listen, if you're a Christian, if you say that you're a Christian, and you're living in sin, and you're living in apathy, and you're living in indifference, and you're living just coasting along flowery beds of ease in this so-called Christian life, you are grieving the Holy Spirit by your sin. There are sins of commission. Those things that we do that we should not do, but there are sins of omission. Those things the Lord commands you to do that you don't do. And if you're living in rebellion against God's commands, you are grieving the Holy Spirit. Do you think that God's grace is gonna be operative in you if you're living a life that is grieving to the Holy Spirit? No, it's gonna shrivel up and dry you up. And we talk about it about here, it's like milking a dry cow. Not gonna get anything out of you because you've allowed yourself in your sin to grieve the Holy Spirit. And God's not gonna bless you in that. You need to stir yourself up to love and good works and obey the Lord so that God in his grace and in his mercy will be at work in you and will grow you and mature you. You think God is gonna grow you and mature you while you're a lump on the log disobeying his commands? Not living fervently for him? No. There's nothing magical, so you understand. Nothing mystical about this. You are to live for the Lord. When you come to Christ, you're saying, listen, I'm turning for my sin. I don't wanna have anything to do with that life anymore. I just wanna live fervently for him because of all that he has done for me in Christ and I'm gonna live for him looking at the cross and pursuing Christ with all my heart, soul, mind and strength because I love the Lord and I want the Lord to purify me and I want the Lord to make me zealous for good works. I wanna do something in this life that is gonna stand for eternity. I wanna do something for the Lord that matters. And it's the Lord that produces that heart in you. We're to be zealous here for good works but here's the contrast. So we get into verse 11, okay? There's a compassion on your notes, a compassion to protect here. We need to protect younger widows. We see that in verse 11 but it begins this section in verse 11 with a contrasting but, okay? Rather than help all widows, there are some that you must refuse and now that is an act of compassion in protecting the church but that's also an act of compassion toward the younger widow. And I want you to get this. There is instruction here to follow that will help you help this younger widow avoid sin and ultimate damnation. These young widows here in 1 Timothy chapter five were younger and so they were capable of remarriage. And now get this, Paul says to these young widows, listen, get married and spare yourself the problems that we're talking about now from verse 11 to verse 15, right? Get married and spare yourself these problems. Then there is here two reasons given for why to refuse younger widows. One because they can grow wanton against Christ. Here that word wanton refers to circumstances, all right? Circumstances which arise where such young widows might be overcome by their desires and would fall into sin. In other words here, opportunity meets desire so to speak and the resulting sin gets in the way of their commitment to Christ. At the end of verse 12, these younger widows that says having condemnation because they have cast off their first faith. That word there for faith at the end of verse 12 can also mean pledge or vow. Doesn't mean they lose their salvation. Doesn't mean that it's a possibility if they're in Christ. But they cast off their vow. They cast off their pledge. Now what would have happened at this day and age would be this, if the widow was coming in and she was going to receive full support from the church it was very likely, it was appropriate even, that she like Anna, right, would have pledged herself or vowed herself, committed herself fully to service in the church. What Paul is saying here is listen, there are circumstantial temptations, even characteristics about younger widows that would cause them or compel them to desire to marry. It's interesting there, it's not a desire for sexual immorality, it's a desire to marry. Mary's not a bad thing. But it is when you have vowed yourself, committed yourself to the church and now you're breaking your vow, you're breaking your pledge. So to avoid this great sin, Paul says, gives them a very practical instruction. To avoid all this sin that's gonna come in verses 11 through verse 15, Paul basically says listen, get married, get married. He addresses their circumstances in order to protect them from falling into sin, all right? This is again interesting and I want you to see this connection. This is compassionate protection for the younger widow and compassionate protection for the church that the younger widow gets married. It protects her purity. As she may, if she had given that vow and now desires to get married or grows wanton against Christ, there's the potential there that she could become resentful, bitter, maybe even hostile, certainly unhappy, right? This is all a protection for that. Her desire for a husband might make her extremely susceptible to temptation when she has pledged her vow herself to work in the church and she'd be at severe risk of incurring condemnation here and she would be abandoning, it says verse 12, her commitment to Christ, her vow. But now listen to this. The second reason that younger widows should not be placed on the list is because of verse 13, a lack of maturity. They're young, which comes with a lack of self-control and now this exhibits itself in them becoming idle, in them becoming idle. Idleness here is defined as unwillingness to make much of an effort of anything. They aren't accomplishing anything of value. You might say that they're apathetic. You might say that they're indifferent. They're not doing anything they're supposed to do. Now, how much does that describe? To what degree does that describe your Christian life? Would you say that you are apathetic, indifferent, not doing anything of any value for the Lord? Where is your zeal? Where's your heart for the kingdom? Where's your heart for the lost? Where's your heart for Christ's mission on the earth? Where's your heart for Christ's mission for you yourself? It doesn't stop here, so you know, it doesn't stop with idleness. Idleness tends to produce gossiping, busy bodies. It says this in chapter five here again. Listen, for the Christian, we see it in the widow, for the Christian, it is easy to fall into idleness. As a widow, it's easy to fall into idleness when someone else is paying the bills, isn't it? If the church is fully supporting this young widow, it's very easy for that widow to fall into idleness. Very easy for the Christian to fall into idleness, to fall into indifference, to fall into apathy when you don't believe that the work is really that important. You've lost sight of that, you've lost sense of it. When you first came to Christ, if you're in Christ, you saw that, I'll do anything to serve the Lord. If anything gets in my way, I'm plowing through that thing. I'm not gonna let anything stand between me and serving the Lord with all my heart. But then the Christian falls into patterns of dull, dead, ritualistic, we've got to battle through that. You've got to repent of that wicked sin and renew your zeal for the Lord, but you do that when you lose sense or lose sight of the fact that the work that the Lord has given you to do is important work. The Christian can fall into idleness or apathy or indifference or sloth when you don't really believe that the work is necessary. Ah, somebody else will do it. Listen, I know those one or two or three brothers or downtown preaching the gospel to lost people. I'll let them do it, I'll sit here and take my ease. Christianity today is plagued with this. You and I, we are plagued with this reality that we can somehow take our leisure. We have everything handed to us, it's easy, right? We have wealth, we have technology. We've got all these pleasures, all these leisure. Wasn't as much so in the first century. They faced real persecution. They faced real cost to their Christian faith. But now today, this puts us, this is what trends the Christian toward a life of indifference, a life of apathy, a life of sloth when you don't really believe that the work is necessary. Again, the Christian can fall into sloth, apathy, indifference when you don't take responsibility with the work. This work needs to be done, but you yourself, you personally will not lift a finger to take up that work and do it. Listen, the Lord has given us work to do. There are people who are lost that need the gospel. There are brothers and sisters who are in need that need someone to come alongside and exhort them. There are things that need to be done, but you and your Christian life won't lift a finger to do it because you somehow have justified yourself and somehow have taken it that that work isn't really that important or that somebody else is gonna do it or there really not a need for it. You've convinced yourself or allowed yourself to be convinced that that's the case. Take heed to this from the lesson of the godly widow who has a reputation for good works. There's work to be done here. This doesn't, again, it doesn't stop with idleness. Idleness is the entry point and then it leads to other sins. Here in 1 Timothy chapter five, it is producing gossiping, busy bodies, prying into other people's business, getting the inside scoop on everyone. They flip from house to house and as a result, they get the latest juice or latest gossip and they spread that. They become tailbears and the eventual result of this progression of sin is to take that information and they become tailbears saying things, as verse 13 says, which they ought not. Accusations, lies, secrets, they become tailbears. In all of this, right, again, because of circumstances, and I want you to see this, because of circumstances, the young widow falls prey to sloth and gossip. Sloth and gossip. Contrast that with the zealous good works of the godly widow. There is a contrast here. There are sins, this is what we need to understand. There are sins that enter in, in the place of zeal for the Lord. If you have lost your zeal for the Lord, there are other sins which enter in at the place of that loss. Something will fill the void. If you are indifferent, if you are apathetic, you are idle, you become swathful in your zeal for the Lord, there are other sins which will enter in in place of that, enter in sloth. You have no zeal for his word. You have no zeal for evangelism. You have no zeal for good works. You have no zeal to love permanently your brother and sister. You have no zeal for fellowship. You have no zeal to speak of his word when you're in the workplace, in school, at fellowships. You have no zeal for the Lord, enter in sloth. Enter in idleness, enter in apathy, enter in indifference. You have no zeal for doing what the Lord says, enter in gossip, enter in complaining, enter in grumbling, enter in disobedience of every form and fashion. And listen, this will wreak devastation on your Christian life. Idleness here and gossip are serious sins. Gossip is considered one of the seven deadly sins and the ancient tradition of the church. Serious sins. Idleness will destroy your soul. If you become idle in your Christian life and you stop permanently serving the Lord, enter in indifference, enter in apathy, enter in one day hell. It will destroy, idleness will destroy every practical form of godliness in your life. If you are idle, an out goes godliness. If you are idle, an out goes zeal. If you are idle, an out goes fervor, out goes passion, out goes love, out goes thankfulness. It will destroy every form of practical godliness. Idleness will lead to a cold, dead heart. And examine yourself in this this morning. Don't let this pass over you. Are you any less zealous today than when you first came to the Lord? Where is your zeal for the Lord this morning? Do you have a cold, dead, what has become moralistic or ritualistic heart toward Christ? Are you less zealous for the Lord? Philip Graham Reichen says this. He says an idle person loses his or her zeal for God, for work and finally for life itself. Are you any less zealous today than at any other point in your Christian life? Repent and get to work. Repent, turn from that zeal. Stir yourself up to love and good works. Get that zeal back. Now, in the same way that Paul says to Timothy, gives very practical instructions related to the circumstances for young widows. It's not magical. It's not mystical. He says, listen, young widows are susceptible to this. So I tell you what, they need to get married. They need to get married. Getting married keeps them from idleness. It's a protection to them. It's not magical or mystical. Just get them married. They'll be busy as homemakers at home. They're gonna be loving their husband. They're gonna be doing what the Lord wants them to do and that's a protection to them. So for you, listen, you indifferent, you apathetic, you slothful Christian, listen to me. Get to work. Get to work. This is not magical. This is not mystical. If you've lost zeal for the Lord right now, there's just, you're going through the motions of a presumed Christianity. You're just coming to church, taking up airspace in a church, weekend and week out and you're not living fervently and zealously for him, obeying his commands, living like your life is meant for eternity for him, that you're not your own. If you're not living that way, then let me give you a very practical concern, a very practical change in your circumstances to help protect you from the devastating effects of that sin. Here it is, ready? Get to work. Get to work. Stir up yourself to love and good works. You get out there and serve the Lord with a fervent heart and that idleness, that apathy, that indifference, that sloth, all those wicked sins will go out the window. You do what the Lord says and the Lord will bless you in that work and will create in you a zeal for good works. But he's not gonna do that when you're disobedient and grieving the spirit. Get to work. Just like that young widow, get married, I don't wanna get married. Get to work. I don't wanna go evangelize. Listen, get to work. This sin will destroy your Christian life and it'll be for you, for the rest of your life, like milk and a dry cow. You gotta get to work. Is it because that work saves you? No. Is that work earning you some kind of merit with God? No. That work is for your good. It's so that the Lord will bless you and sanctify you and mature you and strengthen you. It's for his kingdom. It's for the name of Christ. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. You wanna get that idleness, that apathy, that indifference. You wanna get rid of that wicked sin and get to work and depend on the Lord in all of it. Listen, you cannot do it in your own strength. It doesn't make it any more magical, any more mystical. So don't misinterpret what I'm saying here. When you determine to get the work from the Lord, you can take it to the bank. You've got the Lord there empowering you and enabling you to do that work if you're in Christ and have the spirit. Turn from your sin. Keep your eyes on Christ. Focus on the cross and then go to work in his vineyard and the Lord will bless and the Lord will strengthen and the Lord will empower and the Lord will sanctify and the Lord will cleanse you, purify you, his own special people, zealous for good works. He'll do that. Paul, it's interesting here that Paul says, listen, I desire that young widows marry. That word there for desire. It's not a word that flows from emotion. It's a desire that flows out of intellect, flows out of reason. As a Christian in this, I want you to be convicted by this. If you're not on fire for the Lord, you need to be convicted by this and you need to repent of sin and turn to him and serve him fervently. We need, we have a gospel work that needs to be done. We need to be as a body of Christ, as a family together, as brothers and sisters. We need to be fervent about that gospel work. So I want you to be convicted by this. I want you to examine yourself in this. And if you're not fervently serving the Lord, then I exhort you from the authority of God's word on the basis of Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing, get to work, all right? And then when you get to work, it's not from emotionally being charged up. This comes from our intellect. This is a desire that flows out of reason, flows out of intellect, rather than flowing out of emotion. In other words, you think biblically, not emotionally. You think biblically, you don't excuse away based on how you feel. It's like, you know what to do because you've thought through. This is what the scripture clearly says. And so I'm gonna obey the Bible because that's what the Bible says. I'm gonna live that way because that's what the Bible says to do. It's coming, this desire comes out of reason. If you're waiting for some magical, mystical work of the Spirit to stir you up emotionally to just, Lord, you pray this way. God changed my heart. And you're, right? God, God do this. Lord says, listen, go out and obey me. And you just, you're waiting for the Lord to stir something in you. You're waiting for the Lord to, Lord says, obey me. Are you gonna live for me? This obedience, this zeal for good works arises not out of empty, fleeting emotion, but out of the bedrock of faith in Christ through knowing that God's word is true and that we can believe it and then we can run our lives by it because God is faithful. It's rooted in God's word. And this carries the force here of a command. These younger widows are to marry. They're encouraged here to remarry. I didn't realize what time it was. This is an important part of your Christian life to understand that the Lord calls us to a holy calling. This holy calling is not to be abandoned. You get yourself into patterns of idleness, patterns of apathy, patterns of indifference. It is because you have failed to be zealous for the good works that God has called you to unless you're not in Christ at all. And very practically in the same way that Paul here in protecting that young widow from falling into these sins calls out to you from his word to protect you from this indifference, to protect you from this apathy and all that follows it and says to you, you're my own special possession. I've saved you to purify you, to make you my own special treasure. Be apple of my eye. I have saved you to be zealous for good works. Stir yourself up. Get yourself out of indifference, out of sloth. Listen, it is for your eternal benefit. Apathy, indifference, sloth, idleness will lead you to your eternal destruction. So stir yourself up and get to work for the Lord. And in that, the Lord blesses. Not that those works save you, but listen, the Christian life is about serving him. You were bought at a price. We will spend such a fleeting moment, a second in this life and we'll spend the rest of our lives in the eternal stretches of eternity. And what will you do? How will you live? Let's pray. Father in heaven, God, thank you for this time together. Thank you for just practical instruction from your word. God praise you, God, and thank you that in your great wisdom, God, that you have put these protections in place. One, that they bring glory to Christ and they give testimony of his sacrifice and of his grace, God, but also that they are so good for us, that they protect us. They, you, Lord, through your word, by your spirit and through the means of that obedience, grow us and mature us and strengthen us and build our faith. But thank you, Lord, for it. We love you, Lord, and praise you, God, for Christ is brought by his shed blood on Calvary, this glorious salvation to us. In Jesus' name, amen.