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Book of First Timothy, and we were in Chapter 5 last week, and as you know, the way I've been trying to do it, just to give you a reminder where we were, of course the chapter divisions came later didn't they, so this was written as just a one flowing letter, and in the last part of it, in Chapter 5, the Apostle Paul gave Timothy commandments about how to deal with the elderly in the church, if you remember at the beginning there, with the church resembling a family, yeah, that's what he was kind of explaining and treating the younger men as brethren, the younger women as sisters, the older men as fathers, basically older women as mothers, you know, we should be just treating each other like a family, and this was then followed by rules on how to deal with widows in the church, we saw that first off it's a family's responsibility, that's what it should be, but when that's not happening there were then qualifications for those widows to then be provided for by the church, which doesn't say much does it, like I said a few times last week for the latest fashion of giving able bodied drug addicts free money and food, I mean considering that these widows had all these qualifications to meet, should have been looked after by their family for the church to then provide for them, and then you just got these so-called churches around just, I mean some of them literally have stopped doing services, just give out food, I mean that's all they do, where have we got all these chairs from, he basically told me they'd stopped really doing services, they're just a food bank now, what on earth, you know, they just got all these kind of drug addicts turning up and getting free food, I mean some of them will even say something about being, there was one guy once, he was saying something about, well isn't it the Great Commission, no, what are you talking about, but one of the qualifications anyway for these widows was to be over 60 years old with younger widows being a risk when having too much time on their hands, we looked at that, he showed God's will for the younger widows, and you would then obviously say for women in general, he said in verse 14, I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary, to speak reproachfully, he then in contrast really showed the worth and need for paying passes, and we looked at the reasons for that, he also said in verse 19, aside from that, against an elder receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses, and it showed all of these sort of, you know like I mentioned last week, these online smear campaigns, the slander and the rest of that junk for what it is, it's definitely not of God is it, because of God is received not an accusation but before two or three witnesses, the chapter then finished with some instructions for ordaining men, not playing favourites, no shotgun ordinations, along with some brief health advice, and then finishing with a warning to look out for, I think these potential men to send out, I think that's what he was saying here, verse 24 at the end of 1 Timothy 5 he said, some men's sins are opened beforehand, going before to judgment, and some men they follow after, likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand, and neither are otherwise cannot be hid, and we looked at all of that last week then, chapter 6 says in verse 1, let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed, I'd like to pray before we continue, Father thank you for your word, thank you for this great book of the Bible that we've looked at over the last several weeks now, please help me to preach this last chapter out of it, just in a clear and accurate way Lord, in a way that everyone would just really understand what your word's saying, and just help everyone here to just have attentive ears please Lord, fill me with your spirit, help me to preach this accurately and boldly in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Okay so this is referring to employees, okay keep a finger here and turn to Colossians chapter 3, we just read in verse 1, let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed, then a consistent theme in the Bible is for us to be good workers, good employees, okay really we should be the best employees there are, okay, your job Christian here, okay aside from coming to church, aside from soul winning reading your Bible, that is to be the best employee you can be, okay you should stand out in the workplace, you should be, you should be, yeah you're not going to automatically be, you should be more honest than everyone else in the workplace, you should be more conscientious, you should be more punctual, you should be more submissive to your boss, you should basically be the best employee you can be. Now look, you're not necessarily going to be the best at that job, you're not just born with like, or because you've got to say right now I've got the best skills in the workplace, no, but your mentality should be better than everyone else's, okay, because you have the word of God, very much is given, much should be required, yeah. Well Colossians 3 says a similar thing, it says, servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men please, this is verse 22 of Colossians 3, sorry if I didn't say that, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. Now you might say, well I'm self-employed, maybe some people would say that, so your customers are your masters then, basically, okay, and if you have a lot of customers you've got a lot of masters, so deal with it, yeah. So whether we're working directly for the customer or not, God wants us to work not just for show, but as unto the Lord, okay, it's not just for show, he said, obey in all things your master according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers. So he's saying you're not doing it just so you're seen by them, but in singleness of heart, fear and God, because God's watching you, isn't he? So when you're working, you're working as unto the Lord, okay, in fact, we see that in verse 23, he says, and whatsoever ye do, ye do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men. So whatever we're doing, we're doing it as unto the Lord, right? So when you're at work, you're doing it as unto the Lord, and look, of course, you're going to think about, well, you know, hope my boss sees me doing this, I hope this, or when you're working, but ultimately that shouldn't be your goal. You should just get in the mindset of I'm just going to work hard no matter what, and by the way, just before you women there who, you know, start to switch off, you think you're off the hook after all that widow qualification stuff was getting a bit rough for some of you. Well, he did say whatsoever you do, didn't he? Okay, whatsoever you do. So for example, you know, ladies out there, when you reheat last night's dinner and scrape it off the plate, you're scraping off the plate as unto the Lord, all right? Okay. I'm kidding. Okay, I know. Sometimes you've got to do that, right? Sometimes it's a bit tough and it's got to be last night's dinner, okay, for every, but when you're cooking, really, you're cooking as unto the Lord, yeah? All right, really? Yep. Husbands, you can give me a pat on the back after this, okay? When you're cooking, ladies, yeah, for your husbands, if you're cooking for your husband. Mums, when you're cooking for your kids, yeah, kids, hey, try and fob them off with that easy dinner, you're cooking as unto the Lord, right? But the kids kind of, they don't seem to appreciate it. You probably get away with an easy one there, all right? But especially for your husbands, you're cooking as unto the Lord, okay? And not unto men, but how about you kids? When you're tidying your room, for example, you're tidying as whatsoever ye do, and we looked last week, didn't we, when we looked in the morning service, this stuff's written to the kids in our church as well. So whatsoever you do, kids, you're doing it as unto the Lord. So when you tidy your room, you're tidying it for the Lord. And here's a funny thing, is that the eyes of the Lord are everywhere, okay? So the eyes of the Lord are in that little corner of your room, which mum and dad don't see where everything gets stuffed, okay? The eyes of the Lord are there. He sees that, and you're tidying your room for the Lord. Don't forget that. And you think, oh, come on, did not the Bible say that? Is not the Bible written for all believers? In fact, a lot of the Bible's even written for unbelievers to get saved. But you're saved, and the Bible's written for you, right? And the Bible is saying that everything you do whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men. And that was Colossians 3, and verse 20 said, children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. So he sees everything, okay? He wants you to do everything as unto the Lord. And look, if you get your attitude right, it is a good thing, though, okay? Verse 24, back where we were, verse 24 there, just jumping forward again, says, knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ, but he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of parents. So it doesn't matter who you are, if you're a slacker, you'll get your comeuppance. And back in 1 Timothy 6, we're going to see one of the reasons why. He said in 1 Timothy 6 and verse 1, let as many servants as are under the yoke, count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And look, this is what happens in the workplace, so-called Christian, so-called Christian, and he's a slacker, so-called Christian and it's only when the boss is looking, so-called Christian and they're late every day, so-called Christian and they're dishonest, so-called Christian and whatever, you fill in the blank. And some will be, I'm sick of these Christian employees. We had a guy from our church previously who got a job, a guy, funnily enough, randomly at the guy who seemed to have a big say in our building at the time, who got a job there and the guy who employed him, when he eventually left, said he was literally the worst employee he'd ever had. There's a guy called Alex that used to come to our church, he said he was worse than the stoner teenagers that he used to employ. He said, no one has been as bad as this guy. He was that lazy, that sneaky, that just refusing, just when the boss's back was turned, he was horrendous. What does that say? And this guy, when he went in there, do you know what he said to the boss? He said, when you employ a Christian man, you know you're getting the best. I'm ad-libbing a little bit, but it's along those lines, right? But what a just scourge on the name of Christ, right? He's actually bringing Jesus Christ into it from the beginning, from the interview, and then he's an absolute disgrace. And we should be the opposite to that, shouldn't we? And the guy, actually, as it turns out, none of this obviously surprises people that knew him, and you're thinking, okay, well, what a surprise, it then brought basically shame to the name of Christ, didn't it? But that's not how we should be, should it? So where are we? Okay, so when we work, it was that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. You could imagine as well, for example, you go, what does it mean about his doctrine? You can imagine someone going, oh, yeah, you know, one of these salvations of free gift, yeah? You know, one of those ones, you know, the easy believism or whatever they like to say, but and then when they're at work, they don't even work, you know, because they're just all about the free gift and nothing else, that thing. Yeah, it is a free gift, right? Salvation is a free gift. However, we then don't want to then have that used like as in we're some sort of just slackers, we think we can just behave how we want. When they're there, they're just sinful, oh, yeah, free gift behaves like. We want to actually also, then after salvation, show our good works, don't we? Yeah, we want to behave well at church, sorry, at work and sadly, often, you know, the opposite happens. People get resentful as well. You know, when they're at work, they get resentful for the boss and then what then happens is then now and again, they might even have a safe boss, okay? And look, that will happen as our church maybe grows, that could happen a little bit now. Look, some people will work for someone at church or do some work with someone at church. That ain't the end of the world, yeah? In fact, it can be a good thing. You got to be a bit careful with this, right? Okay? If I'm going to work for someone at the church or vice versa or something else, you want to make sure you're giving 100%, right? Okay? You want to make sure as well that as a boss, you're going to be a good boss as well. First Peter 2.18, you have to turn there, it says, servants be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward. Now, you should be a good and gentle boss, shouldn't you? But you know what? Even if someone's a forward boss, even if it was a saved forward boss that you happen to get into working for and they were a saved guy and they were a... You should still be subject to them with all fear. You should work still as unto the Lord. But if you work for a saved boss, you should definitely be working hard, shouldn't you? You should be working hard anyway. But here he said, and they that have believing masters, let them not despise them because they're brethren, but rather do them service because they're faithful and beloved, partakes of the benefit these things teach and exhort. So isn't it better that your brother in Christ benefits as well from your hard work as opposed to a potential God-hater? Isn't it? Isn't it better that if you're going to work for someone who's saved, whether they come to this church or whether they don't, it's good that they benefit from your hard work. Don't hate on your brother in Christ because he's a boss at work. But I'll tell you what, that happens a lot, don't you think? A lot of people start resenting them. Look, you shouldn't hate on a boss at work anyway. Don't be like everyone else. They all hate on a boss at work. Try to be a bit different. People just find a reason they hate the boss. It's pathetic, really, isn't it? It's like they're just a boss. Yeah, you try being a boss at work. And some of you guys that maybe are bosses, that maybe have people beneath you and that, it's not always easy, is it? But look, people do start to just resent them, but especially if they're saved, right? I mean, work hard for them, yeah? Benefit them. Find a way of benefiting their company, benefiting them. It's a great thing to do. But when Paul said, these things teach and exhort, was he just talking about how to behave in a workplace, do you think? He said, these things teach and exhort. So like I said, the chapter revisions came later. So this letter a second ago was talking about ordaining people, wasn't it, laying hands on them. Before that, it was accusations against them, paying them, supporting widows. And we could continue to go back all the way to chapter one, couldn't we? Paul said these things, plural, by the way, not just talking about how you treat your boss in a workplace. These things teach and exhort. He then said this in verse three, if any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ are doctrine, which is according to godliness. So this isn't just someone teaching. I don't believe he's just talking about someone teaching you not to submit to your boss. And I'm sure there are people out there that are coming out with stuff like that, right? But Paul's referring to false teachers, not consent to the words of Jesus and clear doctrine. He said, he is proud, and we see that a lot, don't we, with false teachers, knowing nothing but doting about questions and strifes of words, where have cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness from such, withdraw thyself. Now, like I've already said in this series, again, the first of the pastoral epistles this is, and the subject of false prophets just comes up time and time and time again, does it not? It's just constant. You know, that continues, by the way, in 2 Timothy and Titus 2. So if anyone's thinking, oh, it's just the first. It's the pastoral epistles. He's warning the pastors time and time again, like, false prophets, false prophets, false prophets, false prophets. And then when you preach about false prophets, people are like, oh, man, you know, oh, they're on about false prophets again. Oh, just trying to, you know, like, oh, thinks everyone's out to get them and everything else. No, that's just the reality of it. There's loads of them. And he's warned about them time and time again in here. Now, it's not always pleasant really, OK? But God wants us to be aware and to avoid wicked people. He said, from such, withdraw thyself, didn't he? He said, from such, withdraw thyself. Because I don't think he's necessarily just talking about people that you can clear as they label. Sometimes you've just got to distance a little bit. There'll be people maybe, there might be people outside our church, which we can't necessarily mark. We can't go, right, they're 100% wicked. But they're kind of just all this weird stuff. And you're like, look, from such, withdraw thyself. There'll be people out there that maybe you know who claim to be saved are just acting a crazy way, right, from such, withdraw thyself. And what are some of the characteristics here that he says? Pride. How often do we see that? Just combined with false prophets. Pride, pride, pride. Always, always. All about the pride. The pride, the pride. In fact, they're constantly called the proud. In the Old Testament, he's just constantly talking about the proud. The proud have had me in derision. The proud have big pits for me. The proud, the proud, the proud. I mean, and look, the pride, sometimes it's pretty obvious, OK? Sometimes it's not so obvious, OK? Sometimes it takes a while to get to know someone with that. Knowing nothing. He said he is proud knowing nothing. And there's a lot of self-confessed experts out there, aren't there? And it kind of goes hand in hand with the pride. These people, I'll never stop kind of getting wound up with these people. They'll always claim to be experts. They talk like they're experts. And then you kind of, you just start trusting them. And you're like, you didn't know what you were talking about. Never clear this. Just say I don't know. I don't really know. But, you know, the self-confessed experts, nowadays a lot of these claim to be psychology experts. You ever notice that? So everyone seems to be an expert on psychology, you know? And most of the time they're not, OK? So you've got the proud knowing nothing, but doting. Now, doting is kind of loving, you know, like the doting grandfather or something else, OK? So it's kind of loving, having a lot of affection for this particular thing. They dote, doting about questions and strifes of words. So these people love a row. They love a debate. They love finding someone to put down. Bitter words, you know, that sort of thing. So again, these are the sorts of people that he's warning us about here. The words are full of envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, OK? We talked before about this envy. Everyone, I think, knows what envy is. And by the way, envy is a bad thing. Jealousy isn't a bad thing. Jealousy is when it's something that's yours, right? We have a jealous God. It's not a sin, OK? But envy, when you're envying something that someone else is, OK? That is. Envy, strife, we know what strife is, just grief, problems, railings. Railings are just dishonesty. A lot of the time it's railing accusations, slander, things like that. Evil surmising. So when you're just always thinking just evil of people, bad of people, you're kind of almost making up things in your head about people. Perverse disputings. And often it will be perverting the word of God, OK? Perverse disputings. But it can be, in many ways, just things which are away from the truth. He said, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds. And that's your reprobate mind, isn't it? That's why we know that's what he's talking about here. Perverse disputings, and I think it's quite obvious anyway, of men of corrupt minds and destitute of your truth. We looked at the seared conscience in Chapter 4, didn't we? It's just a constant theme, isn't it? They're destitute of because they never had the truth. It's not their destitute of the truth because, oh, no. They're just now saying, look, once you're saved, you're saved. It's not their destitute of the truth because, oh, if only someone would show up. No, they're destitute because they can't get the truth. They're men of corrupt minds. And often they think, and this is something that goes hand in hand with it, often they think that gain riches are some sort of sign of godliness, supposing that gain is godliness. Many people here have had people that have been exposed in the past, and covetousness is a massive part of them, isn't it? Supposing that gain is godliness. They're constantly trying to almost impress people with money, impress with cash, like, look how blessed I am. Look at this. That's not godliness. It's so the opposite. He said in Verse 6, first he said, So he told Timothy, withdraw yourself from these people. Now, whether or not that's false prophets out there or false prophets inside or just withdraw yourself from these people, but godliness with contentment is great gain. Okay, that's what the real gain is. Content with what you have alongside godliness. Okay, that's what real gain is, being content with what you have. However, alongside being godly, he said, He said, for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. So stocking up on a load of money or things a bit pointless, you leave it all when you die. And what a lot of people like to do, and I've talked about this before, is they like to claim that it's all for their kids. I just want to leave, you know, I've just got to stock up, you know, hundreds of thousands of pounds to leave to my children, because that's what they really need. And the reality of it is that's not really what they're stocking up. Now, they like to pretend that's it. You know, they like to pretend that it's all about the inheritance they're leaving in. You know, people go to verse about a good man leaving an inheritance, but ultimately it's all about salvation. Okay, that's what we want to leave for our kids. And you know what a good inheritance to leave your kids is teaching them to actually work for their money as well. To work for their living. You know, because kids who just get thrown a load of cash, and thrown a load of cash, and thrown a load of cash, often don't end up learning how to earn a load of cash. And a lot of the time, they just learn to squander a load of cash. And look, sure, look, you can leave your kids a little step up, but ultimately you need to teach them how to work as well, don't you? And often people use that excuse, but really they're just stockpiling and stockpiling because they've just got addicted to stockpiling, and money, and cash, and things, and stuff like that. But it is certain we can carry nothing out. You will be leaving, you can't take any of it with you. Okay, none of that money, none of that stuff's going with you. He said in verse 8, And having food and raiment let us be there with content. And that's the trick, isn't it? So, if you can get content with the bare minimum, then everything else is a bonus, and then you're going to be content in life, aren't you? And I did a sermon, I think, not long ago on just being content, and if you can be happy with the bare minimum, if you can get to the point where I'm content with food and raiment, I'm not saying that's easy, right? Okay, that's just the food and raiment. You're not talking about the home, because then people are just fixating on the home, and the house, and buying a home, and everything else. If you're just content with food and raiment, then anything else in life's a bonus, and you're going to have a pretty happy life, aren't you? Because you are going to get more than food and raiment in life, so you're going to constantly be thinking, what a blessing, how great is this, how amazing is this? Whereas the truth is, people aren't content with the food and raiment, they're only content with whatever the bar is, and then when they don't have that, they're constantly not content. Are they happy? No, they're unhappy. They just spend their life unhappy and not content. So, but, how to get content with the food and raiment, that's what you've got to work on. But you are much happier in life if you're content with the minimum, and just food and clothing. Just food and clothing alone. Because, he says in verse 9, that they that will be rich fall into temptation and stare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after they have earned from the faith, have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Did he say, but they that are rich? Did he say that? No? He said, they that will be rich. It's what your goal is. Is your goal riches? There might be some people that have money, that live for God and are happy people. It's not saying that they that are rich fall into temptation, it's saying that will be rich. What is your goal? What are you seeking in life? If you're seeking riches or seeking money, you're falling into temptation and a stare. Because it, look, it's a trap. It's never enough. It really isn't. These people that are just chasing one another, it's never enough. It's like a hamster wheel. Just constantly just trying to get more, and they never actually get anywhere. They can have millions, and they want billions. They've got billions, they want trillions. If you ever met someone that's just, you know, sought money, sought money, and then got to the point where they've gone, got enough, that's it. They never do. Always want more. They're always trying to get more cash, more money, they're never content. It's a snare. It's temptation and a snare. And the next thing you know, you're forsaking the important things in life for something that will never make you happy, and that's what so many of these people do. They'll destroy their whole families, trying to earn money, lose wives, lose kids, you know, ladies in the same way, give up on husbands, give up on kids, trying to chase more money. They lose their children. They've sent off to here, there, and everywhere, just trying to get more money, more money, more money, more money. And really, they're never really happy for it. But it's also a cause of people rejecting God. He said that the foolish and hurtful lusts drown men in destruction and perdition, which is basically utter destruction, hell, perdition, that is. And there are many levels that this works on. Before we look into that, just quickly, it's not money's at the root of all evil either, if any of you communist-leaning types have heard that. I think there's a few popular songs that come out with that, haven't they? Money's the root of all evil. No, it's the love of money. Yeah, because the communists want to get rid of the money. Money's not the problem. It's the people that love it. Okay, just by the way. But let's keep going. Okay, so there's many levels that this works on, okay? He said that the foolish and hurtful lusts drown men in destruction and perdition. There's the unsaved, who are too busy chasing fortunes to hear the Gospel or even think about eternity, aren't they? We've probably come across many of those people around. They're just not even interested. They don't want to hear it because their whole fixation they've got is money, isn't it? Then you've got those that choose to reject the Gospel because basically they've made their God money or they've made money their God, sorry, and they don't want to acknowledge God. So they're just like, I don't even want to think about anything else in case I'm wrong because they're just so fixated on the money and the cash and everything else, right? And it makes me think that they love dark rather than light because their deeds are evil. There are those that just neither cometh into the light lest their deeds should be reproved. They don't even want to think about that. They don't want to get reproved for the covetousness of anything. They just reject because of that. And then there are the false prophets that have run greedily after they're bailing for reward. So then you've got those types as well. They've changed the truth and gone into a life for wealth, for riches. There are people where that's kind of ultimately what they've gone for. That's what they've chosen. And something that you notice with all these types of people is the love of money, okay? I've noticed this over years now with dealing with these types of people. Now some hide it better than others. They're not all wealthy. They're not all rich. Some might not necessarily be successful at getting it. Some will have other distractions and the sin in their life will stop them getting wealthy, but they still love it. Some will love it so much that they're like the stingiest people around, but they don't actually have much money. Some will love it so much that they just want to show everyone how much money they've got, but they just all love money. It's the root. It's in their core. He said in verse 10, for the love of money is the root of all evil. It seems to be right there at the centre of all these people. Now, like I said, they're not always successful, but they love it. They're not all going to be the next Kenneth Copeland. If anyone knows who that is, I mean, that guy is wicked. It's just unbelievable. He's a devil in disguise, isn't he? But they still seek it, okay? Turn to Matthew chapter 4. And while you're turning now, I just want to remind you of a few famous false prophets in the Bible. What was Judas? A covetous thief. He was a covetous thief. That's a clear thing that we know about Judas, is that he had the bag and he stole from it, yeah? The Antichrist will be basically a one-world, well, most rich and most powerful leader, won't he? He's going to be the one-world leader. I mean, he's going to trump everyone. What was Pharaoh at the top of Egypt's wealth? Another famous reprobate. At the time, probably the biggest world power. Lower-profile reprobates like Balaam, the prophet for hire. Nabel, do you remember the former husband of Abigail? Rich, wealthy, chasing money, didn't want to give anything away, did he, even though he was absolutely loaded. But even Bar-Jesus, I was thinking about him, the false prophet from Acts 13, was beside the deputy of Cyprus, wasn't he? He had kind of managed to work his way up to being beside the deputy of the whole of Cyprus. Another false prophet who somehow had managed to work his way to the one the wealthiest around. In 1 Samuel 30, you don't have to turn there, when David rescues the families from the Amalekite raiders, if you remember that story, anyone, it's the children of Belial that don't want the others to receive of the spoil. So it's the children of Belial that are saying, no, no, we're not going to give it to those couple of hundred that didn't come with us, that were too tired and we left behind. No, don't give them anything. The children of Belial. Now, this is a common theme in the Bible. In Matthew 4, we see that wealth, riches, is one of the temptations from the devil. He says in verse 8, here in Matthew 4, it says, Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheiteth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. So all these things, the glory, the wealth, all these things in the world, then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. But how many do choose the devil because of riches, wealth, and power? You've got celebrities out there who will openly say, I made a deal with the devil for this world, for this popularity, for this fame, and ultimately it's the money that goes with it, isn't it? They're so often seeking. That's why it's the root of all evil. It's at the core of all these reprobates, and it's, for me, the way the devil runs the world. It's through the lure of money. They fall down at his feet because of his promises of money and riches if they do, and they get that, don't they, a lot of the time. But are they happy for it? Of course they're not. They're not happy for it. Verse 10, back where we were, 1 Timothy 6 says, For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. So there's the reprobate that's rejected the faith, but it's not just them. There's also the unfruitful believer that's wasted their life. There's the thorny, grand believer, isn't there? Matthew 13, 22, down at Daytona says, He also that was seen among the thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. We've seen it described as a snare. Here we've seen it described as deceitfulness. That's why Timothy is warned to flee covetousness. He said in verse 11, where you are, but thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. So flee means run the other way, okay? Escape, escape covetousness, basically. If you feel it creep up, escape it. You go, okay, well, maybe you're sitting there, go, look, I can kind of feel you, I kind of get a bit tempted, I kind of keep wanting to just chase the money a bit more, you know? How do I flee it? Well, he said flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Basically, focus on these things. Focus on the things of God, because you can't really do both. If you're really genuinely focusing on the things of God, you can't do that genuinely and still be focusing on the money. If you're following off the things of God properly, not just on a Sunday, okay, but in the week two, you're focused on the things of God, there is no room for covetousness. Because Matthew 6.24 says no man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon, mammon being the god of money. You can't do both. So if you follow off those things of God, your sight-set of God, your goal is, how do I get more godly, how do I be more in God's will, how do I live more for God? You're not serving mammon, are you? That's how you flee it. You flee it by doing more things for God, by being more involved in the things of God, by chasing the things of God, not the money. He said in verse 12 then, Fight the good, fight the faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called and has professed a good profession before many witnesses. Now this is one of those verses that the false prophets like to cling to. You might have heard some people come out with this before. Whether it's a work salvationist, along with verse 19, suggesting that you can maybe let go of salvation, you've got to lay hold on it, or something else. Or the Calvinist saying, see only the elect are called. They'll say, whereunto thou art also called. And just briefly, we're not going to go into one of Calvinism. I believe I've smashed Calvinism so many times. Although it does need smashing regularly, because it is just such nonsense. They conveniently ignore clear teachings in this same epistle. So those that try and do that, look, Timothy was called, or something along those lines. See, that's the only reason you say, because he was called, you know, most people aren't called, or something along those lines. 1 Timothy 4.10, For therefore we both labour and suffer approach, because we trust in a living God, who is the saviour of all men, especially of those that believe. Forget that one. Forget 1 Timothy 2.4, who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. Forget 1 Timothy 2.6, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Oh yeah, we don't like all that all stuff, but we'll just jump on this one. I'll jump on this one. But then, the thing is, look, the Calvinist stuff is ridiculous, but then, so are the works of salvationists. You can't just undo a ton of verses, can you? Just say, believe, have everlasting life, whosoever believeth. You know, it's a gift of God. You know, it's grace without all these different verses, time and time again. It's not of yourself. Shall never perish. You know, all of that stuff, and then go, oh yeah, yeah, but actually, you know, he's basically telling Timothy that he needs to stay safe. What are you talking about? Because that would then just go against all the clear verses in the Bible. Rather than saying to Timothy to get saved or stay saved, surprisingly, he's telling him to focus on eternity. He's basically telling him to get his priorities straight, right? No, he's saying keep your priorities straight, really, because it's not that Timothy's got some issues here. This is how I believe this verse is, or what this verse is saying. He said, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, where unto they are also called, and is professed a good profession before many witnesses. It's along with the fighting language, okay? Fight the fight, grab hold of eternal life. That's what you should be focusing on, because that's where you're going, where unto they are also called. You say, look, you're going, you need to focus on the things of God. You need to focus on eternity, right? Lay hold on eternal life, okay? He said, and is professed a good profession before many witnesses. He's preached that to many, hasn't he? He's preached to our ages. He's preached it. He's preaching the Gospel. He's saying lay hold on it. Lay hold on it. Basically, get your priorities right. Lay hold, focus, fix yourself on eternity, not on the things of this world, having just talked about the things of this world, the carnal things, ultimately money and riches. And by the way, yes, it is a fight. It's a good fight, yeah, and you're on the winning side, but it is a fight, okay? It really is a fight, and I think sometimes, you know, people will hear like the battle analogies and stuff, and it's so the opposite, isn't it, to liberal Christianity. It's so the opposite to basically most, you know, back-patting Baptist churches even, sadly, or fake Baptist church, Baptist Union church, all the messages you're getting from there, but it is a fight. It is a fight. We need to fight the good fight of faith. He then said, I give the charge in the sight of God who quickeneth all things before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. Oh, quickeneth, okay, that means that he makes alive all things. And by the way, that applies both to every living thing in this world, okay? Everything is only alive because of God, who quickeneth all things, as well as the fact that it's God that gives us eternal life, okay? You can't quicken yourself. You can't make yourself alive. The only way is through the blood of Jesus Christ, right? But I believe that the second part where he said, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, is the fact that Jesus Christ was unblameable in the sight of Pilate too, even at the point of sentencing. Now, Luke 23, 4 says, then said, Pilate to the chief priest of the people, I find no fault in this man. So even in the sight of Pilate, right at the point of being like falsely accused, falsely set up and everything else, still he found no fault in him at all, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. He then said that thou keep this commandment without spot. So he's been charged to keep this commandment, to keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show who is a blessed and only potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man have seen nor can see, to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. So what's a commandment to keep without spot? Unrebukeable. He said, I believe it's referring to verse 11 and 12, but thou, O man of God, flee these things, talking about the love of money, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold in eternal life, where unto thou art also called in this profession, and professeth before many witnesses. So it's to flee covetousness by focusing on the right things. That's what he's charging him to do. And that's an important command for a pastor, isn't it? That's an important command. He's leading a flock. Look, he needs to be fleeing that. He needs to be away from no covetousness. He can't be just constantly coveting and wanting money, wanting cash, because then what's going to suffer? The work of God. The work of God's going to suffer if the person leading that is just a covetous person. And he's saying, thou, O man of God, flee these things. And then he goes on to say, I give thee charge in the sight of God. He's making it clear as day that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because people want to accuse you of anything, right? And if you're a pastor in a church, they want to try, because people just want to try and just call you something, anything they can. He better be unrebukeable on this, right? Unrebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show, who is a blessed and lowly potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Potentate being someone with great power. He's the only one because he's God. He's King of Kings. He's a blessed and lowly potentate, which is power. The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, it's the Lord Jesus Christ, who only have immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man have seen nor conceived, to whom be in awe and power ever lastly. Amen. What's he talking about, the Father? Dwelling in the light, dwelling, it's the Father, who no man can have seen nor can see. He's dwelling in that light, God the Father, to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. He then said, charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. So Timothy is being told to command the rich not to be high-minded. He's basically saying not to be puffed up. Look, money does that to people, doesn't it? Riches does that. People kind of have a bit more of a swagger, a bit more of a strut when they think they've got a bit more money, a bit more expensive clothing or something else. The reality is it's kind of the opposite, isn't it? It's nice to be smart and be presentable, but I remember we used to get handed down these dresses and stuff. I can't even remember who from. It was someone that my wife knew through someone. When Grace was little and we used to turn up to church every Sunday with just these beautiful boutique dresses that we'd just been given free, but we were quite embarrassed. I remember in the end I said, I'm going to have to look at these online because this doesn't feel like Primark stuff. So I'm going online and she's wearing 100-pound dresses to church at three years old or even younger maybe. In fact, some of it was one-year-old stuff, wasn't it? Get her a raised hand out there. So she's like, we'll tell you up to church, she's wearing 100-pound dresses there. I don't even know how we ended up with these. I don't even know who was giving it. If we can try and get their contact, Emma, she's mouthing it about. We can get their contact either. They've got any older stuff, that would be cool as well. Husband got anything? But yeah, we're turning up this stuff, but ultimately it's the opposite. When you're kind of in the things of God, you're like, because it's not a good look, is it? Because I'm thinking, people think that we're spending 100 pounds on a one-year-old's dress to go to church. I mean, what's wrong with us? What a waste of money. She's going to grow out of it in a few weeks. People do do that stuff, don't they? But really, it's not. It's the opposite. But the people that do it and the people that have been conned by that, they do get high-minded, don't they? So you can imagine a lot of people going, oh, look at how beautiful. And then when someone says, what a beautiful dress, and we're like, yeah, yeah, we were giving it. We were giving it. Maybe we care too much, right? I don't think, oh, isn't it lovely? Yeah, I got it from wherever. Names of shops you don't even know. People get high-minded about that stuff, don't they? They get high-minded. He said to charge them that they don't trust any uncertain riches. And people do that. They start to put their faith, their trust in their money, their riches. They're kind of their safety blanket of money rather than the Lord, right? And that can happen to a lot. That happens to Christians, right? Maybe they've got some savings, and that's kind of their trust. That's what they put their faith, their trust in. I'll be all right because of this. And then it starts to replace God, doesn't it? Who should be who we're putting our trust in and our faith in. So they trust in, he said, nor trust in our certain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. So it's God that gives us what we need, right? And when we say all things to enjoy, I remember years ago hearing a pastor try and take this completely out and go, you know, God wants us to enjoy beer. God wants us to enjoy whatever. God gives us the things that should ultimately have godly enjoyment, right? Okay, that's not like tons of cash and, you know, wicked sinful stuff and stuff. But look, God giveth us richly all things to enjoy. It's God that gives you what you will ultimately enjoy, right? He said in verse 18 that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. So this is still the charging those that are rich in this world, okay? He said to charge the wealthy to do good, to be rich in good works, ready to distribute. Now, you might be sitting there going, well, we don't have any of those multimillionaires in here, brother, yeah? I don't think we do, I don't know, trying to check the eyes here. Okay, I'm joking. But you know what, I've said this before, in many parts of the world people would consider us all rich, wouldn't they? Yeah, I think every single person here, you know, just the fact that we have more than many, you know, more than many areas of the world, people would consider us all rich, yeah? So again, it depends who you compare yourself to, but maybe if you're not kind of, you know, desperate for that food at the end of the day and stuff, maybe you're richer than many, right? Because there are people, there are still a lot of places in this world where people, it's not so easy for people, it can be tough, tough even to get like good clean water, tough to just get good, you know, to get healthy food. And look, he said, charge them to get rich in this world, we can apply this to all of us, he then said that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. Now, willing to communicate isn't to have a chat, by the way, it's to impart something, it's to give, okay? That's what it's talking about here. So to communicate something is to basically give, to impart something. So Timothy was told to tell wealthy people to basically be productive in what they have. Okay, to be productive in what you are given. Okay, so we are therefore rich in good work. All of you here that don't have to work maybe 80 hour weeks, 90 hour weeks, and some people do, yeah, some people just have to do like double jobs to be able to provide for a wife, to be able to provide for kids. Well, you know, we should therefore be rich in good works with that time. Yeah, you still need time for your family, I'm not saying, right, that's it, every hour for like, you know, soul winning or something else, but we should be rich in those good works, shouldn't we as well? We should be able to give, ready to distribute, okay? So ready to give of our abundance and ready to do, and it might not be, again, it's not like everything you've got above minimum wage, you need to throw it in the offering plate, guys. That's not what I'm talking about, but it might be that maybe, look, you have that extra money where you maybe can cut down on your hours a little bit at work. Maybe you don't have to do the second job, but use that for good, right? Yeah, use that for your family, use it for somebody, use it for church as well. Use it for doing good things, use it to be able to go and help someone. Well, actually, I'm self-employed, but you know what? I'm doing all right, and I could probably take that day off to go and help out brother so-and-so, sister so-and-so. It's not all about, like, any extra money, it's not all about money, right? He's talking about other things here, rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. And the thing is, look, this topic, it's not always easy to preach, is it? Money is an awkward topic to preach, isn't it? People just like, you can see, like, the antennas start going up, see, like, seeking cash, you know, or something. But the Bible does talk about it a bit, because it is a big part of our life, isn't it? But the other reason that he talks about it a bit is because it's for their own good. And I would say that's all of us. All of us, it's for our own good to be ready to give with our time, give with our resources, help people do all this stuff. Why? He said in verse 19, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against time to come that they may lay a hold on eternal life. He just said that you can't take anything up there. You can't take, but what you can do is you can earn rewards in heaven, can't you? You can lay in store for yourselves a good foundation against time to come. And you can also do that down here as well. You can lay a good foundation for your spiritual life. By turning away your focus on riches and putting it on the things of God. He said that they may lay hold on eternal life. And, look, if you're charging all of that, they also may lay hold on eternal life like we talked about before. Also, just get plugged in and get their hearts set on the right things as well. Just lay hold on eternal life, just focus on the things of eternity if you're putting away all of that, just chasing riches, being high-minded because the riches are all that, and you just focus on giving and being a part of what God wants you to be. He then said, O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings in oppositions of science, falsely so-called, which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen. The first Timothy was written from Laodicea, which is the chiefest city of Phrygia, Pacatiana. Now, he said to keep all these commands, all of this doctrine, and avoid the worldly and emptying babblings, basically. So, and there's a lot of worldly and empty babblings around, aren't there? Probably the obvious one that people would go to when we're talking about the so-called science, which is nothing of the sort, people obviously use this verse to preach against the Big Bang nonsense. And too, what a load of nonsense. Sometimes that needs preaching against. The billions of years nonsense. False science. False science. It ain't science. Science is observable, provable. It ain't science. It's faith. It's a belief system. But it's not the only false science out there, is it? That's the obvious false science out there, but there's many other false science out there. What about gender science right now? What is that stuff about? It's unbelievable. They're rewriting the whole thing. Oh, now we've got, anyone want to hazard a guess at what the latest numbers of genders apparently are? Hundreds. Hundreds? We're going with hundreds? Have I got higher? Anyone higher than a hundred? Three hundred. Three hundred. Anyone higher than three hundred? Infinity. Infinity. Sold to the man. Infinity gender. That sounds about right, actually. It probably are about infinity genders now, according to these absolute nut jobs out there. And what are they really doing? It's false science. It's even worse than that. I mean, that stuff is just absolutely ridiculous. But how many people actually buy into that? There are people out there that are literally grabbing hold of that and going, yeah, yeah. Jenny, you can't assume someone's jealous. What are you talking about? You know what? My wife's been telling me about this stuff for a while, and I don't really see much of it. I think she must have watched a couple of things there. The algorithm started just going up. She's like, you know what they're doing now? I was like, this has got to be nonsense. I would say to her, I think they're just like, just to put you in fear. I don't think people are really actually buying into this. Apparently they are. People are buying into this stuff. They're starting to go on about genders. I had something from a council. No, no, the council's going to be worse for you. I had something from the Southend Council. I think it was like, funnily enough, they were sending me, ever since we had the church before here, sending me these faith together newsletter things about, or trying to invite me to things with the priest and the rabbi. It was hilarious. I'm kind of tempted to go along just for the crack, yeah, and preach a real fiery sermon. But anyway, so they're sending this stuff, and then one of the more recent ones I got was likes to be known as, and then it was like, but it was like normal. It was like likes to be known as missus or miss or something. It's like, okay, why don't you just put miss? But that's what they put on the end of all their things now, don't they? Absolutely nuts. But that's the full science, isn't it, obviously? Oppositions of science falsely so-called. I think they do try and make it some new science. What about, like I said, full psychological science? So there's a lot of that stuff about, isn't there? Where people now are just trying to come out with all these new psychological terms for this and that and this, and often they're trying to obviously pin this new psycho-analysis label on someone or something else, but a lot of it's just completely unbiblical. Now if the Bible says it, great. Like the psychopath lines up with Romans 1, lines up with 2 Timothy 3. Yeah, great. But a lot of the other stuff doesn't. If you notice, they've got a way for everyone now, haven't they? It's like any normal kind of characteristic we can try to shoehorn into this new psychological profile. It's absolutely ridiculous. But it's oppositions of science falsely so-called. Here's another one, food science. Now that's an ever-changing science, isn't it? It changes all the time. Everyone's suddenly got the latest scientific expertise on food. They love it. And I've noticed with these people, because they used to work in gyms quite a lot, and they'd love to come out here. They'd just start coming out with a – and if you get in there and talk with them, and go, yeah, but come on, you know, that's a bit – oh, well, actually, when you look at the enzyme, and they try and basically bamboozle you with just some technical terms to kind of prove their knowledge, to prove that – but when you really break down what they're saying, a lot of times it's just a lot of nonsense. It's a load of old nonsense trying to prove that some completely unhealthy thing is actually healthy and good for you to have at this point, or that point, or anything else. Scientific evidence to spoon in the Bible. There's a bit of that around, isn't there? Oppositions of science falsely so-called. And the list is endless, really, isn't it? And there's stuffs everywhere. But if it lines up with the Bible, then great, right? If it doesn't, take it with a pinch of salt. Did Paul say, though, did Paul say study it, debate it, watch hours of debates, and you'll be able to beat them with their own false science? He didn't. He said avoiding. He just said avoid it. He said, oh, Timothy, keep that which is committed, I trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so-called. Just swerve it. You don't need to spend hours watching people proving the latest false science wrong because the Bible, and most of the time, they're not even saved. Most of the time, they're just talking a load of nonsense. I got sent something a while ago, or someone mentioned something, and I had a look at this guy. This guy was really intelligent. Some professor somewhere, and he was trying to prove the resurrection or something, and I kind of watched this briefly. I was like, this guy isn't right, yeah? And he's like going to all the evidences. It was kind of like the historical and scientific evidence of the resurrection, yeah? They're like, wow, you know? And then I thought, that's not what our faith is based on. Our faith ain't based on that. Our faith is based on the word of God, isn't it? So I then looked into this guy, and he was a professor. Anyone heard of this guy, Professor Habermas? Habermas or anything like that? He seems to be quite well-known in apologetics because he's so learned. He's such a scholar. So I went to this guy, and eventually I found some, and he doesn't have a clear statement of faith. I eventually went on a question and answer sing with him. Worked salvationist. You've got to give your life to Christ. You've got to repent of your sins. There's all this stuff, and it's just another one. And the thing is, people go, but wait a second, because he's done such a great job proving the resurrection. But then you've got all these people whose faith is based on some guy proving the resurrection. Oh, yeah, yeah, no. I believe because it's the intellectual choice. That ain't why you're saved. If you're saved, you're saved because you put your faith in Jesus Christ, not because you're so clever that you worked out what someone else was. And look, these guys are everywhere, and that guy, even, you know, his scientific evidence apparently proved the Bible. However, it still is not what we're told to go towards, is it? We don't need any of that. We need the word of God. And if you look, and if you're ever, you know, if you're ever just on that, if you're ever struggling in your face or something like that, you've got the word of God, not people trying to prove scientific evidence for creation. It's like, look, cool. Sometimes that stuff's interesting. Sometimes it's amusing. Put your focus in the word of God. Do you know what? If I have moments or hard moments, down moments, moments like that, you know, when I read this, when I read this, that's what strengthens me. That's like, that is amazing, isn't it? That word is amazing. And it ain't going and seeing something proving that, you know, actually, yeah, you know, God did create the world. It is only about six years. Well, you know, yeah, we kind of clocked that. I've worked that bit out in the first few verses of Genesis. All right, now give me something good. I'll tell you what, give me the word of God. How about you give me that? Anyway, avoid it, avoid it. And he said, he said, he said, in oppositions of science, falsely so called, which some professing have heard concerning the faith. And there are those that are safe, that are saved, that just, they just love this stuff. It's like, put away that stuff. They love all this, you know, oppositions of science and profane and vain babblings and all this extra biblical. It's like, just focus on the word, right? Focus on the word. He then said, grace be with thee. Amen. And that was 1 Timothy 6. I don't know about you guys. I like, I think that's a great book in the Bible. There's a lot in there. Look, you can probably expand loads of other bits that I haven't expanded. You know, keep reading through that, keep learning from that book. You know, such great for me, just such practical advice for what we are. It's still a new church, right, a new church. He's writing this to the pastor of, you know, who's a young pastor. So much you can learn from that. I hope that you guys, you know, got a lot out of the last, what was it, seven weeks in the end of that. We split chapter three and a two. On that, we're going to finish up in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for, well, you know, great, great instructions, such as in the book of 1 Timothy, Lord, I hope that I've, I just preached that in a way that you would have wanted it preached, Lord. I pray that we're all edified here, that we all go away and not just kind of move on from the messages and from those verses, those scriptures that, you know, you've spoken to us through. Just help us to really just cement them in our heart, Lord, to think about dwelling those things that you want us to dwell on, to make changes in our lives, Lord, as well, and to also just now get home safe and sound and to have a week where we put you at the centre of it, Lord, where we're just reading our Bibles, Lord, praying to you, you know, winning that battle against the flesh and trying to make it out soul-winning as well, Lord. We've got very soul-winning times here and days that help us to return on Wednesday for the soul-winning and service there and in Jesus' name, pray with us. Amen. .