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[91:04] Thank you. Thank you. We're... We're... Thank you.
[91:17] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. look you... And you...
[91:29] Thank you... look... but we are talking about people who claim to be Christians. Based off of what we just walked through regarding our own disposition as men and women in Adam from birth, we are full of love for this world and is the sanctification process of our lives that will further reposition our hearts and minds to the heavens, to his law, to him, Jesus Christ.
[92:02] However, as time passes, our journey towards righteousness will be tempted by the deceiver. Satan will use the powers, the beauty, the strife, and all mechanisms of this world to keep us chained to it.
[92:20] This is what Paul is warning Timothy about in these verses, and it is still very prevalent today. When trials and temptations arise, if we're not deeply rooted in his word, we may fall prey to prioritizing our own passions, our own desires, our own wants, and begin gravitating towards those who are saying the things we desperately want to hear.
[92:48] We'll bend on the beliefs we once had and surrender to the enticing sounds of political figures, news and radio hosts, or even pastors who claim to have the answers, who claim that you don't deserve what is happening to you, that your wife, that your child, that your husband, that your parents don't deserve what's happening to them, that you deserve a better job, that you deserve prosperity now, that God didn't mean for your life to be this hard.
[93:27] They'll fill your head with words of emotionalism, empty promises and lies, all the while weaving in Scripture, perverting his holy law, his ordinances, and his promises to bend them towards your own human desires.
[93:42] We're seeing this played out in real time today. Anyone can do a quick search of the biggest churches, the ones with the most Instagram followers, the highest pastors currently in the United States, and we can watch their messages.
[94:04] They're beautiful people telling beautiful lies. Let us consider Isaiah chapter 30, verses 8 through 11.
[94:16] When Jewish ambassadors were on their way to Egypt to seek aid from Assyria, Isaiah denounces this reliance on Egypt rather than the reliance on God, the God who had set them free.
[94:28] They're on the brink of going against his word that prohibited such alliances with these heathen nations. And it was a leading part of Jewish society, of Jewish politics, that they should be a separate people, according to Exodus 23 and Deuteronomy 7.
[94:48] But let us read Isaiah, starting at verse 8 in chapter 30. And now go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.
[95:04] Write it down, Isaiah. We're going to use this to keep them accountable. For they are rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instructions of the Lord.
[95:23] who says to the seers, do not see, and to the prophets, do not prophesy to us what is right.
[95:36] Speak only smooth things. Prophesy illusions. Don't tell us what God wants us to do.
[95:49] Don't tell us what his truth is. We only want the milk. We only want the honey. We want the soft sayings. Tell us what we want to hear. Tell us that our sins are okay.
[96:01] Lie to us. They continue to say, leave the way.
[96:12] Turn aside from the path. Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel. Leave the way.
[96:23] For we know there is the only one way. There is only one truth to the life. There is only one gate on that narrow path.
[96:39] Solus Christus. You see, church, God is perfect in love, grace, and long-suffering, and he will always keep his promises.
[96:50] The very words spoken in Isaiah show that our God doesn't change and is applicable to all the age, whether it is Paul, Timothy, all the saints that came thereafter to today.
[97:07] He has given us his word, his law, his prophets, and his son to bring us closer to him, but we still are swayed. We can see that this world is looking desperately for answers, and they continually, year after year, prop up these figures who tell them that if only they did this, or if they pray this, or donate to this, then they will be able to ask God for anything they want.
[97:33] And if they pray hard enough, and they are faithful enough, then it will come true. That our almighty God is the celestial genie in the sky, and we can command him with our prayers, with our tithings, and with our works.
[97:51] What happens when they don't come true, or when our prayers don't answer, aren't answered in the ways we think they should be answered? What then?
[98:04] What happens to their faith? What happens to your faith? These effects are not only seen in the church, but it also has an effect on others when we try to witness to them about the love of Jesus Christ.
[98:25] Our world is so quick to point the finger to these quack leaders. Just look at them in their millions of dollars, their works, and they point to the hypocrisy, the scheming, the lies.
[98:40] All of this is a distraction to what really matters. The birth, life, work, death, resurrection, and dominion of Jesus Christ.
[98:54] Christ. We must remember. We must endure. We must be non-indulgent of these myths, these lies. We must evangelize the truth, and we must be a witness for Christ.
[99:08] Which leads me to my final part, our response. We see in today's final verse that Paul is providing Timothy and us a prescription on how we as heralders of the truth as Christians are to respond, come what may.
[99:32] That as for you, Timothy, as for you, church, we must be sober-minded that we must have a clear mind and not give way to any of the perversions others around us might be gravitating towards.
[99:49] We must see what this world has to offer us and say no to it because we have been set apart by God and should all be striving for a higher calling.
[100:02] That the things of this world are unreasonable. As a Christian, we should be basing our trust and faith in our Creator who has never broken a promise versus the many failures of man and the promises of this world.
[100:17] world. It is scandalous for a Christian that if we still grasp onto the things of this world and still claim to be a Christian, then what are we?
[100:28] Are we just giving lip service to a profession, to religion? What about your relationship? What about your faith? Do you just come here on Sundays to church because your friends are here?
[100:43] Do you just pray because everyone else is praying? Do you join a Bible lab group to read the Bible just to show that you can read the Bible?
[100:56] Are you learning? Are you edifying? Are you growing closer to Him? Are you being changed by Him? It is also utterly dangerous and is of a damning nature that endanger us and drowns the soul in hell.
[101:15] We can look back to what Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 6, verse 9. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
[101:33] Because it is the devil's trap and will lead to apostasy. The lies and the deception of Satan will continue to use this world by presenting one thing or another that is beautiful to our eyes, to our ears, to our tastes, or to our opinions.
[101:53] Only to leave us trapped in this world and place our priorities at the equal footing to our almighty God.
[102:03] God, we must be in the Bible as much as we can so that in these moments when they arise, we are open and are able to be corrected by his word.
[102:16] are you in his word enough to be corrected? Or do you believe since you're a Christian and you read a little bit of the Bible and then whatever you feel or whatever you think must be true, must be right because you're a Christian?
[102:38] Or are you basing it off of his word? that we must endure suffering, that the trials ahead, the pain, the suffering, the loss of the job, the humiliation cast on us from the masses, the prognosis of a loved one, the loss of a father, a mother, a child, we must keep the faith.
[103:01] So we are always of good courage, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We may not know why these things are happening, but if we keep the faith and we are completely and utterly relying upon him, then that day when we finally see glory and we see his face, all the pain, all the suffering, all the trials and tribulations will be wiped from our eyes and it will be revealed to us his plan, the majestic tapestry of the great I am.
[103:32] For the plans he has for us, he has declared as a plan to prosper us and not to harm us, but plans to give us hope and a future. That hope and future is Christ alone for all of eternity reunited with him where there is no more harm, no more war, no more illness, no more pain, and no more death.
[104:04] Now that's prosperity. Now church, don't get me wrong, don't go home and believe what I'm telling you here today is for you to become a hermit, to despise everything and everyone, no.
[104:19] For our God did create this world for us and we are to love the Lord your God with all of our heart and with all of our souls and with all of our mind. This is the greatest and first commandment and the second is just like it.
[104:34] We shall love our neighbors as ourselves. Right? So we shouldn't be casting off the world and have nothing to do with it but instead our relationship with it must be to glorify God.
[104:49] So whether you eat or you drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. God. Therefore, for Christ, we remember to use all the things for the end that God has made them.
[105:07] We endure in our walk with God and make use of the world to answer God's call. We are not going to indulge the world but keeping our affections for it in check.
[105:21] We evangelize and continue to use the things of the world to promote spiritual good in ourselves and others. And we witness to others and aim at the public good in our ministry.
[105:38] And we must keep the good of creation in its proper perspective by placing God, the greatest good, second to none.
[105:49] God. So if we truly love him, we must also keep his commandments. We must continue to spread the good news.
[106:00] We must evangelize. evangelize. We have to carry out our ministry, Timothy. Carry out your ministry, church, to its fulfillment, to the glory of our God and Messiah, Jesus Christ alone.
[106:20] Let us carry on despite the evilness that plagues our eyes and minds to serve the Lord, that we may continually direct our attention to him and not this world and fervently and boldly declare as they did in Joshua 24, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
[106:45] For whoever loves him will be loved by the Father. And Christ will love us and manifest himself to us. we all get the opportunity to have these conversations humbly, boldly, and winsomely with the rest of the world to point them to Christ.
[107:05] So that he may save them from the world and to show them who they truly are and how much they are truly loved.
[107:17] Now there might be some of you who are sitting here today that feel conflicted. Good.
[107:29] Because the evidence is clear. There is only one way to the Father and it's the love for Jesus Christ. That despite our transgressions passed on to us by Adam and the multitude of those who've been warned time and time again, our God in his long suffering and grace, sent his only begotten son to bear our sins and receive the wrath we all deserve.
[107:54] Through his perfect life, death, resurrection, ascension, and dominion of the world, we place our faith and hope utterly in him.
[108:07] This world is lost. This world will not satisfy your soul. This world will continue to let you down. But there is good news.
[108:22] Because despite everything you've ever done or you will ever do, our God has provided a way to be reunited with him. Hear these words.
[108:33] Jesus loves you. His love will completely renew you, change you, and by hearing these words, you may want to know more. You may have more questions, and to that I rejoice, for he is doing a great work in you.
[108:49] And if that is the case, please talk to any of the pastors. We would love to talk and pray with you. Before we end today, I would like to leave you with two things.
[109:03] first, some of you may be asking, what came of Timothy in the church of Ephesus, where he was the pastor? Well, we only need to look ahead to Revelation 2, where John writes to the church in Ephesus, I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.
[109:42] Sounds pretty good, right? He continues, but I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you first had.
[109:57] The first love, church, is Jesus Christ. Let us not forget our first love in this journey that lies ahead of us. Second, the story I read to Ryland and Eliana.
[110:17] If you were paying attention, I didn't reveal the story. what that story actually was. And the story that caused an insurmountable amount of boredom was Robin Hood.
[110:34] And I won't go through what this actually says, because it's Old English, and I have a lisp anyway. I'll probably muddle through all of this. And the story goes, though, is that there is this king of England, King Richard, the Lionheart.
[110:52] He has left this kingdom to fight in the Crusades. And as a result, his brother, Prince John, schemes and takes the throne by force. Names himself Regent of England and persecutes anyone who is still loyal to the rightful king.
[111:10] Afraid for their livelihood, many join Prince John. But Sir Robin of Locksley resists and quickly becomes an outlaw.
[111:24] Everything is taken from Robin. And instead of following suit with the shifting in society, he remains, he remembers his king and gathers a group of men to battle against John and the rest of his men at Nottingham Castle.
[111:43] As time passed, word of Prince John's battles with the king, I'm sorry, Prince John's battles with the king, the king's loyalists, were brought to Richard on the battlefield.
[111:59] And he returned with an army of knights disguised in cloaks as monks. While riding back to Nottingham, the king was found in Sherwood Forest by none other than the loyalist Robin Hood and his merry men.
[112:17] However, King Richard refrained from revealing who he was. Remaining in disguise, he wanted to ensure that Robin Hood and his men were true loyalists.
[112:33] It wasn't until that Prince John, learning of the king's return, the king's return, ordered men to capture and execute his brother.
[112:44] That Robin Hood tells his men to find the king, to go out far and wide to protect him and bring him safely home. It is at that moment when King Richard sees this heart, this bravery, this loyalty, that he takes off his cloak, standing in the middle of all of Robin Hood and his men to reveal the seal, the royal seal over his armor.
[113:18] Robin Hood and everyone else looked in awe and amazement as the king's return and revelation was shown to them.
[113:29] They immediately bowed and knelt and said, my king, let us all strive for righteousness until our death or his return to remain loyal throughout our life, to remember, to endure, to not indulge, to evangelize and witness for Christ.
[114:03] Soli Deo Gloria, let us pray.