Good Confession

In this life, there are those who make a profession of faith, who are baptized, then who completely walk away from the truth.

In this passage, Paul is exhorting Timothy, don’t be like that.

Don’t be someone who proves by your the fruit in your life, that the confession you made wasn’t good, but was a lie.

The question we will be covering, is how do we know that when we profess Jesus as Lord, that it was a good confession?

v.12

Timothy, before many had made a profession. A statement that Christ was his Lord.

Most of us have made a similar commitment. Where we have stood before other believer and have said that “I believe in Jesus and am going to serve him as my Lord.”

With this statement comes a commitment.

A lifestyle change.

That we will serve Jesus as Lord. That we will seek His will and not our own.

To that end, Paul gives this exhortation!

Fight the good fight

This world is a battle field between the children of God and the children of Satan.

This war is both physical, and spiritual.

Upon making a profession, you entered the fight. Don’t give up on what you had started.

To which you were called

Paul is pointing out that it is God who has drawn us to himself.

It is God who has saved us.

For by grace you have been saved, It is not of yourselves but a gift of God so that no one can boast.

Salvation is moergistic.

Sanctification is synergistic.

Salvation is all of God.

We were dead and he gave us new life.

A dead man has no will.

Growing in the holiness of God is both God working in us, and us battling the flesh. Working towards a holy life.

This is why Timothy is called to battle.

Timothy is being reminded, God chose you, not for your great deeds, but according to God’s intended purposes. LIVE FOR HIM! Fight the good fight. Recognized you have been transferred from the domain of darkness, live for the kingdom of light.

Take Hold

Timothy was facing false teachers in the church, and people trying to destroy the work that God had begun through the apostle Paul.

Paul is telling Timothy, “don’t let them beat you down. Hold onto the call that God has placed on your life.

How do we hold fast?

Hebrews 10:23-25

Hold fast, to the confession of our hope.

What is our hope in? Remembering that Christian hope isn’t ethereal, it isn’t lacking substance.

Hope is a confident expectation, knowing what is to come, and laying hold of it, knowing that our expectation is placed in the promises of God who never lets us down.

Hope is Abraham as he looked at the sky and God told him I will make your descendants like the stars in the sky. And Abraham believed that God would accomplish what He promised.

We also encourage one another. Strengthening one another to hold on through the difficulties that are in this life.

God has given us one another to face the difficulties in this life.

Men, God has given you other men to work together in a common mission.

Women, God has given you other women to build communities with and gifts to draw people together relationally.

God has also given us spouses, who are usually opposite of us. To work together with for the growth of the kingdom to the glory of God.

We also take hold by remembering what we are striving for.

Philippians 3:13-15

Philippians 3:13–14 ESV

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

We press on towards the goal. We keep the end in sight.

When mothers go through labor, they go through an extreme amount of pain.

What makes the difficulty of labor worth it, is that they get the baby in the end.

Are we free of difficulties in this life? NO!

But we continue to press forward, remembering that on earth we are striving for a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

When we invite someone over for dinner, we are encouraging them on towards glory.

When we discipline our kids, we are training the affections of those who will shape the world.

We remember that in the in end, our prize and inheritance isn’t in this world, but in glory.

recap

We hold fast by remembering the hope that we have.

We hold fast by remembering the goal, the prize we are striving for.

The practical ways that we maintain a good confession

Flee

v.11

Don’t play with sin

Sin’s desire is to kill you.

If you had a child playing with a venomous snake, would you warn them to be real careful while playing with that snake, or would you tell them to get rid of it?

In the same way, remove yourself from the sin that so easily entangles you.

There are certain sins that we can flee from. Like Joseph when he avoided sexual immorality by fleeing the house to escape from Potiphar’s wife.

But there are sin’s that are in the mind such as pride, anger, lust, envy. These we can’t easily run away from, but must conqueror.

For, though these sins are crimes against God, if we don’t deal with them, they will be worked out by our hands in horrible way.

Envy begets theft, hatred begets murder, lust begets adultery

For the sins we can’t so easily flee, we must learn to overcome.

Genesis 4:7

Genesis 4:7 ESV

If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

God gives a warning to Cain.

Sin’s desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.

When God placed Adam in the garden, his mandate was to take dominion. He was to rule over the plants and the animals.

After the fall, not only does he have difficulty ruling over those things. But we see with Cain, man can’t even rule over himself.

Romans 6:12-14

When Jesus came, he came to destroy the power that sin had over us, so that sin will no longer rule, or have dominion over us.

We not believe that you will never sin again, we still will sin. But now through the work of the Holy Spirit, you have strength to resist it.

Don’t let sin rule you

Don’t let sin have control over you.

This is the blessing that God has given us, we are not under the law, we are under grace.

God’s unmerited favor has been given to you through the work of Jesus Christ.

By Him, even if we do make mistakes, if we do sin. It has been paid for.

More than that, God’s regenerating work has been done in you. For the miracle that Ezekiel 36:26 speaks of has occured in your life. God has removed your heart of stone, and has given you a heart of flesh.

That heart of stone couldn’t obey Him, that didn’t desire to obey the laws of God. God has put His Spirit within us to cause us to obey His rules.

When Paul says flee. He is saying don’t let sin reign in you, let Christ reign in you.

Don’t play with sin and try to see how close you can walk to that line.

Pursue

True Pauline fashion, not just stop doing this, but do that.

When God reigns in our lives, what should it look like?

Righteousness

Do we believe that God is the highest authority in the universe?

When I was a kid, I went to VBS. I had a teacher that I didn’t think should be in charge, so I wouldn’t do what she said.

Did my belief that she shouldn’t be in charge change the fact that she was in charge?

No, but that didn’t stop me from disobeying what she said.

Do we really believe that God is the highest authority in the universe?

When we disobey the law of God, we are saying you don’t have the authority to tell me what to do.

I am going to do what I think is best and be a law unto myself, this is what the bible calls lawlessness.

Righteousness, is the opposite of this. It is being conformed to God’s law.

Our lives should declare that He is king.

Pursuing righteousness is the pursuit of coming under God’s law.

Godliness

An action, devotion towards God. Piety

True piety that is manifest by behaving in a way that honors God.

Whether that is church, prayer, reading your bible, training your children the way they should go, doing your best at work, or the way do the dishes.

Godliness is doing all things to the glory of God.

Faith

A firm persuasion or conviction.

True faith, true belief will result in action.

This is the belief that results in piety and conforming to the law of God.

Love

Affectionate regard that results in doing what is best for an individual.

Not what they think is best, but what I know is best.

They might want to eat candy for all meals, out of love I would prohibit that.

Steadfastness

Endurance and patience through a situation.

Gentleness

Meekness

Controlled strength.

Being gracious and kind to those who are in need.

Wrath towards the sin of man, as demonstrated by our Lord Jesus.

We must learn to pursue what is good, glorious, and beautiful.

I Charge You

v.13-14

Paul ends this exhortation to Timothy with a charge.

Keep the command unstained.

The command is probably the system of ethical living that Paul has been laying out to Timothy in the duration of this passage.

The issues of personal discipline and official duties with how the church is to be run.

Paul is telling Timothy, to keep the good confession; implement and obey these words.