Latest / Admonition Podcast / 1 Timothy 6 (Lesson 5) - Aaron Cozort - 10-19-2025
Transcript
- 0:04Ahem.
- 0:12Let's begin with a word of prayer.
- 0:15Our gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day that you've granted to us, the life that you have granted us.
- 0:23We're grateful for all that you do each and every day.
- 0:26We ask that you forgive us when we sin and fall short of your glory.
- 0:30We pray for this nation and we pray for its leaders.
- 0:34We pray for the nations throughout the world and their leaders.
- 0:37We pray that they make decisions that will lead to open doors of opportunity for the gospel to be preached throughout the world.
- 0:44Lord, we pray for peace, for the furtherance of the gospel.
- 0:49We also pray for boldness that we might speak the truth no matter what comes.
- 0:53Lord, we pray that your hand will be with those who are serving in mission fields throughout the world, who stand firm in the truth and are sound in the faith and who are
- 1:04working diligently in difficult places throughout the world.
- 1:08Especially, we pray for those who are under threat for their life as a result of the message that they preach.
- 1:15We pray that you will be with them and grant them protection and pray that you will also grant them opportunity.
- 1:24Lord, we pray that you be with us as we go through this morning.
- 1:29We pray that we might focus our minds and our attention on your Word and on your will and how we can apply those things to our lives.
- 1:37And may we grow closer to you each and every day.
- 1:40All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.
- 1:46In 1 Timothy chapter 6, has provided a...
- 1:55final admonition to Timothy as to how he is to live, how he is to the things he is to pursue, the things he is to flee.
- 2:05He has spoken concerning the confession of Christ, that is the confession that Christ made before Pontius Pilate, that he was the Son of God, that his kingdom was not of this world,
- 2:19that he was a king, and that his authority surpassed the authority of Pilate.
- 2:27But he also has described
- 2:32the nature of deity as the one who dwells in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see to whom be honor and everlasting power.
- 2:51Now, some would suggest, well, this must be talking about God the Father because
- 3:00uh no man has seen the Father.
- 3:04Well, except who then did Moses see?
- 3:10Do you remember when Moses was on the mountain?
- 3:12Moses desired to see God and God said, you'll see the backside of me, but not the front.
- 3:18So.
- 3:19How do we understand this statement?
- 3:22I don't want to go too deep into it or spend too much time on it, but how do we understand this idea of God who no man can see?
- 3:36What are we to understand from that?
- 3:51All right, so like very, very first step, number one, God is the spirit.
- 3:58God is not flesh and blood.
- 4:02He is not of the nature that we have, okay?
- 4:09That's number one.
- 4:11And as such, His,
- 4:15eternal nature, because that's exactly what John has, or what Paul has in focus here, the eternal nature of God and Christ are so significantly beyond our physical world.
- 4:34that when we see a manifestation of God in the sense of when the apostles or the prophets or the Old Testament uh leaders or prophets in their days saw a manifestation of God, it
- 4:50was
- 4:52so much in view of the glory, it was so significant that it either brought them to their knees, it was, you know, Moses, when he appeared before the burning bush, fell on his
- 5:03face.
- 5:04You had uh Joshua, when he sees the soldier and realizes who it is, he falls on his face.
- 5:11You have examples of individuals when they see God or they see a manifestation of God or even sometimes when they see an angel, they're so afraid that they immediately bow.
- 5:22down or they immediately fall in their faces though dead.
- 5:25All of these examples that we see.
- 5:30are still a limited experience of the nature of God.
- 5:39They are, and I think this is where Paul's point is and where the other passages points are where Jesus says no man has seen God, is that they have seen a manifestation of God's
- 5:52glory
- 5:54They have seen a manifestation of God's presence, but they have not and cannot stand and see God in His full unmitigated glory.
- 6:14We talked last Sunday about the fact that when John writes Revelation, he writes concerning the throne room of God there in Revelation chapter 4, and he writes the
- 6:28description of the one who sits on the throne, yet he doesn't describe the one who sits on the throne at all.
- 6:34He describes the glory emanating from the throne.
- 6:38He describes the beasts that are around the throne.
- 6:40He describes the elders that are around, but he doesn't describe the one who's on the throne.
- 6:45Just his glory.
- 6:47Just the manifest power that is there.
- 6:51Now, that whole picture is also derived from Ezekiel, where Ezekiel describes God and his throne.
- 7:03And yet again Ezekiel does not describe the one who sits on the throne other than his glory, his power.
- 7:11But all of this is still just a manifestation, a glimpse to the true nature of God.
- 7:24to which Paul says, when you're discussing the true nature and full nature of God in His dwelling place, he says, no man's seen that.
- 7:40No man has been that, been able to endure and experience that.
- 7:48So you have here,
- 7:52just one of those slight phrases that gives us an explanation of the limited glory that man had experienced in all of these interactions that we have described to this point.
- 8:07And it's telling us that, have you ever thought about, um
- 8:17Maybe this would be a good way to think about it.
- 8:19You've seen uh some of the visuals or some of the footage from years ago when they used to test nuclear bombs, right?
- 8:28And the light streaming, you know, they'd have the little view ports that they could see out into where things are being tested and sometimes you'd have the photographer capture a
- 8:39view of the people and this very bright light coming in through those view ports to the people who are inside.
- 8:47But the viewport they're looking through is so minimal for their own protection.
- 8:52If you could almost think about us in relationship to God that we're, every glimpse, every picture that we have of God is like looking through the little viewport, because that's
- 9:04all we can stand.
- 9:08That's all we can experience while in the flesh of the nature of God,
- 9:14is the slightest sliver, the slightest experience, the slightest knowledge of His true glory.
- 9:23Now watch this, 1 John chapter 3.
- 9:32If you were to think, no, wait a minute, surely someone like the Apostle John would have experienced, I mean, he walked with Christ, he was present when God spoke from heaven, he
- 9:45was present when God spoke from heaven on the Mount of Transfiguration, he was there when Jesus was transfigured, he was there when Christ died, he was there when Christ was
- 9:56resurrected, he was there when Christ descended, surely oh
- 10:00in the visions he was drawn up into heaven.
- 10:02If there's anyone who could describe the nature of God, it would be John.
- 10:10except in 1 John chapter 3, John writes, verse 1, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God.
- 10:22Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know him.
- 10:26Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be.
- 10:34He's talking about in eternity.
- 10:36He's talking about our existence in eternity.
- 10:40He says, has not yet been revealed what we shall be.
- 10:44John is writing, 1 John, 80, 70, 80, 68, if you give an early date to it, or a later date, 80, 80, 80, 88, somewhere around there.
- 10:56He's writing this decades after Jesus ascended back into heaven.
- 11:04and he's writing to the early church and he says we still don't know what we will be like in eternity.
- 11:16You're nearing the end of all miraculous revelation and all writing from the New Testament.
- 11:27And John says clearly, still don't know what we will be like.
- 11:32But, he says, we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as
- 11:46He is.
- 11:50John is telling us.
- 11:54as an elder, as an old man, as one of the aged apostles who was still alive, I don't have a clue what we will be like in eternity.
- 12:08But I know this, we will finally see God as He is.
- 12:22we will finally see the true nature of Christ.
- 12:32and we'll be like him.
- 12:37John is making it clear, as Paul is making it clear in these words, in these small statements, that our suppositions about what eternity are like, our ideas about what
- 12:53spiritual beings are like, our concepts of the nature of God are slivers of knowledge.
- 13:04and that what we long for and what we hope for and what we anticipate and what is promised to us is experiencing God as He is.
- 13:20We need to remember that while we're surrounded by people who through the centuries have brought forward their own visuals and concepts of eternity, that none of them are close.
- 13:42None of them are close.
- 13:47for the individual who writes Revelation and paints the only spiritual, divinely delivered picture of the very throne room of God says, I'll have a clue.
- 14:02what we're going to be like.
- 14:05That tells us that all the language there in Revelation is accommodative to our understanding.
- 14:12It's a picture to communicate to us because if it were described in true spiritual terms in the spiritual nature of the existence in heaven, we wouldn't understand it.
- 14:24We'd have no relationship to it.
- 14:27So it's given in our terms.
- 14:30when the four beasts are around the throne.
- 14:33I wouldn't expect when we get to heaven we're going to find a beast sitting there that's got a head of an eagle and a head of a lion.
- 14:41I don't think lions are in heaven.
- 14:43By the way, sorry for disappointment, but dogs aren't in heaven either.
- 14:48Cats aren't either.
- 14:51Horses aren't either.
- 14:54The point that we should be getting from this is not a disposition, well, and who knows what it'll be like, rather an anticipation of the vast glory yet unexperienced by
- 15:17humanity.
- 15:23Oftentimes people.
- 15:26think about eternity.
- 15:30And they think about the few passages that give us pictures into eternity, like when Jesus describes the events of the rich man in Lazarus.
- 15:43And yet, all those pictures that we have are accommodative to us.
- 15:52They're accommodative to our understanding.
- 15:55But they're also painting a understanding that there is a waiting period.
- 16:05until Christ's before those who are in eternity, even now, will experience the very presence of God.
- 16:19There's reason why all the pictures are consistent indicating that there's a waiting place for those who have already passed away.
- 16:32Where Paul describes that those who have died in advance of Christ's return will wait.
- 16:40They will not proceed or prevent the rest of us into eternity.
- 16:45Okay?
- 16:48So Paul is...
- 16:49reminding Timothy a couple of things.
- 16:53Number one, that our experience and our knowledge of God is miniscule.
- 17:03But when you understand that, and then you look at all the powers and mights and principalities and people who have such power that they can cause your life to be taken,
- 17:20and it means nothing to them, just a word, and your life is gone.
- 17:28we're to be reminded that that doesn't even begin to compare to the power of God.
- 17:36There's a reason why Jesus in Matthew chapter 10 says, not fear Him who can destroy the body.
- 17:47but rather fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.
- 17:53Jesus is saying all those people, all those authorities, all those kings, all those individuals of great power, their power is so limited it does not even begin to compare.
- 18:08to the power of God.
- 18:11And so, Paul is encouraging Timothy to continue making that good confession.
- 18:21All of this statement, all of this is in view of pursue righteousness, pursue godliness, make that continual confession that Christ is Lord and never waver from it.
- 18:34Because there is a king
- 18:37in eternity.
- 18:41who not only reigns, who not only has all authority in heaven and earth, who not only dwells in unapproachable light.
- 18:53but who specifically cares for you.
- 19:00You see, it's one thing to have a picture and an image of a great and an awesome God.
- 19:10But if that great and awesome God is not also personal, loving, caring, full of tender mercy and grace...
- 19:22then all you've created is a picture of a very, very dangerous presence.
- 19:32And yet that's not the picture of God.
- 19:35It's the picture of God when the psalmist writer says, is man that you are mindful of him?
- 19:45As the psalmist writer there in the psalm paints that picture of look at all of the things that God has created and done and all the things just in this physical universe that we
- 19:56experience and in view of that man is so inconsequential.
- 20:03So God, why do you care about man?
- 20:08And yet it is asked with the knowledge and the assumption that God does care.
- 20:14So when we view God, we are not to view him as the God who is separated from man.
- 20:26We are not to view God as the God who is so powerful that man
- 20:31could not possibly matter, rather we are to view God as the God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
- 20:46have everlasting life.
- 20:50That's the picture of God that we are to hold on to.
- 20:55Now, he says,
- 20:59command, verse 17, those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty.
- 21:07In chapter 6, his discussion has been on wealth, money, and riches, and warnings concerning them, and in this process of giving this admonition to Timothy about what
- 21:19Timothy's focus is to be on, he hasn't changed topics.
- 21:25He just described God who is so glorious and is so amazing that we have never even seen Him.
- 21:33Now he reverts back to, all right, now these people who have money.
- 21:40He says, command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty.
- 21:49Why is it important?
- 21:51Well, first of all, what does haughty mean?
- 21:55Prideful?
- 21:58Puffed up.
- 22:01It is the visual that I get with it is the strutting around of the rooster when he's in with the hens.
- 22:13He is the one.
- 22:16Look at me.
- 22:17Everybody look at me.
- 22:21And that's how too often the rich behave.
- 22:27There's a reason why there's a red carpet event for this thing and that thing and that.
- 22:33It's to where the rich can strut down the red carpet and be seen.
- 22:41Paul says, no, no, no, no.
- 22:44Not Christians who are rich.
- 22:46He says, you command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy.
- 23:04Paul, as he writes to Timothy, gives authority over the lives of rich people to a simple preacher.
- 23:19Have you ever thought about the fact that when Paul says command
- 23:27He is taking all those Christians who have wealth and he's actually making them subservient to the instructions of the minister.
- 23:39about their attitude toward their riches.
- 23:41Now he's not telling Timothy, Timothy all these people's riches are at your disposal, you tell them what to do with it.
- 23:49No, no, no, that's not what he told them to command.
- 23:51He told them to command them about how they are to behave towards it.
- 24:00He says, you command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty nor to trust in uncertain riches.
- 24:14So what's the difference between riches that are certain and riches that are uncertain?
- 24:27Okay.
- 24:31Okay, all physical riches are uncertain.
- 24:38How do we know?
- 24:39Matthew chapter 6.
- 24:41Turn back there.
- 24:42Matthew chapter 6.
- 24:48Paul is not bringing this point up out of nowhere.
- 24:51This is exactly what Jesus taught.
- 24:57Matthew chapter 6, beginning of verse 19, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal.
- 25:10What's that a description of?
- 25:11Uncertain, uncertain, uncertain, uncertain.
- 25:16says, not put your treasures there, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your
- 25:25treasure is, there your heart will be also.
- 25:29If they are not to place their trust in uncertain riches, then they are to place their trust in certain riches, and the difference between the two is the uncertain riches are
- 25:40earthly, the certain riches are eternal.
- 25:47to her faults.
- 25:50Gold is earthly.
- 25:53True or false?
- 25:58Therefore gold is not eternal.
- 26:02True!
- 26:07Paul is teaching Timothy to be forceful in his command toward those who are wealthy.
- 26:24Now usually by nature of circumstances in life and positions in life, you find that reversed.
- 26:34You find that those who should be the spiritual leaders start deferring to the thoughts and the opinions of those who are wealthy.
- 26:44They start humbling themselves to do whatever the wealthy person wants done, right?
- 26:51Hey, ah you're the big wig around here.
- 26:54You're the one with all the money.
- 26:56You're the one who makes sure the bills get paid.
- 26:58So since you're the rich person, whatever you say goes.
- 27:03Paul says, uh-uh, not happening.
- 27:07Rather, he tells Timothy, the young, to a degree inexperienced, just by nature of time of living,
- 27:19Preacher
- 27:23You command.
- 27:25You instruct.
- 27:28You set the mentality toward riches that these individuals are to have.
- 27:36And it's all about what do they put their trust in.
- 27:46When you go back over to Matthew chapter 6, what's the question that Jesus is continually putting forward?
- 27:53Why are you worried about what you shall eat, what you shall drink, what you shall wear?
- 28:01And his point is, when you look at the grass that grows, the flowers that are in the grass, when you look at the birds of the air, who takes care of them?
- 28:13Father does.
- 28:16Jesus even emphasizes that not one sparrow falls from the sky.
- 28:20God doesn't notice.
- 28:23So if you are concerned about all these worldly things, if your focus, your attention, and your trust is, you know what, when I have a certain dollar amount in the retirement
- 28:38account, then I know that my life will be secure.
- 28:45Paul says, uh you've put your focus in the wrong spot.
- 28:51Now, Paul is neither condemning the rich, nor is he condemning their planning for the future, nor is he condemning any attribute of making sure that people are provided for.
- 29:07He is condemning a trust in riches.
- 29:13He is commanding Timothy to command the rich to trust in God and not their wealth.
- 29:26When we get our focus on God, not on possessions, when we get our focus on, as Paul puts it, the living God and not this earth, then all of the things that we have become a
- 29:47resource for God.
- 30:13When you look at this back and forth between Christ and those who listen to him on a continual basis, you have, for instance, the man who comes to Jesus and says, tell my
- 30:29brother to split the inheritance with me.
- 30:33And Jesus said, who made me a judge in these matters?
- 30:38Jesus focuses
- 30:42his attention on a covetous heart.
- 30:48His attention on the fact that he is focused on physical matters, yet he is standing in front of the teacher who could deliver him spiritual riches.
- 31:01And all he's worried about is the money.
- 31:05you find the rich young ruler comes to Jesus, what do I need to do in order to obtain eternal life?
- 31:12And Jesus gives him the answer, but what's it going to cost him?
- 31:18every physical possession he has because he had great possessions.
- 31:28Now, Paul throughout this has warned over and over and over again about the love of riches and the desire for riches.
- 31:43Paul is making it clear to Timothy that this is a trouble area in the church.
- 31:52Turn to James chapter 2.
- 32:05James chapter 2 verse 1, My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.
- 32:12For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings and fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one
- 32:22wearing the fine clothes and say to him, You sit here in a good place, and say to the poor man, You stand there or sit here at my footstool.
- 32:31Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
- 32:37Listen, my beloved brethren, has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
- 32:48But you have dishonored the poor man.
- 32:51Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?
- 32:58Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
- 33:03If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scriptures, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well.
- 33:11But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
- 33:21James, as he writes to the church, knows the struggle that exists within even the body of Christ, that they would be willing to show deference to a rich person and dishonor a poor
- 33:37person just because they both walked through the door.
- 33:44Is James saying that there is not an appropriate way to act towards dignitaries and to those who are in authority and that we shouldn't act appropriately towards them, we should
- 34:00be dismissive of their position?
- 34:03No.
- 34:05When Paul appeared before Agrippa and Festus and others, did Paul
- 34:13poo-poo their positions, ah you're not important.
- 34:17Did he do that?
- 34:18No, he called him most noble festus.
- 34:25He gave them the honor that their position warranted.
- 34:30That's not what's being talked about here.
- 34:34This is a disposition of individuals to say, wow, did you see that car that that guy just drove up in?
- 34:42And he comes out and he's wearing a $4,000 suit and ring on every finger.
- 34:49This guy's got some money.
- 34:50We need to get him in this congregation.
- 34:56And here comes the guy from down the street walking because he doesn't have a car.
- 35:05And when he gets to the door, he didn't smell all that good either.
- 35:10And he's unkept.
- 35:12Because, well, you you walk outside in the wind today and you walk for a foot or two and you're gonna be unkept.
- 35:20And he walks in the door and everybody kind of, sit over there.
- 35:29James says, no, you don't.
- 35:32James says the very act of doing that is sin.
- 35:37you've committed since.
- 35:40Why is the very act of acting towards and behaving towards people that way sin?
- 35:52That's right.
- 36:14We have become, as James puts it, judges of evil.
- 36:24We have judged with a judgment that is the antithesis of the very nature and character of God.
- 36:34That is to judge without partiality.
- 36:38Now what if one man had come in and you said, now I know the reputation of that guy and he opposes Christians everywhere they go.
- 36:53He beats them?
- 36:54he imprisons them, he brings them before judges.
- 37:02I'm staying as far away from that guy as possible.
- 37:08because I know his reputation of his actions.
- 37:12And here comes another guy and he's not reacted towards Christians that way.
- 37:19And you show deference to that individual versus that one.
- 37:22Have you judged evil thoughts?
- 37:26No.
- 37:27Which is, by the way, the reason why we don't have a harsh condemnation of the apostles or those in Jerusalem when Saul of Tarsus shows up claiming to be a Christian.
- 37:42Because they knew what he had done.
- 37:44And they weren't altogether certain about this guy, except there was one individual who judged differently.
- 37:52Who was it?
- 37:54Part of us.
- 37:57Barnabas said, I'll put my reputation on the line for this man.
- 38:01And he brought him into the presence of the apostles.
- 38:07One is characterized by uncertainty but people's actions.
- 38:15One is described by you see them and you attribute their physical riches to be an indication of their character.
- 38:26and physical riches are not.
- 38:29Yes.
- 39:00Did not.
- 39:07Absolutely.
- 39:08So that picture comes from Revelation chapter 2 concerning Laodicea, this very wealthy city, this very wealthy church, that they thought of themselves as they had everything.
- 39:19And God says, you have nothing.
- 39:21You're destitute, you're poor, you're blind, you're naked.
- 39:23You're all those things you think you're not, because spiritually that's what you are.
- 39:28And then you have Philadelphia, Smyrna, which is a very poor, it was a very poor location, it was a very poor city in first century Roman culture.
- 39:38It was one that had nothing really going for it and a church that was there that was already struggling.
- 39:46Yet John writes to them that they are rich.
- 39:49because they are rich in spiritual matters.
- 39:52So, Paul says here in verse 17, command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all
- 40:02things to enjoy.
- 40:03Let them do good that they be rich in good works.
- 40:10The idea of let here is not a allow.
- 40:16This is a continuation of the command.
- 40:19He's instructing them first, here's their disposition that they are to have towards their riches.
- 40:25Second, here are their actions that they are to have with their riches.
- 40:30He says, you are to have them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that
- 40:46they may lay hold on eternal life.
- 40:51True or false?
- 40:53We will all be judged for what we do in this life.
- 40:58True.
- 41:00True or false?
- 41:01Those who have great resources and abundance and benefits in this life will be judged based upon whether they use those things for God.
- 41:16True.
- 41:18Does the person who has nothing get judged the same way?
- 41:24They get judged the same way, but they don't have the same responsibility.
- 41:33It is important for us to realize that with everything God blesses us with comes responsibility.
- 41:41The more blessings, the more responsibility.
- 41:46The greater the weight of the responsibility.
- 41:50And so it is important for us to realize that those who God says, here, use the example from the talents.
- 42:00Here's the man, the servant who the king puts five talents in his hands.
- 42:05Is he going to hold him to a different level of accountability than the one with one talent?
- 42:12Are they both accountable for their talents?
- 42:14Yes, but the king has placed more in his hand.
- 42:17What happens when he now doubles it and now he has 10 talents?
- 42:20and then he has 11 talents.
- 42:22Is he going to have the same responsibility with five that he now has with 11?
- 42:27No, he's going be held to greater responsibility.
- 42:30Why?
- 42:30Because he has more entrusted into his hand.
- 42:34Are elders judged the same way that a person who's just become a Christian a month ago is judged?
- 42:42We know that's not the case.
- 42:44Why?
- 42:45Because one group has a greater responsibility that has been placed in their hands.
- 42:52Now at the end of the day, we're all going to be judged for what we do.
- 42:56So Paul is telling Timothy, you're there in Ephesus.
- 43:01By the way, that indicates to us that there were rich people in the church in Ephesus.
- 43:06There were wealthy people in the church in Ephesus.
- 43:09And Paul is telling Timothy, you there in Ephesus, you command those in that church who are rich to be active in good works, to be benefiting those who are in need.
- 43:25He says they are to be ready to give.
- 43:28They are to be willing.
- 43:30to share, which also indicates that likely there at Ephesus they had those who were very rich and there were those who were destitute.
- 43:44Paul tells Timothy, you command them to first have the right attitude.
- 43:51Then you command them to do the right thing.
- 43:56And then he says, when they do that, they will have transferred.
- 44:04They're uncertain riches to assure foundation in eternity.
- 44:12There is an exchange rate that exists in this world between physical riches and eternal riches.
- 44:22and it's called giving.
- 44:26that when we give out of a benevolent spirit, out of a trust for God, not to be seen of men, because Jesus makes it clear, if you give to be seen of you have what reward?
- 44:42what you just experienced, right there, that's it.
- 44:45That's all you're But rather when you give to not be seen of men.
- 44:54You're storing up riches.
- 44:59We were talking just a few weeks ago, a conversation there in the back, and I read in a biography of a preacher in, I think, the early 1900s, maybe the early 1900s, and rather
- 45:19well-known, but always poor.
- 45:26And uh it was said concerning him that one of the struggles that his family had is he was willing to give away anything to anybody who needed it.
- 45:39But it was also said of him that he had set a goal, now bear in mind, early 1900s, that he had set a goal to store up in eternity $50,000.
- 45:56In other words, he had a goal in his life to give away $50,000 as a poor preacher.
- 46:02And so when he had access to money, he'd find somebody who needed it.
- 46:07But the way that he thought about it is, I'm going to put these treasures where they're actually going to matter, and that's in eternity.
- 46:19And there's times in our lives where we need to be thinking that way.
- 46:26We need to be moving out of the abstract idea of we need to be benevolent or we need to be giving and into a real question of how are we planning for eternity?
- 46:45How are we acting now to set plans for eternity?
- 46:52We're going to close the book.
- 46:55Paul writes, Timothy, guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.
- 47:08By professing it, some have strayed concerning the faith.
- 47:14Grace be with you.
- 47:15Amen.
- 47:17As Paul closes this letter to Timothy, he reminds him this battle's not going to be easy.
- 47:25your actions as a teacher, as an instructor, as one who's put, as one who has had these things put in your hands.
- 47:33It's gonna be easy.
- 47:35It's not gonna be easy.
- 47:37It's going to be one you're going to have to guard against these pitfalls.
- 47:42All of these are things which previously we've already discussed in the book.
- 47:46He just brings them back up.
- 47:48Don't forget the warning.
- 47:50Don't forget, people will try and sidetrack you.
- 47:53Don't forget.
- 47:54people will claim to have knowledge didn't originate with God.
- 48:01If it didn't originate with God, it's false knowledge because it does not accord with the word of God.
- 48:11Thank you for your attention and that will be a conclusion of First Timothy.