Sunday Morning Service 8:30AM- Be Diligent - Pastor Ryan

All right, well, good morning, church families. Good to see everybody. Glad you're here. Glad you can make it out this morning. If you want to stand with us, we'll pray and we'll get started.

Lord, we just thank you for another day. Thank you for another opportunity, Lord, to be here in your house this morning, God. Lord, as always, we just ask your blessing upon this time. Lord, help us to focus on you and to lavish praise upon you this morning, God. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.

And yes, Lord God, your presence in a thousand elsewhere. God, we just want to spend some time to be in your presence, to be in Christ alone. Burn through the fiercest drought and storm this land. Once he kisses the power of Christ, first Christ.

Go ahead and stand with me.

When the music fades, stepped away, I have simply come.

Worship you this morning, God, and now as past. Pray that you would overflow him, Lord, with you. Lord God, we ask your Holy Spirit. We ask you to come and rest on this place this morning. Come move mightily in our lives. God, change us, mold us into your image, Lord God. And Father, we love you and we praise you and we thank you. And all God's people said, amen.

Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seats. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements here.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A handful of things to take note of in your bulletin. As usual, everything on the left-hand side is back in action this week. Hopefully you had a great week of festivities here in Arc City. In the middle section, some things to take note of. Ladies, just a reminder that there's a new Joyful Life Ladies Bible Study starting soon.

And the sign-up is out there in the lobby. Also, another reminder that your Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, which, by the way, the packing party clearly was successful. Because that is an incredible number of boxes. And that's not even all that are coming from you all. So, just a reminder that your boxes are due November the 16th. And then some things that are not in your bulletin.

There is time change next weekend. So, for the handful of you that you're... For the handful of you whose clocks don't automatically change for themselves, don't forget to set your clocks for the rest of us. That's going to be taken care of for us. If you are a part of the cleaning team, or about to be a part of the cleaning team, there will be a meeting following second service.

She wanted me to remind you of that. And then also, out on the table by where you got your bulletin, there is the rough draft of the directory. So, if you could go find your beautiful picture and make sure that all of your information is correct in that, that would be great. That way we get your... Make sure your name is spelled correctly. All the stuff is there.

So, go check that out. After the service, and those will be coming out soon. So, those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 146. Psalm 146. For this part, again, looking at the New American Standard. If you need a copy, there should be one around you.

And as you are turning to Psalm 146, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word. I will read the odd verses, if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 146. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord while I live. I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Do not trust in princes and mortal man in whom there is no salvation.

His spirit departs. He returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish. How blessed is he whose help is the God of the world. The God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God. Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. Who keeps faith forever. Who executes justice for the oppressed. Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free.

The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises up those who are bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord protects the strangers. He supports the fatherless and the widow. He supports the widow. The Lord will reign forever. Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord. And Father, we do praise you this morning. Just for everything of who you are.

And so, Lord, I pray that as we spend time in your word this morning, that your spirit would move as you see fit through this place. Father, bring the conviction where we need it and the instruction where we need that, Lord. And so, continue to grow us. Continue to draw us near to you. And may your word go out with power. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated.

And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2.

Well, we're continuing on with final words from a faithful servant. And so far, he has told Timothy, first of all, that he needs to guard the treasure. The treasure of God's word that he has been entrusted with, he needs to guard that. The second thing that he told him that he needed to do is he needed to be strong, in particular in the grace of the Lord, but in a multitude of other things as well.

And so, as we come to the middle of chapter 2, he brings us the third lesson, the third statement that he gives us as far as final words from a faithful servant. He tells Timothy to be diligent. Be diligent. So, we pick up in verse 14, and it says this. Remind them of these things and solemnly charge them in the presence of God, not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness. And their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection, has already took place, and they have upset the faith of some.

Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands. Having this seal, the Lord knows those who are his, and everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness. Now, in a large house, there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared for every good work.

Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind, kind to all. Able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth.

And they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. Be diligent. Five things Paul is going to tell Timothy about what it means to be diligent. The first thing that he tells him is he tells him that to be diligent, you must stay focused. To be diligent, you must stay focused. The first thing he says in verse 14,

he says, remind them of these things. Remind them of these things. And of course, as always, you should ask yourself, what are these things he's supposed to remind him of? Well, he's supposed to continually remind them of the things that he has just told them. First of all, about being strong, but in particular, the direct context is verses 11 through 13. It says this, it's a trustworthy statement.

If we died with him, we will live with him. That's a great deal of hope. If we endure, we will also reign with him. That's motivation. If we deny him, he will deny us. That's warning. If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. That's peace. He tells him, remind them of these things. Not only the hope, the motivation, and the peace,

but the warning. The warning. Remind them of gospel truth. And that word remind is in the tense in such that it means make it a regular practice. Make it a regular practice to remind them of these things. And I will tell you the same thing that I told you before. When it comes right down to it, the first couple of years of being a Christian, there's a lot of new learning.

Maybe the first handful of years, you learn a lot of brand new things. But from that point on for the rest of your walk, most of your walk with Jesus Christ is just continual. Continually being reminded of the things that you have been taught. Have you noticed how often the Bible repeats itself? It repeats itself over and over again. You know why? Because we are people who forget easily.

You know how I know that? I can prove that to you. Because I can put something in the bulletin in this church for three weeks in a row, and that event will happen. And you know what will happen after that event takes place? Inevitably some, if not many of you, will come to me and say, I really wish you would have announced that event. I really wish you would have put that event in the bulletin.

That way I know that it's true. That way I knew it was happening. And I'll say, you mean like this? If I would have put it in there for three weeks in a row and announced it and put it out on a flock note, is that what you mean by you wish I would have put it in there? Now listen people, I'm not trying to throw too much shade on you, but that's why the Bible repeats itself so much.

It's because we forget easily. And we don't always pay attention. Have you ever read something and gone, I think that's the first time I've ever read that before. Even though it's the 92,000th time you've read it, it's because we forget easily. And so he says, remind them, of these things. And as he reminds them of these things, he also says, and charge them in the presence of God,

not to wrangle about words, not to wrangle about words, which are useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. The idea there is avoid petty controversies about words. This is actually one of many times, at least five times in the pastoral epistles, three in Timothy and first Timothy, one in Titus, and at least this one in second Timothy, he uses almost this exact same language to tell both Timothy and Titus, be careful about controversies over words. Be careful about controversies over useless things.

You know why he has to keep reminding Timothy of that? Because we as human beings love controversies over pointless things. You know why? Because our pride loves to find something that we can attach ourselves to and prove ourselves right. And so we, we begin to build our, our entire thinking and our entire arguments over this one little thing. I was actually in a conversation with somebody here recently,

and they were debating me about words of regeneration, rebirth, and justification. I'm like, really, this is what we're doing? This is what we're going to do in this situation right now? Come on, man, let's not get, let's not get caught in the weeds with these sorts of things. But that's what we do as believers in Jesus Christ. We get a little bit of learning.

We get a little bit of understanding. And so we start to gain a little bit of pride. And that little bit of pride that we start to gain, that we, start to gain puts Jesus on the back burner and puts our argument at the front. It puts Jesus towards the back and puts our pet doctrine at the front. And pretty soon that's all that we can talk about. It's all that we can debate about.

It's all that we can think about. It's all that we look up. It's all that we base everything around. And he says, charge them. Now we have to understand that that word charge is a strong word. In other words, this is a command. This is not a suggestion. This is not just a reminder. This is a command. This is a command that he's to give them not to, not to take part in wranglings over petty controversies concerning words.

Why? For two reasons. Number one, it's useless. It's useless. I would love to give you some great definition of the word useless, but do you know what it means? It means it's useless. It does you no good. And this is what you find with people who live their lives caught up in controversies is they've never matured past the controversy. They've never matured past that point.

As a matter of fact, they have probably declined in their walk because all they can do is think about that one little pet doctrine that they've got that one little pet idea that they've got that one point that they have to constantly prove themselves right on. And because of that, they never mature in their walk with Jesus Christ. You don't see love as a growing part of their life. You don't see purity as a growing part of their life.

You don't see service as a growing part of their life, but they can tell you everything. They can tell you everything about their pet doctrine because it's useless. But the second thing is that it leads to the ruin of hearers. In other words, all the people that they go around and spread that to pretty soon go, if that's what church is, I don't want any part of it.

If that's what it's all about, then I don't want any part of that because either a you're too smart for me to understand it, or I don't want to get caught up in controversies like that, or that just plain, sounds weird. You have no idea how many people are like, I don't want to be a part of church because church people just argue about everything all the time. This is a statement I hear from people. Is it an, is it an excuse?

Absolutely. Is it a somewhat valid excuse? Maybe because sometimes it's true. He says, be diligent to stay focused, to stay focused on gospel truth and not to get caught in the weeds of petty controversies. He says, be diligent to stay focused. The second thing that he tells them is that they need to be diligent to handle the word accurately, to handle the word accurately.

Take a look at verse 15. He says, be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. And we're diligent. There's a very interesting, very interesting word. It can mean study and do your best. It can mean to exert one's self or to bend every effort to exert oneself or to bend every effort.

I found that to be a fascinating translation of that, of that word. But I think it was Chuck Swindoll who said, when you read this word diligent, you can smell the sweat of the gym on it because that's the idea of the word. The idea of the word is that there is, there is work that is put into something. And he refers to us as workmen. He refers to Timothy as a workman.

And he says, be diligent to present yourself as a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed. But the idea there is to, to put exertion, to put effort into what you're about to do. In other words, if you are going to handle the word accurately, we'll talk about that in just a moment. There is a great deal of diligence that needs to be put into it. We must understand something.

Our efforts to study the word can never save us. Our efforts to study the word can't keep us. But our efforts to study the word are a necessary response to salvation in our lives. They are a necessary response to what God has done in us. Just like when you get married, you must put the effort into making your relationship grow. You must put in the work to get to know your spouse

so that you know how to love them in the best way possible. You have to put the same sort of effort into your pursuit of God through his word in the whole. You have to put in the work to get to know your spouse through his word in the whole. You have to put in the work to get to know your spouse through his word in the whole. Listen, I understand that reading the Bible is not the easiest thing

that you're ever going to do in your life. I hear this from a lot of different people. I want to read the Bible, but I don't always understand what it says. I get that 100%, right? Like I'm in the Old Testament prophets right now. And I love the New Testament. I love the Psalms. I love the historical books of the Old Testament. But when it comes to prophecy,

I spend a whole lot of time going, huh, I wonder what he just said there. You ever read prophecy and feel that way? And so I have to, I dig into it a little bit more. It requires a lot of work. And what I really want to do is go, let's just set those books to the side. Because those don't minister to me as much as some of the others. Because you have to dig out the treasure

in a little deeper way in those than you do somewhere else. But I realize that that's not being a workman who is not ashamed. He says, to be diligent. In other words, it will take time. It will take effort on the part of the individual. Now this is first of all, a word for anybody that wants to be involved in ministry. Anybody that wants to be, involved in any part of ministry

has to understand that the ministry will require an incredible amount of work. Especially the ministry of the word of God. I spend a good portion of my week pouring myself into what God's word has to say. Quite frankly, I probably need to do more. But I spend a great deal of my week pouring myself into what God's word has to say. Trying to dig out the truths of it.

And in so doing, I'm blessed by it. And I'm hopefully able to bless you all by it. But it does require an incredible amount of work. When I was in that prayer group with a group of kids here two or three weeks ago, we were walking around the track and praying. And one of them stopped and looked at me and said, how do pastors stand up and talk for like 45 minutes?

How do you come up with things to say? I can't talk for that long. And I said, well, I gotta tell you, any sermon that I do, I put at least 8 to 10 hours worth of work into. So that 45 minutes required 8 to 10 hours at least worth of work to, to be able to talk for 45 minutes. That and the fact that I shoot from the hip a lot and tell stories I probably shouldn't tell

is how I can talk for 45 minutes in front of a group of people. Come on. But it requires work to be able to do that. And that's what most people don't understand is that the work of the ministry requires a great deal of work. And I love talking to Sunday school teachers about that because I like to say, listen, you've got this great little lesson set out before you,

but now you're gonna have to dig out some treasure for yourself. If you just show up and try to talk to a bunch of kids about this thing that you're reading right now, they're gonna ask you a bunch of questions you're gonna be able to answer. Trust me. Kids are great at that. There's a lot of preparation that's gotta go into it. If you're gonna be a small group leader,

you can't just show up and hope that it works. You gotta show up and have put in the effort. But listen, the same is true if you're gonna lead your family. If you're gonna be the high priest of your household, you can't sit down to family devotions and not have had devotions for yourself. You can't sit down to teach your kids the truth of God's word if you haven't received it for yourself.

Remember what we said last week? You can't give out what you have not already received. And so you have to be diligent to be in God's word. People ask me this question too. Ryan, how do I get the motivation to be in God's word? You just have to decide you're gonna do it. If you're waiting for that moment where you have all of the motivation, now I just really want to be in God's word,

you're gonna wait a really long time. Just like the desire to eat better. Just like the desire to work out. If you're waiting for the motivation, it's never showing up. You have to make a choice. Because listen, your flesh does not want you in God's word. The enemy does not want you in God's word. Therefore, the last thing that you're going to desire is to be in God's word.

You just have to know that. The more you're in it, the more you crave it. But you have to decide that's the way that it's going to be. You have to make a commitment. I had to do that yesterday morning. I signed up to run the two-mile run at Arcolala. I enjoy running. It took me a little while to get there, but I do enjoy it. I don't need much motivation to go run

unless it's early and it's raining. And then I need all of the motivation in the world. And I woke up yesterday morning and you know that song where she says, the odds are stacked against you, girl. Get back in bed. That was exactly how I felt. I was like, dude, I do not want to get up and go run this run this morning. But I made a commitment. I knew that. I knew that there were two or three people

that were going to be looking for me to be there. And I made a commitment. And so I decided to keep the commitment. And by the time I was done, I was sad that I kept it. No, I was very happy that I kept the commitment. I was a soaked rat by the time that I was done. Water was dripping off of my hat. I had to wear a hat because I knew that it would run down my bald head so bad

that I wouldn't be able to see because of the water. But I wore the hat. Everything's dripping off of me. I'm completely soaked. I tried to go home and hug everybody that I could and no one would hug me. But I made a commitment. And that's the way it is with God's Word. Everything in you, when you wake up in the morning, I say, tomorrow morning I'm going to get up

and read the Bible. When you get up, you're going to be more tired. You're going to decide it really isn't worth it. I'm probably not even going to understand what I read. But I'm going to do it anyway. That's what you have to decide. I remember when my dad went through his time of battling depression. And as he was coming out of it, which by the way, God's Word is what brought him out of it.

And I remember, I remember him talking with me. He and I having a discussion about it one time. And he said, I had to make a decision. And the decision was that I was going to be in the Psalms every single day. Whether I felt like it, whether I wanted to, whether it even made sense when I was reading at that point in time. I determined I had to be in it every single day

because I knew that's where healing was going to come. And I knew that that's what God wanted me to do. And so out of obedience and faith, every day I got into God's Word. And slowly but surely, I started watching it change. I started watching it change the way that I thought. I started watching it change the way that I lived. I started watching it change and give me joy in my life again.

And I can testify to the same thing because that's what I had to do. I remember reading in the book of Titus. It was Titus chapter 3 when God's Word finally started to make sense to me again after I battled a lot of anxiety and depression. And I came to Titus chapter 3 and I remember going, I got something out of that. Because up to then it was just, I was reading out of obedience.

I was reading out of faith. And all of a sudden, it started to click with me again. Be diligent. Be diligent to present yourself as a workman who does not need to be ashamed. A workman who is approved. That word workman means a laborer and the word approved means to be tested. So literally what he says is, be diligent to present yourself as a workman or a laborer who is tested by trial

and found to have passed the test. A laborer who has been tested by trial, a laborer who has been tested by trial, and is found to have passed the test. So that's what being diligent does for you. It brings you to the point where you start to pass the test. And then he says, be diligent to present yourself approved to God a workman who does not need to be ashamed,

accurately handling the word of truth. Accurately handling the word of truth. That word accurately handling in the New King James and Old King James is translated rightly dividing. Which is really a pretty good way to put that. Because literally what that word means is to cut it straight. To cut the word straight. And so the idea is to do it in an accurate sort of way.

The idea is this. To expound it soundly and to teach it skillfully. To expound it soundly and to teach it skillfully. Again, I will tell you, there is a famine of God's word in our nation. There is great revival taking place right now and I'm incredibly excited about it. My one concern, is that it is a revival of emotion and not a revival of discipleship. And we have to change the tide on that.

But listen, we can't change the tide with all of the other people in the world if we don't change the tide in this church. You see, I can't say everybody else in the world needs to make sure that this isn't just a revival of emotionalism if we are not people that are grounded in God's Word. If I don't, first of all, start with my church and say, right here we need to be grounded in God's Word and what God's Word has to say. And living it and obeying it as we understand it.

We need to be able to accurately handle the Word of Truth ourself. To cut it straight, to skillfully teach, and to expound it soundly. So I want to give you three little things, and I don't think I had to put it up there, so you're just going to have to use your listening ears. Three little things that I think that you need to do if you are going to accurately handle the Word of God.

Number one, this is deep stuff here, okay? Number one, you need to read it. You need to read it. And that means that you're probably going to have to find a translation that you can understand. Find the translation. Which one is the best one? The one that you'll read and the one that you can understand. So get on a Bible app. I never recommend people do their daily reading on a Bible app

because you're as distractible as I am. I never recommend you do your daily reading on that. No condemnation if that's what you do, but there's a better way. Get on the Bible app and figure out which translation you understand the best. Usually I tell especially newer believers that the New Living Translation is probably the best one because that's the most readable in my opinion,

especially for a new believer. But find the translation that you understand and then go out and get yourself a really good study Bible. A Ryrie Study Bible, a Thompson Chain Reference Study Bible, the Open Bible, you name it. Any of those kind of study Bibles that you want to get, go get one. And then decide every day you're going to read God's Word. Decide you're going to be in it every single day.

Every single day. important that is. I have a reading plan in there for a reason. If you can't follow that whole reading plan, choose a portion of it. If you only make it through the book of John for the rest of the year, you've done something. But read it. Number two, read it and study it in context. Read it and study it in context. You know what that means? Don't rely on the verse of the day.

I see a lot of people say, I read God's word every day. I get this verse of the day on my phone. Listen, I love that you get a verse of the day on your phone. That's not reading it and studying it in context because you do not know how much that verse might have been taken out of context because that's what happens a lot with Bible verses. They get taken out of their context and

then you completely miss what's going on. So you need to read the verses prior to and the verses after to make sure that you are reading it and understanding it in its context. And then the third thing, if you're going to start to cut it straight, you have to let the word interact with it. Interpret the word. That's where a study Bible is really important because it's going to give

you cross-references. What does this mean? Well, let's see what some of these other cross-references are and see what they have to say and allow God's word to interpret itself because God's word is not going to violate itself in places. It's not going to go against itself. And so if there's two things that look different, you have to go, so what's the balance of these things? This is what it says,

but it also says this. So let's not build an entire doctrine. Off of a verse taken out of context. Allow God's word to be what interprets itself. Have you noticed that there's a theme here and it's constantly being in God's word. It's constantly being in what it has to say because then you can't be deceived because then you can't take it out of context. You can't run and let it do whatever it wants to do or whatever you want it to do. You let

God's word do what it's going to do. And so he says, if you are going to be diligent, number one, you must stay focused. Number two, you must handle the word accurately. And then number three, you must avoid worldly chatter. Avoid worldly chatter. Look at verse 16. It says, but avoid worldly and empty chatter for it will lead to further ungodliness and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and

Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place and they upset the faith of some. Avoid worldly chatter. It refers to it as both worldly and empty. The idea is this, irreverent and empty, profaned and unhallowed. The idea behind it is it is either immoral teaching or it is false teaching. And honestly,

we could put them together in the same basket. But the idea behind all of this is a false teaching sort of a thing, because we know that false teaching will either be immoral in nature or legalistic in nature. It's going to fit into one of those two baskets mainly, but all together, it's called false teaching. And he says to avoid that sort of thing, to avoid it with everything in you. The word avoid there or shun means to turn about for the purpose of avoiding. In other words,

when you see it, turn around and go the other direction. That's what you have to do with things that are worldly and profane. You see, why is it important that you be diligent in the way that you handle God's word, that you handle God's word accurately? Well, because there's a lot of false teaching out there that will lead you astray if you're not careful. Because that's exactly what

he says it's going to do. It will lead to further ungodliness. It will lead to further ungodliness. As a matter of fact, he uses a medical term here when he says that it will spread like gangrene. It will spread like an infection that will ultimately take a limb. This is why we have to be careful about the things that are taught. This is why we have to be careful about the things that

we take in. This is why you have to be careful about handling God's word accurately. Because if you don't handle it accurately, it will lead to further issue in your life. It will lead to further issue in the church. It will lead to further ungodliness. It will lead to further issue in your small group, in your Bible study. You name it, you let one person in that starts to

spread some false ideas. And pretty soon, you got to deal with it in a really harsh sort of way. And I'd rather you just know what the word says, then I don't have to deal with things in a harsh sort of way. And so he says, avoid worldly and empty chatter. And I will remind you that he is telling this to Timothy, a pastor. He's telling this to Timothy, who is

a church. You know what that means? That means that this is a danger, not just for the people in the church. This is a danger for Timothy. This is a danger for the pastor of the church. You see, brothers and sisters, what we have to understand is pastors fall every day. And they fall for various reasons, but it always starts with not handling the word accurately. It flows

into allowing worldly and empty chatter to be what fills their head. And then pretty soon, they find themselves completely away from the truth of God, God's word. And you're going, where did you go wrong? Well, I stopped handling the word accurately. I let false things come in. I lost my focus. And now I'm completely gone. And if it's a danger for the pastor who handles God's word every day and is in a spiritual

authority sort of a position, how much more is it a danger for the person who does not make it their career to handle God's word? How much more do each of us need to pay more attention in our lives to the things that we do? And how much more do we need to pay more attention to the things that we do? How much more do we need to pay more attention to the things that we take in, to the things that we listen to, to the way that we handle God's word because of the need to stay true to God's word?

And so he says, avoid worldly and empty chatter. Number four, he says, if you're going to be diligent, be holy. If you're going to be diligent, be holy. He says this, nevertheless, the firm foundation. The firm foundation of God stands. That's such a fantastic statement that he makes, especially right after the warning about worldly and empty chatter. Worldly and empty chatter that will ultimately

lead to further ungodliness. Worldly and empty chatter that will ultimately spread like gangrene if you're not careful. And after a warning like that, there can almost be fear in the heart of the individual, just like you have in you right now. Oh my gosh, what am I going to do? How do I stand? And he reminds Timothy of that. And he says, if you're going to be diligent, be holy. If you're

diligent, be holy. And he tells him, holy, holy, holy was the word of God that I use, not this addendum here. But he says, nevertheless, it's the firm foundation of God that you have to stand. And so theAKin is saying, if you're going to be diligent, be holy. And so he starts quoting the word of God that you have to use, not this addendum here. But I'm going to work on it for you,

This one time it says, nevertheless, if you're going to be diligent, be holy. If you're going to It might have been amplified by it, but I don't remember, put it like this. The immovable foundation of God has stood and at present still stands. We need to understand something. There will always be the false in the world. There will always be the work of the enemy trying to hold on to it.

people away from the truth. But at the end of the day, the firm foundation of God's word will always stand. They can't tear it down. They can't destroy it. They can't burn it. They can't get rid of it. The firm foundation of God's word stands, just like it said earlier in chapter two, that you can't chain God's word. Well, also you can't tear down God's word because that firm foundation

stands. That's why the greatest thing that we can do is build ourselves on a firm foundation. Do you remember what Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount? Fantastic word picture that he paints there. He says that he who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken unto a man who has built his house upon a rock. The winds will blow, the rains will come, the storm will beat

against the house, but the house will stand because it's on a firm foundation of the rock. He who hears these words of mine, does not do them. I will liken him unto a man who has built his house upon the sand. The same winds blow, the same rain comes, the same storm beats on the house, but that house is destroyed. Why? Because it was not built on the firm foundation of the rock. That's the imagery Paul borrows from

here when he says, but the firm foundation of God stands. If you want to keep standing in a world of false, if you want to keep standing in a world of sin, if you want to keep standing in this world that wants to tear down the truth, how do you do it? Will you build your house on the firm foundation of God that always has stood and always will stand? How do you build yourself on the firm foundation of God? Well, Jesus gave us the two things that

we need to do. We need to hear the word and we need to live according to the word. If we do those two things in our lives, we need to live according to the word. If we do those two things in our lives, then we will continue to stand on the firm foundation of God because that foundation is unshakable. That foundation is not going anywhere. That's why as you watch people in this church go through difficult things,

and we have seen people in our congregation go through some difficult things in these past few years, and yet they continue to hold strong to the truth. Why? Because they weren't built on sand. They were built on the firm foundation of God's Word. And because they're built on the firm foundation of God's Word, they continue to stand. He says, now, nevertheless, the firm foundation stands.

And this is the seal on the foundation. It has two sides. Number one, the Lord knows those who are His. And number two, everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness. What are the two seals of the foundation of our lives standing upon God's Word? Well, one is from God's perspective. One is from our perspective. From God's perspective,

the firm foundation stands. The firm foundation is God knows those who are His. Isn't that a great statement? Like, God knows me. God knows you. It's not so much that I know who He is, it's that He knows who I am. It's not so much that I know what His name is, it's that He knows what my name is. And that my name is written in His book. And I stand on that firm foundation because from God's perspective, He knows me.

And it doesn't just mean He knows who I am. It means He knows me, and He chose me anyway. He knows those... He knows those who are His, which is why as a believer in Jesus Christ, we can have peace that passes all understanding because our God knows us. That's the seal of the firm foundation that we stand on. But the other side of the seal of the firm foundation, that's God's work in our life, that He knows us.

But the other side of the firm foundation is those who claim to know Jesus abstain from sin. We call that the firm foundation. We call that the fruit in the life of an individual. See, the fruit is those who God knows are also walking away from sin. Why? Because God has sent it to opposite ends of the spectrum. So if you belong to God, then you have to walk away from sin.

If you belong to Him, then you have to quit pursuing this stuff and start pursuing the things of God. Because all who name the name of the Lord are to abstain from sin. And this is vastly important in the world that we live in. That says that you can know God and have your sin too. It's so vastly important that we identify what a true believer looks like by this standard.

It doesn't mean a standard of perfection because quite frankly, we will never be perfect on this side of eternity. But there should be an aspect of our lives that is departing from sin and pursuing God. That is departing from evil and pursuing that which is good. Because that is the standard. That is part of the seal. People ask me sometimes, well, how do I know if I really belong to Jesus?

How do I know if I'm really His? Well, do you find yourself desiring to follow God and desiring to walk away from sin? Yes. Are you trying in your life to do that? Yes. Then I'd say there's a pretty good chance you belong to Jesus. Because the unregenerated heart, the heart that is not born again, can't identify what sin is. Let alone what to leave it behind in order to pursue God.

Right? That is a part of how you know that you belong to Him. It's a lifestyle that is progressively becoming more like your Savior and progressively leaving behind the things of the world. He says this is the seal. This is what holiness looks like is that those who name the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness. He goes on to explain a little bit further in verse 20.

He says in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels but also vessels of wood. And of earthenware. Some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from these things he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared for every good work. Part of holiness is becoming usable by God. It's not only leaving behind the things of sin but it's becoming usable by God.

How do we become usable by God? Well, Paul uses this metaphor of vessels in a household. In a large house there's lots of different vessels. Some are very fine vessels. They are vessels that are used for wonderful things. Throwing parties, wonderful dinners, things like that. And then there's the toilet. Two very different vessels in a house. He calls them vessels of wood and stone.

But I thought the toilet seemed like a pretty good thing to throw in there. Two different types of vessels in a house. Two very different uses. But if someone wants to be usable by God they must cleanse themselves to become a vessel for honor. Now, wait a second, Ryan. Jesus does the work of cleansing in my life. That's right. When it comes to you being cleansed from your sins

that's the work of Jesus Christ and only his blood can do that. That's not the idea of cleansing that's being used here. Remember, we're following the metaphor. If you want to become a vessel that is usable by God there is a part that you take in your life to become usable by him. And that is to be cleansed from all of the garbage of the world. In other words, if you want to be used by God

you have to set aside all of the false. You have to be walking away from the sin. You have to be walking away from the things of the world to become a vessel that is to be used by God. To become one that is usable by him. You see, we have to take part in that in the way that we live our lives. I was just reading about the armor of God here recently and it talks about the breastplate of righteousness.

And the breastplate of righteousness there is not the righteousness that God gives us. The breastplate of righteousness is the confidence that we have by us obeying God. See, there's an aspect of our lives that God has saved us and given us everything that we need now to live a holy life. And so become usable by God by cleansing yourself from those things to become usable by God.

I don't know about you, but I want to be the vessel that's used for really good things, not the toilet. I want to be the vessel that's used for honorable purposes in the household of God. Well, in order to do that, I have to make decisions in my life. And the decisions in my life are decisions of consecration. They are decisions of holiness. They are decisions of sanctification where I say,

I'm a vessel for honor. I can't be used for this. I have to only be used for these things. I'm not going to make myself common because God has called me uncommon. And so he says, if you want to do that, you have to be a vessel for honor. Therefore, cleanse yourselves to be that kind of vessel. He goes on in verse 22 to explain a little bit more what that looks like.

Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness and faith and love and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. He tells this young man, Timothy, if you want to be cleansed, this is part of it, you have to flee youthful lusts. You have to flee youthful lusts. Now, as a young man, I think we all understand, maybe the main thrust that Paul is getting to here with Timothy.

But I think that there's more than just that one. I actually think there's about four things, four or five, what did I write down there? One, two, three. About four things that Paul indicates here when it comes to fleeing from youthful lust. Number one, if you're going to flee from youthful lust, you have to flee from sexual sin. You have to flee from sexual sin.

This continues to be an issue in our culture and will always be an issue in our culture. It was an issue in our culture in the days of Noah. It was an issue in our culture in the days of Abraham. It was an issue in our culture in the days of the kings. It was an issue in our culture in the New Testament. And it's an issue in our culture now. Because sin doesn't care what age it is.

Sin doesn't care what era it is. Sin just wants to dominate. And it will do it however it can. And one of the biggest ways it's dominating our culture today is the same way that it was dominating the culture in Paul's time, and that's through sexual sin. Because quite frankly, our flesh says, if it feels good, do it. So let's just do it. And that's the issue.

That's what we're looking at now when it comes to sexual sin in our culture. Whether it's the things that are viewed on phones, the things that are viewed on TV, whether it's the things that are listened to, whether it's the activities that are partaken in, even down to whether it's your sexual identity. Sexual sin dominates our culture, and we have to flee from it. And the thing that we have to understand as the church is that unfortunately, sexual sin is almost as prevalent in the church as it is in the church.

And so we have to flee from it. And so we have to flee from it. Because it is outside the church. And those are just statistics. And if we are to be those who are set apart, if we are to be vessels usable by God, then we have to flee from sexual sin. It's the one sin that we're told, don't stand in there and fight. Don't stand in there and try to fight it. Run as fast as you can.

Of course, the greatest example of this is Joseph. That young man, Joseph, who was always about his master's business, who held a high regard for God, a high regard for his master, and a high regard for his own purity. And so when a woman propositioned him over and over and over again, he did the only thing that you can do in that situation, he ran as fast and as far as he could. Because that's what you do with sexual sin.

You don't stand in there and try to fight. You've got to get out of the situation. You've got to get yourself out of it. So he says, he says, flee youthful lust. First of all, sexual sin. But I think that there's three other things that we have to flee. Both in our youth and in our life. You know what else goes along with youthful lust? Impatience. Impatience.

You know how impatient young people are? I love you young people, but you're really impatient. But you know what I found? You know who else is really impatient? Old people. Old people are very impatient people. Listen, I love y'all, but it's just the truth, right? I heard somebody say, come on, come on now, right? And we have to flee those kinds of things. You have to say,

it's okay if it takes time. We have to flee those kinds of things. We have to put aside the impatience in our lives and learn to be people who patiently wait on the Lord and patiently wait on things. So we have to deal with the impatience in our lives. Number three, we have to deal with the materialism in our lives. Again, I would like to say that this is a youthful thing,

but what do you do when you retire? I'm gonna buy the boat. I'm gonna buy the camper. I'm gonna do all the, and it's all you can think about, right? Materialism is another thing that we need to flee, especially in our culture today that tells you if you, if a little bit's good, a lot of it's better. You'll be happy if you have this. We have to flee that materialism.

And then number four, and I think this is a really important one because I think it carries a lot with it. You have to flee from arrogance. You have to flee from arrogance. You know, it's interesting about being arrogant or being prideful. It's often the one thing that you can't see in yourself and the one thing everybody else can't stand about you. It's the thing that you can't see in yourself

and the thing everybody else can't stand about you. But listen, it's the thing that, it's the thing that other people can't stand in themselves, it's the thing that you can't stand in yourself and the thing that you can't stand about other people. Because we don't like to see our pride on someone else. And we have to flee from that arrogance. We have to flee from that.

And sometimes that means not worrying as much about our reputation, not worrying as much about our status. We have to flee from that arrogance and pursue humility. And so he tells us, he says, flee youthful lust, but lest we just run in one direction aimlessly. He tells us what we are to pursue. We are to pursue righteousness. That is right living. Pursue a right lifestyle.

In other words, if I'm supposed to flee from those things, I need to identify what does it look like to live rightly in those areas. If I'm supposed to flee from sexual sin, show me how to pursue purity. If I'm supposed to flee arrogance, show me how I'm supposed to pursue humility. If I'm supposed to flee materialism, show me how I'm supposed to pursue contentment.

If I'm supposed to flee from immorality, show me how I'm supposed to flee from impatience, show me how to pursue a patient lifestyle. We are to pursue righteousness. You know what God's word teaches us? All of those things. He says we are to pursue righteousness. We are to pursue faith, not only faith in God, but the faith and the teaching of the faith. We are to pursue love,

an agape love, a lived out loud sort of a love. And of course we are to pursue peace. And we are to pursue all of these in community. Notice what it says at the end of verse 22, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. We are to pursue all of those things in community. Because in community is where we have the accountability that we need. You know what one of the most beautiful things about the gospel is?

One of the most beautiful things about the gospel is that it creates transparency. At least that's what it's supposed to create in our lives. You see, sin created shame. Sin created shame. Sin created shame. Sin created shame. Sin created shame. Sin created the desire to hide. Sin created this desire to cover. The gospel restores transparency. It restores the fact that I can let you in on what's going on in my life.

I can let you in on my weaknesses and struggles. Because if we are to pursue these things in community, then we have to actually pursue them in community. And if we pursue them together, that means we have to be transparent with each other. Because it's hard for me to say, I'm pursuing righteousness in this way without telling you why I need to pursue righteousness.

I'm pursuing righteousness in this way. It's hard for me to tell you that I need to pursue peace and love in these ways if I don't tell you why I need to pursue peace and love in these ways. And as we do that in community, that accountability creates everything that we need. And so he says, listen, if you're going to be diligent, number one, you have to stay focused.

If you're going to be diligent, number two, you have to handle the word accurately. If you're going to be diligent, number three, you have to avoid worldly chatter. If you're going to be diligent, number four, it means to be holy. But being diligent, number five, means you need to be kind. Notice what it says in verse 23. But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations,

knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome. If we're going to be kind, you can't be quarrelsome. In other words, you can't be argumentative with everybody around you all the time. You can't be the guy that's always looking for a fight. You can't be the guy that's always looking for an argument. You can't be the guy that's always playing devil's advocate.

I sat on a board one time with a guy. I'm not going to name any names. I promise I never do. And this guy argued with everybody about everything. He could have agreed with you five minutes before. But when you present the opposing argument, he just... He just argues with you. I'm like, dude, five minutes ago, we agreed on this. Why are you arguing now? But that's just who he was.

It's like every day of his life, he was looking for a fight. Every day of his life, he was looking for an argument. And it was the most irritating thing in the world. And it's something when God's people become argumentative like that, it really turns people off. And so he says you can't be quarrelsome. Remember, the second part of being kind is literally when it says be kind to all.

I think one of the things that's missing in the church today, when it comes to standing for the truth, is really being kind about it. Like you've either got the one end where they let everybody in and they don't care what you do and you live however you want to and sin's okay. But then on the other end, you've got the conservative church who says this is right and this is wrong. And by golly, I hate you for it.

Right? It's not kind to people sometimes. I think sometimes we do the rest of the world a real disservice by not just simply showing the kindness of Jesus Christ. After all, what are we told in Scripture led us to repent? Repentance. Well, that argument's what led me to repentance. Nope. It says it's his kindness that leads us to repentance. I promise you something.

If you continue to show love and kindness to somebody that is the harshest individual in the world, they will eventually soften because of it. Scripture will always prove itself to be true that kindness leads to repentance and a soft answer turns away wrath. There's just something to that. And Scripture will always prove itself true when it comes to those things.

He says be kind. Be kind to all. But notice the next thing he says. Look at the end of verse 24. This is really, really important. Patient when wronged. Patient when wronged. I believe our greatest example of this is Jesus who when he stood before his accusers didn't say anything. And not just for the 24 hours that he really faced accusal at the very end of his ministry right before he went to the cross,

but for the full three years of his ministry. When he was accused of being, things like the devil. When he was accused of being an insurrectionist. And all these different kinds of things. He continued to be patient when he was wronged. Here's what you have to know in life. If you're going to be a Christian, and if you're going to be in any form of ministry,

you're going to be a villain in someone's story. It's just all that there is to it. This is life. And when you're that villain in someone's story, you're going to have a choice to make. You can either be patient about being wronged, or you can go try to defend yourself. I pray that you do. I promise you option B is going to end that. Because you can go around and try to put every fire in the world out.

You can go around and try to clear your name with everybody that you talk to. Or you can be patient when you're wronged and let God right it. I have found that if I am patient when I'm wrong, did I let God deal with it? He does a whole lot better than I do. And I don't have to solve any arguments that way. God's really good at handling those kinds of things.

He says, patient, patient when you're wrong. And then the last part of being kind is being gentle when you correct. Being gentle when you correct. Look at verse 25. With gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, that perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil,

having been held captive by him to do his will. Listen, the hardest thing to do is to confront somebody in an area where they're wrong. And if you come in hot, if you come in like a jerk, immediately they're going to be turned off. There's no way they're going to repent of what they've done, because now they have to prove themselves right. But if you can approach a situation with gentleness,

if you can approach a situation with humility, then you'll find that sometimes, not all the time, because some people, they have to want to be corrected in order to receive correction. Oftentimes it will lead to repentance. And that's always our goal. Remember, the goal of confrontation is always restoration. The goal of confrontation is always restoration,

because there are some who are in the snare of the devil, and have been held captive by him to do his will. And if nothing else causes you to be gentle with the people that are around you, that are in some sort of wrong, let that be what gives you gentleness with the people that are around you. That they are held captive by the devil to do his will. And all they know to do is that.

And so be gentle with them. Recently I asked a group of kids, what's God teaching you right now? What's God showing you in your life? I like doing that because it's amazing how honest they get with you. It's pretty fascinating. We went around the room and one of them said, everybody's going through something, so be gentle with people. And I thought, that's a good one.

That's a pretty good lesson to learn right now. Everybody's going through something. Listen, the world around you, man, they're held captive. They're held captive by the enemy. And some of our brothers and sisters that fall into sin, it's captivity of the enemy. We got to be gentle with the way that we handle it, because our goal is not to prove ourselves right.

Our goal is to see people come to repentance, and to see them come to brand new life, because that's God's desire as well. But it all starts, with a diligent way of handling accurately God's word. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come before you, and Lord, I thank you for the time that we've had in your word here this morning. Lord, I thank you that you are patient with us.

Lord, that your mercies are new with every morning. And God, that you have given us your word. And so Lord, I pray that in our lives, we would be patient, not only with ourselves, but also with others. Lord, that we would be patient with ourselves, but that we would be patient with the people that are around us. Father, we would be gentle not only with ourselves,

but with the people that are around us. Father, that we would take your word, take it seriously, and handle it accurately. And so Father, bless us with diligence. Bless us with motivation, bless us with the desire to be in your word every day. And Father, where we lack motivation, where we lack desire, desire. May your Holy Spirit fill it with diligence. So, Father, we thank you and we

praise you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.