We are now in the last chapter of 1st Timothy and we're midway through chapter six. Today, we'll be starting in verse 11 and going somewhat through verse 16. And in this final chapter of 1st Timothy, we said last week that Paul now returns in 1st Timothy 6 to his charge to Timothy to guard against false doctrine. Timothy being the pastor at the Church of Ephesus, who's dealing with much false doctrine and false living. He's charging Timothy to guard against the false doctrine while teaching sound doctrine to his people. But also what Paul is charging Timothy to do is to guard his heart and his life against ungodliness, but instead to pursue godliness in his life. And he's done this throughout the letter. The word godliness is used, I think, nine times in this epistle, in this letter to Timothy in the church in Ephesus. In 1st Timothy chapter 1 and verse 18, at the very beginning, Paul said, this charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience. So in the very first chapter, he's speaking about the fight, the fighting of the good fight. In fact, this sermon could perhaps be called fighting the good fight part two, because I think when we preached from Chapter one, we already had a sermon entitled Fight the Good Fight, so I can't use that again. But you can see from the first chapter, Paul is saying this to Timothy in first Timothy four, verses six and seven, which is in some ways a rather important centerpiece of this letter. Paul there again says to Timothy, if you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. But reject profane and old wives fables and exercise yourself toward godliness. And so part of the drumbeat of this letter is to teach Timothy to teach the word properly, properly discern the word of God and hold your life in godliness and living for Christ. It's both necessary to pursue right doctrine and godly living. They must go together. Christian doctrine without Christian living is dead orthodoxy. Life without doctrine is recklessness. And Paul is exhorting Timothy throughout the letter, but here at the end, as we'll see, to, as a pastor, pursue both right doctrine and godliness with vigor. And so in verse 11, Paul is going to return and exhort Timothy that very thing. He's going to return to the idea of warfare or fighting. The Christians are in a fight. And if you're a pastor or if you're a Christian at all, you must understand and realize that you are in a war. You are in a fight. And the easiest way to lose a war or to lose a fight is to not realize you're in one. And I dare say that we as believers, so often we kind of drift around and do our thing. We don't realize the proactivity we should have in the Christian life. There's a battle going on. And just because we don't acknowledge it doesn't mean it's not there. The pastor or the Christian must know the rules of engagement of that war, must know the details of that war, must know the weapons and the strategy that's involved in that war. And so Paul gives instruction to Timothy as the pastor and the Ephesians as the church and therefore to us As believers, he teaches them about this fight that Timothy and all of us, we must all be about. And as we've previously stated, as we've taught through First Timothy, this is seen as a pastoral manual, a handbook for pastors. That doesn't mean that if you're not a pastor, if you never intend to be one, you can just ignore the letter. Not at all, because pastors are just people like you and me. And they happen to be called to a very important calling. But the charges given to Timothy in this letter are also given to us. And so what Paul says to Timothy, we must hear. Paul does address Timothy in this passage as a man of God. And that's an appropriate term for a pastor. That was a term of using the Old Testament for some of the heroes of the faith. Moses, Samuel, David, Elijah, Elijah, those who are the spokesmen for God, who are representing God to the people and speaking forth the message of God. It's interesting that Paul is encouraging and perhaps sobering up Timothy by saying, oh, man of God, this is what you need to do. But we should understand, though, even with that, that every Christian should desire to be a godly man or woman of God. That's what we're called to be. And so these exhortations that we're going to hear apply to all of us. And may God give us ears to hear his word this morning, how we are to grow in godliness and how we are to fight the good fight of faith, how we are all to become godly men and godly women. Let us read then from the Word of God, starting in verse 11. I'm going to read through verse 16 in 1 Timothy 6. Hear the Word of God. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called, and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing. which he will manifest in his own time, he who is the blessed Potentate, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in inapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. This is the word of God. May God use his word for his glory and our great benefit this morning. As we look at this passage, I think we can divide it into four fairly easy to remember parts. Paul is exhorting Timothy here, and us as well, to flee and pursue and to fight and to persevere. To flee and pursue and to fight and persevere. Four simple points from this passage. In verse 11, we see that Paul says, But you, O man of God, flee these things. The word flee there is from the same word that we get, the word fugitive. A fugitive is someone who wants to get as far away as possible from those that are pursuing him, or from those distresses that he's trying to get away from. The idea of fleeing here is to be a fugitive from something. And it's also in the present imperative, which means it's a constant fleeing. You don't flee once and then you sit down and rest. It's a constant fleeing from something. I think the general point is this. In the Christian life, we cannot toy with sin. We are to flee from it and even from the temptations that bring us into sin. There are certain things that we cannot go near. There are some things that are true for all of us. There are some things, depending on your personality, that maybe you're more tempted from than other things. And so maybe it's not the same for all of us. But a soldier in the fight must know what dangers he must avoid, so he might flee from them. And so Paul is saying to us, to flee. The first step in godliness, the first step in fighting this fight is to flee the right things, to be like a fugitive with respect to sin. There's many examples in the Scripture. In 1 Corinthians 6.18, Paul very simply says this. He says, flee sexual immorality. sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians 6.18. He's basically saying, if you put it in today's lingo when you're reading things on a blog or whatever it is, do, period, not, period, go, period, near, period, it, period. Do not go near it. Flee from it. Have no part of sexual immorality. You think of Joseph and Potiphar's wife in Genesis chapter 39, where Joseph had to be in Potiphar's house. He was a slave. But Potiphar's wife had intentions with him, and his reaction was to run, to flee. He fled from sexual immorality. He fled the advances of Potiphar's wife. It was such an important thing. He says, how could I have done such an evil thing against my God and against my boss, in this case? Absolutely not. And he flees from it. In our society, the opportunities to flee from sexual immorality are endless. You may not have noticed this, but in our society, we don't have to necessarily find opportunities for temptation, whether it be the physical outward sin and sexual immorality or just the lust that is the beginning of it all. Our society seeks us out with opportunities for sin and the temptation of sexual immorality. And therefore, even more so, we must be proactive to flee from the temptation of it. Turn to 2nd Timothy, chapter 2, starting in verse 22. We see something similar, both to what I've just said, but also something very similar to what Paul says to Timothy in 1st Timothy 6, what we're reading from this morning. In 2 Timothy 2, in verse 22, Paul there says, flee also from youthful lusts. I think that includes sexual immorality, but I think it includes other things as well. Flee also from youthful lusts. Run away, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call the Lord out of a pure heart. It seems very similar to what we see in 1 Timothy 6. but avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, and patient in humility, correcting those who are in opposition." I think the point in general here is, whatever is sin, and for whatever is particularly tempting to you that may not be for someone else, but don't fool yourself, Whatever sin, whatever is particularly tempting to you, flee. You don't toy with it. In a specific context back in first Timothy six, very simple little phrase here, but you, oh man of God, flee these things. When Paul uses the phrase, but you, he uses this more than once in his letters to Timothy to say, I've just told you about the sinfulness of the things you're dealing with and the wrong doctrine of what you're dealing with. But you, which means you're not like that, right? Right, Timothy? If you're dealing with your kids, this is wrong, but you, and I won't mention John's name, but you, or anybody else, that's not what you're going to do, right? That's what Paul does here with Timothy. But you, he's contrasting the false teaching and the sinful living to what he's calling Timothy to. And he says, but you, O man of God, flee these things. And the question is then, well, what are these things, right? Well, if you were with us the last two Sundays, you remember that these things point back to verses, say, three through ten. where he's outlining the false doctrine, the diseased teaching of the false teachers, but then also the greed and covetousness of the false teachers. And we spent two Sundays speaking about coveting and contentment, how important that is. And he's saying, you Timothy, you're not to be like that. You're to flee from these things. You're to flee from the love of money and the bitter fruits that come from the love of money, discontentment, foolish desires, dissension, false doctrine. You stay away from those things. And if you remember the previous verses in this chapter, we're saying those who pursue those things, they're running straight off the cliff to plunge into the waters of perdition and destruction, both physical destruction and spiritual destruction. He's saying to Timothy, instead of that, you must be content like we've been looking at the last two weeks, really. And flee from those things of covetousness and discontentment and selfish desires. Flee from these things. Well, in the Christian life, I think we understand the concept of fleeing, of being a fugitive from the things that are contrary to Christ. Those things that are sin and disobedience. But what Paul says next, very simply, he says, and do what? Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. To grow in godliness, the Christian life is more than just avoiding sin. That's part of it. It's an important part of it. If we spend all of our time running away from temptation, we'll just keep running into other temptations, right? You're like a pinball in a pinball machine. No, I'm fleeing from this. No, I'm fleeing from this. I can't live my life that way. And so real growth in godliness requires not just fleeing from sin, but replacing sin with virtue, replacing the don'ts with the do's. Don't you notice that in your sanctification as you grow in Christ likeness, that as you get a handle maybe on one area of your life that you struggle with and it seems to be under control and you think you're going to sit back and relax. And what happens now that that's been kind of covered over and dealt with, now something else starts buzzing over here. A different kind of temptation, a different kind of sin, a different kind of weakness pops up, and you have something else to deal with, don't you? That's what sanctification is over the long haul for a Christian, to be moving from one thing to another as you're learning to overcome these things, and God is sanctifying you. And in this fight that we're speaking of in 1 Timothy 6, we need to know not just what to flee, but what to pursue. We must be proactive in both ways. And the word for pursue means to pursue swiftly after. It's the idea that just as vigorously as you flee from wrong, we are to be pursuing what is right. I think it's a very important point. And so I'm going to belabor it again. It's like beating a dead horse again. Maybe I'll pound this in too much, but I think it's a very important point because some of us are good at fleeing, but not so good at pursuing the right things, pursuing virtue, going forth with righteousness. Some of us are good at pursuing because we like to barge through things and do things, but we're not so good about fleeing. And so we get careless. And in our pursuit, we fall, if I can use that word, fall into sin. And so we must do both. And here, Paul gives us six simple specifics to proactively pursue to grow in godliness as a man or woman of God. He says, pursue, and he gives us six words. First of all, he says, pursue righteousness. Now, remember, this is proactively and vigorously pursuing. It's not just sitting back. Yeah, I'm righteous. No, it's pursuing righteousness. This righteousness is doing what is right or just. It's pursuing the right thing to do. It's a very simple concept. How do you pursue that with vigor? Well, you have to be active in studying God's Word and knowing what it says. And so you can apply it to your life so you can pattern and correct your life according to the Word of God, according to the law of God, and then pursue then this righteousness in your conduct at the home, at work, In the church, so often we get focused on the big things, but really it's the so-called small things that are the most important. Are you pursuing righteousness, husband, with your wife and how you treat her, how you love her? Are you pursuing righteousness, wife, with your husband? Children, are you pursuing righteousness before your parents? You know that the one commandment out of the ten is that directly given to you is to honor your mother and father. You want to know where you are in your rightness before God? How are you doing with your honor and your mother and father, no matter how much you feel like doing it? Are we exhibiting and pursuing this righteousness in the home, in the workplace, in all aspects of our life, and certainly in the church? It seems interesting to me that most people know what the right thing to do is. I don't think in our pursuit of righteousness that the problem is knowing what to do. If we're honest, We're very good at rationalizing sin and trying to find a reason to get out of not doing what we want to do. And it's usually very easy to know what the right thing to do is. And we spend all of our time trying to get around it. The hard thing, perhaps, is this, doing it. And Paul says, pursue righteousness. Second of all, he says, godliness. Godliness can be defined as what makes me more like God, both inwardly and outwardly. We've said before, because we've looked at this word godliness several times in the letter to First Timothy, the letter of First Timothy, that godliness is the pursuing of Christ and Christ likeness. I guess the best definition of what godliness is, the pursuit of Christ and Christ likeness, our piety before God. where maybe righteousness is before man. Now it's our piety before God. And again, we see this many times throughout the epistle. So I'm not going to spend much time there because we've talked about that many times in the course of this letter. So to pursue righteousness, to pursue godliness, we're to pursue faith. That doesn't seem to flow. How do you pursue faith? Well, I think faith here is the talking of the trusting in God and the trusting in Christ and the promises of God. And so if we're going to pursue faith, which Paul says we must, we're to be seeking to strengthen our faith, to strengthen our trust in God and his promises. And again, how does that happen? We look at the word of God. We zealously learn about the promises of God and the attributes of God from the word of God so we can trust in them and grow in our confidence in God and in Christ. He next says to pursue love. To pursue love, I think, looks like this, that we pursue those ways that would demonstrate the most love to God and to others. To pursue those things that would demonstrate the most love towards our God and to others, to seek what is best for others, regardless of what it costs us. The pursuit of love is to calculate ways to do good for others. Love does not just happen. It's an old point, but in our society we think love is a feeling that just somehow bubbles up from your belly, or I don't know where it bubbles up from, but love is a commitment, it's a choice, it's a commitment of sacrificing for someone else, no matter what your feelings are. And so we're to calculate ways to do good for others in pursuing love. The fifth one is patience. And this is patience, I think, with a flavor of endurance and persistence. It's the willingness to wait upon God in difficult times, in difficult circumstances. And we would acknowledge that we are used to quick battles and quick results. We like our microwaves. We like things very quick. We don't like the long, drawn out battles. But if we truly understand life and we understand Scripture, most of our battles, most of our sanctification, our growing in godliness are developed over the long haul. We don't get zaps and all of a sudden we're godly men and women. It takes time, one step at a time. And so we're to proactively find contentment and satisfaction in Christ and Christ alone as we talked about the last two weeks. Not in our circumstances, as we have patience and willingness to wait upon God in our circumstances. And the last one, gentleness. This gentleness speaks of a meekness that does not demand one's own rights. Are we good at that? Are we good at being meek and not demanding our rights, our way, our being heard? That's what this gentleness is looking at. And it might seem odd, doesn't it? We're talking about fighting. This would be something maybe the male population of our congregation, maybe especially the boys. All right, I got a sermon about fighting, warfare. This is good. And now the pastor says, be meek, Kevin. Be gentle. How does that fit into warfare? If you're going to, say, have some Marine slogans, and you'd say, we are looking for a few gentle men, or the few, the gentle, the Marines. That really doesn't seem to fit, does it? And so now the guys are saying, oh, here we are back to this gentle thing. What one has to understand, and we've said this many times, is when the Bible speaks about meekness, the Bible speaks about gentleness and humility, it's talking about power under control. It's an easy thing to lash out and to retaliate, to hit somebody because they've done something you don't like. And we say, that's a manly thing. Really? Anybody can do that. My two-year-old can do that. My dog can bite me if I upset him. You think that's a manly thing? The manly thing is this, when I have the power to retaliate, or I have the ability to do so, I can have self-control and keep myself from doing that. Christ Jesus is a perfect example of this. Here He's on the cross. He has all the power of heaven on earth in Him. He could at many point just say, I'm done with this. Everybody drops dead. He comes down from the cross. But instead, He has power under control. And He endures the suffering for the eternal good of His people when He didn't have to. So Paul says, you need to pursue gentleness. I think the overused example of this is, if you pick up a piano, you can just drop it. I guess that's manliness. But manliness is being able to have the control to let it down slowly, without harming it. And so Paul is saying here, we need to pursue gentleness. We must have the strength to will ourselves, to yield to others, Without compromise, we're not talking about doormats, whatever you want. Now, without compromise, without sin, but in those areas where it's not sin, we must be willing to yield ourselves, which takes much strength to what others want. And Paul in First Timothy and Second Timothy both says that it's great benefit when you're dealing with those who are teaching false doctrine or if you're correcting those who are in sin to do it with gentleness, not with harshness. And so these six things, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness must be pursued and vigorously, yes, by the pastor, but also by all Christians. And so we flee and we pursue. Both of those things are very, very important. Now, look at verse 12. Flee and pursue, but now fight. We were just talking about being gentle, but now I'm saying fight. I hope you're not getting confused. Fight. Be ready to fight. I just said, though, that when we pursue gentleness, it's without compromise. If there's a principle that must not be compromised, we fight. OK, now the young men are saying, OK, we can be men now. We can fight. There are times when we fight. When a principle is involved, the man of God and the man of woman must fight. That's what Paul is saying here then in verse 12, to fight the good fight of faith. It's interesting that word for fight emphasizes the struggle of the fight, the agony of the fight. The idea is one of who is straining with everything in them to fight, to keep on fighting. And again, I've said this before, do we understand as Christians that we are in a war? We are in a fight. A fight with the evil one. The fight with the world and the world system. The fight with our own flesh. And as I said, the easiest way to lose a fight or lose a war is to not even know you're in one. And so Paul says frequently in his epistles, but frequently to Timothy, that you must fight. In 2 Timothy 2, verse 3, Paul will say to Timothy there, you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Turn to Ephesians 6, verse 10. A very famous passage. I'd like to think all of us have heard of this at some point. In Ephesians 6, verse 10, Paul then gives much more detail about the spiritual warfare we have. He says in verse 10, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all of that, to stand Fight and stand, obviously, from that passage. And it continues and gives you more details about the spiritual warfare. But as Christians, as believers, it's a fight. But Paul says, it's a good fight that I'm looking at. Now, would you admit that sometimes the fights we choose are not necessarily good fights? Sometimes our discussions about differences in doctrine or differences in practice turn into dissension, and fights are not supposed to be taken on. Paul here is talking about the good fight of faith. This is a good fight in 1 Timothy 6 verse 12. It's a good fight because it's a good cause with a good end and with good means. It's the fight to see the honor and glory of God displayed in the truth of Jesus Christ. To see souls redeemed from eternity in hell to the everlasting life in Christ Jesus. This is a serious fight. but a good and necessary fight. And the purpose of this war is to bring peace. We didn't start the war. Maybe you could say, Adam, we did start the war. But we must pursue it. And sin brings a false peace, a false and temporary sense of contentment. We spoke about that the last few weeks. And we must fight to proclaim Christ and be used to be a means to reconcile men to God, to bring true peace with the Prince of Peace himself. In 1 Corinthians 9, starting in verse 26, Paul says, Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown. He's talking about those who are running for earthly prizes. They do it to obtain a perishable crown. Isn't that kind of putting it in perspective? The things that we seek, the things that we pursue in the world that don't satisfy what we think they do, they perish. And then what do you have? But we, we compete for an imperishable crown. Treasures in heaven, things that last. Therefore, I run this way, not with uncertainty. Thus I fight, not as one who beats the air. Do you know what he's saying? I'm not just mindlessly throwing fists around. I'm proactively and purposely fighting this fight as it's meant to be waged so that the imperishable crown could be won. That's the attitude of one who's fighting, but fighting the good fight and fighting it the way it's supposed to be fought. I think the last point about verse 12a is that we're fighting the good fight of, as some of your versions will say, the faith. It has the article before that. I think that's probably the right way to understand this. Fight the good fight of the faith. The whole of Christian doctrine and Christian life. Doctrine cannot defend itself. We must defend the doctrine of the church and the faith of the church. But we're not just to defend the faith. We're also to be proclaiming it and pushing it forth. So it's fighting the good fight of the faith of Christianity, the entirety of it, proactively to study God's Word, to be in prayer, to evangelize, and to serve the Lord and to serve His people. That's how we fight the good fight of the faith. And so in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4, Paul says, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. We fight the good fight of the faith. So we see, we flee, but we pursue. We fight But lest you think this fight again is a microwave fight that you fight today and tomorrow, it's no big deal. We persevere, I think is the last point that Paul is saying here to encourage his son in the faith, Timothy, and to encourage us as well. Look at verse 12, the second part, he says, lay hold or some of your versions will probably say, take hold, grasp it. Lay hold on eternal life to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you or I charge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearance. Paul is saying after fleeing and pursuing and fighting, he's now saying, now persevere until the end. Take hold of this. Lay hold of this eternal life to which you are called. The word there for lay hold or take hold is the idea of grasping, hanging on to it with all that you have. And it says taking hold of what? Well, it's taking hold of eternal life. Does that seem odd? I thought I already had eternal life. Why is Paul saying, take hold of eternal life? Is he talking about a work salvation? I hope you know that was a rhetorical question. The answer is no. Take hold of eternal life. It's the idea of this, that eternal life is yes, it's a hope. that will be possessed in the future, but it's also a reality that you possess now, as we know that our eternal life is something that ensures heaven. We're to be taking hold of that eternal life so we can live it now. Timothy has already received eternal life when he is effectually called by the Spirit unto salvation. But now Paul is saying you must take hold of it. You must appropriate it. You must know it. You must live it now. as you persevere in this fight, in this fleeing, in this pursuing. It's very, very similar to what Paul tells the Philippians in Philippians 3, starting in verse 12, where he says, Not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. That's key. that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead." It seems like fleeing and pursuing to me. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Eternal life is both a present possession and a future hope. It guarantees heaven, yes, but it's a life that is to be lived and be grasped now. Christianity is not just a decision that gives us some kind of fire insurance. Christianity is something that changes your whole life by the power of God, and we're to be living it out now. When Paul says, and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses, he starts giving Timothy some encouragements to do this perseverance, to carry out this perseverance. There's some debate about what that means, that you confess the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. It could be at Timothy's ordination as one who is sent out. I'm more convinced, however, this is speaking of his baptism. Because the context is talking about Paul's being called and his grasping onto eternal life, not his being ordained as a pastor, but his being called to eternal life. And then it says that when you confess the good confession in the presence of many witnesses, that's what baptism is. A believer's baptism is this man or this woman has professed Christ. He's been changed. He has eternal life now. He's been buried in Christ. He died with Christ. He's been raised with Christ. He has the life of Christ. That's what baptism represents. And there's a confession of Christ in baptism. I think that's most likely. We can't be dogmatic about it, but I think it's most likely what's being presented here. And Paul's saying, remember your baptism as an encouragement for you. I think Paul says that in Romans chapter six as well. Remember your baptism. It didn't save you. But it represents what Christ has done in your life. And he says, I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate. Two more encouragements. You're before the presence and the sight of God who gives all things. This God who knows all things and gives all things. He's able to empower you to persevere. So be encouraged, Timothy. You can do this. And I will say, brother and sister, be encouraged. The same God can empower you to persevere. You can do this. And then he says, before Christ, take heed of this, that you're before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate. Christ Jesus is our example when he was put before Pontius Pilate. I think it's not just talking about specifically when he's sitting before Pilate, but I think it's the whole process of his coming before the authorities and eventually then being crucified. How he persevered through all of that and he confessed himself as Lord in that against opposition. You can too. profess Christ Jesus as Lord, no matter what the opposition is. So the idea is, I urge you in the sight of God and before Christ to persevere by keeping the commandment without blame until Christ returns. I think the commandment is basically the commandment to fight the good fight. By the power of God, by the example of Christ, I urge you to persevere to fight the good fight. encouraged? You want to go out and break through some walls now and do something for Christ? Flee, pursue, fight, persevere. If I can have a fifth point, I think it's this. You notice what he says at the end of verse 14? He says, until our Lord Jesus Christ is appearing. One writer said, keeping with the military analogies, fleeing and pursuing talks about knowing the rules of engagement, the fighting and perseverance is the rules of combat. But then this last point would be help is on the way. Pursue and persevere until Christ appears and he will appear with his angels. We've just sung a part of that, that Christ will return and this pursuit of righteousness will be made perfect. All things will be made right. And then he breaks out in song, and we don't have time today. I think next week we'll take from verse 14 to verse 16 so we can focus on the appearing of Christ and the wonder and the attributes of this immortal, sovereign, Lord of Lord, King of Kings, God that we serve. And what Paul is saying here, he sees the return of Christ and he breaks out in praise in a wonderful doxology in these last couple of verses. Basically, it's a victory dance, a victory song. We have served the God of the universe. Victory is assured because Christ has done it. He returns and God is the God of all power and sovereignty. And so you can pursue and flee. You can fight and persevere is what he's saying here. Hopefully, that'll whet your appetite for next week as we'll finish out those last two verses that we read this morning. But in closing, Let me remind you, we have been commanded to flee from sin, to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Don't tell me there's nothing to do in your life as a Christian. There's much to do. It's not a problem knowing what to do. The problem is doing it. If we would be paying attention to those things we're called to do, we'd be quite busy. But we're to flee from sin and pursue these things because we are in the middle of fighting the good fight of faith for the honor of Christ in the souls of men and women, a fight in which we must persevere by God's enabling and by Christ's example. And if we understand who this Christ Jesus is, the encouragement and the example of Christ is even more great and even more of an encouragement to us. Christ Jesus is the one who fled perfectly from all sin as the spotless Lamb of God. Christ Jesus is the one who pursued perfectly righteousness by living a perfect life according to the law of God, that He would live that life that we can never live. That He pursued godliness perfectly by being without sin and having perfect righteousness. He pursued faith perfectly by perfectly trusting the Father when He came in humility to the earth. took on flesh and trusted his father while he's here. He came and pursued perfect love. Has there ever been any love like Christ Jesus, the perfect example and display of love that you see on the cross of Calvary? The sins of those who don't deserve a thing, but out of love. And out of love for His Father, He did this for us in the greatest act and display of love on the cross. He pursued perfect patience in His endurance while He is here, perfect long-suffering while He was on earth. And even now, He has perfect long-suffering with us as He endures our unfaithfulness before Him, our sin, our ungratefulness. And he pursued perfect gentleness and perfect meekness. We've already spoken of that, how he did not retaliate against those who scorned him, those who beat him, those who crucified him. But yet he pursued perfect humility as the God man, even learning obedience, the scripture says, to the point of death on the shameful cross. This is the Christ who fought temptation from the evil one and absorbed all the wrath of God for the sins of his people. who who sweat bloody sweat and prayer coming before the cross and crying out. But he he fought the temptation and he won. This is the Christ who persevered so that he even now continues to persevere with us to forever intercede on our behalf as our great high priest and our king forever. And so we really end this message as we have really the last two messages that our hopes Our contentment, our satisfaction, our victory is in Christ and Christ alone. If we're going to flee and pursue, if we're going to fight and persevere, we must find our satisfaction, our contentment, our focus of our soul on Christ and Christ alone. He's our example. And He enables us and He empowers us in the war. A war that He has already won. A sanctification that He has already guaranteed. So, I urge you, Brother and sister, let us flee and pursue. Let us fight and persevere. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that You would weigh upon our hearts from Your Word. In a world where we have so many distractions, so many entertainments, that you would press upon our hearts the seriousness of the fight of the war, the good fight of faith that you've given to us, that you've graciously given to us. We don't deserve any of this, but through Christ Jesus, you've appointed us to fight this good fight, to honor and glorify you and to proclaim Christ for the eternal good of sinners, sinners like ourselves. Lord, I pray that you would As we have seen the last two Sundays, you would make our hearts be full of Christ, not be satisfied with anything else except for Christ and be content with Him and Him alone. Seeing Him in His person, in His work, the beauty of Christ Jesus, our Savior, that we would then be emboldened and empowered by our spirits to flee from sin. How dare we dabble in sin and toy with sin, the same sin that has placed our Savior on the cross to die such a horrendous death, suffering the wrath of God for it. May we not play with sin. May we flee from sin. Enable us then to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, gentleness, and patience for your glory and for the proclamation of Christ. May you enable us then to fight the good fight properly thoughts according to Your Word, and to persevere in it knowing that Christ Jesus has done it. Christ Jesus has won it. And He's returning again. And we long for the day when we can see Him and we can be made like Him. I pray, Lord, that those who are here outside of Christ Jesus, that You would put the weight on their heart of their sin and their need for Christ. How foolish, how sad it is that when that the cure for their eternal problem is here before them, if they would dare reject it and go on their way. I pray, Lord, for the hearts and the souls of those who are outside of Christ, that this would be the day of salvation. May it be so. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.