25 days come December as well. Well, your Bibles are open to 1 Timothy chapter 1. I want to start my sermon with one sentence. It's not even a complete sentence. I would say this is a sentence fragment if I was grading a paper. But it's a sentence fragment of urgency. And it reads this way. No kids to two kids in five minutes. No kids to two kids in five minutes. You say, what in the world is that fragment? That's my story and Lori's story. We were young, had been married three years, and God, in his kindness, blessed us with her pregnancy, which we found halfway through the pregnancy, roughly, that there's going to be two babies coming out of her. We were going to have twins. We didn't know anything about handling one baby, and we're going to get two copies of a baby. That happened in 1992. That's our story. You know Alicia well, playing the piano this morning. And her twin sister, an older sister by five minutes, is Janelle. Yes, they were born five minutes apart. But even being born five minutes apart, they almost had different birthdays. It was that close to midnight. And that would have been kind of fun, right? But they came in time. We believe that Alicia was going to come out first. And then she pushed Janelle out first. And that's the way it worked out the next few years, too. You'd go first. But I'm telling you, going from no kids to two kids in five minutes was intense. You want to talk diapers with me? I'll talk diapers with you. Do you want to talk about feedings? Do you want to talk about waking? And sleeping times, do you want to talk about not being able to sleep at all as the dad and mom? We'll talk to you about that. This was a rapid disorienting storm, to say so lovingly. We went from a quiet house to 18 years of disorienting bliss. and love. Did I mention the double diapers? Did I mention that to you? And the 10 dirty fingernails for six months? Did I say something about that? It was overwhelming, if you can't tell. And it ended up with staggering schedules only to survive. But enter Super Grammy. Lori's mom, who is affectionately known as Grammy, came and lived for six weeks with us when our twins were born. Lori's dad came and had to go back to work and then came back, but grandma was there for six weeks helping us survive. I'm still convinced to this day she had superpowers when it came to babies. But after six weeks, it was time for her to come back to Michigan. This was all happening in South Carolina. And she had stayed her promise six weeks, and they loaded up the truck. And Lori's parents were getting ready to pull out. And Lori still laughs and reminds me to this day that I was weeping. Really, tears coming down my cheeks. I had the sup-sups, where you can't catch your breath. And I was looking at my mother-in-law. You can't leave. And Lori still, she recounted to me again last night, the next couple moments, what they held. I'm there weeping outside my father-in-law's pickup truck. It's all loaded. It's running. And she comes up to me and puts her hands on my face and says something profound to me in that moment as I'm weeping. She says, while she holds my face, good luck with that, Jim. And she drove off. Well, in effect, today, in this text we're going to look at, the last few verses of 1 Timothy chapter 1, it's Paul who has his hands on Timothy's face. You say, why? Well, here in the last three verses, verses 18 through 20, Paul is going to lay something heavy on Timothy. It's been quite an energetic chapter one, hasn't it? As we've been studying through 1 Timothy and through this opening chapter, in verses one through two, we saw a heartfelt greeting from Paul, who's in jail at Rome, who will be executed from that cell, writing a letter that had to travel as a crow flies roughly 800 miles to Ephesus. And in verses 1 and 2, the silence is broken, and there's a heartfelt greeting. That was heavy and sweet. But then we went to verses 3 through 7, and we saw a very plain, obvious, and powerful call from Paul to Timothy to intentionally collide with false teachers. It's like you have the niceties at the beginning of the letter, and then we're right into this. You've got to go to war. And then we saw in chapter 1, verses 8 through 11, a theological wrestling match where Paul himself wrestled back the proper use of the Old Testament law, in particular, the Ten Commandments. You see, the bad guys had put their fingers on it and were misusing it in a legalistic way in Ephesus and combining it with mysticism and myths. Paul says they're not handling it correctly, and Paul wrestled it back from them. And if that weren't enough, Paul in verses 12 through 17, as we saw last time, says the Old Testament law is good if it's used lawfully, as it was in my life. It crushed me. It was used by God to rescue me. And in verses 12 through 17, Paul gives us that story yet again. It's been a heavy first chapter. Paul now, as we come to the last three verses, has his hands on Timothy's face. In essence, he's saying, OK, Timothy, so far in this letter, our focus has been on God. And then our focus has been on the false teachers. And then most recently, our focus has been on my testimony. But Timothy, now the focus is on you. In light of what we've been talking about in chapter 1, you see, Paul, as he goes through the next five chapters, what's coming up after these three verses, Paul is going to ask Timothy to do some very hard things. Not the least of which is, and this is probably common in any church, not only back then but even today, would you please get the Christians praying? They don't pray. And he's also going to lean on Timothy there in Ephesus to get the men to lead spiritually. And then he's going to say, and Timothy, after you do those two impossible things, I need you to help the ladies in the church to see the beauty and the protection and the strength of headship in the home and in the church. And if that isn't enough, I need you to lean in to the elders of the church and help them to be men of integrity. I want you to address the deacon couples in the church and have them serve. Teach them what it means to serve the congregation with grace. And after that, I want you, well, you have to kill apostasy. You have to take out false teaching. And if that weren't enough, Timothy, I'm going to tell you in the next five chapters that in your life and in the life of every member of your church, I want you to see to it that everyone is training themselves for the purpose of godliness. And there's a steady day after day growth in holiness. Everyone in the church, Timothy, lead the charge. And if that weren't enough, in the next five chapters, You're going to have to teach those that God has blessed with riches how to be free from being controlled by those riches. And by the way, Timothy, we're going to have to talk in these five chapters of how do you do church discipline on an elder? There's a lot coming up. You know what? If Timothy did struggle with the fear of man, I believe he did, then in a very big way, every part of the next five chapters will confront Timothy's fear of man at every turn. So his hands are on Timothy's face here at the end of chapter one. And Paul brings his marching orders to a head to his young protege. And it's here I put in your notes a very important fact that you're going to need to carry away from the study this morning. And here it is. For every Christian, it is important to note that every calling carries a heavy cost and requires heavy lifting. It's true. For every Christian, it is important to note that every calling carries a heavy cost, a heavy sacrifice, and it requires heavy lifting. And as I stand before you as your shepherd this morning, here's my appeal as you study these three verses. Don't leave these final three verses of chapter one in 1 Timothy merely in the pastoral world. Don't think that Paul is just talking to Timothy. He's talking past you, the reader, and he has some stuff on a personal level to communicate to Timothy. Lean in hard to what Timothy's hearing. Yes, it's in a ministerial context, a pastoral context. But my prayer is that you will feel the same sense of responsibility in what God's called you to be and do as a disciple. You see, as a Christian, your calling may be that of being a leader in a church, a servant leader in the church, or a quiet servant ministering out of sight and out of the headlines in the church. Your calling may find you married at this moment. Your calling may find you single in this moment. It may find you with children in this moment or without children. This calling may find you with the assignment of being a parent. This calling may find you as a professional or as an employee or as a student. Whatever your calling is right now, you have to understand as you hear these words with Timothy, you have to understand there's an audience of one in your calling. It's God himself. Paul had already written this previously prior to first Timothy to the same church. In Ephesians 6, verses 6-8, Paul wrote these words to the church. Listen. Do the will of God from the heart. With good will, render service as to the Lord, not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord. So he's kind of following up on that from Ephesians. We like to talk about the big idea around here in a sermon. Here's the big idea this morning. Know what you need to know so you can do what you're supposed to do. Know what you need to know so you can do what you are supposed to do. Or I could reword it this way. Keep a laser focus, not merely on what you do, listen, but who you are. That's our challenge this morning. And as an outline, you can see there in your notes that Paul is going to unveil in just these three verses five identity perspectives for believers. And they're going to come to bear initially on Timothy. But if you're paying attention, you're going to feel the weight as well. Five identity perspectives. No matter what you're calling, no matter, listen, what headwinds you're facing, no matter what success or failures you've experienced, you gotta come back to these reminders of who you are. What are the perspectives? Well, number one, I am a steward. I am a steward. Look at chapter 1, verse 18. This command I entrust to you. Stop there. This command I entrust to you? That sounds familiar. It should. This is now the third time you see it, not only in most of your English translations, but definitely with one Greek word, whether noun form or verb form, you have seen this word back in chapter 1, verse 3. As I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on in Ephesus so that you may, and here's our word, instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines. You'll see it again In verse 5, where Paul comments on his motive behind this instruction, the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and sincere faith. And after Paul goes into confronting the false teachers, and sharing his own personal testimony, he's now back to this. He says, this command, same Greek word in verse 3, 5, and 18. This command I entrust to you. This is a Greek word for what could find its way into, and often did, a military context. This is a command. These are military orders. for you not to carry out military orders will become disorienting and dangerous and make someone vulnerable." He says, this command, what? I entrust to you. I literally, I place beside you. I entrust this to you. I could have given this command to anyone else, but I'm giving it to you because, well, you're on the scene and you're calling. It's right there as a reminder over and over and over what you are supposed to be doing. Again, this theme is a bookend in this epistle. You see it here in chapter 1 in verse 18, but you're going to see it again in chapter 6, verse 20. O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. This concept of, I have a command that has been locked into my life from outside of me. It's a stewardship. It's a stewardship. Timothy, I know I've laid some heavy things on you in chapter one, and I'm just getting started. Wait till you read the last five chapters. But you're there, and what you have in your calling is a stewardship. You are a steward. You say, well, what in the world is a steward? A steward, simply put, you can remember it this way, is someone who handles what's not theirs. That's it. This is like you being nervous about getting a rental car when you take a vacation. You fly into another airport, and you get a rental car. And they do their best online as well as when you're at the counter to sell you more insurance beyond the insurance you already have on your vehicles back home. And if you say no, man, they're going to circle the wagons, man. They're going to come after you and say, you need to think this through. I mean, if anything happens, it's going to get expensive if we have to take in. And there's pressure to do that. Well, do I ever buy that extra insurance? No, I don't. Has anything ever happened to a car while I've been driving a rental car? Yeah, I've shattered a whole windshield before with a stray stone on the highway. Still haunts me to this day. I still don't buy the insurance. But I'll tell you what, the whole time I have that rental car, if I'm driving it around LA with two of our deacons and our associate pastor, if I'm driving it around in Texas on a trip, I'm nervous. When I pick the car up, I'm taking pictures of all sides of it in case a stone hits it. I'm walking around it in the parking lot during the trip, just looking at it, and I'm parking it away from other cars. I'm just nervous, and I'm so relieved when it comes time to go back to the airport and fly back to Detroit Metro, and I drop that car off, and I check those keys back in, and I'm like, I'm done, and I can relax. What was the problem? I was nervous because I was handling something. I was driving something. It didn't belong to me. And I had a keen sense of that. And I wanted out from underneath that weight. A steward handles what is not his. It's not his or hers in its origin. Listen. It's not his or hers in its power. And it's not his or hers in whatever glory comes from it. A steward is totally given to handling something that doesn't belong to them. There's only one option and it's what Paul himself will write in 1st Corinthians chapter 4 verse 2. Let a man regard us in this manner as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, Paul writes, it's required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. Yeah, trustworthy. I am a steward. It starts there, Paul, or Timothy. It starts there. Never forget that what you handle is not yours. And it's not about you. And you're going to present it back. I am a steward. Say it over and over, Timothy. But what do stewards do? Stewards feel. They feel. They feel the weight of responsibility. They feel the weight of accountability. Some are pretty rash as stewards. They say, I can do this. I got this. And Proverbs 20, verse 6 warns, well, many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy man? No, a true steward has a deep sense of sobriety to her and to him. because they handle what doesn't belong to them. Paul's saying to Timothy, you need to see the assignment I left you with at Ephesus there. I know things are in a mess. The church used to be stronger. And I told the elders in Acts chapter 20, Paul didn't say Acts 20, but he said in Acts 20, that there are going to be wolves come. Some are going to come from outside of the church at Ephesus. Some are going to rise up from within, even perhaps, well, elders. Men that held at one point to the truth and were entrusted with leadership assignments only to apostatize. He said, I warned them, Timothy. I need you there. Stay there and remember you're handling what doesn't belong to you. Stewards feel that weight. And by the way, we do too. And whatever God has called us to, we feel that weight. What have you, I mean, when's the last time you asked, what have I been entrusted with that I didn't, I'm not responsible for the origin of it or the power of it and ultimately the glory of it? You have any of that kind of stuff in your life that you've been entrusted with? How about the gospel? How about your Bible? How about your assignment? Your assignment as a single or married? How about your family? How about your reach and influence in your career or on that campus? It's a stewardship. This first identity perspective gives you traction. No matter what headwinds you're facing or failures, you've had. You see, the weight of responsibility makes you a lifelong learner in your calling, doesn't it? And that brings us to the second identity perspective. Number two, not only am I a steward, but number two, I am a disciple. I am a disciple. Look at verse 18 again. This command I entrust to you, watch this, Timothy, my son, We spent a lot of time on this concept and Paul's not finished with it yet. He says, remember Timothy, Timothy knew this, you're my son when it comes to the things of the faith. I'm the one who has had the watch over you and the training of you over these past decades. From when you joined me from your home and traveled with me, I've invested heavily in you. I've given you assignments up to this last chapter of my life. I consider you, even as a grown man, still my son. He started talking this way in chapter 1, verse 2, to Timothy, my true child in the faith. He's going to refer to Titus that way in Titus 1, verse 4. He's going to refer to Timothy this way again in 2 Timothy 1, verse 2. Timothy, my beloved son. Or how about these words that Paul wrote about Timothy to the believers at Corinth? In 1 Corinthians 4, verse 17, I have sent to you Timothy, listen to this, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. I love this. Timothy knew this, but Paul's reminding him again. You're a disciple. You're a disciple, Timothy. You're a disciple of mine right up to, well, this very moment. You see, Paul was handed Timothy when Timothy was still a work in progress. I believe he had come to faith already. What do I base that on? Well, I base that on 2 Timothy 1, verse 5. I am mindful, Timothy, of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice, and I'm sure that it is in you as well. He had a believing mother, a believing grandmother, and we know the believing mother part from the book of Acts. But when I get to 2 Timothy 3, verses 14 and 15, again, I'm reading here that there was something going on in his childhood with the Old Testament that brought him to faith on the watch of his mom and grandmother. Verse 14 of 2 Timothy 3, you, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, Timothy, knowing from whom you've learned them. And that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Paul was handed Timothy as a work in progress, but Paul took that seriously. And for the rest of Paul's life, we're within now just a few months, if not just a couple years of Paul's death, and he's still writing Timothy stuff like this, investing heavily in this young man. As a matter of fact, he will say in 2 Timothy 2, verse 1, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And from that point, Paul will say, in essence, I've invested in you like a commander invests in a soldier. I've invested in you like a coach invests in an athlete. I've invested in you, Timothy, as a farmer invests in the soil. Heavy investment. Why? Because what Paul had, what Paul believed, What Paul taught, listen, has to be passed on. And not just in libraries, but in lives. Some of you have trained in the martial arts in the past. So when I say to you the word kata, you understand that. What is a kata in martial arts, particularly in the striking arts that originated in Okinawa and mainland Japan? A kata is a routine. Think of a gymnastic routine in the Olympics. A kata is that, but with a series of unique strikes and blocks and kicks and body movement that is a routine put together beautifully and powerfully. And maybe to get to a black belt level, you might have to master anywhere between 10 and 20 katas, depending on your style. What does a kata do? It takes the individual moves and technique of a style of karate, and it preserves them. You teach these children these katas, and these children don't realize it, but through years of training, they are receiving the entirety of the knowledge of that particular style of karate. It's all contained in those katas. Because it must be passed on. It's not only true of katas and karate, but in proficiency with a violin or piano. This knowledge must be passed on, not just with books, but in your living. Well, if stewards feel, I guess you can say that disciples learn. Disciples learn. A true disciple, like Timothy, never stops taking in knowledge and studying that knowledge to see how it comes together in understanding. And then making new decisions in life of applying it, which is called wisdom. They never stop learning. Paul's reminding Timothy I'm teaching it even right now, Timothy. I call you son, that means you're my disciple. And I got more to teach you now. Timothy, say it over and over as you look in the mirror. I am a steward and I am a disciple. But brothers and sisters, so are you. Again, in your calling, Someone might say, as we hear said often, and it's often a man, but it can be a woman as well, I'm not a reader. You ever hear that? Ah, it's hard for me to read. Can I make a run at that excuse one more time this morning? Because that excuse has five problems. These aren't in your notes, because I don't want you to get mad at me. When you say, oh, I'm not a reader, so I can't grow. Here are the problems. Number one, the problem is, the main problem with that is, that's too bad because God is a writer. He's written a book. Second problem, creation has your attention and creation is the brush strokes of the creator as well. You can take in the beauty of a canyon or the majesty of an ocean or the pleasantness of a golf course. You read that, Read the other book. I'm not a reader. Well, God's a writer. Creation has your attention. Your hobbies have your interest. You scroll or subscribe to gain knowledge in what interests you as far as decorating or as far as collecting. You read that. There's another problem if you say, I'm not a reader and therefore I can't grow as a disciple. Believers need your growth. Other believers need you to make this come to life in your life so that you can grow as a believer and as a disciple and give them a hand up to grow. But there's one more reason why saying I'm not a reader is a problem. And it's this, time's getting short. If you haven't figured it out, you're closer to the glow of heaven today than you were yesterday. and decades are passing like a year now. Are you really ready to stand before the Lord, the one who purchased you, and say, I just, I wasn't a reader? We need to remember, I am a disciple, and disciples learn. And your Bible fully addresses anything that you are assigned to, any calling you have. Paul covered so much of it in his letter of Ephesians that the church already had. Everything from the deepest theology, to the home, to parenting, to marriage, to spiritual warfare, to church, it's all in there, in one epistle. Well, Identity is not anchored in only the earthly, but even more the heavenly. And this leads us to the third identity marker. I am a slave. I am a slave. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, look at verse 18 again. This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son. Look at this. In accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you. previously made concerning you, prophecies. What is this? When you see prophecies, and particularly in the writings of Paul, think this, thus saith the Lord. It's gonna line up with what you see with prophecy in the Old Testament. Thus says the Lord, but we need to nuance this a bit. This could either be foretelling of events that haven't happened yet, or it could be, and I like this word, foretelling. In other words, I have news for this group that's in front of me now. I'm going to give them either new data from God in this moment, back in this time, or I'm going to review data with them that he has said previously in the scriptures. You say, well, what's he talking about here? Well, I really believe, since the New Testament canon wasn't finished and based on passages like Romans chapter 12 and 1 Corinthians chapters 13 and 14, that there was an apostolic time gift of prophesying, which is getting news flashes, if you will, from heaven through prophets. And these prophets, according to 1 Corinthians 14, would keep each other accountable. This is how God steered his church as the canon was being completed. Paul's not startled by this, neither is Timothy. As a matter of fact, you're going to read about it again in a few sermons in the future. 1 Timothy 4, verse 1, it says, but the Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times some will fall away from the faith. There's teaching of Old Testament writing and beginning to be Gospels circulated, most likely, that would make their way into the canon. But God was still revealing himself during his apostolic era and his will. You want another example of that in the book of Acts, which is a book about transitions, what happened that ended up launching the first missionary journey from Antioch. It says in chapter 13, verse 1, now there were at Antioch in the church that was there prophets and teachers. Who were they? Barnabas and Simeon, who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manan, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, listen to this, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So when we talk about prophecy in this time, it could be predicting something yet future, or it could be giving you new data in the present, or unpacking data that God had already delivered previously in his writings. But here, I believe it's new data that Paul was aware of that Timothy had received in the context of a local church. And the data was about Timothy. And he says, I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies, plural, previously made concerning you. In other words, these things happened at some point in the past, and they've brought us up to this moment. Those prophecies were right about you, Timothy. This could have happened at his ordination. Some would put that back in Acts chapter 16. Or at his installation as the pastor, as the lead elder in Ephesus. And some would look at chapter 1 verse 3, and again chapter 4 verse 14. where we read, do not neglect the spiritual gift within you which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery, by the elders. So that's kind of a backdrop of this concept of prophecy when it comes to Timothy. But I bring this together and I understand this that God Through human messengers, in an official capacity, in the context of a local church, God spoke to Timothy about Timothy. In essence, it might have gone something like this from God. It's you, Timothy, here, right now, doing this that has my blessing and will be for my glory. Timothy being singled out by the leadership of the church. Paul says never forget that because the biggest issue when we talk about prophecy at this time during the apostolic era is not really the one who's receiving it. Watch this. It's on the one giving it. That prophecy wasn't Paul's authority. It wasn't the other elders authority, it was God speaking to his leadership in the church about that man, Timothy. The king points the direction to those under him, not vice versa. So, at some point, God delivered a message through the church leadership that encouraged Timothy right up to this moment. Paul says, remember that? Remember that? I guess we can say if stewards feel, and if disciples learn, then slaves do what? They obey. They obey. Could it be that Timothy was at risk because of fear of man on revolting against what God publicly called him to do through prophecies? Could it be that you and I and our calling through, not news flashes from heaven, but through where God has planted us and what his word says we are to be doing there. He's our Lord, we are his slaves. Could it be that you are beginning to revolt in your assignment, in parenting, or in the home, or in marriage, or church? Jesus said in Luke 6 46, you call me Lord, Lord, why don't you do what I say? But listen to these words given to the nation of Israel in Malachi 1.6. Listen to this. It's the Lord of Hosts talking. A son honors his father and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is my honor? If I am a master, where is my respect, says the Lord of Hosts to you? Well, we're not talking here in these last three verses about any kind of passivity on Timothy's part. All this feeling and learning and obeying is not passive. It brings us to our fourth identity perspective. Number four, I am a warrior. I am a warrior. He says that by them, verse 18 at the end, by them, by what? Those prophecies where God expressed his will clearly. for you, Timothy, publicly. By them, you fight the good faith, keeping faith in a good conscience. This word fight, it's true, isn't it? Fear of men, guys, need to be reminded of the other team every once in a while, and that the other team has dropped their boxing gloves. It's going to be bare knuckle conflict when it comes to doctrine. Paul, and I guess Timothy, enjoyed this military kind of talk. You're going to see it in 2 Timothy chapter 2. You're going to see it in the pastoral epistles often. We're going to fight. And then he says, well, what are the weapons? We only have two. Faith and a good conscience. This faith is referring, listen, to the collision of the body of faith, the gospel, with the affections of the individual. And there's an embrace, it's a gift from God we know, but there's a white knuckle embrace driven by grace of the truth, of the faith. And it's held in our very hearts and we have affections for it and we make decisions consistent with that faith. And living the life that that faith dictates gives to us a good conscience. A good conscience that used to be condemned because of the crushing of the law, but in forgiveness and in the gospel, there was cleanness. And a desire to keep that conscience clean by living according to this faith. He says, you want to know how you fight, Timothy? You hold fast that faith and you guard the life that should emanate from that faith. As Michael read earlier in the service, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Let what's true on the inside be true as it comes out of you. Those are your two weapons. Paul here mentions a good conscience. He also had already said that earlier in his chapter in verse five. Actually, six times in the pastoral epistles, Paul referred to the importance of a good conscience. I find it interesting that faith and good conscience are both connected to every member of the armor of God, every part of the armor of God that Paul had already told the Ephesus Christians about in Ephesians six. Why? One commentator says theological error is often rooted in moral failure. If you stop believing right, then what's true in your heart is gonna come out in your life, and it's gonna be a life that is not anchored to God's truth and godliness. At the same time, you can start on the other end and start with the other weapon and undo everything. If you cave in with moral tragedy, and make your life one moral wipe out after another, it's going to come to a point where it takes a toll on what you say you believe. All these evangelicals that have been deconstructing lately, only to reveal later that they had been making unholy decisions long before they got in front of a podcast microphone to say they've changed their beliefs. What you fight with, Tim, you only have two things, faith, and a good conscience. Okay, so if stewards feel, and disciples learn, and slaves obey, what do warriors do? You know what a warrior does? Warriors fight. It's not an if. there's going to be a fight. It's when and how often there is a fight. And their greatest enemy to take out in every battle first is the enemy, not necessarily that's breaching the horizon and coming towards them, it's the enemy of unbelief that's breaching their own heart. And the enemy of compromise, personal compromise, that's breaching their own behavior. That's where the fight starts. Not only with Timothy and his calling, but with you and your calling. Are you a fighter? You may have to ask questions like this. Where have I become a soft target? Is it around a certain person? Certain type of entertainment? When have I begun to relax my Bible intake? Where it used to be strong, where have I started to kick my feet up? and chill spiritually. Bible says faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God, Romans 10, 17. That's not just true to get into salvation, but that's true once you are in Christ. You continue to build your faith with Bible intake. I'll make you a promise. According to Psalm 119, verses 25 and 31, if you don't cling to the word, you will cling to the dust. You only get two options. You gotta fight. Stewards, disciples, slaves, warriors. If that's you, you need to look down on your chest and note concentric circles and a bullseye and a dancing laser point on it. Because one more thing about your identity is this, I am a target. I am a target. Look at verse 19. In the middle of the verse, No, the whole thing, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some, that's an important word, not all, some, have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these, that's important, like the word some is, among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme. What is this? It says some have rejected. There were some that used to hold the same doctrine we did and had the same clean conscience we did. They were with us, shoulder to shoulder, but now they're gone. These guys used to used to champion what we champion. Now they're our critics. They've turned. They used to be dear in our fellowship. Now they are deconstructing. They used to be helping hands, now they are missing muscle. Some have rejected, and you know some of them, Timothy. And they've made shipwreck of their faith. Now, I think it's cool that Paul reaches for this illustration of shipwreck. He knew something about shipwrecks, right? We get to watch one happen in real time as you read Acts 27. But he also mentions in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 25, that he had been in, oh, I've been in three shipwrecks. It's not a big deal. I know how to do shipwrecks, three of them. What happens with a shipwreck? Well, it's a vessel that was going with great freedom, doing what it was designed to do, and moving smoothly through the element of the ocean. It used to be like that, but then you find it broken, as the Book of Acts says, on a reef, and useful for nothing but to take on water. He says, some men who leave faith in a good conscience are no longer free, they're shattered. And he says, among them, not all of them, but among them are two that you know well, and he names these names, Hymenaeus, who he'll also address in 2 Timothy chapter two about bad teaching on the resurrection, and a man named Alexander, which might be the guy we read about over in 2 Timothy and in Acts 19, but we're not sure. But it's interesting that he pulls out two names here. He said some, and he didn't give names there. And then he says, among them. He doesn't name the them. But he does decide to pull two names out here. And could it be, and I think the likes of Kent Hughes and MacArthur are onto something, and they're not the only commentators, that these could have been the proper names of two elders that used to be helping to lead the church at Ephesus. Their faith failed, their conscience was crushed. But what I take great encouragement with is the language that Paul uses in verse 20, is not to write these two men off, as much of a headache as they've been. This is work and wording of rescue. I'm gonna hand them over to Satan, which is the realm outside of the local church, He's talking in church discipline words. He's going to touch more on church discipline of elders in 1 Timothy chapter 5, but he's using the same language here that he used in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 5. I'm going to take the sinning brother and put him outside the perimeter of the protection of this church to the domain of Satan so that he may perhaps be rescued. It's rough out there. You see, out there, our Lord describes it in John 12, John 14, and John 16 as the ruler of this world is out there. Satan. Paul's saying, I've turned those two men over. They want to say they don't want to believe the truth anymore. They want to work against us. I'm going to hand them to the enemy for a season so hopefully they learn something and are rescued. And make no mistake about it, out there, It's like Satan and his minions are like sharks circling something that's bleeding in the ocean. Make no mistake about it, we're gonna see here that spiritual warfare is very much alive within the walls of the church, but there's something about putting someone outside of the fellowship and protection of the local church that is part of the rescue sometimes, but it's not gonna be pleasant. And Paul's saying to Timothy, listen Timothy, you're a target. The unbelief of men like this can come for you too and you may end out there. If stewards feel and disciples learn and slaves obey and warriors fight, then targets defend. Targets defend and once again they know their biggest enemy is their own flesh. Romans 7, 18. I know nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. You might need to ask this question. If I go down, and what God's called me to do, or what God's called you to do, if I go down, who else, present and future, will be affected by that? I was on the phone with a pastor in California this week who called for some counseling, and we were bemoaning the fall of two Very visible evangelical leaders that had a huge impact in both of our lives. One in preaching and one in biblical counseling. And he let me know in that conversation, have you heard about two more? And I knew of one of them. In my calling, guys are dropping left and right folks. But in your calling as a husband, or as a wife, or as a pastor, as a deacon, as a single? Are people dropping in your calling too? Left and right? In the church? So, in other words, listen. Paul's hands are on Timothy's face, saying, Timothy, I know I'm sending you into a storm there in Ephesus. It will be disorienting. But I need you to know, Timothy, who you are. I need you to know what you need to know so you can do what you're supposed to do. Timothy, you're a steward. You're a disciple. You're a slave. You're a warrior. And you're a target. And look in the mirror every morning and say that. Because if you know that, then you're going to be feeling the weight. You're going to be learning. You're going to be obeying. You're going to be fighting. And you're going to be guarding. So it's true. For every Christian, it's important to note that every calling carries a heavy cost and requires heavy lifting. So don't leave these three verses in the seminary hallway. John Piper's right, he says, a wimpy worldviews make wimpy Christians, and wimpy Christians won't survive the days ahead. And I'll add, in any calling, not just a pastoral. So as Paul puts his hands on Timothy's face, God is taking you and putting his hands on your face and telling you this morning, my friend, my brother, my sister, know what you need to know so you can do what you're supposed to do. These last three verses in 1 Timothy 1, as you can tell from the title of the sermon, this is on your mark. Get set. There was a word missing. What's that word? Go. That's chapter 2, verse 1. Spoiler alert. You may be surprised where Timothy's first priority is with the Ephesus church. I'll give you a hint. It's not on church polity. That'll be our next sermon. Lord, thank you for letting us watch you clarify to Timothy, remind Timothy what he needs to know so he can do what he's supposed to do. But Lord, these five identity perspectives affect every one of us and what you've called us to be and do as of today. May this jolt us as Paul was jolting Timothy. to weather what's coming up in our next five chapters. For your glory alone.