1 Timothy chapter 4. I'm going to finish up chapter 4 this morning and go on to Christmas stuff next week. Last week, we looked at the first five marks of a good servant in verses six through 10. This morning, we're gonna look at the remaining five. The first ones were, and I'll just, for the sake of just bringing it back to our remembrance a little bit, one, a good servant exposes error. A good servant is a student of Scripture. rejects godless myths and false doctrines. Number four is a good servant pursues godliness. And five, a good servant is a hard worker. This morning, we're gonna, again, like I say, look at the remainder, and I'd like to introduce them by reading verses 11 through 16. Command and teach these things. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but show yourself as a model to those who believe in word, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Until I come, give attention to public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the gift within you which was given to you through the prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the Council of Elders. Take pains with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching, Persevere in these things, for as you do this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you." Let's open a word of prayer. Father God, we come to you this morning, Lord, as we look at this passage. Lord, we just ask that We just pray that Your Holy Spirit will teach us and apply each and every one of these truths to each of us as He sees fit and as we need it. Again, Lord, we just ask, as we always do, that as a result of being here this morning, Your saints would be edified and You would be glorified. For we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. So we continue now, the first five last week, and now this week we'll pick it up with number six. Number six in verse 11, a good servant teaches with authority. Verse 11, command and teach these things. Okay. Now, one thing to remember, In these 10 marks of a good servant, this is being delivered to Timothy. Now, in his position as a minister of the gospel, whose job was in part to raise up ministers, Timothy also functioned as a pastor and an evangelist. Therefore, all 10 of these marks or qualities directly applied to him and all who would function in these roles. However, Even though not all of us are ever gonna be pastors or evangelists or go out and establish churches, all 10 of these marks or these qualities apply or should apply to each and every one of us. We should strive to live up to these qualities, these marks. Now, this one. You know, come teach with authority. Why should a servant, including us, teach with authority? Well, the simple answer is because God's Word is authoritative. It's not that we're being bossy or belligerent, it's we're just speaking with the authority of the Word, being God-breathed, all Scripture is God-breathed, 2 Timothy 3.16. The authority, now this authority of Scripture is one of those things that is stressed throughout all of Scripture. Matter of fact, you can actually see it right from the very beginning. I mean, Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Period. End of discussion. God's Word authoritatively states that God is the creator of heaven and earth. Now, I know people today want to argue with that and all their pseudosciences, but God says in His words that He created the heavens and the earth. Thank you very much. And that is authoritative. And His Word starts out with that authority and ends with that authority. Now, in Psalm 19, for example, 7 through 11 says this, the law of the Lord, speaking of His word, the law, the law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true. and they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than the honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned. In keeping them there is great reward." Think about that, the great reward. And then Psalm 119, it begins this way, the first four verses, how blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. How blessed are those who observe his testimonies, who seek him with all their heart. They also do know unrighteousness, they walk in his ways. You have ordained your precepts that we should keep them diligently." And this just keeps going on for 172 more verses just extolling the great spiritual profitability of following His law, which is another way of saying His Word. Okay? His Word. One more thing on this. I don't want to beat this one to death, but it's so important that we understand that the authoritative of the Word. In Matthew 22, there's an account where Jesus is confronted by the Sadducees. They come up with this lame attempt to trap Him with a question about the resurrection. And what they did, they presented Him a what-if kind of scenario of seven brothers who in turn, because of passing away, married the same woman. And Jesus, and they said, and then basically their question was, well, Which one is they're gonna be married to in heaven? Now again, remember, the show how fun it is, this was presented by Sadducees who, number one, need to understand, don't believe in the resurrection. They deny the resurrection, okay? So it kind of shows the hypocrisy of their whole position. Anyway, so Jesus' answer to them is just priceless and very, you talk about informative about, number one, the word of God, and let's just read it. Matthew 22 verse 29 to 32, but Jesus answered and said to them, you are mistaken, not understanding the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. By the way, angels are another thing the Sadducees denied. Jesus kind of stuck that one in there, you know. But regarding the resurrection of the dead, Have you not read what was spoken to you by God? And then he's going to proceed to quote right out of Exodus chapter 3. I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, He is not, and he goes, He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And right there, you want a little passage that, number one, Jesus gives expression that the Old Testament is God's Word. You get something from there. The resurrection is real. And he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, which points to the fact that a resurrection will happen. In other words, he's saying, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob still live. I am not the God of the dead, he says. Again, but because the Bible is the very Word of God and authoritative, One caution here, that way it must be accurately handled. Cut it straight, as it says in 2 Timothy. Because what we don't want to do is speak error with a lot of authority. There's enough people out there doing that. So you want to, because it is authority, we need to do our part and make sure what we are speaking in authority is actually correct. So don't go around, you know, people, I mean, radio and television is full of these people just spreading nonsense. And, same thing, as parents, grandparents, we need to convey to our children the authority of Scripture as we teach it to them. Okay, just let them know. On to number seven. Verse 12, a good servant is a model of godly conduct. Verse 12 says, let no one look down on your youthfulness. but show yourself as a model to those who believe in word, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Let no one look down on your youthfulness." What's he talking about there? At the time of the writing of this letter, Timothy is estimated to be somewhere in his mid to late 30s. In the culture of that day, those under 40 were considered young. By many of us, that still holds true today, right? Anybody under 40 is considered very young. Also, at this point in time, Timothy had been ministering now with Paul for about 15 years. And quite frankly, Timothy was extremely highly thought of by Paul, and a lot of other people, by the way. Now, go back and read verse 12 again. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but show yourself as a model to those who believe in word, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Now, we're going to get back to this point because it's important. So now he's cautioned him, Paul is exhorting Timothy to act as a mature servant and as a model. Tufas means a pattern or an example, be like a standard. To be such a model, Paul listed now five areas in which Timothy was to live so as to be an example to the church at Ephesus." Remember, he's at the church of Ephesus. They've got people there speaking false doctrines. He sent them in in chapter 1. He says, get in there. In verse 3, he says, I exhort you when going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may command certain ones not to teach a different doctrine. There's people in there teaching that shouldn't have been. False teachers have got into that church. Now, there is also a lot of belief, but the bulk of the church is our believers, and therefore keep that in mind as we go through. Now, the first one he says, watch yourself in word or speech. The word is logos. In the beginning was the word, the word, the word logos. Now, his words then, or his speech, must be a reflection of his position as a representative of the gospel. And quite frankly, as a representative of the Apostle Paul. I mean, and speaking to the church. Now, in other words, sinful and unwholesome language must be avoided. Counterproductive. Obviously, you know, you don't go in there and say, look you, and then fill in the blanks. What's the matter with you people? You know, that's not the approach we want to take here. Concerning speech, Jesus said this. And this is in Matthew 12, 33 to 37. Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad. For the tree is known by its fruit. Obviously, he's here in another confrontation with the Pharisees and Sadducees and so forth. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good, and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." Okay, so again, good words. And that's, I mean, that's, as we go through life in society, it works that way, right? If you walk around with a foul mouth, you'll be looked at as a foul-mouthed individual, right? Whether it's at work, and it really doesn't work in church, okay? Now, number two, conduct. Well, obviously refers to one's personal behavior. Obviously. So your words must be kept right, so must your conduct, your actions, your behavior. In 1 Peter, Peter puts it this way, he says, Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation." Okay, so again, keep your words right, your speech correct, make your conduct right, and then three, love. Love, agape, that's that love that gives. I like to call that, that's that John 3, 16 kind of love, for God so loved the world that he what? He gave, he gave. Now here's something for sure. Now Timothy knew what serving with love meant, because he did it. Let's look at 1 Thessalonians chapter two. 1 Thessalonians chapter two, verse five through 12. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, beginning of verse 5. I'm going to jump up real quick. In chapter 1, verse 1, again, this letter, it says, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians. Okay? So just to set the context, they knew him Timothy was with Paul when this church was founded. And so now in writing back, this statement here includes Timothy as well. So in chapter 2 verse 5, For we never came with flattering words, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed. God is witness. nor seeking glory from men, either from you or from others, even though, as apostles of Christ, we could have been a burden to you, but we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. In this way, having fond affection for you, we were pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become beloved to us. For you remember, brothers, how our labor and hardships, how working night and day, so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaim to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly and righteously and blamelessly we behave towards you believers. Just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and bearing witness to each of you as a father would his own children. so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory." See, again, so again, ministering in love. Again, he uses the example of a parent. A parent who loves their children. You know, as a nursing mother, nurses her baby, as a father raises up the children with that kind of love and care. And again, that is true love. It isn't just a bunch of mushy talk. It's action. It does things. It does things. You'll see it. Just like the Thessalonians saw it in Paul, Silas, and Timothy. And then the fourth one, faith. Okay, faith there refers actually to faithfulness in ministry as opposed to saving faith. In other words, a model servant being faithful must be trustworthy. Must be trustworthy. He needs to be counted on to do his part. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul reminds him at the very end there, fulfill your ministry. You know what you're called to, you know what your giftedness is, do it, go for it. And then five, purity. Purity refers primarily here, and this is to sexual purity, which is a serious problem in our day as well as it must have been back then. I find it interesting, too, in the qualifications for both elder and deacon, you have being above reproach and one woman man, being a one woman man, okay? And it's critical. It was critical then, it's critical now. Matter of fact, in 1 Corinthians 9.27, Paul writing to them said this, but I discipline my body and make it my slave. Why? So that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. So many. There's been some that have been, I know that my wife and I have just really hit us right through certain men over the years that have disqualified themselves through sexual sin, and one of them fairly recently. It's sad. Great ministry's gone. And then there's other places that dismiss it, which is worse, which is worse. Oh yeah, you know, pastor gets his hand caught in the cookie jar, shall we say. Oh well, take a couple of weeks off and try to make it right and come back. No, no. Paul says, you're disqualified. You're gone. You know why? Go back and look at our lessons on elder and deacon. Deacons, and like as Paul's asking Timothy here, you model the performance. Because what happens then? Well, somewhere down the road, you know, this man that has been unfaithful moved out of the pulpit and right back in. He stands as a model and says, well, he did it. He got away with it. That's not the kind of model you want for ministry. That's why sexual sin, you're disqualified. There's other things you can do, just not being a pastor. Now, which takes us to number eight. A good servant prioritizes the Word of God, verse 13. It says, until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Give attention. It's in the present tense, meaning it's something to continually pay attention to, give attention to it, keep giving attention to it, to both the reading of Scripture, the exhortation and teaching of it. Now, the words, interesting thing in the text here, I've been noticing that in some of the translations, the words public and scripture, both of those are not in the Greek text. They're implied, but they're not in the Greek text. Now, with that being true, the reading referred here would be in public and in the church, no question about that, just as would exhortation and teaching. But quite frankly, and it bothers me a little bit in some of the texts, It should be, both of those words, if they're there, should be in italics, okay? Because they're not, and words in italics show us that these words are added for clarification purposes, but they're not necessarily in the text itself. And so both of them should be in italics, and I notice in some of them that some are not. Now, I'm just pointing that out, trying to be honest with the word here. In light of everything written in this letter so far, you know, it's most reasonable to surmise that the reading, again, would be the Scripture and that the reading would be in public. Going by yourself and reading in the closet wouldn't accomplish too much to the church, would it? So, and the reading would be from both the Old and New Testament. You would say, well, wait a minute. I didn't know. Was the New Testament written? Some of it was. Some of it was. Colossians 4.16, for example, which was written before Timothy. When this letter, Colossians 4.16 says, when this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans. And you, for your part, read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. Okay? Some think that one coming from Laodicea might actually be what we know as Ephesians. Could be, it's a thought. Now 1 Thessalonians 5.27 says, I adjure you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brethren. Read it to all of the brethren. Read it to all of them. I'm confident, too, because these questions sometimes come up, you know, like, well, do—like, say, for example, does Paul and the other New Testament writers, did they know they were writing Scripture? I'm confident they did. I'm confident they did. Actually, there's no doubt in my mind that they did. And then also in Revelation chapter 2 and 3, you have that section there that's the letters to the seven churches. Interesting thing that kind of goes by the book, at the end of each letter, Jesus said to them, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, plural, to the churches. as in all seven churches. Each individual church, pay attention what he wrote to all the churches. Why? Because each letter, though addressed to one specific church with one specific issue, or yet at the same time, all of those various applications and warnings should be heeded and are profitable to all the churches, just like they are today, by the way. Revelation 2 and 3 is, you read that with the problems, there was like, there was praises and problems, okay? Two churches did great, the other five, eh, they needed some help, okay? We can learn from both, like, what are the good things? What are the bad things that need to be corrected? We can learn from them too, and you can itemize those things, and how do we stack up? Even individually, how do we stack up? So again, they're always, always profitable. And then exhortation. Paraklesis is the word there, which means bringing truth to bear. It counsels. Matter of fact, paraclete is the word used, transferred comforter. It's one of the terms used for the Holy Spirit. The comforter. Exhortation, and that can be, it was basically, essentially it's like, and this is what Timothy was doing there, and this is what we always do, is exhortation is bringing God's truth to bear. on any issue, any subject, any topic. I mean, Scripture gives the best exhortations of any place. Matter of fact, Titus chapter 2 is one big exhortation. One big exhortation. We won't take time to read it, but that's just an example of an exhortation. And then teaching. And the word teaching the Daskalia appears 15 times, 15 times in the pastoral epistles. And it makes sense. We figure we're talking about these pastoral epistles, teaching is a high, high priority. And again, teaching involves the systematic explanation of the Word of God, which is vital to the church. It's vital. That's why the teaching should not be messed with. It shouldn't be superseded for gimmicks and nonsense, theatrics. It's amazing what is put in the place of teaching. It's not happy feel-good stories or One thing is, every now and then I go online, sometimes I just need to go and torture myself. So I go out there, I'll look at, actually I'll go on church websites and I'll see, okay, what their sermons sound like. And a lot of them today, the thing is where, you know, the guys in, some of them are jeans and a t-shirt walking around, no pulp, just kind of walk around, reads a scripture verse and then tells a lot of stories and, okay, and the people going, oh, you know, heaven. There's nothing there. There's nothing there. You know? I mean, you get more insight from Aesop's fables, for crying out loud. I don't know if anybody reads those anymore, but it's awful what's going on out there. I definitely don't claim to be God's greatest gift to the pulpit, but at least I try to teach truth. Look at John chapter 17. John chapter 17. this tremendous passage here, this tremendous chapter, which is God's, or God's, yeah, well, that's true, Jesus, second person of the Trinity, God, His high priestly prayer. We'll pick it up in verse 11, John 17, 11. Remember, he's praying to the Father on behalf of the, at this point in time, the 11. Judas is long gone. And I'm no longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world. And I come to you, Holy Father, keep them in your name, the name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in your name, which you have given me. And I have guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition, so that the Scriptures would be fulfilled." But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, so that they may have my joy made full in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I didn't ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also send them into the world. For their sake I sanctify myself that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth." In truth. Sanctified. Made holy. Set apart. Only the Word of God does that. Funny stories won't get it done. Fairy tales won't do that. What I did on my vacation last week won't do that. Only through a right understanding of the Word of God will that happen. Okay? Reason two, number nine. Back in 1 Timothy, a good servant will be faithful to his calling, verses 14 and 15. Do not neglect the gift within you, which was given to you through prophetic utterance, with the laying on of hands of the council of elders, or the presbytery. Take pains with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Okay? Do not neglect. In other words, just don't disregard it. Just keep on it. Keep on using your gift. The gift here is charisma from charis, which means grace. Now, gifts are divinely bestowed on Well, actually a gift of bondage bestowed on Timothy and all true believers. All true believers have a giftedness of some sort. And the reason for that giftedness is to serve the church. Now, interesting here, gift used in the singular points to Timothy's giftedness, if you will. Now, Peter uses the singular as well in describing this. In 1 Peter 4.10, he says, as each one has received a special gift, employ it, serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. In the various gifts of, or the various lists, I should say, of gifts, some might ask, does every believer have just one and that's it? And the dogmatic answer I get, not necessarily. My belief, probably not. Probably more. Let's look at, we're not gonna spend, we could spend weeks here, but we're just gonna spend a few minutes in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Excuse me, 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. And we'll just look at 1 through 11. Now, as far as the subject of spiritual gifts go, Paul has quite a discussion of it. He's dealing with it in chapters 12, 13, and 14. It's all about spiritual gifts. We're just going to look very quickly at these, just to get an idea of what we're talking about here. Now, and we'll make some quick observations as we walk through this. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 1. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that when you were pagans, you were being led around by astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed. And no one can say, Jesus, Lord, except by the Spirit." Yeah, evidently, in their quest for the miraculous back then, and they did a lot of mistakes, and somebody's sitting there saying, yeah, you don't say, by the Spirit, Jesus accursed. Doesn't work. Okay? Verse 4, now, there are varieties of gifts, and this is important, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of workings, but the same God who works everything in everyone. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable." Okay? Perfect. You notice, so far, everything, these are given, these are given, these are given, these are given. For one, verse 8, For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to someone else faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the workings of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to someone else various kinds of languages, and to another the translation of tongues. One and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each individually, just as He wills." So, the big thing to see there that where does each gift that an individual might have come from? You notice what it doesn't say in here? Go out and hunt one, and hunt one down, and seek one, pray for one? No. It's given by the Holy Spirit. given by the Holy Spirit. And then there's, we could go to, like Romans has another lift, gift, and you have other things like the gifts of helps, gifts of prayer, faith, all kinds of things. But the important thing is, everybody, I personally believe that Every Christian is gifted by the Holy Spirit. And you go through all these different lists. There's one in Romans 12. There's some in Ephesians. There's some in, a few mentioned in Peter and a few other places. You look at all these gifts. And there's probably more than that. And you can add in that other human abilities that you might have. And I believe the Holy Spirit blends all these together so that as we submit to Him, we indeed become the servant He wants us to be. Exercising that, quote, gift, which I believe is a blend of several of these things, perhaps. It depends. It depends. The thing about giftedness is that, because people make a big deal about sometimes, like, discover your gift. Oh, the best way to discover what your gift might be, and one thing I would say is don't worry about putting a label on it. You can spend a lot of time trying to put a label on it. You know, when you are really in sync with the Lord, what do you find yourself doing? That's the best way. What do you find yourself doing? You go back to some of the studies we've had on what it means by being filled with the Spirit, walking with the Spirit. When you're doing that, what is it you find yourself doing? When you're actually ministering to the body of Christ, what do you find yourself doing? Okay, now, back to 1 Timothy 4. Again, there's a lot that could be said on those. Now, 414 says, "...which was bestowed on you through the prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the council of elders." Now, we don't have the record of that. of this public affirmation, but most likely it happened right around the time that Timothy was selected to join Paul's team, which would be Acts chapter 16. Remember, Timothy probably lived in Lystra and Derbe. And then he went on that second missionary journey. He picked up Paul's psalm. Life says, hey, I want that man to join us. And he did. He went with Paul, crossed over the Aegean Sea. He was there when they founded Philippi, the church at Thessalonica, Berea, and right on down the line. So he was there. He was there. And again, he was there and he's still working and now he's in Ephesus. And verse 15 says, take pains with these things, be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident to all. Take pains, be absorbed. Take pains, one word, it means to meditate, to meditate on, to imagine, to, actually it means to be absorbed in. Another interesting textual note, absorbed is not in the text. If it's in yours, it should, if it's in your English, it should be in italics. But that taking pains carries the idea of being absorbed in something. So it's almost like by putting absorbed in it, it's kind of a repeat. It means be absorbed in it. In other words, Timothy is to be totally committed to performing his gift. And I believe Timothy knew exactly what it was. It's what he's been doing for the last 15 years. Do it. Just keep doing it. Because, again, I say Timothy is no slouch. Timothy, he was doing a great job. He's a fine teacher. We've seen that. We go back to the very first lesson on 1 Timothy. We looked at Timothy the man, and this guy, he had it going. He was doing just fine. Okay? And he's just telling them, here's exhortation, just exhorting him to just keep it going. Keep it going. Keep it going. Now, and why? Right in the second half of verse 15, so that your progress will be evident to all. Now, how's that? Again, a little bit of background and picking up some information we've already got. Remember, Paul founded the church at Ephesus and spent two years and three months there, okay, teaching and ministering to them between the years 53 and 56 AD. Now, Timothy ministered with Paul there in Ephesus at the founding, at least for a time, because we read in Acts where Paul actually sent Timothy from there to Macedonia to take care of something. We're not told what. He just said, go to Macedonia. There's something there that needs to be dealt with. So he went. Now, the point is that I'm trying to make here, some of those folks in Ephesus from the very beginning would know Timothy from his time there with Paul. Now, this would be about 10 to 12 years ago in the time of the writing of this. So Timothy, being a really young guy, being maybe in his mid-30s, would be in his mid, maybe even young 20s when he first was seen at Ephesus. So he was really considered a young kid when he first got there, helping Paul, assisting Paul. But now, in his mid-30s, okay, 10 to 12 years later, here he comes back. Some will notice him. And so then by being totally absorbed in exercising his gift, which he's very good at, and his personal progress in spiritual growth would be noticed by these people, okay, who knew him and would thus minimize the possibility of folks looking down on him now because of his still-perceived youthfulness. You see the point here? So all this stuff shore up Timothy in that very important ministry that he has there in Ephesus. He's there straightening this mess out. And look, he's got to be respected to get that done. And that's why Paul says, until I arrive, give your attention to, you know, reading and, you know, reading and public reading of Scripture and teaching and, you know, because and then be absorbed in it, do it, exercise your giftedness, get it across, and then by that they will see your personal advancement, especially those that knew you from before. They say, wow, he was young 20-year-old guy, now he's a 30-year-old guy, and boy, look how far he's come. That would be a very positive, positive testimony to him as a minister. Now, number 10, verse 16, a good servant will pay close attention to himself. Verse 16 says, pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching, Persevere in these things, for as you do this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you." Okay, pay close attention to yourself again, refers to his conduct and everything that's been said so far. Just pay attention to it. Pay attention to it. And your teaching. Okay, again, mentioning that, look at verse 13 says, until I come, give attention to public reading of Scripture, exhortation, and teaching. Teaching, again, critical, critical to the advancement and maturity of any individual or church. And it goes on to say, you know, and persevere in these things. Persevere in these things. Stay at it. You know, don't let up. Just keep persevering. Keep moving. Keep moving. Sometimes it can be very tiring. You got to keep moving anyway. Just keep moving. Why? The next phrase, for as you do this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you. Okay, here's one of those passages. How are we to understand this? What is that meaning? First of all, let's get this part clear, that the Bible clearly teaches that works, even good works, don't save. They don't save. We're here in Timothy. Let's move forward to Titus chapter 3. Titus 3 verse 5, 5 to 7 says, He saved us not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy. through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." So again, you know, and then we all know that very famous and Passages that we read quite often, Ephesians 2, 8, 9, and 10, where it says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. Then it concludes with this, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." So you notice the action, it's by the grace of God that one is saved, not by any wonderful thing we might have done. The wonderful things we do are a result of that salvation. The result, Ephesians 2.10. Now, the word save, sozo. We dealt with this actually last week. in the context of being applied to Timothy and the church at Ephesus, cannot be referring to eternal salvation. First of all, Timothy's already saved, right? He's gifted. He's serving God. He's been sent on a mission of service by the apostle Paul. Again, you're not going to lose your salvation at the same time as he's already saved, so he doesn't need to be saved. Again, saved here needs to be understood in the context of sanctification, as one progressing in their faith as they persevere to the end. In that sense, Matthew 24, 10 to 13, in other words, Perseverance is a characteristic of a true believer. Matthew 24, 10 to 13 says, speaking of the end times here, and at that time, many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many because lawlessness is increased. Most people's love will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. And then in Acts 13, saying a similar thing to what's being said here in First Timothy. Now, when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews in the God-fearing progeny followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God. Well, by grace, these people were saved, and by saying, continue in it, just keep persevering to the end. It's not becoming more saved or working your way into God's grace, like some wrongly think. It's they were being encouraged. you know, not to stay saved, but they're encouraged to keep pressing on, to keep persevering. That's the whole point there in Acts 13, 43. So again, that persevering in the faith is actually what produces personal assurance. That's what produces personal assurance of one's salvation. I know some can have a false assurance, but a true assurance is if one is just simply moving forward, actively engaging, trying their best to follow God, you know, growing in their faith. And you can see growth from the time you've made a profession now, and you can see that you're going to have your ups and downs, but it's a steady movement upward, okay? It's not one of these, like, and then boom, off the chart. That's a false faith. But no, one that has true faith You're going to see total progress. And that's what Jesus meant by those who endure to the end will be saved. Those that aren't dissuaded or pushed away from the end game. It's kind of like the, we won't go there, but it's like the parable of the sower in the soils. Someone felled on rocky ground, hard ground, some took root and Problems come and they die, but the seed that fell on good soil, it grew and bore fruit. So if you've got a life that's bearing fruit, and it continues to bear fruit, that should bring about assurance. And then, again, that's fruit as God defines fruit. Okay? And again, it says, and those who hear you in 1 Timothy, again, that's the church, believers. Again, we've got to remember that Timothy's mission, he wasn't there to evangelize necessarily, although that's always in the back of your mind, but he was sent there to straighten out the mess. He was there to get things back in order, get the false teachers out of there, and get order going, and get things, basically get the train back on the tracks, okay? That's what he was there for, get things moving in the right direction again. So finally, in closing, 10 marks of a good servant. 10 marks of a good servant, or 10 qualities of a servant, or the 10 things that make a servant. Again, This applies to any person that's a believer. These are the things that we should strive for. I'm going to go right back through that list very quickly. Number one, a good servant exposes error. You find error, ah, point it out. Don't let people get deceived by it. And right on the heels of that, A good servant is a student of Scripture. That one knows enough about Scripture that they can even spot error. So many can't. So many are deceived by error. That same light rejects godless myths and false doctrines. A good servant pursues godliness. A good servant is a hard worker, teaches with authority, a model of godly conduct. A good servant prioritizes the Word of God. and he will be faithful to his calling. And then, as part to being faithful to the calling, a good servant will pay close attention to himself. Mind your P's and Q's, as they used to say. I don't know if people say that anymore. Just keep an eye on yourself. Make sure, you know, like Paul says, take heed, take heed lest you fall, Jesus said, right? Let's close in prayer. Father God, we come to you, Lord, and we thank you for this time together. And Lord, too, as we As we move through this week and as this season, things seem to get busier and busier and busier. Lord God, may we always, always be sure to spend the time we need to in your Word. studying Your Word, learning Your Word, applying Your Word to our hearts and lives. Again, Lord, we thank You for these opportunities that we have each and every Sunday to meet together. And again, Lord, we thank You so much. In Jesus' name, Amen.