from up here as well take them with you and in our Bibles we're in the book of 1 Timothy and so this is our third lesson in 1 Timothy tonight and 1 Timothy chapter 1 in verse 5 is what we're going to look at this evening and last week we began to consider three aspects of Timothy's ministry and we only got through the first one Timothy's charge tonight we're gonna look at Timothy's church and the third one is Timothy's challenge so just kind of recap for us to what we looked at last week is Timothy's charge is that he was called of God to oversee God's work in Ephesus it says in verse 3 as I but sought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia." We talk about how Timothy was like-minded that Paul could leave him there. It's what Paul spoke about in 2 Timothy 2 when he said to Timothy, among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. You see the apostles doing that going into areas establishing men and encouraging men and Timothy was a man like that that Paul could trust with the work there in Ephesus. He was called to preach God's word in Ephesus protecting the doctrine. It says that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. We spoke about last week that God's Word is not flexible. It is the Word of God. You can't edit it, although people do, without editing the very Word of God. You know, if you think about our Our world tonight, our world is valiant for error, right? If a religion will agree with the world, the world loves it, they embrace it, and yet Timothy was to stand against that. Jeremiah stood against that. In his day, Jeremiah 9, verse 3, says, and they bend their tongues like their bows for lies, but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth, for they perceive from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord. And verse five, and they will deceive everyone as neighbor and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies and weary themselves to commit iniquity. And then Jeremiah chapter 14, verse 14, then the Lord said unto me, the prophets prophesy lies in my name. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them. They prophesy unto you false vision and divination and a thing of not. the deceit of their heart. It's a very sad day when you have people speaking the name of God and they say a lie and they say it as if it's God saying it's amazing the audacity of a false religion to do that, but it's happened clear back in the days of Jeremiah. It happened in Timothy's day. It's happening certainly in our day as well. So he was to protect the doctrine. Then he was to reform 4. Neither give heed to fables and indolent genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in the faith so do. and the godly edification that would take place from that. And so that was Timothy's charge. And then tonight, we're gonna look at Timothy's church ministry, all right? What he was to primarily do there in Ephesus. So let's pray, ask the spirit of God to bless his word to our hearts tonight as we come to it. Father, I just thank you tonight for the grace that you give. I thank you for the privilege of looking into the Word of God. Father, we ask that you'd have your way in our service tonight. Lord, we thank you for the hymns about the sunshine that we were able to sing. We thank you that there could be sunshine in our soul, no matter what is taking place. And certainly, Lord, there's a lot of very concerning things in our day. But Father, we thank you that you're the God of peace, that you're the God of joy, that you're the God of hope, that you're the God of comfort, that you're the God of mercy, the God of forgiveness and love. And Father, we ask tonight that you bless this Bible study. We're thankful for the games that we played here at the beginning with fun with the kids and the competition that we've had. And we pray tonight that the Spirit of God would minister to the hearts of the children in their class. But Father, we dearly desire to meet with you tonight here in this place. Father, we praise you for this place. Thank you for providing a wonderful location for a church where we can gather together in the midweek. Father, I just ask tonight that our hearts and minds would be open to the truth of the Word of God. I pray that the Spirit of God would help me as I speak. I can't speak without your enablement. And I pray that, Lord, you just lose my time giving liberty tonight to express the truth of the word of God as we come to this text, that it would just open before us and really encourage us in our walk with you this evening. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, and so Timothy's church ministry is what we're going to look at this evening. And very similar to the Apostle Paul, Timothy, he's not a pastor, but he has an overseeing type ministry as a preacher of the Word of God, like the Apostles, just standing up for the truth, establishing the truth really in the early church. And you know, my mom, she's speaking to her, she's kind of thinking about maybe going back to a little bit of substitute teaching. But as a substitute teacher comes in, the teacher that they're replacing might have some bullet points for them, you know, about the class schedule, about the main topics that they're to consider or, you know, maybe watch out for this student in particular or something like that. And really, as we come to verse five, it's really kind of a bullet point type verse about the main thing that Paul wanted Timothy to teach and that was that he wanted to teach them to love as they ought to love and so it says in verse five, now the end of the commandment is charity all right and then and charity is love now if we had perfect love tonight we'd have a perfect world all right we would not need a commandment if you notice that verse it says now the end of the commandment you know is love there's no commandment uh against love love fulfills law. Galatians 5.22 says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. The fact is tonight, if you're filled with the Spirit of God in everything that you do, you're doing it exactly as the Spirit of God intends, by God's grace, You're walking in a way that the law is not needed because the law is unnecessary because you're fulfilling the law. You're keeping the law if you're walking in the spirit. Romans 13 verse 10 says, Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Love is not going to harm somebody. It's what Jesus said. If you love me, keep my Commandments, okay, because that is what love really is. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Think about somebody that breaks the law. They are showing that from their heart they despise God and that they despise men. A shoplifter, you know, comes into a shop, steals something. Do they love the shop owner? No, they're despising them, thinking that it doesn't hurt them to rob them. They despise the consumer. This consumer is a person that has to pay for the shoplifting that's taking place. I'm sure the goods that we buy would be much cheaper if there wasn't criminality. that was taking place. A vandal, think about somebody that vandalized. It's one of the things that I wish the law was stricter against because it's so defiling of society, but somebody that vandalizes doesn't care about the property of that person, doesn't care about the public property of the community that they're destroying. A liar hates those to whom they lie. Now, they could argue against that, say, well, I don't really hate them, but the Bible says that they do in fact hate the person that they lie to. Proverbs 26 verse 28 says, a lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it. Okay, but when you and I got saved, if you've accepted Jesus Christ as your savior, the love of God was shed abroad in our hearts, and by the grace of God, we can now love as we ought to love God and our neighbor. Romans 5, verse 5 says, and hope maketh not ashamed. because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Okay, now somebody that's not saved does not have the love of God. They cannot fulfill the law. They cannot measure up to that standard. They do not have the grace of God. They do not have the enablement of God to do that. Jesus said to the Pharisees, John 5 verse 42, but I know you that ye have not the love of God in you. All right, they profess this relationship with God but it wasn't really there they didn't really have the principle in person of God in them they could not fulfill and meet the standard of God's law through righteousness which they did not possess because they did not possess Christ and so they didn't have it But Jesus did have the love of God perfectly. And the Bible says in 1 John 4 verse 9, In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. Okay, God manifested Jesus Christ's perfect righteousness, was perfectly righteous towards God. He was perfectly righteous towards man. When he came, he exemplified the love of God for people as he left heaven to come to earth for us. You think about the cross of Christ. God the Father was separated from God the Son for the first time ever. Eternal God became finite man and died. The perfect man, Jesus Christ, allowed our sin to be put upon him on the cross of shame. An innocent savior died for guilty sinners. I mean, look at those things that Jesus did. He did that, he was righteous, he perfectly loved man, he perfectly loved God. And yet as a believer, we're to be reminded that we need to walk in love, right? We need to walk in that obedience and that righteousness with men and with God. So the Bible says in Jude 121, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Charity is the main thing. Now, there's a lot of churches, I'm just gonna get on a rabbit trail right here. There's a lot of churches that say love is the main thing. Our church is all about love. And what they are saying by love is that we accept you. Well, love does not accept disobedience. Love does not accept unrighteousness. Love confronts it and says that is error, that is wrong, that is hurting you, that's hurting your family, that's hurting your relationship with God. So love is not permissible. Love is the obedience to God, the righteousness that is there in love. And so Timothy, teach him to love. So how does he want him to teach them to love? Well teach them to love with a pure heart, with a pure heart. Now the end of the commandment is of a pure heart and Tommy and I were out yesterday doing some evangelism putting flyers out here in Bilston and we met a man and we got an opportunity to speak to him. We started speaking to him And he got kind of upset about it because in defending drunkenness and talking about somebody that is saved, you know, and why is that person better if they were drunken as well as this person? The difference is this. The person that is a believer is somebody that was drunken. that by God's grace has obtained God's mercy, has been forgiven by God, has been cleansed by God, has been given enablement to overcome the passions of the flesh, and if they fail, they still have access to the mercy of God and to the blood of Christ. They're heaven-bound, though they've done that sin, they've been cleansed by the grace of God from that sin. And so God's mercy. And once a man is saved, he is cleansed by God and he receives God's grace through faith. 1 John 5, 3. It says, for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, his commandments are not grievous. Again, this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. That's the burden and passion of the heart of somebody that's truly born again, is that they want to obey God. They want to honor God. They want to be in a right relationship with God. And verse four, for whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world, and this is the victory, that overcometh the world, even our faith." If you think about it today, are you overcoming the world or is the world overcoming you? As a believer, we ought to be somebody that is pure, somebody that is living in victory. And so Paul says, Timothy emphasized to them that they love God with a pure heart. 1 John 1.9. says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Praise God, purity is possible today because of the blood of the Savior. We can be absolutely righteous today. Absolutely cleansed, completely forgiven of our sin. Have you ever been dirty and you just couldn't wait to get cleaned up? Our house is on Firth Road. And the first time I went down Firth Road, not knowing that we'd someday live there, we went down kind of towards the farm, then we veered off to the side there. There's a side road that leads down to some houses. And there's a lady down there that keeps horses. And I was with Alec and Benson. And Benson's smiling because he knows the story. And so we get down there. The reason we're there is that Alec is a gardener. He's got a beautiful garden. And so he wanted some horse manure. the bags out, and for some reason, Alec got the shovel. I think Benson and I both got to hold the bags, you know? And so we're holding the bags. You know, I don't mind saying that I was kind of intent on a little cleansing when I got back to my house. There was just a desire to wash my hands and to get my hands pure again from the defilement. Listen, sin is much more defiling than anything that we could possibly think about and like and think, you know, something that is filthy that we desire to be cleansed of. Sin is so much more defiling because sin cannot be washed away by us. The Bible says in Jeremiah 2.22, for though thou wash thee with niter and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God. It doesn't matter today if somebody says, well, you know, I really feel bad about that. I really hate that I did that. I really want to turn another leaf. I really want to go on and get beyond that. The thing is this, doing religion, reading their Bible, going to church, being baptized, there's not a single work that somebody can do that has the ability, and I know we know this tonight, but has that ability to cleanse their heart from their sin, right? Nothing they can do, though their heart is filthy, and yet Jesus' blood can cleanse us and make us pure on the inside. Isaiah 118 says, come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sin be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. The Lord says in his word that his power is such tonight that though we have a huge sin stain on our life, he can make it pure white like snow, pure white like wool. Jesus, in fact, stands ready tonight. He's the great servant that's ready to cleanse us of our sin as her as her great high priest as the one that gave the atonement as the one that shed his blood for us. He pictured what he desires to do with his disciples in John 13 verse 3. They just had a meal. And it's after the meal now in verse three, Jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hand, that he was come from God and went to God, he rises from supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel and girded himself. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet. and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands, my head. Jesus saith unto him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every way. And ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him, therefore said he, ye are not all clean. It was a wonderful picture of the power of the blood of Jesus Christ and it's this, when somebody gets saved, they are cleansed, right, amen? You're clean, but not all. Jesus says that that takes place, but you're walking through the world. And so there's gonna be dirt that gets on your feet. And so I gotta wash your feet. And if you don't let me cleanse you, what? Thou hast no part at all with me. See, Christ cannot fellowship with sin, right? God cannot fellowship with sin. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. My sin effectively sets me apart from God, but praise God tonight, we look at it and go, you know what? Praise God with the power of the blood. Just like the song says, what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And so Timothy, tell him the main thing is love. How? Out of a pure heart. pure heart. Having that right relationship with God, having that heart that is just cleansed and made white and pure in the sight of a holy God. So teach them that. And then the second thing that he says about this love is teach them to love with a good conscience, with a good conscience. It says, and of a good conscience. Okay, the conscience is the spirit of man inside of us that either condones or condemns our actions, right? It's that inner voice that we have. You know, an atheist can't explain this. An atheist, best explanation is humanistic. You know, humanism, we have this understanding, but I mean, there's this natural law in the hearts of people everywhere where murder is wrong, adultery is wrong, stealing is wrong. sin that is understood in the human heart even outwith the scriptures, and so the conscience. You know, Paul exercised himself to always have a good conscience, a conscience that was right. Acts 24 verse 16 says, Okay, I exercise a little bit. I run a little bit. I started kind of doing some upper body workouts a little bit. But when you're exercising, if you think about exercise, it takes discipline, It takes effort, it takes consideration, and it takes consistency. You can probably think of other things about it, but it doesn't just happen. And what Paul said is, I am continually considering the state of my conscience toward God and toward men, and I am practicing keeping it right between men and God. So he's very focused on it. You know, a troubled conscience can find help, praise God, in Jesus. If in looking at that tonight, we look at our heart and we go, man, I'm bothered in my conscience toward man, I'm bothered in my conscience toward God, a troubled conscience can find help again through the blood. Hebrews 10 verse 22 says, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. and our bodies washed with pure water. Again, as somebody gets right with God, it's a joy, isn't it? When you see somebody that's saved, they accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. Some people say it like this, it's like a burden was lifted, right? It's like all of a sudden the sun is shining, even if it's raining. It's like life is good again, why? Because there's purity on the inside and it's known. It's understood, right? The conscience identifies it. The conscience recognizes the work of God, but sometimes that doesn't happen. Sometimes there's still a battle. We ask God to forgive us. We try to get right with God, but it's still kind of bothering us a little bit. The Bible says this, 1 John 3, verse 20. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and he knoweth all things. So if even still my heart still goes, hey, you know, you did that, But I say, but it's under the blood. It's under the blood. God is greater than my heart. He knows all things. He knows that it's been taken care of. There was a time when I was in high school. that I really struggled in my conscience. And I kept, I wanted to serve God, I wanted to please God, but Satan kept kind of, and I believe it was spiritual warfare, saying, you know what, you're just, you know, this about you and your sin and that. And I was reading through the Bible, and I got this story of an ax of Peter and Cornelius in the Gentile centurion that sends and says, you know, wants Peter to come to his house, but God prepares Peter to go with him, though he's a Gentile, vision of the sheep coming down with the unclean animals that were on it. And as that sheet's coming down, God is saying to Peter, Peter, rise and kill and eat. And Peter goes, no, I've always kept the law. I've never eaten unclean animals, you know? And God's teaching him that the law ceremonially is done, that it's over, that that separation, that divide is no longer there, and that he's gonna have him go to the Gentiles with the gospel, right? So that's what he's preparing Peter for. But he says, arise, Peter, kill and eat. And Peter said, not so Lord, I've never tasted the unclean things. And God says, what I have cleansed, that call not thou come. Peter's saying that's simple. And God's saying, it's not simple because I've made it clean. And so praise God tonight, we might have a conscience that says, man, you know, you messed up. But if that's the case tonight, we can say, but God knows better that by the grace of God is under the blood. But if we get to the point where our conscience is no longer shouting at us, verse 21 says, beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. There's nothing greater in prayer. There's nothing greater in ministry. There's nothing greater than a heart that is right with God. and you know it's right with God. So that your love is not hindered by a bad conscience, but you have a good conscience. You know, it's not enough tonight though, to say that we just need a right conscience for God. We need a right conscience toward God and we need a right conscience towards man. The Bible says in Matthew 5 verse 23, therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother, then come and offer thy gift. So if you're wanting to worship God and you go to get on your knees and the spirit of God reminds you of something that is not right with somebody else, go to that person, make it right with them, and then come and worship me. It could be a husband that isn't right with his wife. For some reason, maybe they got in a fight or argument, disagreement, something unkind was said or something of hurt was done. 1 Peter 3, 7 says, likewise, he husbands. dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered." And so, you know, the Bible says your prayers can be hindered if in your conscience you're not right with a person. Obviously, if we're not right with somebody, we're not right with God, but we can say, well, I'm right with God, it's just I still have this disagreement, I still have this problem with this person, but in actuality, we can't be right with God if we're not right with that individual. I know people, and actually I've been surprised in my life how many people are estranged from family. You know, something happens and they say to that person, you know, I'm just going to have nothing to do with you. They might live very close by, but they never visit them. They never care about them. They never communicate with them. They just kind of written them off saying, you know what? I just, I can't forgive you. I won't forgive you. And they could say something like, you know, you don't know how much wrong they've done. But the question would be, does it really matter how much somebody has done against us? The Bible is very clear that whatever has been done ought to be also put under the same blood that we're put under by the grace of God when God forgave us of our sin. I like Peter in the Bible. I enjoyed preaching on Peter. on Sunday, but Peter kind of is the guy that asks the questions that everybody else wants to ask, but is too afraid to vocalize. And so he asked the Lord a question about this idea about forgiveness in Matthew chapter 18. And he said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Tell seven times, you know, and I can see Peter thinking, tell seven times, that's pretty good, right? The number of perfection, seven's a big number, and Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents." That's a lot of money. But for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children and all that he had in payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and he worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him 100 pence." Okay, he had owed 10,000 talents. This man just owes 100 pence to him. He laid hands on him, and he took him by the throat, saying, pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet, besought him saying, have patience with me and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went to cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told him to their Lord, all that was done. Then his Lord, after that, he had called to him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt." Well, this is an awesome statement, by the way. because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his Lord was wroth, angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother the trespasses." There's an awesome statements in there, the Lord had compassion on him. I'll forgive thee all. I have pity on thee. You know, I mean, there's amazing statements of God's forgiveness, and yet this man went out, he found somebody that had such a petty debt to him that was nothing compared to what the master had forgiven him, and he demanded that it be paid. What an awesome picture tonight of our sin against God, the greatness of our sin against God. and how in the mercy of God, we talked about tonight, God has made us pure, God has forgiven us through the blood, and yet in our hearts, there can be such a hardness and such a judgmental attitude as to look at what somebody did against us and think it's anything like what we did to Christ. And to say, I'm not forgiving you. Tonight, again, it's not enough for us to say, well, I have a conscience that is void of offense toward God, if our conscience is not void of offense toward And so, Timothy, teach them to love with a pure heart. Timothy, teach them to love with a good conscience, a conscience that's right with God, a conscience that is right with men. And then lastly tonight, teach them to love with a true faith. Teach them to love with a true faith. It says, and of faith unfamed, okay? Unfamed means sincere, without hypocrisy. You know, as a student at Bob Jones University, I saw a lot of hypocrites and listen to me finish the statement. Don't take that out of context. Okay. I saw a lot of hypocrites. I even took a class on being a hypocrite at Bob Jones. I'm serious about it. It could have been called hypocrite 101. Every year, they also had a play, and now you understand where I'm going, with a lot of hypocrites in it. The word hypocrite is a Greek word, and it just means an actor, okay? So somebody that is just acting, that is a hypocrite. So you understand, I took an acting class, all right, if you didn't catch that, at Bob Jones. God doesn't want us tonight to be actors that are playing a part. God doesn't want us to be insincere in the worship that we give. And so he wants us tonight to be sincere in our obedience. And so tonight God would have us clean, not just on the outside that men can see, but God would have us clean on the inside. Matthew 23, verse 27 says, won't you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you like unto whitened sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness." And so they were actors. They acted as if they're worshiping God, acted as if they're righteous men. They did everything right outwardly, but inside God knew their heart that it wasn't real. It wasn't there. It was just an act that was taking place. And so tonight God would have us the same at church as away from church. God would have us the same in private as in public. in our faith, clean on the inside and clean on the outside, and then caring for the body of Christ. 1 John 3, 17 says, but whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shut up his vows of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him. And so again, just that real religion that actually does care about a brother that's got a need and desire sincerely to do something about it, get involved and somehow meet that need. I'll say this about that aspect of Christianity. My wife's much better at that than I am in understanding somebody's need and legitimately doing something to try to meet that need. 1 John 3 verse 18, my little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed. and in truth, and so in active Christianity. So like we got missions given at our church, participating in that and actually giving to missions and actually caring to meet the needs of those that we have that are serving the Lord and supported by our church, or supporting God's work here in Scotland, participating in that, loving to participate in that for the Lord. And then do good works that rightly reflect God's love. James 2 verse 18, Says, yea, a man may say, thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. And so, this is somebody that's, again, somebody that's genuine, it's somebody that's gonna share the gospel, right? Because Christianity isn't just something that they do on Sundays, it's not something that they're disconnected from the rest of the week. You know, they go to church on Sundays, and then the rest of the week, they just kinda do their own thing. But they're not burdened about the cause of Christ that week, they're interested in ministering. in the local church. Interested in taking their time, their talents, their abilities and investing them in God's Word. And so the point is this, if you really believe in God, you ought to be able to demonstrate your faith. And so, Timothy, teach them to love in faith and in that right unfamed faith with God. And so tonight we're just focused on Timothy's church ministry, what Timothy was called to do. There are the bullet points of that. And the biggie is teach them to love. The end of the commandment is love. And if we think about this week, if we love our spouse, if we love our kids, if we love our parents, if we love our neighbor, if we love God as we should, then by God's grace, our heart is right towards them. And so we're to do that tonight with a pure heart. with a pure heart. As we think about that, is there anything that comes to mind, man, I gotta take that, get the blood of Christ, cleansing that, I wanna be right with God. You know, I was encouraged as I read Solomon's statement, and I shared this on Sunday, as he dedicated the temple, he said, when your people sin, for there is no man that sinneth not. Then when they come to this place, cure them. And you know, praise God tonight that there's cleansing. I've written unto you that you sin not, but if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. And then a good conscience. You know, is our conscience right tonight as we think about that? Is it right towards men? Is it right towards God? And then is our faith real? Not something that's just, certain times with something that's all the time, just a genuine walk with God. Timothy, teach them to love in that way. All right, may God help us with his word. Let's pray and ask God's blessing here. Father, we praise you for the grace that you've given us tonight to look at verse five of 1 Timothy chapter one. I pray, Father, you remind us that the end of the commandment is love. And Father, there's no law against love. Father, I pray that we'd be right, but we can't be right tonight. Nobody can be right tonight unless they're saved, unless they've been given the love of God in their hearts. Father, it's not possible for somebody to be right with God without that. And we're to love with a pure heart. We're to love with a conscience that's right towards God, a conscience that's right towards men.