Faith Series: Faith Must Be Exercised and Nourished

Faith Series: Faith Must Be Exercised and Nourished

Amen. Let's take our Bibles, please, and turn to 1 Timothy for our Scripture reading. 1 Timothy chapter 4 this morning. 1 Timothy chapter 4, as we continue in our series on faith, and we want to begin the reading in verse number 1 here. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with the Holy Spirit.

2 Timothy chapter 4, as we continue in our series on faith, and we want to begin the reading in verse number 1 here. 1 Timothy chapter 4, as we continue in our series on faith, and we want to begin the reading in verse number 1 here. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from marriage. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrine of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from marriage.

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrine of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from marriage. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrine of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to abstain from marriage. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrine of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to abstain from marriage. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrine of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to abstain from marriage.

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrine of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to abstain from marriage. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrine of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to abstain from marriage. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrine of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to abstain from marriage. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrine of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to abstain from marriage.

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrine of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to abstain from marriage. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrine of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to abstain from marriage. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrine of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to abstain from marriage. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrine of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to abstain from marriage.

This is how God has revealed the faith of the Gospel to us. It is in His Word. It is the body of doctrine that we hold to be true. And it is that common faith that we hold as believers. And He tells us that in the last days there will be those that will depart from that. And Paul would even tell that when he was at Ephesus, or when he was a little south of Ephesus, but he was speaking to the Ephesian elders, there at the end, he would say, there will arise some from your midst that will draw followers after them, and they will, you know, they'll speak things that aren't true, and to get disciples to follow them. Well, this was going to happen because, in line with even what Paul's telling Timothy here, that some will depart from the faith of the Gospel. Now, they would teach things that were not supported by Scripture. They would say things like, what? We just read it here. They would say things like, you shouldn't be getting married, forbidding to marry. Or saying things like, you need to abstain from eating meats. Those were not things that were supported by God's Word, but they were still saying them anyway.

they speak in fact verse 2 lies in hypocrisy he tells them why do they speak lies in hypocrisy well they have their conscience seared with a hot iron faith and a good conscience go hand in glove don't they faith and a good conscience are they dovetail if we can say it that way they go together if and yet these have killed their conscience or i don't know if that's the word we should use but they've seared their conscience and so they blatantly say things that are they say things that are blatantly unscriptural and it doesn't seem to face them they say things that are out of line they're not in accordance to scripture they just pulled them out of a hat or they they did it what was their motive in saying those things well that's beside the point the point is that they create prohibitions that scripture does not speak to they create prohibitions of things that the bible doesn't talk about you um prohibiting meat prohibiting marriage and this is a really a great distraction from what the faith is even about right it's a great distraction hebrews 13 tells us that marriage is honorable and all right and the bed undefiled that god has not forbidden it so if you forbid it then you are calling against god and what you're saying call not thou unclean what that which i've cleansed right he would tell peter so this is very clear that they were teaching things they shouldn't be teaching right they were they were speaking lies in hypocrisy having their conscience seared with a hot iron

but in verses three through five paul says these things are to be received with thanksgiving by those who what look what it says there in um in verse number three with there to be received with thanksgiving not not worse we don't worship meat we don't worship marriage we don't idolize those things but we receive them with thanksgiving they are to be received with thanksgiving by who of them which believe faith and know the truth those which believe and know the truth well that's that's should be us right as believers if you're a believer if you're a christian then that you're in that number those who believe and know the truth what a comforting statement it's not because of any good in us that we believe and know the truth is because god and his great mercy is rich mercy toward us has given us the truth he's given us his word he has delivered the faith once to the saints right and we are to contend for that faith it is worth even dying for it is worth dying for because even though we weren't there was nothing good in us jesus christ died for us when we were yet in our sins what great thing would it even be to ask for us to become martyrs for our faith in the lord jesus christ that's not what this passage is directly dealing with but if we believe and we know the truth we ought to be willing to live with the truth we ought to be willing to live with the or die for what we believe in for what god has said is true because if if if if what god says is not true then what how can we even know truth there is no truth everybody's just a little island floating around randomly uh you know a little a little raft floating around out on the water and no no purpose no direction there's no meaning to life but paul says here in um that that that these men have a bad a seared conscience men with a bad conscience speak lies in hypocrisy is what he says but we know what the opposite of that is don't we men with a good conscience speak the truth in love don't they men with a good conscience and i'm just saying men in general that applies to everyone man woman boy and girl but we are to speak the truth in love if we have a good conscience the motive behind speaking the truth is to glorify god right and it is to love the brethren love our neighbor sometimes loving your neighbor is means speaking the truth and love to them may not be well received but it's still nonetheless the motive should not be hypocritical it should be speaking the truth in love in love that should be the motive behind it well paul is telling paul is telling timothy you don't be like these men you be the you be the opposite of that right you just he didn't specifically say speak the truth in love here but we know that implication we know what the scripture that talks about that so he says here that we're to receive these things with thanksgiving because we know and we love the truth we believe and we know the truth rather for it is sanctified by the word of god in prayer if thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things remind them of the truth that they already know that they believe that's what a lot of preaching is isn't it reminding the brethren of things that we know and believe but also with the prayer that god as we're moving forward in time will give us the wisdom and the insight and the application to our lives with that truth to help us take the steps of the word of god in prayer faith that we need to take moving forward not just living in the past of what we've done in the past but moving forward by faith with god godly fear and wisdom to do what's pleasing in his sight word let the words of my mouth let the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight we're to hide god's word in our heart that we might not sin against him so we see here if you're if you put the brethren if thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things remind them of the remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good minister of jesus christ nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine whereunto thou hast attained in other words timothy you don't have to make anything up you don't have to create something new you don't have to borrow from the world you don't have to pull in all these other things you just have to you need to continue in the truth and you need to proclaim that truth and put the brethren remembrance of the word of god rightly divided and and that is going to be pleasing to god and it's going to be helpful to the brethren right is the idea well he told him to preach the word second simothy 4 to be instant in season out of season part of preaching the word and includes reproving and rebuking it includes exhorting with all long-suffering and doctrine speak the truth no matter whether it's reproof or uh doctrine that might be instruction and righteousness that you're you're giving that word but preach it um certainly in love but so that the brethren what does he say here in verse six that you first of all timothy but then by extension the brethren may be nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine where unto thou has attained so if you put the brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good minister of jesus christ nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine where unto thou has attained well we see if he's going to be nourished up the ideas of nourishing is simply to well it's what it means it's what it sounds like it means it means to nourish it literally had the idea of to feed or to fatten one up to nourish them to feed or to fatten to nourish to support food nourishes our physical bodies doesn't it when we eat we get nourishment so we can be strong lucas is having a hard time holding food down right now this morning as of this morning well we pray that that nausea will pass and he can get nourishment again right we all need that nourishment to support us and we can get support life we need to be nourished spiritually we need to be nourished spiritually so that we can be what we ought to be and so paul paul is telling timothy i want you to be nourished spiritually not just for your own good but for the good of others you need to be nourished up spiritually you need to have a serious walk with god yourself you need to as he's going to say in a minute you need to exercise yourself unto godliness for the sake of these brethren you need to be growing in your faith you need to be growing stronger and i'm and i'm exhorting you i'm encouraging you to that end for the good of these brethren is why i'm telling you these things uh i've noticed in going to nursing homes and you know at breckinridge where we go regularly i've never seen i've never seen someone in their 80s with bulging biceps i've never seen someone in that late stage of life and if they you know they have tattoos they don't look they don't look good anymore so to speak their body is breaking down their body is breaking down but as we think about that what paul is saying here in this passage is you know even even as we think of the scripture that tells us there is a time uh that even though men and women may get old and the body is breaking down they're not going to get old they're not going to get old they're not going to get the soul can be fat and flourishing the soul can be nourished up the soul can be strong those that be planted in the in the house of the lord will be bringing forth fruit in old age right we don't have to be even if we're well up in years and our body is not what it used to be and even if we we might not have as ecclesiastes talks about the failing of desires we might not we might not have as much desire to eat as we used to have but we do not have to be failing spiritually we can be growing we can be getting nourished in the inner man even though the hour man may perish the inner man will be can be renewed day by day and paul is telling timothy these things give attendance to these things he told him to meditate on the things that he had learned and to give himself wholly to them that is a profiting may appear to him and to give himself wholly to them that is a profiting may appear to him and to unto all look in verse 7 though here in verse 7 he says but refuse profane profane and old wives fables don't don't have anything to do with those don't use those don't think on those don't don't feed your mind with that what is it what we know what old wives fables are basically old wives tales they're they're they're just idle tales they're idle myths actually is the word behind this here they're they're sayings that are they've just sort of been passed down they they get passed around but they're not necessarily true i found a lot of them to be just the little sayings after a while you realize actually that's not that's not even true the common misunderstanding you'd write a common misconception that people have about things.

And yet, why do we need those things? Why do we need profane? Why do we need to bring in? I notice a lot of preachers today speak so much about the culture around them that you can tell they just breathe it in and out all the time. This is where they live. It's like, oh, everybody knows about this song and this movie and this everything, and that's what they live all the time. And it's like we just weave God's Word into the culture sort of idea. This is not how Timothy was to be. Now, we all know things that are going on in the world. You know I use illustrations. But that's not to be the warp and the woof of what Timothy is to do. I mean, we can use natural illustrations. God has created those things. But we don't need to bolster the Word of God with old wives' fables and tales. Those are unknown. In fact, they're detracting from the purpose of building up the saints. We see that the word profane literally had to do with that which was beyond the threshold like of the temple.

That which was sanctified and set apart for a specific purpose. We're in a sanctuary today, right? We might say when we go out into the world, we're not any less a Christian or any less what God would have us to be if we're in the world, but we're not to be of the world, right? We're set apart for His glory in this world. I've given the illustration before of my shoes. The shoes I'm wearing, these are shoes that I wear specifically on Sundays. They're for a purpose. I don't go out and feed the chickens with them all and I don't do all those things. And, you know, that would profane them, I guess we can say. It would make them common. I have other shoes. I have other shoes for that. In the same way, we're to shun the profane and Timothy says here, Paul says to Timothy here that you are instead, while refusing the profane and old wise fables, you're to exercise yourself rather unto godliness. You know, we are what we watch, what we eat, what we listen to. We become the product of what, where our attention is.

Set your, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Don't, don't become, I mean, you can become good at anything. You can become good at being a political analyst. You can become good at being, you know, you know, understanding what's going on in pop culture around you. You can do all those things, but rather, you need to exercise yourself unto godliness. Don't, he's not saying be completely unaware of the world around you, live in a cocoon, no. But you, your, the, the, the, the aim of your life should be to please God, to live for him. And he says here that in doing that, you're going to automatically be refusing some things and you're going to be exercising yourself rather unto godliness. Don't listen to worldly wisdom instead of heavenly wisdom. Don't make temporal the priority. Make the eternal the priority of your life. And that's why he says here in verse 8, oh, he says in verse 7, exercise thyself rather unto godliness for bodily exercise profiteth little.

The goal of your life, Timothy, is not to be the most physically fit specimen. That's bodily exercise, it has benefits. And I think, you know, some people need to probably get out and exercise a little more. But at the same time, that's not to be the, that's not to be the goal of my life. That's not my priority is just physical exercise. There's a certain point to which it is beneficial. You know, sometimes if you're feeling sleepy, you need to just get up and go walk and your brain will wake up. You know, your blood starts flowing. You need to do, you need to exercise. But just remember, that's not the goal of your life. That's not my priority is just physical exercise. There's a certain point to which it is beneficial. You know, sometimes if you're feeling sleepy, you need to just get up and go walk and your brain will wake up. You know, your blood starts flowing. You need to do, you need to exercise. But just remember, that's not the goal of your life. The goal and priority, the priority of your life is not just to be physically fit.

The goal is to exercise yourself unto godliness. That's why I left you there in Ephesus, brother. To be an example of the believers. We notice here, it says, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. Let's look at another passage briefly in Acts 24, verse 6. Acts 24, in verse number 16, please. It's there that we read these words of Paul. He says in verse number 16, and herein do I exercise, as he's appearing before Felix, he says these words, and herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God. And herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God. And toward men. What a contrast to those men that he pointed out in his words to Timothy, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.

He says here, I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God. That is a priority of my life, to have a pure, good conscience, a good conscience, before God and toward men. That's what I exercise myself to. You know, this is not a, and these aren't Olympic Games we're training for. These are, we're exercising ourselves in order to please the one who loved us and gave himself for us. Who paid the price of all of our sins on the cross of Calvary. And I think, think with me for a moment of a calvary. A caregiver, if you will. Probably, I know a number of you have had the opportunity to be a caregiver for loved ones in your, in your families. And it can be a taxing, not only mentally and spiritually, but also physically.

It can be a very taxing thing on you, especially if it wears on for days and months, weeks and months and years even, of giving care to someone who can't care for themselves. You need, if you're going to take care of that person, you've got to be sure that your own body is taken care of. You can hurt yourself and then they'll be without a caretaker. I think about, that's one of the things that we've looked at with, you know, Kent. When we had, you know, home health coming in to help with him, one of the benefits of going through an agency is if you have an individual that gets sick or they have some need in their own life, they're not going to be able to come in and take care, but the nice thing about an agency is that you have someone else that could come in if that person's down or something happens with them.

I know those that have had to do exercises themselves to stay in the shape they need to be, whether it be the, you know, the squats or, you know, bench pressing, deadlift, the different kinds of things that they do to make sure their body is in the best shape it can be, especially if you're dealing with a heavier individual. You need to train your body to be able to handle that properly because, you know, if, for instance, if you're not, if you don't have strength in certain muscles, you might use your back to try to pick a person up and then you'll throw your back out. And in the same way, spiritually, it's the same exact thing. We need to be nourished up. Paul's telling Timothy, you need to be nourished up in your walk, the Lord, so that you can be a blessing to these brethren and you can be what you ought to be to those that are there at Ephesus.

If we're spiritually weak, we're going to do harm to others. We're going to have a negative impact on others because of our spiritual weakness. This is very sobering. For me, as a father, a husband, a father, a minister of the gospel, you know, you're going to have to be a minister of the gospel. You're going to have to be a minister of the gospel. You're going to have to be a minister of the gospel. You're going to have to be a minister of the gospel. We've never arrived at a place where we can say, well, I'm just, you know, physically, we don't arrive at a place where we say, well, I'm strong as I'll ever be and I never need to exercise again. No, we need to continue to exercise, right? But that's only temporal in its benefits. The benefits of spiritual exercise are far greater in their reach.

They're eternal in nature. They have implications that stretch on into eternity. And so we need God to help us. Paul told Timothy, you need God. You need God to help you that you might be nourished up in the words of, what does he say here? Let's go back over. I've turned over from it. I want to read the actual words again so I don't misquote it. 1 Timothy chapter 4 in verse 6, he says, nourished up in the words of faith. We need to stay in the word, don't we? We need to be nourished up in the words of faith. We need to feed on God's word, not just read it, but feed on it. That means meditate, right? Assimilate, apply. God help us to do that. That we might make application of God's word, not only to somebody else's life, but to our life.

That's one of the temptations of a preacher is to make application to everybody else's lives and then not to my own life. And so be nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine. What is the, what is the word of God saying? What is the proper understanding that I might rightly divide this word of truth and apply it? Well, that's what Paul was exhorting Timothy to do. And each one of us must exercise our faith, hadn't we? We must do it. Look with me briefly in Hebrews 12. I know we must draw to a conclusion here, but Hebrews 12 verse 9. Let's look there together. In Hebrews 12 and verse, number nine, we must exercise. We must be in the word. We must be in prayer. We must grow, but we must realize it is God that's working in us, right? We must realize that it is His work. It is not our own doing, so to speak.

We must be obedient to Him, but He's the one that causes the growth. He's the one that brings us about as we exercise. He's the one that strengthens us. In Hebrews 12 verse 9, what do we read there? Verse 9, Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but He, for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness or fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. The chastening of God, simply the word chastening means to instruct children in its very basic meaning, to instruct children.

But it includes the idea of, out of necessity, of correction, doesn't it? Exercise comes in, of our faith, comes in many different forms. There's the part that we need to be doing on a regular basis. We need to be in the Word of God. And as we're in the Word of God, we need to be praying, Lord, open my eyes. Help me to see what it is that You're saying to me. Help me to grow in my faith. Help me to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And we need to be praying, Lord, help me as we're reading prayer and the Word of God. But then, as we're doing that, God is going to be sending chastening in our lives, isn't He? He's going to be teaching us, but He's going to teach us in a lot of different ways. And we need to be wise and obedient to receive the chastening that He sends in our lives.

Because if we're without chastening, then we're not even sons, right? But if we have chastening, we need to be exercised by the chastening. What's being exercised? Well, it's not our physical body, really. It's our faith. It's our faith as being, tested just like your muscles. When you're exercising muscles, you're extending, you're contracting those muscles and you're working those muscles so that they will be more useful and they'll be stronger, right? Well, our faith needs to be tested and stretched and it needs to be challenged in the same way so that it can expand and it can grow. It can grow and not, not grow for our own glory, but grow for the glory of God and can be used by Him. We can be more useful in His service and that's why God brings these testings in our lives. One of the reasons, anyway, to instruct us.

Why do we instruct our children? Why do we teach our children? Why are we training them in the way that we believe God would have them to go? Well, it's so that they will not be like the man who took his talent, wasn't it? And he put it in a napkin and he buried it in the earth. That's why we're teaching them. So they won't just be lazy, good for nothing, useless, space-filling creatures that are sucking in oxygen from the atmosphere. We want them to be, we want them to be used by God. We can't make them be used by God, but we want to prepare them and train them so they will come to know Him one day and put their trust in Him and follow His will. That's our prayer. That's our goal for them. Should that not be their goal in our own lives? God, help me. Use me. Teach me and then use me.

There are many ways in which chastening corrects wrong thinking in our lives, doesn't it? Corrects wrong behavior, wrong thinking. And as we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, He blesses us by putting good thoughts and His thoughts into our mind. If we'll humble ourselves under His mighty hand. The thing is, if we're going to be nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, we not only need to hear the promises, we need to hear the, we need to hear the reproof, don't we? We need to hear the rebuke and the correction, the instruction in righteousness. Because all of that is necessary to truly furnish us to good works. Our faith, our faith is simply once again putting our weight, our confidence on the Lord no matter what He tells us, no matter what He does with us, no matter what He brings us through.

Lord, Thou hast the words of eternal life. To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words. And if we'll be nourished up in those words, then God will use us in great ways. Not for our own glory, but He will use you in lives that mind doesn't touch. And each one of us, we have different people that God has put in our lives. But a lot of our usefulness and our, like Esther, depends on doing what God says. Being obedient to Him. Exercising obediently. Exercising ourselves unto godliness. Exercising ourselves in a way that's pleasing to Him. Not to show off. If we're exercising so people will see, look how godly I am. That's not even exercise. That's not the right kind of exercise, is it? If that caregiver, that caregiver is not exercising their bodies to say, everyone look at my body.

No, they're exercising so they can give care to the one that they're supposed to be helping. Right? They're exercising themselves to be strong, to be helping that loved one. And certainly as a Christian, it should be with a motive, of course. I want to glorify God in being used in this way. And so may God help us. As Paul exhorts Timothy, don't make physical exercise the focus of your life, but exercise yourself unto godliness. Exercise yourself rather unto godliness. Are we prioritizing the exercise of our minds in worldly wisdom over godly wisdom? Are we exercising our bodies more than we are? Are we exercising our bodies more than we are? Are we putting our own comfort and our own pleasure, our own pride ahead of what God really wants to do in our lives through the chastening?

If we resist the Holy Spirit dealing with us, and that's what we're doing, aren't we? We're saying, no, this is my life. I'll do with it what I want. No, instead, we need to be exercised by the chastening of the Lord and let him have his way. Let him have his way with us. Let's pray. Father, we are in need of your help in these things. Lord, our natural tendency will be and has been before Christ has been pride. It has been one of focus upon ourselves. But Lord, we hear these words, we read these words of Paul to Timothy and his heartbeat that comes through in these words that are inspired by you are words of in contrast, Timothy, in contrast to those who live, they serve their own belly, even as Paul would say in another place. They're enemies of the cross of Christ.

In contrast to that, Timothy, you exercise yourself in Godliness. You exercise yourself always to have a good conscience and as Paul would say of himself and to have a life that is godly and pleasing in your sight, O God. May that be true of each one of us that we would exercise ourselves in that way. The temporal things do matter to an extent, but they certainly must all, fall under the umbrella of to the glory of God. And we must not ever put any priority ahead of the priority of living for you and exercising our faith in a way that pleases you. And so we pray that you help us in that. Guide and direct us each as we have our own set of circumstances, our own sphere of influence. May we be glorifying in all that we think, say, and do as we go out this day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.