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 speaks 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 thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer, if thou 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 hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives' fables and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise, profitable, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

And may the Lord bless his word to our hearts here this morning. In verse, as we think back over these verses, going back to verse number 1 here in 1 Timothy chapter 4, the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times, now the Spirit speaketh giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.

Let's pause for a moment and ask the question, who is this being written to? Well, we know who is being written to is being written to Timothy. It's being written to Timothy because Timothy has been left in Ephesus as we would even see. If you look back in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 3, as I've assaulted these two, abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to teach sound doctrine, to give clear and plain teaching of God's word and to exhort and to give instructions that no other teaching be taught. Nothing else. We don't need to add to this. We don't need to take away from this. We don't need, I think about the positive or the popular sayings of our society. We don't need the positive thinking kind of saying, we don't need the old wives' fables as we mentioned this morning. We don't need any other thing added to and certainly nothing taken away from what God has said in his word. And I want you to remain there at Ephesus and preach the word. I want you to preach the word. That's what you need to do.

And so as he has left him there in Ephesus to do just that, he is being given, he's telling Timothy here in this passage this morning about exercise. We're looking at that, we see that word in those last two verses that we read. I want to just introduce you to that word for just a moment and we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it. The word exercise, we get the word gymnasium from it in the English. It comes from the Greek word for exercise or gymnastics. It talks about intense exercise. This is training people with training for the Olympics. This is the exercise that they would be doing. They would be training intensely physical exercise. But it doesn't just refer to the physical, does it? It can also refer to the spiritual exercise. And this morning I want to speak about the need for our faith to be exercised. This is what Paul is talking to Timothy about. Faith being exercised. This is his burden in this passage of Scripture that faith, we must exercise our faith under godliness. We must exercise in godly living is how this needs to be exercised.

Paul will tell Timothy to continue. Look in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15. In his second epistle of Timothy he would tell him in verse 15. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15. He would tell him there that from a child that has known the holy scriptures which are able to make the wise unto salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ. But what did he tell him back in verse 14? He told him to continue that when the things which thou hast learned. And hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them. Don't change. You don't need to update or change or adapt the truth to anything. You need to continue in it. You need to preach it. You need to teach it with all suffering and doctrine. You need to teach the truth. You need to preach the truth of God's word. Don't deviate from it. Don't turn to the right hand. Don't turn to the left hand. But instead you're to grow in your understanding and application of that truth in your life. You're to exercise yourself in that truth.

We said faith is in what? We're foolish and we're just deceiving ourselves. If anyone places their faith in something that they don't at least believe to be the truth, you cannot in good conscience put your faith in something that you already know is not true because that's the definition of insanity, isn't it? It's the definition of self-deception. You're just deceiving yourself. Paul would say when he was, even when he was not following the truth of God, he was not trusting in Jesus Christ. He said he did it in good conscience. He felt like he was doing the right thing. He believed he was wholehearted and zealous for what he was doing, even though he was sincerely wrong in it. He was doing it and he believed he was doing God service in it. Now that's not good enough, but it is in due time that God opened his eyes to see that he was wrong in the way that he was living, in the way that he was in his pride was pursuing religion in due time he realized. And thank God. He was humbled on that road to Damascus. Why persecuted to tell me? Thank the Lord for that day. We are the beneficiaries of how God worked in his life through all of that.

But Paul tells Timothy here that some would depart from the faith. What is that? The faith is talking about the faith of the gospel, right? The faith that we as believers, we hold, this is the faith. 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 would 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 was a rise from your midst that will draw followers after them and they will 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 would 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 for bidding to marry. Or saying things like, you need to have staying 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 two 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. And yet these have killed their conscience, or I don't know if that's the word we should use, but they seared their conscience. And so they blatantly say things that are, or they say things that are blatantly unscriptural. And it doesn't seem to faze 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 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 hasn't talked about. Yeah. Prohibiting meat, prohibiting marriage. And this is 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 going against God in what you're saying. Call not thou unclean, 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 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 verse number three, they're to be received with thanksgiving. 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're 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 should be us, right? As believers, if you're a believer, if you're a Christian, then 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. It's because God in His great mercy is rich, bursting toward us has given us the truth. He's given us His word. He has delivered the faith once to the saints, right? We are to contend for that faith. It is worth even dying for. It is worth dying for because even though we were, there was nothing good in us, Jesus Christ died for us. While 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 or die for what we believe in. For what God has said is true because if what God says is not true, then how can we even know truth? There is no truth. Did you everybody say a little island floating around randomly, you know, a little raft floating around out on the water and no purpose, no direction, there's no meaning to life.

But Paul says here 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, to love our neighbor. Sometimes loving your neighbor means speaking the truth in 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. That should be the motive behind it.

Well, Paul is telling Timothy, you don't be like these men. You be the opposite of that, right? He didn't specifically say speak the truth in love here, but we know that implication. We know what the scripture 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 they're sanctified by the Word of God and 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 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 in 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 thou 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 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 in remembrance of the Word of God rightly divided. And that is going to be pleasing to God and it's going to be helpful to the brethren, right? It's the idea. Well, he told him to preach the Word, 2nd Timothy 4, to be instant in season, out of season, part of preaching the Word includes reproving and rebuking. It includes exhorting with all long suffering and doctrine. Speak the truth no matter whether it's reproof or doctrine, it might be instruction in righteousness that you're giving that word, but preach it certainly in love, but so that the brethren, what does he say here in verse 6? 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 hast 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 hast attained? Well, we see if he's going to be nourished up, the idea of nourishing is simply to, well, it's what it means. It's what it sounds like, 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? Well, we eat, we get nourishment, so we can be strong. The Luke is just having a hard time holding food down right now this morning as of this morning. Well, we're ready that that nausea will pass and he can get nourishment again, right? We all need that nourishment to 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 into godliness for the sake of these brethren. You need to be growing in your faith. You need to be growing stronger. And I'm exhorting you. I'm encouraging you to that for the good of these brethren. That's why I'm telling you these things. I've noticed in going to nursing homes and at the record bridge 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 have tattoos, 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 as we think of the scripture that tells us, there's a time that even though men and women, they get old and the body is breaking down, the soul can be fat and flourishing. The soul can be nourished up. The soul can be strong. Those that be planted 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 might not have as Ecclesiastes talks about the failing of desires, 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 outer man, they perish, the inner man can be renewed day by day. Paul was 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 his profiting may appear unto all.

Looking at verse 7 though here, in verse 7 he says, but refuse, profane, profane and old wives' fables. Don't have anything to do with those. Don't use those. Don't think on those. Don't feed your mind with that. What is it? We know what old wives' fables are basically. Old wives' tales. Hit or miss every now and then there might be truth in those things, but oftentimes they're just idle tales. They're idle myths actually is the word behind this here. They're sayings that are they've just sort of been passed down. They get passed around, but they're not necessarily true. I found a lot of them to be just little sayings after a while you realize actually that's not even true. The common misunderstanding, 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, the culture around them. Did you can tell they just breathed it in and out all the time? This is what this is where they live. It's like, well 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 are going on in the world. You know I use illustrations, but that's not to be the word from the root of what Paul 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 unnecessary. In fact, they're detracting from the purpose of building up the saints. We see that these, the profane, 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. Those shoes I'm wearing are 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. 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 for that. In the same way, we're to shun the profane.

And Timothy says here, I've processed to Timothy here that you are instead while refusing to profane and old wives' 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 affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 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 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. He's not saying be completely unaware of the world around you, live in a cocoon. No. 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 profit. 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 some people need to probably get out exercise a little more. But at the same time, 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. Sometimes if you're feeling sleepy, you need to just get up and go walk and your brain will wake up. Your blood starts flowing. You need to exercise. But just remember that's not the goal of your life. The goal and 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 he 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 16. Acts 24 and verse 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 toward men. What a contrast to those men that he pointed out in his words, to Timothy speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with the hot iron. He says, here I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God. That is a good conscience before God and toward men. That's what I exercise myself to. 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 caregiver, if you will. Probably I know a number of you have had the opportunity to be a caregiver for loved ones in your families. And it can be taxing, not only mentally and spiritually, but also physically, it can be 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 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, get that person's down or something happens with them. I know those that have do exercises themselves to stay in the shape they need to be, whether it be the squats or bench pressing deadlift. What 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, for instance, if you don't have to strengthen the 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 with the Lord so that you can be a blessing to these brethren. 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. We've never arrived at a place where we can say, well, I'm just 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, we need God to help us. Paul's telling Timothy, 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 but I want to read the actual words again so I don't misquote it. First Timothy chapter 4 and 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 fed 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 say? 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, haven't we? We must do it.

Look with me briefly on Hebrews 12. I know we must draw to a conclusion here but Hebrews 12 verse 9. Let's look there together. And Hebrews 12 and verse number 9. 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 as we exercise. He's the one that strengthens us.

And Hebrews 12 verse 9. What do we read there? 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 fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

The chastening of God simply, the word chastening means to instruct children in this very basic meaning to instruct children. But it includes the idea of the 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 knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And we need to be praying, Lord, help me as we're reading prayer in the Word of God. But then as we're doing that God is going to be sending chastening in our lives, isn't it? He's going to be teaching us that 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? What'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 more, 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 grow for our own glory, but grow for the glory of God and can be used by Him. We can be more useful in 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 used by God. We can't make them to be used by God, but we want to prepare them and train them so they would 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, isn't it? 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 minds 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 thoroughly 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 mine doesn't touch. And each one of us, we have different, 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 and be 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 into godliness. Exercise yourself rather unto godliness. Are we prioritizing the exercise of our minds in worldly wisdom over godly wisdom? Are we, godliness, exercising ourselves unto godliness? 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, it's dead, we need to be exercised by His way with us.

Let's pray. Father, we are in need of your help in these things. Lord, our natural tendency will be, 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. Our 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 unto godliness. You exercise yourself always to have a good as Paul would say of himself and to have a life that is godly and pleasing in your sight, in your sight, oh God, may that be true of each one of us that we would exercise ourselves in that way. Oh, 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. God 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.