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00:01 What a blessed time together this morning already. And the singing is particularly meaningful this morning. It seems like the songs that have been chosen and the energy with which you have sung this morning is a real blessing. And I wish you could have all been up here in the front to hear it all. 00:19 But I trust that it's a blessing to our Lord as well. Not that the harmony is right for Him or everything, you know, just sounds just perfect. But that it comes from hearts that are sanctified, justified, filled with the Spirit, and filled with the Spirit of worship. If you would turn in your copies of the Scriptures this morning to the book of 1 Timothy, 00:40 continuing in our series there in Timothy 1:5, where the Apostle Paul writes to young Timothy 17, "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. 01:00 For the Scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.' And the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear. 01:21 I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality. Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people's sins. Keep yourself pure. No longer drink only water, 01:41 but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and for your frequent infirmities. Some men's sins are clearly evident preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later. 01:54 Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden. Let as many bondservants as are under the yoke count all their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed. 02:14 And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved. Teach and exhort these things." Pastor John was a priest in Russia in the mid to late 19th century. 02:33 That'd be the mid to late 1800s. This was a place in Russia, a time in Russia when the dirty marketplaces, places were dirty. The country of Russia was decadent. It was rotting beneath its own weight, and the streets were dangerous. There was poverty and depravity and crime galore. 02:55 Alcoholism was rampant. Prostitution was rampant. Crowded the corners with prostitutes. Thieves in the alleys. There was no safe place. So people who weren't part of that wouldn't venture out into that world unless they had a very real reason to. 03:11 And most of the pastors and the clergy at that time stayed in their huddle, in their safe places, and would not go out into the streets and work with the people. But not so with Pastor John. 03:26 Pastor John had a daily practice of putting on his robe and walking out into the meanest parts of the city. He'd walk among the attics and the predators, the prostitutes and the thieves, the orphans and the widows. And he did it, as Scripture says, with healing in his wings. 03:45 He would find the most broken and destitute women and men that he could track down, many of them lying in a gutter or standing on a street corner. And he would take them by the hand, putting his hand under their chin, and look them straight in the eye and say this. 04:02 This, meaning this way of life and this situation they were in, 04:08 is not according to your dignity. This is beneath your dignity. You were created to house the glory of the living God. And history would tell us that Pastor John in his lifetime was called the pastor of all Russia. And everywhere he went, 04:29 revival went with him, as he reminded people that they were to reflect the glory of God, that they were depositories where the glory of God was to live and to dwell. 04:41 And keep this in mind as we go through this message this morning, that we in this passage of Scripture are dealing with real people with real needs and a real Savior who lifts lives out of the depths of sin and depravity and gloriously saves them to be vessels of honor and 04:59 vessels into which God desires to pour forth His Spirit and change lives to represent His glory, His faithfulness, and His grace. 05:10 Now, as we think about this passage of Scripture this morning from 17 down through 6:2, it may seem a bit random, different commands and instructions being given by the Apostle to the recipient, Timothy. But I think it is a continuation of the first part of the chapter, 05:30 which we said could easily be stamped over this whole portion, respect, how the people of God are to mirror the glory of God, to reflect the glory, to be depositories where the glory of God rests and what responsibilities we have to shine forth the glory of God, 05:51 both as elders, as husbands or men and women in verses 1 and 2, older men, older women, younger men, younger women, brothers, sisters in the church. 06:02 And then how that we reflect the glory of God with the widows and those who are in need and orphans and those who have spiritual and physical needs. Then the respect that the church is to have for its elders and the elders to have for the congregation. 06:21 So we looked this morning at provision for elders in verses 17 and 18. We look at protection for the church in verses 20 and 21 and 22. We look at the performance of leaders in 23 and 22 and 23. 06:42 And we look at the personal life and personal habits of image bearers, verses 24 and 25. So let us look at this passage this morning and unpack it. He talks here about the governing elders. 06:58 And this is always a little bit unhandy to preach on ourselves in a series. But nevertheless, it comes in the passage. And so we must deal with it. 07:09 And I would just preface my remarks by saying that you as a congregation have been very, very generous to us as pastors and members of the pastoral team in your support of our ministry and in giving us financial support as well as other support, moral support, emotional support, encouragement. And so I do not in any way rebuke you this morning, 07:31 but I encourage you from the Scriptures that you have done well in providing for your elders. But what it says here is that the elders are worthy of support. This is dealing with financial support. The congregation, to the governing elders, those who rule well and preside over the affairs of the congregation, 07:53 and especially, he says, those who labor in word and doctrine. Or some translation says, those who work hard at preaching and teaching. He uses some Old Testament Scriptures here. 08:08 The Scripture that says from Deuteronomy, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." They would have their grain in a grain area, a threshing floor. And they would have oxen that would walk over it, maybe on a pivot that would walk around and around. 08:22 Or they would drive over it with their oxen and their carts to crush the grain and get it out of the holes and to shell the grain. And the law says that when the ox is doing its job, it's doing its work and providing for the needs of its master, 08:42 that it should not be muzzled. And so they would have the ox having free access to eat while he worked. And then he also refers to the words of Jesus in verse 18, speaking from Luke 10:7, where he says that the labor is worthy of his wages. 09:02 And Jesus, of course, sent out his workers, 70 at a time, two by two, and then later 12 at a time, two by two. 09:10 And 1 Corinthians 9:14 says, "Those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel." And Galatians 6:6 says, "Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches." And also in 09:29 1 Corinthians 9:14, I already referred to that, that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. Then it is up to the individual leader whether or not he will accept that, as Paul in various times in the church history, in his founding of churches, refused the support in various places for the sake of the kingdom and was a tent maker. 09:50 And he exercised his trade to what we would call tent making. We use that term in Christian ministry today as well, where people use their "secular jobs" in order to... as their primary income, and then the church supplements that. But however a local church decides to do that, it always grieves my heart. 10:12 And I try to address this sometimes with pastors and churches when I visit other places who the church just does not support their ministry hardly at all, 10:22 that they're missing a blessing and they're not really being scriptural in depriving their men of the support that goes along with doing church work. And so again, I praise you and I encourage you and I thank you very much that you have been faithful in these areas. 10:43 The second thing we see here is protection for the church. So we've seen the provision for the elders. Now we look at the protection for the church. There is protection of the leaders of the church. And then there is also protection of the congregation as well. 11:05 So let's look at the protection that there is for leaders. Verse 19, "Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses." So with leadership, there is always the potential and the likelihood and the probability that there will be criticism. 11:26 There will be front lines work where people will disagree with the decisions and the work that is done. There will be times of confronting sin where people will become disgruntled and hurt and unrepentant. 11:42 There will be times when people express opinions that are different from the leaders and leaders different from each other and different from the people. But these men in leadership are out front. They're visible. They're preaching the word. They're rebuking, exhorting, and warning. And those men are particularly vulnerable to accusation. 12:04 If you want to put yourself on a place where you are a target, you are a mark, a marked man, just lead and try to lead. And these things happen. But he says, "Do not receive an accusation against an elder except by the mouth of two or three witnesses." And so that's protection. 12:24 It's protection for front line workers. And just like the law gives that protection to anyone. This is an Old Testament law which said that anyone who is made an accusation of should not be received unless there are two or three witnesses to establish it. This protects people from what happened to Jesus, 12:45 where they had 12:49 witnesses that couldn't agree with each other. They had lies. They had innuendos. They had various false accusations. 12:57 But they took those false accusations and ran with them instead of obeying what the Scripture said in the Old Testament, "To not receive an accusation against an elder except by the mouth of two or three witnesses." Now this is very meaningful to me. In my earlier days, before I was pastoring, 13:18 the church we were attending, there was made aware... I was on the council at that time. It was an advisory council. And I got wind on a Saturday evening that there was an accusation that was being made against one of the pastors. I was not a pastor at that time. 13:38 But I was faced with a decision. What do I do with that? What do I do with an accusation? And it was not really a sin, and yet it had left an offense. And it was not good to have that hanging out there. And so I called the leader of the council and set up a meeting with him. 14:00 And we talked and realized and decided that it would be best to bring the pastor into that conversation. So we brought the pastor into that conversation. And then we heard his perspective. And then we brought the couple in who was making the accusations. And I was blessed to report that by the end of that meeting, 14:21 when we came to church on Sunday morning, there was peace. The couple was at peace. The pastor was, I think, at peace as much as possible that they could be. And it had been dealt with. It had been forgiven. It had been taken care of. And it was now laid to rest. And so we don't want to sweep things under the rug. 14:41 But we do want to bring things to resolution. So I was called recently to call another leader in another location and ask some things about something that were reported about him. And I said it like this... that if it's true, we want to resolve it and help you resolve it. 15:01 And if it's not true, we want to put the rumor to rest. And so then I was able to put the rumor to rest and take that back to the council that I was serving under and with. And so we have to guard our pastors, guard our leaders, and protect them and protect each other. 15:21 Protect each other from false accusations and from misunderstandings. So you hear something about a pastor. You hear something about an elder. You hear something about another person in the congregation. There's two sides of gossip. One side of gossip is that person who passes on the information. 15:42 And then the other side of gossip is the person who receives the information without challenge. And so we must, when we hear about these things and people talk and misunderstandings happen, that we go to the individual. And so if someone comes to us and says, "Have you heard about so-and-so?" And it's uncomplimentary, 16:05 then protocol would be such that we would say, "I'm not going to pass this on. I'm not going to do anything with this except let's go and talk to the individual involved." Or you go and talk to the individual involved. And they say, "Well, I'm too scared to do that." Well, I'll go with you. And let's put these things to rest. 16:26 And so he says, "Be careful with the things of accusations against elders and against anyone," as the law has stated. Now we see also that there is a protection for the congregation. 16:41 Protection from corrupt and dishonest and inept leaders who misuse and abuse the people of God. Who misuse and abuse their authority for personal gain. 16:53 And so he says in verse 20, "Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest may fear." So those who are sinning... those who are sinning... that speaks of some protection for the congregation. And it's specifically in the context of leadership here. 17:12 And some will have suggested that because the elders are guarded with this two or three witness protection, 17:24 that they also then are subject to special rebuke when they sin. And so it's not just that they are shielded from all rebuke. But they have special rebuke when they sin. Rebuke them before all, that others may fear. Now that's fairly difficult to do. 17:43 But it is a protection for the congregation. It's actually a protection for the individual as well. Two things happen in that case where there's public rebuke. Number one, the sinner is sobered and shamed. Now we live in a day where we try to eliminate shame in every way, 18:04 in every form, in every... it's a bad word. But here, there's a certain amount of shame that goes on with sin. You see this in the Garden of Eden. Now we don't want to add to people's shame. 18:17 But neither do we want to take away all shame so that it does not allow for the individual to feel remorse and repentance and a conscience that is sensitized to sin. And so he said there's a shame. There's a soberness that happens when a person is confronted with sin. 18:37 Especially a leader is confronted with sin. Then the second thing that happens in a case like this in verse 20 is that the world is communicated... it is communicated to the world and to the church that the church of Jesus Christ does not condone sin. The church of Jesus Christ does not condone sin. 18:56 It does not sweep sin under the rug. 18:58 It does not overlook sin. It tries to deal with sin. For where sin is condoned, the righteousness of God in Christ is violated and grace is misrepresented. And so this is a protection for the gospel, the name of Christ, 19:19 and also for the congregation. Then we see the performance of leaders. "I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things." You observe these things. This is a responsibility of the leaders. 19:39 They are to feed the flock of God. They are to give themselves to the ministry of the word and to prayer. They are to do this... verse 21... "without prejudice and doing nothing with partiality." Now this speaks to how we work with people. The word prejudice here means a prejudgment. 19:59 We are not to prejudge a situation. Proverbs talks about that. Where you hear one side of the story and you judge it. And then you hear the other side of the story and it seems right. And you end up being... being looking foolish because you have you have listened to one side and not the other side. 20:16 And so we become to begin to prejudge things rather than hearing all the evidence. So he says, "Don't prejudge things. Don't be prejudiced in your judgment. And do nothing towards partiality." The word partiality here means to lean towards someone or to lean towards something. 20:37 And it has the idea of leaning towards favoritism. Well, this kind of group of people I lean towards and I lean away from this other group of people. Or this person we lean towards or this person we lean away from. And in some cases, people are made to feel that they can do no right. And other people are made to feel that they can do no wrong. 20:58 And so he says, "Alleviate that as much as you can because the angels and the Lord Jesus Christ and God are watching." And Scripture says very clearly that God functions without partiality and without favoritism. Those who sin rebuke before all. 21:17 Those who who do righteousness encourage before all. And have the same standard for all. We are to choose well-qualified and proven men. Verse 22... 21:33 "Do not lay hands on anyone hastily nor share in other people's sins. Keep yourself pure." Verse 22 is a little bit of an interesting verse because it could mean one of two things. In the context of leadership, it means do not lay hands... 21:55 the hands of the presbytery to ordain or, in our cases here, license and ordain. Or to select and to appoint for leadership. Make sure that you have thoroughly processed this individual. 22:10 And make sure that he is well-qualified. Because there is a a a large responsibility that lies on a leader. I want to read to you the ordination charge. We read this at ordinations. 22:27 And we try to give it to the ordainee or the licensee before he's ordained. So he knows what he's answering to. But listen to what the charge is. "Go and preach the whole council of the word of God in its purity." Now that in itself would be enough. But we go on because Scripture goes on. 22:49 "Warn the sinner. Admonish the unconverted to repent. Teach, instruct, comfort, and encourage the believers. Be instant in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. Do the work of an evangelist and make full proof of your ministry. 23:10 We commission you with the responsibility to shepherd the church under your charge which Christ has purchased with his own blood. To administer the ordinances, to discipline the airing. Likewise, give heed unto yourself. Walk circumspectly. Read the word. Meditate upon its precious precepts. Pray without ceasing. 23:30 And in all things seek to be a faithful labor in the vineyard of the Lord. Continue in these things. For in so doing, you will save both yourself and those that hear." That's the charge that we give to ministers in this congregation and in our fellowship. That's a weighty charge. And so he says, 23:48 "Do not lay hands on anyone hastily." Because this is a weighty responsibility that is given to them. Men are to be proven in the fulfillment of their lesser responsibilities and duties before given greater responsibilities and duties. 24:11 There's another way of interpreting this that is, I think, equally valid. That do not lay hands on anyone hastily nor share in other people's sins. Barkley, in his commentary, writes this... that in the early church, it was the custom to lay hands on a penitent sinner or repentant sinner. 24:31 So the problem was in the early church was they had a problem with emperor worship. And many of the authorities would try to get these Christians to worship the emperor. Everybody in the Roman Empire needed to burn incense to the emperor. And if you did not burn incense to the emperor, 24:51 you were a a traitor to the empire and could be imprisoned. Or worse, you could be martyred. And so they would come to the the the common ordinary Romans. And they had many gods. And so, well, what's one more? Just burn incense to the emperor. He's one of the gods. 25:10 But when it came to the Christians and to the Jews, they could not do that. Because we, as Christians, developed the creed, "There is no God but..." or no, "There is no God but Jesus." Now the others had the, "There's no God but Caesar. Caesar is God." And the Christians said, "Jesus is Lord. 25:32 Jesus is Lord." That was the primary doctrinal affirmation in the first century. What would happen is in the heat of persecution and in the drama and intensity of threats from authorities, people would would would apostasize. 25:50 And there was a great debate in the early church as to whether or not a person could be restored after having violated Jesus as Lord and burned incense to the emperor. Was that, in a sense, an unpardonable sin as far as the church was concerned? 26:05 And so when they would reinstate people, they would lay hands on that individual and pray for them and bring them back, that man who had been who had disgraced the Lord and disgraced the church and disgraced the gospel. And and to wait until he... we they knew that he was truly repentant. 26:28 And so the early church had a period of probation. A period of probation before they were renewed back into the membership of the church. Even though they may have been received by... into the fellowship of the church. Maybe not into the membership. 26:42 And he says, "When you do this, do not lay hands on anyone hastily." So be sure that this person has given forth the evidence of repentance before you lay hands on him. That is another way of looking at verse 22. 27:02 I don't necessarily have a preference. I think it can be taken both ways. I think it can be interpreted and applied both ways. Now we turn in the last several verses here. Verse 23... the next verse... "And the personal health of the leader. 27:21 The personal health of the image bearer of Christ." Now this is fascinating here that the Apostle Paul would take a... in the middle of all of these doctrinal instructions and practical instructions. And he has a personal message here for Timothy. Where he says, "Drink no longer... no longer drink only water. 27:42 But use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities." Now some of you think, well, this is the opportunity to to talk about alcohol and the use of alcohol. We're going to save that for a little bit. Because there's some other things that are necessary to look at here. 27:58 First of all, we want to see that this is a beautiful example of the personal aspect of the Bible characters. And sometimes we have this idea that these Bible characters look like the look like the statues of them that have been carved through the years. They're perfect and all they're... 28:18 they've got it all together. And we think of them as not being people. You know, it's like they're celebrities. You know, you don't know that a celebrity, a person who you see them at their best all the time, uh is actually a person who puts his pants on one leg at a time. I think about that sometimes. 28:36 I've never seen anybody put their pants on two legs at a time unless they're sitting down. Uh we're all made out of the same stuff. Uh you can only do so much with what you have. And sometimes we look at the Bible characters and say, "Well, this is a super duper Christian here. 28:52 And I could never attain unto that measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." But here you have Timothy. And one of his weaknesses was his health. He had many infirmities. He must have had some stomach trouble. 29:09 And so this reminds us that Paul actually cared about Timothy. There was a relationship there. It wasn't just Timothy, "You're good for what I need you to do in the church. But beyond that, I don't care about you." No, he's giving him some fatherly advice. And maybe even some input from Dr. 29:31 Luke, who was often a companion of the Apostle Paul in his journeys. 29:37 And saying, "This is for medicinal purposes." Another thing that we are impressed with in this verse is that it's a reminder that we should take care of our bodies as the temple of God and the vehicle by which we serve God. And so it'd be nice to just think of ourselves as soul and spirit. 29:57 And just do whatever it takes to be a good soul and a good spirit. And don't worry about your body. And it'll just kind of... it'll take care of itself. But we know that doesn't happen. And we also know further that the body, soul, and spirit are intricately connected. So if you have problems in your soul and heart, 30:17 it will it will eventually make its way out to physical problems. If you have physical problems, that that's the source and root of your problems. Then it will eventually affect your soul and spirit. 30:32 And so, you know, the connection between the body and the soul and the spirit is so important to understand. Especially when we're struggling with any one of those three components of our lives. The third thing that we see about this Scripture, this verse, is that Christianity is not a denial of the body. 30:54 But recognizing that what affects one part of us affects all. Paul did not say, "Deny your body and and and deprive it of sleep, deprive it of food, deprive it of nourishment, abuse your body." No, he didn't say anything about that. 31:11 He says, "Take care of yourself as much as you can and your many infirmities." Now, what does this say to us about the use of alcohol? Maybe we're reminded that this is not a justification for the use of alcohol. It is medicinal in purpose. It is medicine. 31:31 And when they had these ancient maladies, they couldn't just go to the cupboard and get a Tums. You know, just take a Tums or a Tagamet or Pepto-Bismol or something like that. You just didn't go and... and and there was no thing like that available. So he says, 31:50 "Use a little wine for your stomach's sake." And so medicine is not used as the bottle full, but as a spoonful. And so what he's saying here is use it in moderation for medicinal purposes alone. 32:08 In an age where they did not have access to medicines as we have access to it today. Also, usually you take your medicine and as... uh not in public as refreshment. You don't see people sitting there with their cough syrup in public and as refreshment. 32:27 You you you take it in private and you use it sparingly. And you use it not to flaunt your liberty. Look, everybody, I can guzzle cough syrup. No, it's medicine. You take it privately. You take it in in moderation. And you take it for medicinal purposes. But rather, 32:49 we see him taking care of his body. And in this case, using a little wine for the stomach's sake. Now also, the wine back then was probably less... was more diluted than what we have today. Had less of an alcohol content than what we have today. 33:09 Studies have been shown from Bible scholars that would bear that out. Now we come to the last two verses here of the text. "Some men's sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment. But those of some men follow later. Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident. 33:29 And those that are otherwise cannot be hidden." What this is saying is that some men's sins are obvious and are confessed and repented of. Whereas other men's sins are hidden and show up later. 33:47 How much better it is to repent and deal with sin today than waiting till tomorrow. How much better it is to confess and repent of sin today than waiting until the judgment. 34:07 We have some very modern examples of very famous, well-known Christian leader and author passed away within the last five years, three years, two years probably. 34:23 Had been used to preach and speak to millions both through media, social media, YouTube, and books, and personal appearances. Only to find out when he's dead, the kind of double life that he lived while he was alive. 34:44 With no evidence that he had ever repented. Some men's sins are obvious. They're confessed. They're put under the blood. They are removed and dealt with. Other men's sins, and he's not the first one, 35:05 go on to their reward and find out at the judgment seat of Christ that it was a far worse judgment than had they stood before men and confessed their sins. 35:18 And so Scripture says, "Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord. And their works are in the dark. 35:30 They say, 'Who sees us and who knows us?'" Be assured that the sins that we commit will one day be confronted. Unless they have been confronted today while there is still the age and opportunity, age of grace and opportunity for forgiveness. 35:50 Psalm 90:8, "You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance." Proverbs 28:13, "He who covers his sins will not prosper. 36:04 But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy." We're talking about these sins that need to be dealt with today in order to do what he says in verse 22, "To keep yourself pure." That's the goal. To keep oneself pure, unspotted from the world. 36:26 Caught up and current with God. Luke 12:2, "For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Bring those sins like David to the Lord, to the cross, to the altar." David said in verse... 36:46 Psalm 32:5, "I acknowledged my sin to you. And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.' And you forgave the iniquity of my sin." What happens more often is we get like like used to living in the dark. 37:06 We get used to living in a life of sewage. I remember reading a story about a a a group of boys who were playing football. They had gotten several inches of rain. And and there was... they probably lived in the in a village or in a town or a city somewhere. And had several inches of rain and the canal backed up. 37:25 And they they had decided... discovered that if by playing football down there, they had a great mud football game. And they were having a great time. And sliding and slipping and and and and just really going after the ball and tackling. And and and and just having a great a great time. Until one of the men... 37:46 one of the young boys had slid way far. And when they got to him to help him up or tackle him some more, one of the boys noticed something on his shoulder and said, "What's that?" And it was toilet paper. 38:02 And what they did not know was that there was a complex there that immediately next to the school that burst a pipe. And they didn't pay attention to what was in the goalie. It was not just pure, clear water. It was sewage. And they thought they were having a good time. 38:22 Until their mind changed and they had a different perspective. And we live in an age and a day of sewage. Sewage. And in that day, in this culture, we must remember in verse 22, "Keep yourself pure. 38:43 Keep yourself pure. And deal with sin clearly and plainly and emphatically and decisively. Now. And not later." Our culture is infecting us more and more. 39:01 There's a recent study that was done about same-sex relationships in evangelical women. It was about 11,300 people who were who were interviewed and who were uh did a survey. And about uh 1,800 of those were evangelical women. 39:22 They were women from Bible-believing churches. And they discovered that many of them, too many of them, among evangelical girls aged 15 to 17, about 10% of them identified as bisexual. 39:39 And too many of them were involved or at least open to lesbian relationships. One of the surveyors who was reporting this asked the question, "Why are many young evangelical females today open to sexual relationships with other women?" And this is the answer. 39:59 And I quote, "The simple biblical teaching that all sex outside of marriage between one man and one woman is sinful. Outside of marriage, sexual relationships are sinful, marriage of a man and a woman. It is hardly secret or subtle." That's been the historic Christian belief system. 40:21 That is the Scriptural teaching. That has been the standard for the for the church for years. All of church history and even back into Jewish history. 40:35 And yet then, I go on and quote, "And yet among younger people especially, it has been quite a few years since biblical beliefs and practices have been the norm among evangelical." That's sad. In other words, we're living in a world of sewage. And for a Bible-believing Christian to stand up and say, "You know what? 40:57 I'm not going to play... I'm not going to play in the sewage anymore. I'm going to live my life pure before God." 1966, Bobby Moore was the English soccer capital captain who received the World Cup from Queen Elizabeth. 41:17 And when he got to be queen... to meet Queen Elizabeth to receive this award, he recognized she had white gloves on. And he suddenly became aware of his dirty hands. 41:30 As the triumphant captain walked along the balcony, he kept wiping his hands on his shorts and then on a velvet cloth in front of the royal box in a desperate attempt to get himself clean. 41:43 The analogy is clear. If we're worried about approaching a queen and soiling her white gloved hands as she reaches out to shake ours, how much more should we be worried about meeting a holy God? Who is robed in white, in light unapproachable. 42:05 Let me add this yet in verse 25, "Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident. 42:14 And those that are otherwise cannot be hidden." Just like the unexposed sins will be dealt with on the day of judgment, even so the unexposed good works will be rewarded on the day of judgment. Amen? So Jesus said, "When you fast, 42:34 when you do alms, when you pray, don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. When you fast, don't make it obvious that you've got a long face and unwashed hair and countenance. Go about your duties like normal and fast before God. And when you pray, go into your closet and shut the door. 42:55 And your Father who sees in secret will do what? Reward us. Reward you openly." And so if it works for the negative, it works for the positive. The same principle that says those unexposed sins will be dealt with in judgment. Even so those unexposed deeds of goodness will be rewarded on the day of judgment. 43:17 That's the reason why we do what verse one and two says. Where we submit to our bondmasters. And we follow the Lord. And we do His bidding. And we respect one another. And we honor one another. And we do it as unto the Lord. 43:38 Whether or not anybody else ever sees. Let's pray. Father, I pray this morning that Your goodness would be made known. In greater and greater degrees that Your glory would shine upon us and through us, Lord. 43:54 We are awestruck by the truth that we are depositories of the glory of God. Lord, let us tell one another eye to eye that living in sin is beneath the dignity of a child of God. 44:18 And that there is hope in the Gospel. There is grace of God today. There is forgiveness. There is repentance. There is cleansing. And there is future reward for the child of God who walks by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.