The Good Life AM

00:01 We just read about the good life. That sounds like a good life, not? To see good days and keep our lips from speaking deceit and our tongues from evil and seeking peace and pursue it and having the Lord fight our battles for us. 00:16 And what a wonderful, wonderful Psalm there to remind us of what is truly good and how to live a good life. And I've titled the message this morning, "The Good Life." And when we think about the good life, we're not thinking about, about life, good life from the world's perspective. But we're thinking about it from God's perspective. 00:37 And so if you want to turn in your copies of the Scriptures to 1 Timothy chapter 6, we're going to be wrapping up chapter 6 this morning in our preaching through, or wrapping up the book of 1 Timothy and chapter 6 by preaching through the book of 1 Timothy. We'll be concluding that this morning by talking about the good life. 00:58 This is, is based on, on verse 12 where he says, "Fight the good fight of faith." We think about a good life as being having no battles. But that's not really a good life. The good life is to be able to win the battles and to be able to fight the good fight of faith. 01:18 And then we see in verse 12 also the good confession, a good confession in the presence of many witnesses. See it again in verse 13, the good confession. And then we also see in verse 18, "Let them do good and let them be rich in good works, 01:39 in good works." And so then we also have in, in verse 19, "Storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come." So that's why I've titled it "The Good Life." The good life, not as far as the world is concerned, where the world measures the good life as how much stuff you have, 02:01 what kind of education you get, how much knowledge or so-called knowledge you indulge in, how free you are to express yourself and your sin or to have a good job or opportunities for self-fulfillment. Those would be some descriptions from the world's perspective of the good life. But the good life, 02:21 as far as God is concerned, is measured by walking with God and experiencing the goodness of God and preparing for a good eternity with God. I was doing a little bit of research here on some of the things, how the world measures goodness and happiness. By the way, 02:40 the United States has slipped in the happiness scores if you follow such things. We've slipped from the top 20, meaning that people are less happy in the U.S. than in other parts of the world. 02:55 And there's a matrix of, of different kinds of qualification criteria that they measure a society's happiness. And never has society had more stuff and more education and more opportunities than ours. And yet we're less happy than before. 03:17 They've been measuring this happiness monitor since about 2012. So it's about 12 years. And Finland has actually topped out the happiness quotient in the last seven years of those 12. And followed by Denmark, 03:36 number two, Iceland, number three, Sweden, number four, and Norway, number seven, the Scandinavian countries. But it was fascinating to me that the United States has dropped out from the top 20. And a lot of that is because of young people. Young people are less happy today than they've ever been. 03:58 And the, the young people, the people over 60 would have, would have rated about the United States happiness spectrum as being about number 10 in the world. 04:11 And those who are under, under 20, I think 15 to 24 recognize that we're about 62nd in the happiness scale. And so young people are less happy today than what they've been. 04:32 And this would be interesting in connection with Yale University. About seven years ago, in 2007, started a class called Psychology and the Good Life. Well, now what does the world have to say about that? 04:47 And nearly one fourth of Yale undergraduates signed up for this class because everyone wanted to know what the good life is from at Yale. And she tries to, the professor tries to teach people how to lead a happier, more satisfying life. And as they study this, 05:07 they found out in 2013 that of the students there in Yale, more than half of the undergraduates sought mental health care from the university. And so we have, we have a lot of people seeking mental health care and looking for the good life, but failing at the good life. 05:25 The professor went on to say that, that a lot of the things that people measure happiness by, a good grade, a prestigious internship, a good paying job, do not increase happiness at all. And we would just say, well, duh. You know, of course that won't increase happiness because happiness is, 05:44 is, is a relationship with God and looking at life and preparing for eternity, eternity in view and in mind. But her evaluation summary was our intuition, intuitions about what will make us happy, like winning the lottery or getting a good grade, are totally wrong. 06:03 That's fascinating what the world has to say about the good life. 06:09 In fact, since 19, since 2015, the phrase has been coined "deaths of despair." Not "depths of despair," but "deaths of despair." People that die because of despair. 06:26 And what researchers are finding is that the leading causing the decline of U.S. life expectancy in the latter part of the 20th century, they're asking the question, why are Americans living shorter lives? And the reason that they found was what is called the "deaths of despair." Three causes: drug overdoses, 06:48 suicide, and alcoholic liver disease. Alcoholic liver disease. And this is, is cutting people's life short. Deaths from these causes have increased between 57 or 56% and 387%. 07:05 They've increased that much in the last several years. And people dying, what would be called "deaths of despair," average 70,000 people per year. The pillars, they go on to say, that once helped give life meaning, a good job, a stable home, a voice in the community, have all eroded. 07:27 Those pillars are certainly important, but another factor may have even more detrimental effect. Research suggests the potential cause of "deaths of despair" could be the decline in religious participation that began in the 1980s. 07:45 And the researchers found there's a strong negative relationship between religiosity and mortality due to "deaths of despair." And so the more religious people are, the happier they are, and the less likely they are to die in despair. 08:04 Well, that's all just an introduction to 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 11. "But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience." The word "patience" there means steadfastness, 08:24 endurance, perseverance, gentleness. "Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, to which you are also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things and before Christ Jesus, 08:44 who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing, which he will manifest in his own time, he who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, 09:04 dwelling in unapproachable light, who no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 09:25 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. O Timothy! O Timothy! Guard what was, 09:46 that what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. By professing it, some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen. What is the good life? The good life, 10:05 first of all, involves a good fight, giving people something worth living for. And in this case, he says to pursue it. The word "pursue" means to keep on pursuing or make these things your lifelong pursuit. 10:22 It is a, it is a Greek word that comes from which we get the word "agonize." Agonize over these things, pursue these things as a lifelong pursuit of fighting the good fight. 10:35 The, the fight here that he's talking about is, and the pursuing is similar to a word that is used for athletic games and competitions. And then it became known as contending with adversaries. And so this good fight is a contention with adversaries. 10:55 It is a, it is a competition to see who can win this fight. And it is a good fight of faith. It's not a good fight of, of, of just knocking them down and dragging them out and, and, and beat them up. But this is a purposeful fight. This is a fight of faith by which we lay hold on eternal life. 11:18 Now I want to bring some contrast here in this passage of Scripture so you can get the perspective of the fight, which is between the worldly and the eternal. That's what our fight is, the between the worldly and the eternal. So let's look at his description of worldly, 11:39 of that which is temporal and worldly. Verse 17, he talks about haughtiness and arrogance. "Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty or arrogant." In verse 17, he talks about uncertain riches. Verse 20, he talks about being, about having profane, 12:00 which means worldly, irreverent babble. You know anybody like that that speaks worldly, irreverent babble? Empty chatter, idle babble, contradictions, false knowledge. Verse 20, people who think that they're smart but really are fools as far as God's word is concerned. 12:22 And then verse 21, departing from the faith. Many have departed from the faith. And then you go back up to our last message from the first part of chapter six. And he continues to describe what is worldly values, disputes. Verse four, and arguments, knowing nothing, 12:43 envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions. Verse five, useless wranglings of men and corrupt minds and destitute of the truth. Well, that sounds like the world. That's the worldly pursuits of this present age, of the, 13:02 of the, of the mind that is, is unregenerate and untransformed, destitute of the truth, a false understanding of godliness, thinking that godliness is a means to get, to, to increase your wealth. So you use godliness as an, 13:21 as an opportunity to, to get rich, to get wealthy and such from such withdraw yourselves. In verse nine, he goes on and he talks about falling into temptation and a snare. I don't know if we have any trappers here or not, people that trap, but we have probably some fishermen here that fish. 13:41 And, and what you do when you fish is you, you, you, you try to snare something through a false advertising. You advertise something that looks good, smells good, tastes good, wiggles the right way and reflects the light the right way. And then they grab it and you snare them. 14:00 And that's the way the world and the flesh and the devil operate. And it brings people into foolish and harmful lusts. You see, you paint the town red on Saturday night and you're going to need a bigger bucket the next Saturday night because it never satisfies. 14:20 It never satisfies. The world never satisfied. Foolish and harmful lusts, destruction and perdition. Verse nine. And, and so he talks about ruin, the ruin of the world's philosophy. And verse 10, he talks about those who have departed from the faith, pierce themselves through with many sorrows. 14:43 Many sorrows are the way of the wicked. And, and, and you correspond that with the deaths of depression and the need for mental health services on a university campus and a need for, for the happiness and the good life so that a quarter of the, the, the undergrads of Yale University sign up for it. 15:05 And you look at what they have to offer. It's nothing more than worldly philosophy and vain babblings and false knowledge. And it leads to the pit of despair. And yet he says, what I want you, Timothy, to pursue in verse 11 is the eternal things. Pursue eternity, 15:27 pursue eternal values, godly values. And we read about those in verse six, godliness with contentment. We preached on that several weeks ago. Verse three, wholesome words, wholesome words, words that give life, words that build up, 15:47 that encourage, that, that strengthen. Verse 11, we're to pursue this righteousness and godliness, that God-like quality of, of living that reflects the glory and goodness of God and the character of God. Faith in verse 11 and love and, 16:08 and patience or endurance, victorious endurance and perseverance and gentleness. Those are the qualities that never pass away. Those are the qualities that lead to, to joy. Those are the qualities that lead to happiness. Those are the qualities that lead to the good life. 16:26 And we're not done yet. Verse 12, he talks about the good confession, the presence of many witnesses. You're not in this alone. One of the things that brings despair is when people think that, think that they're alone. They're alone in life. They're lonely. They're, they're saddened with a lack of relationships, a lack of quality relationships, 16:46 lack of family, lack of friends, lack of church family, lack of supportive community relationships. He said, you, you do this in the presence of many witnesses. And then he talks about verse 14, about being unstained without spot means to be unstained, blameless without reproach, 17:08 trusting in the sovereignty of God. Aren't you glad this morning that you can trust a sovereign God to take care of you, to provide for you? And not only that, but to give meaning and purpose to our life. That's what the word "potentate," he is the only potentate. He is the sovereign. 17:29 We think of that word as being, as being the sovereign king of the kingdom of God and being, and having sovereignty, the sovereignty of God to, to orchestrate in our lives that which will build godliness and holiness and peace and, 17:46 and maturity and contentment and blessing in the lives of his children. We look in verse, verse 15, we have a God of God, a King of kings, King of kings. He is a king of all those who claim to be kings. 18:06 And he is the Lord, the ultimate Lord of all those who claim to be lords. Verse 16, he has immortality, immortality, incapable of dying. He is eternal. He exists forever. And eternity past, eternity future. 18:26 He's unapproachably glorious in his light. And people want light. They're scared of the dark. Even bugs want light. I don't know if they're scared of the dark or what, but you put out a light and you got to track in the darkness, you tracked all kinds of bugs and, and, and flying creatures. 18:46 And, and people want to be approached to light, but God's light is so bright and so glorious that we can't even begin to approach it. He is invisible. He is everlasting. He is the living God. He is, verse 17, the living God. He has given us gifts, great gifts to enjoy, 19:07 to enjoy life as he gives it in his will, in the center of his will. And then in verse 18, we have the purpose of good works and of generosity and of a readiness to share. 19:19 And verse 19, where it says, "Lay hold on eternal life." The newer translations translate that literally, that to lay hold on that which is truly life. It's a quality of life and existence that the world cannot understand and does not know. 19:39 And so the fight that we're involved in, that which gives us purpose in life, which makes life good, is the fight between good and bad, the eternal and the temporal, the physical and the spiritual, the flesh and the spirit, 19:58 light and darkness contrasted in this passage of Scripture. And he said, it is a good fight of faith to wrestle and to overcome and to walk in godliness, holiness, righteousness, and the goodness of God, the kingdom of God versus the kingdom of this world. 20:18 The good life is one that is lived under the domain of God's uncontested rule. That's a good definition of the kingdom of God, the reign of God's uncontested rule. In other words, he is unrivaled. He is uncontested. He is without, without competition. 20:40 He is without anyone superior to him. Now that leads us to the good confession. This is something to believe in, not only something to give our lives to, but something to believe in. And so he talks here about the good confession. Your life will be good if you have a good confession, 21:02 the confession of Christ. He talks about Christ making this confession before Pontius Pilate, when Pontius Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Yes, you have said. What you have said is true. I am came to give witness and to bear witness to the truth. 21:23 And so Jesus made that confession before Pontius Pilate. The Father blessed his confession. This is my Son in whom I am well pleased. And this then is the confession of the believer. We also can make a good confession of the faith. 21:45 What I see here in verses about 14, 15, 16, we see this, the content of this confession. 21:55 This confession is about God in the sight of God. 22:02 13, verse 14, we see that, excuse me, verse 15 and 16, which he will manifest in his own time. That's the return of Christ, the appearing of Christ. He is the blessed and only potentate. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. 22:24 He is the creator of all things. This speaks of both God and Christ. He speaks of the suffering, judgment, and death of Christ, his coming again, and the worthiness of his worship, of worship of him, to him be honor and everlasting power. 22:45 The earliest of creeds in the New Testament age, early church age, was simply this: Jesus Christ is Lord. That's what the early church required their baptismal candidates to say and to declare: Jesus Christ is Lord. 23:08 Now, as the church grew and developed in doctrine and understanding increased, 23:16 they put together more ingredients into that creed as to what is necessary to believe and confess what we confess about Jesus being Lord and about the truth of God and his word. Throughout the New Testament, 23:34 the writers of Scripture continue to identify the truths that must be given allegiance to with unchanging fidelity. In fact, these are things that must be understood and believed and confessed for one to be truly Christian. Now, 23:55 we as Anabaptists are not what has been called credo. In other words, we don't Sunday after Sunday recite the creeds of the Christian church. We don't necessarily print those creeds. Nothing wrong with it, but we have emphasized orthopraxy, 24:16 which is godly living, over orthodoxy, which is godly believing. I believe it takes both. They go hand in hand. They go hand in hand. And I think it is helpful at times to encapsulate what does it really look like to be a Christian? 24:36 What does it really look like? And I think it's helpful from time to time to look at some of the early church creeds, not that we become credo, but that we look at them and say, this is what the church has believed since its inception, since the very beginning. And it gives us a sense of history. 24:57 It gives us a sense of context that when we confess these things, we're not just pulling something out of a hat that we just thought of yesterday. These are time-honored truths from the Scriptures, from the word of God as recognized by the church of Christ through the years. 25:19 And as we do this and confess these truths, it moves our hearts to worship. Not only are these creeds to just kind of define what we believe, but they are an opportunity to worship. 25:35 That's what Paul's doing in here when he breaks into some of these doxologies from time to time throughout the Scripture. 25:45 And he does it here again until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ appearing, which he will manifest in his own time, who he who is blessed and the only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who has immortality dwelling in unapproachable light, 26:05 which no man has seen or can see, to him be honor and everlasting power. And then, oh, by the way, we come back to reemphasize some of the things on riches. I mean, he just gets carried away with the worship of of God, of this eternal God who is indescribable, indefinable, and awesome, 26:26 and has revealed himself to us in this way. So we have what has been called the Apostles' Creed, which begins at the early, the early, it's kind of a narrative that begins with the basics and moves on through the plan of salvation. 26:46 I believe in God. Well, what God? The Father Almighty, the one who made heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. Now, that is a powerful confession right there. And this is the thing that Christ confessed, 27:05 not in these words, but when Jesus said, "I am whom you say that I am." Are you the king of the Jews? Yes, I am the king of the Jews. I'm the king of the kingdom. That was the good confession. And as we embrace these truths, we also make a good confession. 27:25 Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate. There you have the conception, the birth, the suffering. He was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into Hades, the place of departed spirits. The third day, he rose again from the dead. 27:46 He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. That is a powerful confession of faith. 28:00 And then as that has taken place, if you look at the gospel narrative, after he has ascended to the Father, the Holy Spirit was given. I believe in the Holy Spirit. The church was born, the holy universal church, the communion of saints, the fellowship of the church, the forgiveness of sins, 28:20 the preaching of the forgiveness of sins to the world around us, and ultimately the resurrection of the body and life everlasting, a good confession. I think there's probably something that we miss when we think that faith is only a matter of the heart. 28:41 It's also a matter of the confession, that which is real inside, getting out, getting out, part of the good life, a good confession, something that you can base your life upon. 29:00 But we certainly don't stop there. So we enter into the third point of the good life, and that is good works. For it is not enough to just believe the right things. That is important. That is a part of it. But we must do the right things. 29:19 We must work the works of him who sent me. 29:23 Jesus said, "I must do the work of him who sent me." And so he says in verse 18, "Do good works, be rich in good works." Now, he turns his attention to those who trust in riches. 29:43 Now, he got raised up to the heavenlies in his confession, but now he's back down here on the earth and says, "Command those who are rich in this present age." In other words, you're rich in goods. Probably some of us are thinking, "Well, that's not me." Yeah, it probably is. 30:04 If we live in America and have food to eat and a house to live in and a garage and a car, two cars and a truck, a good job, good education system, we are rich. If you compare us with the rest of the world, we are rich. We are wealthy. And so what is the instruction to us? 30:26 That we be not haughty or arrogant, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God. So this is how we're to live our lives. What instructions are given to those of us who have these things in the use of our abundance, wealth, and riches? 30:45 I'll give you several things here this morning if you're taking notes. Number one, love them not. If you are wealthy and have riches and have stuff, love it not. This has to do with our affections. Scripture says, 31:03 "If you then with Christ be written, risen, and seated with Christ where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth." And so we're to love them not. We're not to trust in them. 31:23 We are to trust them not. God is our supplier, not our job, not our economy, not our bank account, not our 401(k), not our social security system, not our government. God is our supplier. We cannot trust, 31:43 we dare not trust, we must not trust in uncertain riches. Those who do so set themselves up for a fall. God is our supplier. The Scripture says, "If riches increase, set not your heart upon them. For riches certainly make themselves wings. 32:03 They fly away as an eagle toward heaven." That's, I think, from the book of Proverbs. Have you found that your riches have wings? They fly away through the internet to pay your bills. They fly away on a jet plane to pay your bills with a check if you still do that. 32:23 They travel away with the mailman to take that check. They just go. I mean, they go. They're gone. And they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. 32:37 Proverbs 30, verse 8 and 9 has a beautiful balance for riches and how to look at our possessions. The writer of that Proverbs in verse 8 and 9 says, "Give me neither poverty nor riches. 32:54 Feed me with food convenient for me or needful for me. Lest I be full and deny thee and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God." Beautiful balance right there. 33:14 Lord, give us this day our daily bread. Jesus taught us to pray. Number three, first one is love them not. Second one, trust them not. Number three, enjoy the simple things in life. Enjoy the simple things in life. 33:34 I was sitting out this morning on the patio and the sun was low in the sky. Of course, it rises early and earlier these days. The sun was low in the sky and the wind was just a soft breeze and quietness. And I'm just sitting there in the presence of God, enjoying the goodness of life, the goodness of God. 33:55 Simple things, simple things. He gives us the world around us to enjoy. In verse 17, "Who gives us richly all things to enjoy." God does not expect us to not enjoy life. He just expects us to enjoy life in his will, 34:17 in his will. 34:18 One commentator said it like this, "Physical pleasure in itself is not sinful, but divinely ordained when sought within the structure of God's will." You remember over in chapter four, there were those who had false piety, who 34:38 thought that to marry and enjoy marriage, to enjoy foods, to enjoy anything in life was to be sinful. And those were the ascetics. And Paul nuked that idea in chapter four, verses two, three, and four and five. 34:58 He said, "God has given, do you ever wonder why God gave us taste buds? Why not just give us the same taste for everything? Why did God give us color vision? Why not just black and white and the same vision for everything? Why? Because he wants us to enjoy his gifts, 35:18 his good gifts, simple gifts. But here's the truth. If we will not and do not learn to enjoy the simple gifts of God, we'll never enjoy the extravagant ones. Amen. Have you ever found that you think, "Well, if I just get the next thing, the next thing, the next thing, 35:37 the next experience, the next possession, then I think I'd have it. I think I'd have what I need to be content." No, if we haven't learned to enjoy solitude and a morning in the sunrise or the sunset or the beauty of a mountain or the northern lights, 35:58 some of you would have seen those the other night, just the simple beauties of the birth of a child, holding a grandchild, playing, tussling on the floor with the children, just those simple, simple joys of life, we'll never enjoy the extravagant things. So enjoy the simple things in life. 36:19 Then coming back to our text, do good with your resources. Look for opportunities to be a blessing. Now, our resources and giving our resources do not save, but they do bring glory to God. 36:37 So you can't get saved and be saved by giving away your stuff. But you can give away stuff and glorify God. And so we don't work to be saved. We work out our salvation. 36:56 We work because we are saved. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven." Hebrews 13:16, "Do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 37:17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. For this is the will of God." First Peter 2, "That by doing good, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men." We don't do good works to be saved. 37:33 We do good works to glorify God as his saved ones, storing up for themselves a good foundation. And the fifth one is pursue true riches, pursue true riches. Solomon made this error. 37:55 He talks about it in the book of Proverbs. He forgot, he neglected his relationship with God the eternal and pursued wealth and wisdom and knowledge. If you look back in the Kings and the Chronicles passages, 38:16 you find out some of Solomon's wealth. And so I did a little search, internet search the other day, some estimates of his wealth. You put together what things were worth back there and what he had and what Scripture says that he had. And you do the math on it. They have some estimates of his wealth put at $2 trillion, 38:40 $2 trillion worth more than any king has ever been worth. And yet he lost it all in a sense. By his son, the kingdom was divided. He was a mess emotionally and spiritually. Relationally, he was a mess. 39:00 His family was a mess. And all the wisdom that he had about life in general, he couldn't transfer into personal eternal values. And so pursue true riches. And then finally, be willing to share, be willing to share. Now, 39:19 this leads to a good foundation for eternity, a good foundation for eternity. 39:27 Look at verse 19, "Storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold on what is truly life, eternal life." The Christian Standard Bible says it like this, 39:48 "Storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the coming age." What is the coming age? The coming age is when Christ sets up his kingdom. The coming age is when we live with him in the eternal state of eternity. So how do you prepare for that? It's more, 40:08 my friend, than just asking Christ into your life to be your savior. Now, that's important. That gets you into the kingdom, but that is only the starting point of laying up a good foundation in the coming age. 40:23 Have you thought that the quality of your eternity, eternal bliss, forever, ever, ever, ever? Yes. But have you thought that the quality of the crowns that you can cast before the Lord, 40:43 of the place that you will serve in his eternal kingdom, is determined by how we serve and give now? 40:54 What we do now not only secures our entrance into eternity, but it prepares the place where we serve in eternity. By the way, we will serve God in eternity. My servants will serve him. My servants will worship him, 41:13 the book of Revelation says, and worship and serve. But you say, "I have little to give." Then take what little you have and find ways to invest it. One was given 10 talents. One was given 5 talents. One was given one talent. You know how it turned out. 10 made 10 more. 41:33 Welcome. You did a good job. Come in, be ruler over much. One who had five made five more. You make you ruler over more. And one who had one didn't really believe what he claimed to believe, hit it in the ground, and it was still there when he went to pick it up. No investment in eternity, 41:54 no investment in the eternal, no investment in the kingdom of God, just burying his treasure, depart from me, was the word. And so I remember hearing the story, and I love this story, about the man who was a blind man. 42:13 The blind man couldn't do, as a blind man, he couldn't do much in the kingdom of God, but he was probably poor, and he would ask somebody to find, or he'd find his way to a park bench. And when people would come by, he'd have his Bible there in front of him. And when people would come by, he would say, 42:32 "Hey, would you do something for me?" "Sure. I'll be happy to help a blind man." I'd really like to know what this Bible verse says right here. And would you read verse 18 for me? I'm blind. I can't see. And so would you read that verse for me? And so they would sit down, 42:51 take the Bible, read the verse for him, and then he'd share Christ with him. That was his introduction to the gospel. What can a blind man do? What could a blind poor man do? He could sit on a park bench, ask people to read the Bible for him, and then share Christ, investing in the kingdom of God. 43:10 You may not have much, but take what you have and invest it in the kingdom of God. 43:18 Jim Elliott said it like this, "A man is no fool to give what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose." And when we think about eternal values and the good life of things to come, that which is truly life, verse 19, 43:38 that which is truly life, lay hold on it, invest in it, prepare for it. And by the way, Timothy, guard this, protect it. The word Timothy here, the name Timothy, I think it's significant that he ends this book with, "Oh, Timothy," because Timothy means to honor God. 43:58 That was the meaning of Timothy's name, to honor God. "Oh, one who is to honor God, guard." It's a reminder of his responsibility. Guard what has been committed. The word committed there means deposited. 44:15 God has deposited the gospel in Timothy's heart. God deposited gifts in Timothy's life. God deposited opportunities in Timothy's life. Guard that and avoid getting distracted by nonsense. Yeah. 44:36 I think that'd be a pretty good Brother Todd translation or paraphrase. Avoid nonsense, the profane and idle Babylon contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, the world's attempt at knowledge, which, by the way, is getting more and more foolish all the time. It doesn't even make horse sense anymore. 44:59 It's contrary to nature. The animal kingdom would not even survive with the knowledge that is being promoted today on a human level. Can you imagine birds that didn't know if they were male or female? 45:18 Imagine dogs or cats. I mean, they got more sense than some people do. Contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. And by professing it, some have swerved from the truth and the faith. But grace be with you, Timothy. So what has been deposited to you? 45:39 And where do you rank on the happiness scale? Not the world's definition, but God's. I'd like for us to stand this morning and for a benediction, a doxology, an act of worship. This is an act of worship, 46:00 of corporate worship. We sing songs together as an act of corporate worship. This morning, we're going to recite a confession together as an act of worship. Let's read it together. "I believe in God, 46:19 the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. 46:40 He descended into Hades. The third day, He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy universal church, 47:01 the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen." God, thank you for the good life in Christ. We receive it. 47:22 We rejoice in it, and we use the goodness of God to prepare for eternity. May that be our testimony and our experience. Through Christ, we pray. Amen.