Good morning.
We are in 1st Timothy chapter 6.
1st Timothy chapter 6
Let's begin with a word of prayer and then we'll get into our study.
Our gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day you've granted to us, for the abilities that we have to serve you, for the opportunities that we
have to lift others up, to comfort them, to encourage them, to exhort them into love and good works.
We're grateful for the strength you provide each and every day and the provisions that you give us.
We pray that your continued blessings be upon each and every one of us.
We pray for those who are struggling because of loss of loved ones, those who are struggling because of illness, those who are struggling with spiritual matters.
We pray that each one of them will look to you for the things that they need, that they will open your scriptures and be comforted by them and exhorted by them and rebuked by
them.
We also pray that you will be with each and every one of us.
Help us to be an encouragement to those who are around us.
Lord, forgive us when we sin and fall short of Your glory.
We pray for this nation.
We pray for its leadership.
We pray for peace and for the ability to be able to teach and preach the gospel unmolested and unpersecuted, but we also pray for boldness that we might be ready to preach no matter
where and no matter what circumstance may come.
All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.
We've been dealing with this last section and this last exhortation from Paul to Timothy here in 1st Timothy chapter 6, which begins in verse 11 as a contrast to the one who would
desire riches, who would be motivated in their life, in their choices, in their priorities, in their decisions by wealth and riches.
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6 that you could love God or you could love money, but you couldn't love both.
Now does that mean that someone can't have money and love God?
Certainly not.
Who created money?
God did.
Who created value?
God did.
Who created things that produce value and money?
God did.
But when we set our heart on money instead of God, it goes from being a tool and a resource for the will of God to becoming an idol that we worship.
If you think back to what Paul said concerning covetousness, Paul would address the idea of covetousness and he would say that covetousness is
idolatry.
So as we bring in view this concept that Paul is dealing with, he's setting in contrast this individual or these individuals who are acting and living out the love of money, and
he says, verse 11, but you, O man of God, flee these things, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love.
patience, gentleness.
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life to which you were 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, who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment
without spot, blameless, until the Lord Jesus Christ 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, dwelling in inapproachable light,
whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power.
Amen.
Now, as Paul addresses this
command, he says he's giving this commandment to Timothy, and he is telling Timothy to keep that commandment, to keep it without spot, to do so and be blameless before God.
We've discussed many times going through the discussion of elders and other things in the context of 1st Timothy that Paul's use of the term blameless does not mean sinlessly
perfect.
It means one who is above reproach.
It means one who no accusation can be made against them that their life has veered from the path of faithfulness with God.
One of the interesting points in this idea of blameless that we should consider is there are times when people around us, even Christians, will question what
does the Bible say I can't do?
And as long as it doesn't say I can't do it, they'll do it.
But that's the wrong question, isn't it?
The question should be, what can I do that I know is right?
A lot of times people want to live in the gray area.
Well, doesn't say I can't.
You can't show me an explicit command.
You can't even show me an implication that says I can't do this or live this sort of lifestyle, behave in this sort of way, speak with these type of words, uh dress in this
sort of apparel.
You can't prove to me I can't, therefore I can.
That's not a description of blameless.
That's a description of someone who's looking for the ability to turn liberty into license.
Paul's description of blameless is someone who is walking daily in such a way that their very actions, lifestyle, and manner of life declare God.
that someone looks at them and they say, must be what it's like to be godly.
Turn back to 1 Timothy chapter 2.
In 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 1, Paul writes, Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, and intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, for
kings and for all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and reverence.
So somebody should go at some point and just as you're doing your own personal study, notate every verse in 1 Timothy where Paul mentions godliness.
It's all over the book.
Again and again and again and again godliness is mentioned.
But he says, this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Jesus Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a
preacher and an apostle.
I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying.
A teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth, I desire therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.
And like man are also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is
proper for women professing what?
Godliness.
with good works.
Paul says, would that the men who are Christians could lift up hands unadulterated by sin and pray for people.
And I would that women would adorn themselves not presenting their love and interest in money, but in God.
Some have said, well, what can I wear and not be wrong?
Wrong question.
Question should be, what can I wear and profess godliness?
What can I wear and be right?
For the, over here, the exhortation of men, what can I do and not be wrong?
What can I do when someone can't accuse me of being wrong, or at least they can't show enough evidence where I have to change or repent?
Wrong question.
The question is, what can I do and be right?
What can I do?
How can I live with such assurance that the action that I'm participating is good, godly,
and professes the good works of God.
Those are two very different questions.
They're two very different mindsets.
And Paul, over here in chapter 6, is urging Timothy pursue righteousness, follow after godliness.
He says, keep this commandment without spot.
blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ appearing, which he will manifest in his own time.
I think we concluded last week discussing the idea of the appearing of Christ versus the coming of Christ, but then also the idea that Paul's telling Timothy, don't be in a hurry.
Recognize that Christ will appear, Christ will return on his time.
on the established time that God has already set and not whatever time you decide.
And so quite often when we get in a hurry to be in control of things that we don't even have any say in, we cause a whole lot of anxiety for ourselves and for others because we
don't have any say in it.
And yet we're worried about it.
Paul tells Timothy, you let Christ worry about that.
You let God deal with the time of the return.
He who is the blessed and only potentate.
Now, as you notice this further description of Christ, he describes Christ as blessed.
That is, he is one who is worthy of blessing.
He is worthy of glory and honor.
He is worthy of all that is good that has been returned to him.
In John chapter 17, Jesus would say in his prayer to the Father as he is preparing to go to the Garden of Gethsemane and be betrayed, he will pray to the Father in John 17
beginning in verse 1, and notice what he says.
He says, Father, the hour has come.
Glorify.
your Son, that your Son also may glorify you.
As you have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as you have given Him.
And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
I have glorified you on the earth.
I have finished the work which you have given me to do.
and now, Father, glorify me together with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was." Read through those five verses in the term glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory is all through it.
And Jesus is declaring His worthiness of the glory that He had with God in eternity before He took on flesh.
being returned to him in eternity, having been resurrected and ascended back to the Father.
And so his prayer is that God give him the glory that he had before.
Question.
Was Jesus, as we just described, worthy of the glory?
Yes.
Was Jesus one who had the authority to receive the glory?
Yes.
Was Jesus one who had the power to take the glory?
So why did he have to ask God for it?
Because he's the father.
Why else?
Because God deserves the request.
Jesus is exhibiting before His apostles the same thing Jesus taught them, and that is to pray for that which God already knows they need.
and which God already desires to give them.
but they ought to pray for it anyway.
the acknowledgement of God in His supreme authority and power and glory and greatness and the willingness to ask for what is already deserved.
The willingness to ask for what is already needed.
The willingness to ask for what has already been shown to be what God does daily.
You go back to what Jesus taught the disciples as He modeled prayer for them, and He told them to pray that God give them their daily bread.
not as though they needed to wake up every morning in desperation praying to God, hope that I don't go hungry today and that you give me my daily bread when there's already
bread sitting in the cabinet.
That's not what he's saying.
This is a recognition that everything that we have originates with and is under the authority of God.
and therefore though it may be sitting in the cabinet we should be praying for God to give it.
Because it's under His authority.
Is there ever an occasion where uh some Israelites set aside some bread in the cabinet the night before and woke up the next morning and it wasn't available to them?
What particular bread might we be referencing?
The manna.
They'd go out in the morning.
They'd gather it.
What happens if they gathered enough for two days on a day that wasn't the Friday?
boiled by the next morning.
What would happen if they gathered two days worth as they were instructed on Friday?
Wouldn't spoil.
Apparently the humidity and dew point completely altered somewhere around Saturday every week.
No, I don't think that anything to do with it.
Jesus is teaching His disciples by His example that He is both worthy of the glory.
and yet is willing to humble himself before God and ask for it to be bestowed back to him.
Mm-hmm.
That's exactly right.
So, now go back to chapter 6, verse 15.
and Paul says he is the blessed and only potentate.
Somebody tell me what the word potentate means.
Ruler, sovereign, a sovereign authoritative ruler.
Paul says Christ is worthy of blessing, for He is blessed.
And He is worthy of deference and obedience because He is the sovereign ruler.
in American politics, we don't have a sovereign ruler.
We have a executive branch and a judicial branch and a congressional branch, all of which are co-equal branches so as to not have a sovereign ruler.
They are intentionally designed and were intentionally designed by people who had lived under a sovereign ruler.
who said, we are not interested in this anymore.
The whims of King George III were sufficient to cleanse them of any desire to have a sovereign ruler.
And yet that's exactly what Christ is.
Christ is one whose rule is such that it is unquestioned, it is unmitigated, it is that which cannot be diminished by time or by circumstance or by the power and the rule and the
glory and the gain and the prosperity of others.
Hence the word only there.
Paul does not describe Christ as a sovereign ruler.
He describes Him as the only sovereign ruler.
and then continues to describe him as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Turn over to Revelation.
John would write in Revelation chapter 1 and in verse 4, John to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who was, sorry, who is and who was and who is
to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne.
Who's the one who is, who was, and who is to come?
Not in this verse.
In this verse you're going to see a series because notice the second, the very next verse, and from Jesus Christ.
So in verse four, who is the, who is, who was, and who is to come?
God the Father.
All right?
Notice what John is doing.
Verse four is, God the Father is the one who is, who was, and who is to come.
and the seven spirits who are before His throne, the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and ruler over the kings of the earth,
to Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
Amen.
Behold, He is coming with the clouds.
and every eye will see him even they who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him even so amen I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end
says the Lord who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty
as John presents Jesus in the text.
He begins by describing the Father as the one who is, who was, and who is to come.
He then describes the Spirit, he then describes Christ, he then describes the redemptive work of Christ, the reign of Christ, the authority of Christ, and then describes Christ
the same way he described the Father, as the one who was.
who is, who was, and who is to come.
The Almighty.
Quite often when we hear the term the Almighty, we think of the Father, but that's not who John's referencing here.
He's referencing Christ.
When Jesus returned back to, or was resurrected and was preparing to return back to the Father in Matthew chapter 28, Jesus would tell the disciples in verse,
18 and Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
What location is excluded from that?
nowhere.
If it's a spiritual location, covered.
If it's a physical location, covered.
And so Jesus' all authority has been given to me.
Now, the Hebrew writer will emphatically point out that the promise to put all things under his feet and make him heir of all things, as was promised in the Old Testament,
necessarily excludes the fact that the one who put the authority under his feet wasn't included.
In other words, Jesus did not suddenly have
a higher dominion than God the Father.
But John 17 points out that Jesus simply was being returned to being equal with the Father.
That his authority was equal with the Father's, though his role was different.
His glory was the glory that he had with the Father before the world was.
Was Christ somehow under the authority of the Father before the world was formed?
No.
Was Christ under the authority of the Father while He was on the earth?
Yes.
Who put Him there?
He did.
Christ took on flesh.
Christ emptied Himself.
Christ placed Himself under the authority of the Father.
Right?
Absolutely.
So as you're paying attention to this...
you should be thinking what is the hierarchical difference between God the Father
God the Spirit, God the Son.
And the answer is, there isn't one.
except in the roles they place themselves in to accomplish the works that are their will to do.
And so, are there times that the Spirit is subject to Christ?
Yes.
Because Christ said when He returned back to the Father, He would send the Spirit.
If you send someone, you have the authority to send them.
So the Spirit submitted Himself to Christ to come in the form of the Comforter.
Christ submitted Himself to the Father to do His will, to speak His words, to accomplish His works.
but at no point in time.
could we say, excluding the period of time that Christ was on the earth, that there was any hierarchical difference between God the Father, God the Spirit, and God the Son?
Now Paul says concerning Christ, he is the blessed and only sovereign ruler, potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality dwelling in inapproachable
light.
When Paul says that Christ alone has immortality, who is he necessarily excluding from consideration?
When Paul says that Christ alone has immortality, who is he excluding from the context and the consideration?
who has immortality that's not being considered.
God the Father, God the Spirit.
Paul is not making an argument that Christ alone has immortality in contrast to God the Father and God the Spirit who are somehow mortal.
That's not what he's saying.
He's using the same type of description that the prophets used when they said all authority would be placed under the feet of the Messiah.
And the Hebrew writer says, well, clearly that excludes the one who placed the authority under his feet, God the Father.
Paul's using the same type of terminology.
When we hear the word only, when we hear the word alone, we should always ask, in what context are we using the term?
If I say, Eddie is the only one going to Walmart, should you expect that when she arrives at Walmart, the building will be empty and there is no one else there?
No, she's the only one from the context of those being discussed who is going to Walmart.
It doesn't mean that she's exclusively the only one in Walmart.
We know how this works.
It's language.
We understand context, or we should, and yet sometimes when what we do is we travel around the Bible and we nitpick phrases out of context and ignore the context and we just take
the phrase, we just reinterpret the phrase and ignore the context.
Paul is dealing with Christ's authority over all flesh, all creation, all that is in heaven and on earth, and he's dealing with his reign as king.
And Paul is making it clear as king, he is the only one with immortality.
Who among the enemies of God has immortality?
always is, always was, and always will be.
None of them.
not Satan, not his servants, not the angels that rebelled against God, not anyone who's been born on the earth.
There is no one within the scope of Christ's authority who has immortality.
Therefore, who could challenge His reign?
That one.
Hedy, did you have a comment?
Okay.
Now Paul will further describe Christ.
So he's described him as blessed, he's described him as sovereign, ruler, he's described him as king of kings, lord of lords, he's described him as immortal and exclusively
immortal.
And now he says, one who is dwelling in unapproachable light.
What does Paul mean?
Let's examine what he doesn't mean.
Turn to 1 John, Chapter 1.
You
1 John chapter 1 verse 5, this is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, your Son, cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin.
If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous."
would submit to you that he does not mean in his description of Christ as dwelling in unapproachable light, he does not mean to uh contradict John's message of how we are to
walk in the light.
Because after all, if it's unapproachable light, we can't walk in it.
We can't even come near it.
So he doesn't mean to contradict what John teaches us about walking in the light of God.
Go back to John chapter 1.
in John chapter one.
We read in verse 1, and the life was the light of men.
And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
This man came for a witness to bear witness of the light."
that all through him I believe he was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light that was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world I would
suggest to you that the unapproachable light is not contradictory with the light described here which was the light of Christ brought in as the salvation of the world if it's not
the light of Christ as delivered to humanity when He came in the flesh?
And if it's not the light as in moral rightness and righteousness in walking daily with God, then what is the unapproachable light?
that Jesus said only.
Could it be that these are actual descriptions of God?
Because then when it talks about that he's in the impu-
We can't approach the Father.
He isn't mortal.
He is dwelling in immortality.
He is the life.
God is light and him is no dark.
Does it do it injustice?
it.
Well, let's approach it from this perspective.
When you look at the thread of what Paul's saying, this is Christ.
right.
Are all of these descriptions equally able to be applied to God the Father?
Yes, they are.
Okay.
But that's not the context.
The context is Christ.
Now,
Mm-hmm.
That's exactly what Paul is saying.
That's not what Jesus said while he was on the earth.
Absolutely, absolutely, because he has returned once again to the glory that he had with the Father.
All right, so there is a, it is important to recognize when you're dealing with Christ's statement about the return in the context of while he was on the earth,
There is a clear description of Christ in a position on the earth of things that He allowed Himself not to know.
But there is a clear distinction between the position and the situation of Christ while on the earth and the situation he had when he returned and ascended back to the Father.
The state, and that's the point of John chapter 17 in the verse, as Jesus is praying, his state on the earth was an un-glorified state not equal with the Father.
And yet when he ascends back to heaven, the clear description that Jesus presents is that he would be returning to a state equal with the Father, okay?
Alright, let's go to Revelation chapter 1.
We'll take this in just the five minutes that we have left or three or however much the guy with the bell back there gives us.
Verse nine, Revelation one, we're gonna grab a few verses.
want us to just get this picture in our head because John helps us frame a picture.
Yes, he's using human terms.
Yes, he's using human descriptions, but he paints us a picture of the authority, power, and glory of God in eternity, okay?
says, By John, verse 9 of chapter 1, both your brother and your companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was on the island that is called
Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, which you see right in a
book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia to Ephesus.
to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.
Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of Man, clothed
with a garment down to the feet, girded about the chest with a golden band.
His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire.
His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters.
He had in his right hand seven stars out of his mouth when a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength." John says, I looked and I saw
the one who I knew while on the earth.
He did not look like what he looked like while he was on the earth.
He said just staring at him was like staring into the sun.
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.
But he laid his right hand on me, saying, Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last.
I am he who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.
Amen.
And I have the keys of Hades and death.
write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after this.
The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands.
The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches." So here's this picture of Christ at the opening of the book.
And John says, I couldn't even look at him for the brightness of the light.
around him.
Go to chapter four.
So you have in chapter two and three these messages to the churches.
Then chapter four verse one, after these things I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet saying, uh speaking with me
saying, come up here and I will show you the things which must take place after this.
Immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne was set in heaven and one who sat on the throne.
And he who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance.
And there was a rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald.
Around the throne were 24 thrones.
And on the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white robes, and they had their crowns of glory on their heads.
And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices.
Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God."
Before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal and in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.
The first living creature and he describes the living creatures and they continually day and night say holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty who was and who is and who is to come.
Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne who lives forever and ever.
the twenty four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying you are worthy O
Lord to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they exist and were created so here in chapter four you have this picture of God the Father
sitting on the throne and His glory as such you have no description of the Father
You've got a description of all the glory around him.
No description of him.
You have a description of those who surround His throne, but they don't approach His throne.
The only person in the entire book of Revelation that approaches and is near the throne of God is the Lamb in chapter 5.
There is this picture.
that is physical for us to understand and yet encapsulated in what Paul says.
Paul says, you can't go near the throne of God.
He and His glory are so magnificent, you cannot approach the throne of God.
He dwells in unapproachable light.
And yet, for a being that is so great, that is so magnificent that you cannot even approach His presence.
The Hebrew writer tells us in Hebrews chapter four,
Verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who
cannot sympathize with our weakness but was in all points tempted like as we are yet with the out sin.
Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace.
Paul says, you're not going to dwell right up there at the throne.
You're not even going to be able to stand right up there before the throne.
There's such a difference between God and you.
And yet the Hebrew writer says, don't believe that he doesn't want you to come before his throne to ask for help in time of need.
He is the God who is of such glory that he is unapproachable.
And yet he is the God that is to be approached with boldness by his children.
Interesting dichotomy, but also
visual perspective of how we should relate to God.
And also, perhaps we should emphasize we should never become casual in our relationship to God.
Because Paul says you can't even approach him.
let alone dwell in his presence the way that you think.
Okay, thank you for your attention.