2 Timothy: Christian Pursuits

This episode explores 2 Timothy 2:20–26, highlighting three Christian pursuits: purity, maturity, and liberty. Discover how pursuing Christ shapes our character, strengthens our faith, and equips us to share the gospel with grace. Be encouraged to live as a vessel set apart for God's glory and the good of others.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Gibbel Grace Chapel podcast, where we value the expository preaching and teaching of the Word of God for the purpose of life transformation. If you have your Bible with you, I would encourage you to take it and open it to 2 Timothy chapter 2. We are in 2 Timothy chapter 2. We're finishing up today of chapter 2. Major League Baseball players pursue the World Series trophy. Hockey players pursue the Stanley Cup. If you're a soccer player, you pursue the World Cup. Olympians pursue the gold medal. Actors, actresses pursue an Academy Award. Singers, songwriters pursue a Grammy. You know, what a person pursues often dictates how they live. For example, if you were a world-class athlete, then you would adhere to strict rules, regulations, routines, diets, and so on in the pursuit of your trophy. Similarly, the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, and he mentioned that Christians have certain pursuits. And certain pursuits that a Christian has oftentimes determines how they live. So with that thought in mind, let's look at 2 Timothy chapter 2. We'll read verses 20 through 26 for our text. 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 20 through 26. This is from the English Standard Version. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies. You know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth. And they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will. Again, that is a reading of God's word. I think if we were to take that passage and kind of, you know, distill the meaning down to a sentence that would be easy for us to remember, it would be as follows. Paul wrote Timothy and mentioned some Christian pursuits. So obviously from that we learn that Christians have pursuits. Well, what are some of the pursuits of a Christian? There are three pursuits of a Christian mentioned in this text. The first Christian pursuit mentioned in the text is purity. Look at it in 2 Timothy 2, verses 20 and 21. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. I'm sorry, that should be verses 22 and 23. And so you know what? I made a huge mistake. My fault, I made a huge mistake. I skipped verses 20 through 21. See? No, here's the thing. I'm all rattled because of this morning, so I apologize about that. So let me back up and read the text. Because, you know, this first part is really important. Because if I don't get that first verse out, man, the rest of the sermon is off the tracks. Alright? So this is the case in point that modern day preaching is analogous to you know apostolic preaching. When the apostles preached and taught in their official capacity, they were infallible. When modern day preachers preach, we are fallible. We make mistakes, don't we? I was actually, you know, trying to see if you were on your toes and if you would catch me, but nobody said anything. You were just going to let me flounder like a fish out of water. Let's start over. 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses number 20 through 26. Now in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some for honorable use. Some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies. You know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will. And that's the reading of God's word. Now we're now there we go. We are ready. So Paul wrote Timothy, and he mentioned some Christian pursuits. And so we we learn from that again that we do, as Christians, have pursuits. There are three Christian pursuits mentioned in the text. The first Christian pursuit mentioned in the text is purity. And that is found in verses 20 through 21 of 2 Timothy chapter 2. And it reads, Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable use. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. And so Paul mentioned that Christians have the pursuit of purity. And he mentioned this pursuit of purity by using metaphorical language. So he says, in a great house. Well, that meant that signified the visible church. Now we use that term on purpose. When we say the visible church, we mean just that. What you see with the naked eye. You know, our church. You know, if you go a little bit south, you you come into, I think it's called refuge church. You have different churches. That's what you see with the eyes, the visible church. And it is indeed a great house. But within a great house, you have gold and silver vessels, and you have wood and clay vessels. The gold and silver vessels are for honorable use, and the wood and clay vessels are for dishonorable use. Now the phrase dishonorable use in the text meant a chamber pan. We would call it a bed pan. It is to catch human waste. To be discarded out of the field. And that's it, Paul told Timothy, don't be a bedpan. Don't be full of right. Like, don't be a bedpan. Instead, pursue purity. And he can pursue purity by cleansing himself from what is dishonorable. Now, that was really a reference back to the previous text. It would have been last week's sermon. So if you missed that, you know, try to try to find that online. But basically, in last week's sermon, one of the points was that Paul made to Timothy was to stay away from, you know, arguments, false teaching, worldly conversations. Stay away from those things. It's like gangrene in the body. It spreads and it rots and it destroys and it produces death. And so stay away from that stuff. So again, Paul is hammering that point. He says, you want to cleanse yourself from what is dishonorable. You want to be a gold and silver vessel. In other words, you want to be cleansed, you want to be sanctified, you want to be used by the Lord, the master of the house, for good purposes. You see, throughout scripture, the church is likened to a great house or to a temple. For example, in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 19 through 22, we read, So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple of the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. The church is the great house of the Lord, it is a temple of the Lord. Peter picks up on this in 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 4 through 5. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious. You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up, a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And so the point is crystal clear. The New Testament authors liken the church to a great house, a building, and a structure. Well, we know that in every house, in every great house, every great building, there are vessels for honorable use, and there are vessels for dishonorable use. In other words, in the great house of the church, in the visible church, there are saved and unsaved people in the church. Now Jesus gave a parable about this. He gave many parables about this. I'm just going to give you one for an example. In Matthew chapter 13, verses 47 through 50, we read. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, man drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers, but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And so clearly, within the visible church, there are saved and unsaved individuals. And there will be unsaved evil men in the church all the way up to the time that the Lord Jesus Christ returns. Then there'll be a clear separation. And so the point of 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 20 through 21, is that upon reading this text or hearing it preached, a person kind of hits the pause button, searches their own heart, and asks themselves the question, am I pursuing purity or not? Okay? So I'm not asking you to put up a list in your mind of all the people on the other side of the congregation who may not be pursuing purity. I'm talking to you. Ask yourself the question: are you pursuing purity or not? If you are pursuing purity, that is an indication that you are a gold or silver vessel, one that is being sanctified, walking in holiness and purity before God, and is available to him for good works, which is the calling of a Christian. Just a few scriptures will suffice. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 17 through 18. Therefore, go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing. Then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. Now that was a reference back to when the children of Israel were coming out of Babylon in captivity, and they're going back into the land, and the prophets told the people, Don't touch the unclean thing, don't bring Babylon with you. Don't bring the sorcery of Babylon and the false religions of Babylon and the sexual perversion of Babylon and all that. Don't bring that, don't touch the unclean thing. Just come to the land that the Lord has for you, and he'll be your father, and of course, you will be his people. And the apostle Paul uses that to encourage the church that when you have been saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, then you are to come out of Babylon. You don't bring Babylon into the church. You come out of Babylon, you let all that go, you don't touch the unclean thing, and you serve God. And he promises to be a father to you and will provide and protect and so on. And he has a land of promise for you. We are to be pursuing purity. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 10. Again, as we pursue purity, then we become useful to the master of the house for good works. Listen to how it's worded in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 10. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So when you're saved by grace through faith, you are then prepared for good works that God had prepared for you. You become useful to him for good works. But never, never, ever, ever get this mixed up. Good works do not lead to salvation. But salvation always leads to good works. And don't ever reverse that. Again, we should be pursuing purity. And those who are pursuing purity are useful to the master of the great house for good works. But those who are not pursuing purity, they are vessels of dishonor. Now here's the thing the vessels of dishonor are also useful, just not for good works. What? Everything that happens is by design and purpose. Even in the church. False teachers, false Christians serve a purpose in the church. You know what purpose they serve? They're the bedpans. They gather all the quote unquote waste of the body in the church to be discarded outside. This is why true Christians over time don't follow false preachers. The Holy Spirit can pick someone and walk away from it. You change the chapter. You might get sucked in for a moment. I mean, the entertainment's good. Some of them are silver-tongued or doors, no doubt about it. Worship's phenomenal. The light show is incredible. It's easy to get sucked in. And just because you have all this stuff doesn't mean it's bad. I'm just painting a picture for you. But over time, you know, the Holy Spirit, that's not right. That's not right. That stuff is not right. You may not be able to put your finger on it, but you know, because if you're a child of God, the Holy Spirit is going to deal with you. But the false teaching, the false preachers, the false churches, what they do is they're the bedpan and they're collecting all the waste, and they will eventually be discarded out. That's why the Lord louds it. It is the means by which God separates who is true and who is not. Listen to this. Deuteronomy chapter 13, verses 1 through 3. I have a Bible for what I just said. Listen to this. Deuteronomy 13, verses 1 through 3. If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, Let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Alright, hold on. God is omniscient, God knows all things. So it says the Lord is testing you to see whether you love the Lord your God. It's do you know? The test is for you, not God. And so even if, even if a false preacher or a false teacher performs a miracle, that is no sign that he's a true preacher. You have to listen to the content of the message. And if he starts telling you, let's pursue this God, of course, back then in the Old Testament it was easy. If you pursue Baal, if you if you we call him Baal. If you pursue Baal, let's go after Baal. Let's go after Shura. That's pretty obvious. In today's world's a little bit different. Let's um let's let's go after entertainment and leisure. Let's go after money. You know, if you if you come to Jesus, you you will never have another worry in your life. You'll have a stress-free life. God will give you all kinds of money. That's a different God and a different gospel. So you have to pay attention to what's being said. And again, God allows false teachers and false preachers in the pulpit because they're bad parents. For dishonorable use, they gather together the waste of the body. I know I'm painting graphic pictures, but that's what's in the text. Peter says it this way. I got New Testament for it. 2 Peter chapter 2, verses 1 through 3. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. Jude said they were appointed for this long ago. Yeah, but they serve a purpose. So it makes you become very familiar with the scripture, and it teaches you to hear the voice of the Spirit and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. You pick up on false teaching and you walk away from it. Amen. And so, obviously, the point is you want to be a vessel for honorable use. You do not want to be a bad man. So check your heart. Check your priorities. Are you pursuing purity? And if not, why not? What's holding you back? And whatever that thing is that's holding you back, repent of it. Cleanse yourself so that you will be a vessel for honorable use. Like right now would be a pretty good time to do that. Before we move to point number two. Let the Holy Spirit reveal something to you. If this point applies to you, of course. Like what is it? What do you run after? What is fool's gold for you? What glitters and shines, but doesn't promise any return? Whatever that is, man, repent of it. Let it go. So you can pursue purity and be a vessel for honorable use. And so we see that the first Christian pursuit mentioned in the text is purity. The second Christian pursuit mentioned in the text is maturity. Look, if you will, in 2 Timothy 2, verses 22 and 23. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies, as you know that they breed quarrels. And so again, Paul wrote Timothy and he mentioned some Christian pursuits, and the second Christian pursuit mentioned in the text is maturity. And he gave, he gave, Paul gave Timothy kind of three practical ways to pursue maturity. First, Timothy was to flee from youthful passions. Now, that word flee in the original language meant make a decisive, immediate decision to run the other way with no hesitation. Okay? Is that forceful enough? Like, make the decision immediately. Like right now, I'm leaving, no questions asked, I am out the door. No hesitation. Flee. Youthful passions. Now, unfortunately, in our overly sexualized culture, we tend to see and read youthful passions, and we equate, you know, sexual perversion or something like that, sexual immorality. Well, it's certainly youthful passions can certainly include that, but it's much more than that. It's all the things associated with immaturity. Pride, simple ambition, impulsiveness. Those kind of things. Flee from those. The second kind of practical step to take when pursuing maturity is not only to flee from youthful passions, but pursue God. Okay? So it's not enough to run away from sin. You have to run to God. It's not just running. You can't outrun sinfulness unless you run to the shelter, the tower, God. And so you have to flee one and you run to another. So you flee your youthful passions and you run to God. And how do you do that? Well, you pursue, you know, Paul just kind of rattled off a few things. This list is by no means exhaustive, but he just says, pursue righteousness and faith and love and peace. In other words, go after God. Those are things you cannot have unless you're in Christ. Thirdly, Timothy was to pursue maturity by getting connected to a local church. Do you catch that? He said, listen, flee youthful passions and then pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, along with those who call upon the name of the Lord with a pure heart. In other words, join together, connect with a local church. And what you're looking for in a local church are people who are calling upon the name of the Lord with a pure heart. They're worshiping God with a pure heart. They're studying the Word of God with a pure heart. They're walking with God in purity and holiness. You're not looking for the show. You're looking for people who call upon God with a pure heart because those are going to be the ones that help you flee youthful passions and run to God. Churches and ministries that are built around the flash and the show, they actually aid you in running to youthful passions. That's a sign of immaturity, not maturity. And so we should be pursuing maturity. You know, there's a huge difference between immaturity and maturity. And the difference is most visible in what they pursue. Okay? An immature person pursues the moment. A mature person pursues the future. An immature person pursues instantaneous, momentary pleasure. But a mature person pursues delayed, long-lasting gratification. There's the difference. Since I've already been graphic this morning in my illustrations, I'll be graphic again. The difference between an immature person and a mature person is as follows. An immature man seeks a hookup for one night. A mature man seeks a wife for life. But he must run two things that will give him long-lasting gratification. Which obviously can only be found in Christ. That's why he said pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace. These are things that are given to us from Christ. So we see that the second Christian pursuit mentioned in the text is to pursue maturity. And again, these are just some concrete steps that we can take. Number one, in our text here, in our context here at this church, we can flee immaturity by fleeing youthful passions. Alright? So, for example, we would flee sexual immorality. We did mention that. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 18. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. But it's interesting, flee sexual immorality. Another thing we could do is flee idolatry. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 14. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Run from it. But the only way to truly flee idolatry is to run from it, but you have to run to God. Flee pride. James chapter 4, verse 6 reads, but he gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. So flee pride. Flee sinful ambition. Philippians chapter 2, verse 3. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Notice I said flee sinful ambition. There's nothing wrong with having ambition. You want to do things for the kingdom of God. You want to advance the kingdom of God. You want to use the gifts and talents and abilities that God has given you. Absolutely. But you have to flee the sinful ambition. That is, that is, being selfish in your pursuits. You should flee impulsiveness. Impulsiveness is a sign of immaturity. In Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verse 2, we read, Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. Don't just pop off at the mouth. Impulsiveness. Alright? You don't always have to say what you're thinking. Some of you need to go to the store and get your filter. It's been broke for years. And because we're in the South, we just go, oh, bless their hearts. Well, there's no more blessing your heart because the word of God is just corrected. We cannot be impulsive with our words. We think about what we're saying. Ah, I get it, man. That's difficult. I understand. But that's something we need to strive for. Proverbs 21, verse 5 reads, The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. Impulsiveness. Impulsiveness. You know, for guys, it's like, I'm going to go buy that bath boat, but I ain't going to be able to pay my mortgage. That's a sign of immaturity. Does that make sense? Like, don't be hasty. You've got to think about things. You've got to think about the future. The second thing we do is pursue righteousness or pursue holiness, which we've already talked about that. I mean, it's again Matthew 6.33 says, seek the kingdom of God, or seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So, you know, the righteousness of God is Christ. So if we pursue Christ, we seek after Christ, then God will take care of all the other things. But our goal, our pursuit is Him. That's a sign of a mature believer. That's a sign of a mature Christian. We are pursuing Jesus more than anything else. We pursue peace. Hebrews 12, verse 14, strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. You know, the truth is we could all line up here and we could all find something to disagree about. Passionately disagree about. The key, though, is to find what we can be unified about and walk in peace with one another. And we are to pursue peace, which by the way, sometimes means casting out the scoffer. Proverbs tells us that very clearly. Cast out the scoffer and the strifing ceases. Sometimes, unfortunately, we have to do that in the church, in the body of Christ, in order to have peace. That's scripture. It's called church disciplines, Matthew 18. We are to pursue love. 1 Corinthians 14, 1, pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. Yes, pursue the gifts. Prophecy means a known language. So we want to be able to communicate the known language, the word of God, and so on. But those things have to be done in love, so pursue love. We need to connect to a local church. If you are fleeing from youthful passions and you're running to God, one of the things you want to do is connect to a church. Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 through 25 reads, And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. And so connect to a local church. We encourage one another, we spur one another on. And lastly, avoid foolish arguments. There are some things I am willing to plant a flag on and die for. Like the virgin birth of Christ. Like the inspiration of Scripture, the inerrancy of Scripture. Absolutely, I'll die on that hill all day long. Absolutely. I'm not going to die on a hill of eschatology if there's a rapture or no rapture. Those are secondary issues. I have my opinions, so do you. Of course you're wrong, but that's another story. You know what I mean? Like there's certain things, and so we just avoid. No, those are fun in-house debates, and we can talk about that. We don't have to argue about it and separate over it. You know what I mean? But now, if somebody comes up and says, ah, you can't, you know, the Bible contains the inspired word of God, I have a problem. I'm willing to die on that hill. I'm willing to break fellowship over that. Because the Bible doesn't contain the word of God, it is the word of God. Big difference. Because if you just merely say it contains the word of God, then who gets to determine what's the word of God and what's not? Who becomes the final devour? It's no longer scripture. So it has to be you. Right? So we have to dial that hill. Right? So I'm talking about secondary, even third issues. Um, this is what the scripture says about this. We want to avoid foolish arguments if possible. Titus chapter 3, verses 9 through 11. Avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law. For they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him. Knowing that such a person is warned and sinful, he is self-condemned. So again, perfect case in point about pursuing peace, and sometimes that means doing away with the person who calls us ascension. And so these are very concrete practical steps that we can take to pursue maturity. So again, I would challenge you to stop and think. No matter your age, here's a mistake that we make in our culture. We think the higher the number of a person's age, the more mature they are. Those two are not directly related. In other words, there's plenty of 40, 50, 60, 70-year-olds who are not mature. They are in age, but not in mindset or spiritual understanding. And the opposite can be true. You can have people that are, you know, 40, 30, and 20 that although they may not be as mature age-wise, they've got a pretty good head on their shoulders and they're mature when it comes to their mindset and how they approach spiritual matters. Age is not always an indicator whether someone is mature or not. That's the point. So don't think, oh, well, you know, I'm 75, I'm good. Well, you you just might be an idiot. And you need to stop and go, am I, maybe I need to pursue maturity. You know what I mean? So hopefully that's not the case. But it could be. In other words, I don't want people to check out hearing this message and say, oh, I'm, you know, I'm old, I'm good. No, that's not the case. So search your heart. Again, I'm not asking to point to everybody else you know. Look inward. Me included. Look in my heart. Am I pursuing purity? And am I pursuing maturity? Like, am I fleeing youthful passions? Am I running to God? Am I growing in the faith? Am I pursuing the righteousness of God, who is Christ? Am I pursuing love, peace, and so on? So the second Christian pursuit mentioned in the text is maturity. And the third Christian pursuit mentioned in the text is liberty. Look, if you will, in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 24 through 26. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach patiently during evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will. Now, technically speaking, these uh those scriptures that I just read, 24 through 26, were directed to Timothy, who was a minister and a pastor of the local church. And he was supposed to share that with faithful men who were teaching others. So this is directed toward teachers, but I think the principle certainly applies to all Christians under the broad rubric of the priesthood of the believer. And that teaching would be this: Paul told Timothy to pursue liberty. Okay? And he said it this way. Hey, your goal is not to win an argument. Your goal is to win a person to Christ. It's not just about winning the theological debate. It's about presenting the gospel. Clearly, compellingly, accurately, and so on. Because again, it's not about winning the argument, it's about winning a soul for Christ. I don't know yet. Obviously, I know the Holy Spirit has to move, and the Holy Spirit has to bring a person to Christ. But he uses us oftentimes as vessels. And so that's what we want to do. And whenever we can be used of the Lord to lead someone to Christ, we are actually leading them into liberty. They're being liberated from demonic deception. They're being liberated from being a bondage to the devil and sin to do his will. And now they become children of God and they can pursue righteousness and holiness and they can be cleansed and they can be used of God to do good things. They're being set free. And that's the goal. And then Paul kind of said, Timothy, these are kind of some checkpoints. In other words, don't be argumentative. Don't engage in foolish arguments. You need to be able to teach. So when a person is coming and they're just throwing out some bad ideas and thoughts and philosophies that are humanistic in nature or anti-Christian in nature. You've got to be able to pick up on that and you have to be able to address it, but you can do so without being a jerk. You have to be able to teach, correcting your opponents. There are opponents of Christ and there are opponents of truth. And we have to correct them. We can do so patiently, enduring their evil, because again, that's the process that God uses to bring somebody to faith in Christ. We can be kind, we can be gentle in the way we do that, but it has to be done. Because as we pursue liberty, God uses us, his church, his people, to bring people into a place of freedom in Jesus Christ. You know, I was thinking about this. I do this every day, every day at my job. And you'd be shocked at some of the stuff that I have to debate and deal with. But just one humorous thing stood out to me. This was just in the last couple of weeks. I asked the gentleman, the leading question, we call it the EE questions, evangelistic questions. Um evangelism explosion questions. So the first one is you know, something along these lines. Sorry, man. You know, those talk about something that opens a door. And it just, if it's a crack, I get my big toe in there, buddy, I'm walking through the door. Okay? So, like if they crack a little bit in my nose, you know, I'm there. And so something on the lines of, hey man, do you feel comfortable if you were to die right now, you'd go to heaven? This guy thought for a second and he said, Yeah. I said, Okay. So if you're standing before God in heaven and he were to ask you, Why should I let you into heaven? How would you answer that question? And he goes, Oh, that's easy. Because God knows my heart. I said, He does. The problem is you don't know your own heart. And he goes, What? I said, man, your heart is wicked. You are evil. And his counting has changed. And he was like, what? I said, hey, before you get too mad at me, every human is that way. This is what the scripture teaches about our sinful nature. And you start having that conversation. God repented. He came to faith in Christ. Or at least said he did. I don't know. The Lord's a judge. No. I could have been a really big jerk about. Now, some of you'd be like, man, that's a jerk. To me, that was super nice. I handled him with kitten gloves. So my style may be different than yours, but okay, I was being nice. That's the point. Like, you've got to be able to teach, you've got to pick up on that. What they were saying was, I'm a good person. What it was really saying was, I do good works. There are no good works that lead to salvation. Right? So, I mean, I give you example after example. I have people come in that are Muslims, black Muslims, and people that are Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, and they're all false. Every one of them. And I have to debate those things and hope. And sometimes they get really heated, and that's okay. That's all right. The Lord will use that too. I don't get heated. Believe it or not, I really don't. They do. Just another day, the office for me. I love to talk about Christ. Now, this is the point. Pick up on what they're saying. Patiently endure with their evil. Because they're probably going to come back. You see the Holy Spirit dealing with them? They're going to start thinking about that conversation. They're going to come back and go, you know, I was thinking about what you said. What about this and what about that? And you'll be amazed at the way their countenance will change towards you, their attitude. Then it becomes a conversation. So be able to teach patiently enduring evil, knowing that God just may grant them repentance. We don't know. We don't know. What we have to do as believers who are pursuing liberty is to clearly present the gospel and rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. This is what the scripture reads. Colossians chapter 4, verse 6. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. In other words, think about how you're going to respond to people when you're sharing the gospel. 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 15. But in your hearts, under Christ the Lord is holy. Always be prepared to make a defense. Where we get the Greek word or apology, where we use apologetics, apology. So when we say apology, we're not saying, Oh, I'm so sorry, I believe in Jesus. I hope that don't offend you. What it's saying is we're given a reasoned defense of why Christianity is superior to any other religion. It is true, it is factual, and the resurrection proves it. And you have to be prepared to get that defense. Defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. Acts 1.8. But you receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. So you can run around and shout in tongues. Now what it reads at all. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria into the end of the earth. The power of the Holy Spirit is to proclaim the message. It's the power of the Holy Spirit. Believe in the Gift Spirit, of course I do. But the power is in the message. The power is in the gospel. The power is in Christ. And when you're filled with the Holy Spirit of God, that's what He empowers you to do. So clearly, we must be prepared and pursue liberty. And change the focus. I want to hammer this one point. It's not about winning an argument, it's about winning the person for Christ. Things get super heated and you're not going anywhere when you're sharing the faith. Take a break. Walk away. Change the subject. Holy Spirit is sovereign. He's in charge of that. He'll use what you said. He'll convict their hearts. They'll think about it. Pray they can't sleep at night until they get right with Christ. I pray that a lot. God, I pray when they lay their head down the pillow. It's like stole they can't even sleep. Let the Holy Spirit, man, convict them. Bring them to a place of faith in Christ. Okay? And they'll come back to you. Be prepared. Pursue liberty, not winning an argument. These are just some of the Christian pursuits. There were three that were mentioned in the text. We should pursue purity, we should pursue maturity, and we should pursue liberty.

SPEAKER_01 50:04

Amen. Will you stand your feet with me this morning?

SPEAKER_02 50:17

We're going to conclude today's sermon by observing the Lord's Supper, observing communion. We do this every Sunday at Grace Chapel. If you would like to participate with us, you're more than welcome to do so, provided you are saved and you have been water baptized. If you're saved and water baptized, you're more than welcome to take communion with us. Please go to the sides of the sanctuary, get your elements, and bring them back to where you were standing. Three Christian pursuits were mentioned in the text. The first Christian pursuit mentioned in the text was purity. The second Christian pursuit mentioned in the text was maturity. And the third Christian pursuit mentioned in the text was liberty. And so again, before we observe communion, I want to ask you to take a moment to search your own hearts. Search your own hearts. Are you pursuing purity? Are you growing in sanctification? In holiness with God. I can't give you a list. For that leads into legalism. What I can say is when you are pursuing purity and holiness, sanctification, the Holy Spirit begins to convict you about things that you once thought were normal, and all of a sudden, oh wait, I just don't feel right anymore. The Holy Spirit is asking you to walk away from something. Sometimes the thing he's asking you to walk away from may not even be sinful in and of itself. It's just a matter of your obedience. Are you pursuing purity? Secondly, search your heart. Are you pursuing maturity? Like, are you growing in the faith? Are you growing in spiritual matters? And thirdly, are you pursuing liberty? Like, do you look for opportunities to share the gospel? Not because you want to be right, but because you want to aid in the process of another person becoming right with God.

SPEAKER_01 53:00

These are things we clearly see in Christ. He certainly perceived purity.

SPEAKER_02 53:10

He walked in holiness. Never committed one sin. He certainly pursued maturity. Scripture tells us in the Gospel of Luke that he grew in favor with God and man. He matured. I mean, by the age of 12, he's teaching the temple precincts, and people are amazed at the wisdom coming out of his mouth. He certainly pursued liberty. I mean, Luke chapter 4 is given the scroll, and he reads Isaiah, where it talks about the Spirit of the Lord has appointed me, has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, set the captives free, open the blinded eyes, and so on. He pursued liberty. And ultimately that was climax to the cross, where he provided liberty for his people. So if we take communion, let's think about these things and ask if we are we growing in these areas. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and after given thanks, he broke it and passed it out among the disciples, and he said, Take eat all of you, for this is my body. Greg, will you pray for the bread, please? Same way he took the cup, and after he's given thanks, he passed it out among the disciples, and he said, Take, drink from it all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is shed many for the remission of sin. Donnie, will you pray?

SPEAKER_01 55:33

Amen. Let's pretend together, please.

SPEAKER_02 55:49

Father, we thank you for today, the time we had together to worship you, to hear from your word. We pray, Holy Spirit, that you will take the truths of the passage that you attend for us to assimilate and to put into practice in our daily lives. Take those truths, penetrate our hearts and minds with them. Maybe we walk with your spirit, the power of the spirit to accomplish these purposes and these pursuits. In Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen, amen. God bless you. Thank you for listening to the Giable Grace Java podcast. Make sure that you like, share, follow us on socials. I'm Dr. Jason Murphy, proclaiming greats, transforming culture.