Godliness

[0:00] Let us pray.

[0:30] 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 7 through 8 And feel free to read along together Just verses 7 and 8 But refuse profane and old wise fables And exercise thyself rather unto godliness For bodily exercise profiteth little But godliness is profitable unto all things Having promise of the life that now is And of that which is to come Let's pray Lord we thank you for your word Lord as we gather unto you Lord we ask you to do a work in us By your Holy Spirit Lord may your word have free course and be glorified Lord stir our hearts in a good way That we will be encouraged in Christ We pray for your glory Lord Jesus we ask in your name Amen Please be seated

[1:30] And the subject of godliness is my message here tonight And it's a very important characteristic that God's people are called unto Godliness What is it?

[1:46] What is godliness? Really it's godlikeness you could say It's having a god word attitude It's living a godly life It's having a Christ like life and character It's a radical life change Godliness And what's the opposite of godliness?

[2:03] Ungodliness So it's a radical life stand isn't it? And godliness like holiness really It's a light to holiness And holiness means set apart To a holy use It means to cleanse completely And to make holy So godliness is counter-cultural Because the world that we are living in Is called ungodly 1 Timothy 4 7 through 8 Refuse profane and old ways fables And exercise thyself rather Unto godliness For bodily exercise profiteth little But godliness is profitable Unto all things Having promised of the life that now is And of that which is to come So godliness is swimming against the tide It's completely radical

[3:03] It's completely contrary to this world It's swimming against the tide And you may ask why? Why must I be holy? Because he who called him is holy We read 1 Peter 1 verse 16 Peter says Because it is written Be ye holy For I am holy This holy one calls us to fellowship with himself And harmony with himself So I want to encourage you tonight To grow in godliness So three things about godliness tonight Firstly We see that there is a profit In godliness As we read Verse 8 Godliness is profitable There's a profit For you In godliness It's good for you It's good for you to be godly There's a profit There's a benefit

[4:04] There's a value That is tremendous And it's come for us It's paid for us At great price But the price of our holiness Consider it It's the very precious blood Of our lord As 1 John 1 verse 7 says But if we walk in the light As he is in the light We have fellowship one with another And the blood of Jesus Christ His son Cleanseth 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 our sins And to cleanse us From all unrighteousness So the price of our holiness Has been paid It's the very precious blood Of our lord And we spend again At Christ's expense Really that's grace Isn't it As the popular Acronym goes Grace God's riches At Christ's expense

[5:06] There's a profit For you And it's all paid for By the virtue of His gift There's a profit For you In godliness It's profitable Unto all things It says So it says As we read It's profitable For the life That now is And of that Which is To come There's a true benefit For your soul To live godly In Christ Jesus There's a true Benefit And value Think of what you gain In godliness In having a life That's lived With purpose For Christ There's Fulfillment there There's joy There's assurance There's comfort There's the privilege Of knowing and serving Your Lord Of your very Wonderful Saviour's love There's many Benefits There's a profit In godliness In contrast Think of the Half committed life As if you can be Half committed You're either committed Or you're not committed But some would try To pretend They can live

[6:06] A half committed life There's great loss there There's neglect There's failure So friends Tonight I urge you I urge you One and all Each one To aim for godliness There's profit there Number one Secondly There's practice In godliness There's a practice In godliness It talks about An exercise here We're talking 1 Timothy 4 verse 8 8 There's practice There's exercise It takes practice Godliness is practical It's put into action And godliness It talks about here Paul tells Timothy Exercise yourself Unto godliness That's verse 7 really Exercise yourself To godliness Now some of you Are very fine looking Specimens of Of physique

[7:07] And you know Obviously you spend Lots of time Down at the local gym As you can see That I Obviously don't But we see that In a sense here Going into the gym Is actually the kind of If you were to Transliterate this word Exercise It's the gymnasium It's gymnasium It's going into the gym If you like It's the sense of it It's the actual Real sense of it That there's a sense Of exercising As someone would Exercise Down at the local gym And there's that sense Where you and I As Paul tells Timothy We're told to go Into the gym As it were Of godliness To exercise ourselves To commit ourselves To this kind of Rigorous training Of that Putting our godly Living Into practice Into action To exercise it And Spurgeon said this I must practice If I would be perfect Must exercise myself

[8:09] Unto godliness If I would be skilful Must in fact Make myself familiar With the word of God With holy living And saintly dying We are called to Exercise ourselves Unto godliness So practice it Make it Active Live it Godliness is not Static It's active And it talks about Exercise Exercise Thyself Godliness is developed Through practice So in the day by day Where the rubber Hits the road Of our lives We have to keep Ourselves in training To live a godly life Think for yourself Brother Sister If you want to Develop physical Muscles and strength You physically Exert yourself You put strenuous Training in And what about Spiritually so Saints of God Here tonight Will we put time Into bible study Into meditating

[9:10] Upon the word of God Into hiding it In our hearts Put time into Praying Into seeking After God That's the Intimation here Isn't it To exercise Thyself Rather unto godliness We can As it says In verse 8 There's a certain Profit To physical Exercise It profits A little There's benefits There We're not against People going And physically Keeping trim And fit But what about Spiritually so Sometimes that's Neglected And yet that is Actually more Important Bodily exercise Profits just a little And Paul said That he Exercises himself In Acts 24 Verse 16 Paul said Herein do I Exercise myself To have a Conscience Void of the Fence toward God And toward Man He said I'm going to Make a deliberate Intent To exercise Myself And most would Agree that Good health

[10:11] It takes Exercise But spiritual Health too There's a sense Where there's a Benefit that flows From exercise Spiritually too If we could Just have more Energy for God If we could Feel more Energised If we could Be more Able That comes Through exercise And it comes So spiritually Too Those that Are exercising Physically Are better able To recover From injury They feel They feel better Their body Works better Spiritually So too We should Exercise Ourself Like Paul Says I exercise Myself To have a Conscience Void of Offence He says Bodily exercise Proverbs A little But how Much better To exercise Ourselves Under godliness So I urge you Tonight Think of these Things To train Yourself up As it were To go Into the Gym And just As those That were Physically Put their Effort into Physical Fitness Think of Your spiritual Fitness

[11:11] Now Will you Train Yourself Up in That holiness Of heart Of life Of devotion To have That holy Energy And intent That building Up a Spiritual Stream In order To grow To improve You need Training And god Wants every One of us To increase Our spiritual Muscles By exercising!

[11:36] In study In worship And using Your spiritual Gifts In that Discipline Of the Discipline Of fellowship The discipline Of regular Prayer The discipline Of witnessing You know Sometimes It actually Helps Us to be Disciplined To have A prayer Meeting That we It's locked In It's a Time Schedule There's a Time put Aside You know Not that we Should just Only pray At the Prayer Meeting But to Have a Discipline Of a Meeting To go To To have A Discipline Of a Witnessing Effort That we That we Corporately Do It's a Discipline And that's A good Thing Because it's On the Schedule It's on The Time Table It's Locked In I'm Putting That Time Aside Because I'm Committed To my Spiritual Discipline To that Spiritual Exercise And likewise To on a Regular Daily Individual Basis To have That Daily Program That Exercise Program Think of What we Devote Our Lives To There's

[12:36] One Man Who Apparently Spent Years And Years Learning A Particular Skill And That Skill Was He Devoted His Skill To Learning How To Sound Like A Chainsaw And He Perfected It That Was Quite A Remarkable Achievement When You Think What A Vain Thing That Would Be Honestly Some People May Spend Many Hours A Day For Weeks Or Months To Learn A Hobby Or A Craft That Might Be Well And Good But What Rather Would We Put Energy And Time Into!

[13:16] Learning Of The Scriptures Wouldn't That Be A Good Thing To Exercise Ourself In That Way That Would Be Far Better Wouldn't It To Exercise To Increase Strength And Learning And Learning And Skill In Our Spiritual Walk With God To Wrap Our Head Around Doctrines And Truth And The Scriptures To Get Stronger Spiritually Friends We Read What We Sow The Man Who Spent So Much Time And Effort Into Learning How To Sound Like A Chainsaw Honestly!

[13:51] What Are We Putting Our Time And Energy Into Friends Let's Practice Godliness Let's Exercise Yourself Unto That To Be Regular Consistent Continuous In Learning And Growing And Increasing Strength And Peter Says But As He Which Has Called You Is Holy So Be Holy In All Manner Of Conversation Because It Is Written Be Holy For I Am Holy And This Godliness This Exercising Unto Godliness Is In All Of Our Conduct And Behavior This Isn't Something You Switch On And Switch Off As A Christian You Are 24 By 7 By 365 And As A Godly Man As A Godly Woman You Are Meant To Be A Godly Witness In All Man Of Conversation In All Your Way Of Living A Godly Life Is A Fulfilled Life And We Can Have Our Census!

[14:56] To talking about that strong meaty word of God, that meatiness of the word of God, that deep depth of teaching that is the word of God that is like a meat to our spiritual life.

[15:17] And he tells how we can have our senses exercised to discern both good and evil. So when you're exercising, your senses get exercised, your discernment level gets lifted.

[15:28] This word exercise speaks of being rigorous and strenuous and diligent. It's a light to an athlete and it's a light to a soldier. This word discipline or exercise is an exercise that happens.

[15:42] And our exercise is such that we train to discern good and evil. And this discipline yields a fruit. As it further says in Hebrews 12, verse 11, And it talks about no chastening or you could say discipline for the present seems to be joyous but grievous.

[15:59] Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceful fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. So discipline exercises us. Chastening, God's chastening.

[16:10] He is redirecting and correcting of us. It's not always joyous. It's not always a joyful thing. Sometimes it's grievous. It's hard. But it says that there will be a yielding of fruit from this exercise that happens.

[16:29] An old time preacher, Bonar, Andrew Bonar said, A holy life is made up of a multitude of small things. It is the little things of the hour and not the great things of the age that fill up a life like that of the apostles, Paul or John or David Brainerd or Henry Martin.

[16:48] Little words, not eloquent speeches or sermons. Little deeds, not miracles or battles. Or one great heroic effort of martyrdom make up the true Christian life.

[16:59] It's the little constants, sunbeam, not the lightning. The waters of Siloam that go softly in their meek mission of refreshment. Not the waters of the rivers great and many rushing down in a torrent of noise and force that are the true symbols of a holy life.

[17:17] So godliness happens in the little things of your life. It's those little things. It's those day by day moments when your godliness is put into action. As you walk it out in your shoe leather, godliness grows as we practice it in the day by day of real life.

[17:33] So what are some key practical ways each one of us can exercise unto godliness? To exercise unto godliness, it's about being Christ-like.

[17:45] To strive to be like our Lord. It's His new nature in us. To have that mind of Christ that will be conformed to His image, that will bear with others and forgive others, even as Christ forgave us.

[17:59] That will be like Christ, unselfish, even as Christ pleased not Himself. That will walk in love as Christ loved us. That will be lowly minded and humble, even as Christ made Himself of no reputation.

[18:12] That will be like Christ as a faithful witness for the truth. That will be like Christ, He came up to do His own will, but His means and dream was to do the Father's will. What does godliness look like?

[18:25] It looks like the Lord Jesus Christ. It looks like Jesus. It looks like our Lord, who would continually deny Himself, in order to minister. That He was meek and bear the insults, undisserved.

[18:39] That He thought more of poor, godly men than of kings. He was full of love and compassion for sinners. He was bold and uncompromising in confronting sin.

[18:52] And He didn't seek the praise of man, when He might have had it. He went about doing good. He was separate from worldly people, yet He reached the sinner where they were.

[19:04] He continued on in prayer. Godliness is Christ-likeness. Christ-likeness. It means being filled with the presence of God. As you are.

[19:17] As you are. Believe it or not. The Word of God says that you are. It says, and He Himself is our very sanctification. He is our godliness.

[19:29] He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So, godliness means we are in Christ and Christ is in us.

[19:40] He is our sanctification. In other words, Christ is our holiness. It's a concept hard to really fully fathom, isn't it? How can we? That Christ Himself is our holiness.

[19:53] That He is that, which we would say, my holiness is Christ. And that we are the very temple of God. As it says in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 16, that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, and that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.

[20:13] That's amazing, isn't it? There's some temples here. Today. Right here. You are a very temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you.

[20:25] The Holy Spirit is in you. And you are the very dwelling place of that. His Holy Spirit. So, godliness, it means that we realise that. Truth, that we are living temples.

[20:37] That godliness means we find the very mind of God. We hate what He hates. We love what He loves. We measure everything by His standard, the Word of God. Godliness means His character.

[20:50] Meekness. Loving kindness. Gentleness. Patience. Kind temper. The government of our tongue. Let us bear much. Forbear much.

[21:02] Overlook much. Godliness. It means a clean heart. It means holiness. It means humility. In lowliness of mind, esteem others better than ourselves.

[21:15] Abraham said, I am dust and ashes. Jacob said, I am less than the least of all our mercies. Job says, I am vile.

[21:26] Paul says, I am the chief of sinners. A man called Bradford, a faithful master of Christ, would sometimes finish his letters with these words, a most miserable sinner, John Bradford.

[21:40] Now that's the sense that the godliness is, it's all about Christ. It's not of us. And it's about heavenly values. That we would take heavenly values as our values.

[21:51] Not the values of this ungodly world. What the world would count as values is, it is rubbish, really, isn't it?

[22:03] Let us set our affection on things above. Let's exercise our faith. Let's exercise our spiritual muscles. Our spiritual muscles of prayer. Our spiritual muscles of spiritual gifts.

[22:18] Of Bible study. Let's be diligent about that. Let's really and truly live what we're meant to aspire to.

[22:29] That we're meant to be those that would yearn for treasures in heaven. That we would have the mind and mindset that we are strangers and pilgrims here.

[22:41] Here we have no continuing city. We seek one to come. So exercise yourself. How do you do that? Don't spend time with God in prayer. Go into the gym, if you like.

[22:53] Get into fellowship, where you can, with God's people. And draw near to God. Seek to please Him. So again, godliness is Christ-likeness.

[23:07] Can people say of you, that man, that woman reminds me of Christ? That should be our aspiration, shouldn't it? That our light so shine before men that they will glorify our Father which is in heaven.

[23:23] Not us. We might do some commendable things, but it's not about commending us. It's so that we shine the light so that they'll glorify our Father which is in heaven.

[23:35] Someone pointed out how at times people who have been married for a long time get so they look alike.

[23:46] Now, I don't think I look anything like Juliet. But there's that sense where they start to have the same kinds of expressions on their faces. And they start to, some say they actually have the same kinds of physical characteristics.

[24:03] Have you ever wondered why that happens? Because people have abided with one another, they begin to be like one another.

[24:14] And friends, it's the same with abiding in Christ. We become more Christ-like as we spend time with Him. And we begin to take on His characteristics as we abide in Christ.

[24:27] So again, just to recap, there's profit in godliness. Let's go back to where we started. There's profit.

[24:39] There's profit in bodily exercise. There's a little. But how much more? Profit in godliness. There's great value. Secondly, we're called to practice our godliness.

[24:53] Exercise yourself unto godliness, says Paul. Exercise yourself rather unto godliness. Practice, exercise your godliness. And thirdly, we see that there is promise.

[25:06] We see there's a promise here. Bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise. Promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

[25:21] Friends, there's a great reward promise for the believer. Not that we work for our salvation. Our salvation has been worked for by Christ. And He has done everything to make that available.

[25:37] The finished work of Christ paid for your sin and makes heaven possible. As a godly man or woman, we're called to godliness.

[25:51] And it says there's a great promise here. A great reward. It's a promise for the believer. We can have a taste of heaven in the now. One Sunday morning, there was a faithful Sunday school teacher.

[26:07] And she was teaching her class about heaven. And she asked the children, where is heaven? And one boy put up his hand and he said this, heaven is in our home since my daddy became a Christian.

[26:24] Amen. Heaven can come to your heart. Heaven can come to your home. When you become a Christian, heaven comes to your home. Heaven comes to your heart. And godliness can flow in your life and to others.

[26:38] That will be something, your home will be a little place of heaven on earth. Now, of course, we know that's not always, at times, what we always see.

[26:49] Because our homes can be tested. But God wants, in each of our hearts, to know his godliness, his heart. And it says there's promise for the life that now is and of that which is to come.

[27:06] There's a promise for life to be better for the godly in the now and in the life beyond. So, friends, godliness will improve your life in the here and now and the hereafter of eternity.

[27:19] So, friends, think of the theme of godliness. Think of that. How can I know that wonderful prophet, that valiant in my life? How can I practice that?

[27:29] How can I exercise myself such that my godliness grows? That my godliness gets stronger and stronger? That my godliness is exercised such that I develop more spiritual muscles, godly muscles for God.

[27:43] And there's promise. There's promise in godliness. Promise for the life that now is. This is the best life now. To know Jesus, isn't it? It's not about things. It's about him.

[27:54] This is the best we can ever have. To know Jesus is everything that matters. It's the best life now. The life that now is and of that which is to come.

[28:05] Friends, to know Christ. To know him as our saviour. To follow him as our lord. As godly men and women. In a world that's ungodly and bent on ungodliness, we can know him.

[28:18] Whom life to know is life eternal. It's to know him. So, let us be encouraged in that vein. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you are the one that makes heaven possible.

[28:30] Lord, whosoever will, make up and know that saving grace that you give. Lord, we pray each one might have that certain knowledge of heaven in their home, in their heart.

[28:48] Lord, that we can know, yes, you've saved us and we've got promise in the life that now is. And of the life yet to come. Help us, Lord, to exercise ourselves in these truths that we might grow spiritual muscles.

[29:05] That we'll keep on exercising. That we'll not be unfit spiritually or neglectful spiritually. But rather, we'll exercise ourselves spiritually.

[29:15] And help us to make that intentional. As we know, an athlete or a soldier has to push themselves to get stronger.

[29:26] So too, Lord, if we are to be stronger Christians, we might have to endure some discipline. As it were, some pushing ourselves to the limit.

[29:40] That we can be increasing our strength. Lord, that by your Holy Spirit's power we would be stronger Christians. That we won't settle for being mediocre, but we'll want to be stronger in our faith.

[29:54] And we pray that your Holy Spirit would activate us to that end, Lord. That you would make us such. Help us, Lord, to recognise when we're spiritually unfit.

[30:05] And how we can be increasingly more fit spiritually. In learning these disciplines that will help us to grow. And we thank you, Lord, that it's all entirely by your strength.

[30:18] Which is absolutely what we must trust in. And rely upon. And we pray each heart might be encouraged today in these truths. We ask, Lord, for your sake.

[30:29] And save this time. Amen. Thank you.

[31:01] Thank you.