The sermon 'Keep Your Eye on the Goal' by Scott Brown emphasizes the importance of maintaining a clear focus on love and sound doctrine within the church, as instructed in 1 Timothy. The speaker highlights the pastoral epistle's urgent tone, reflecting Paul's final guidance to secure the church's future. Timothy is urged to focus on love, stemming from a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith, avoiding distractions from false doctrines and myths. The sermon underscores the flourishing nature of the church amid societal claims of its decline, citing studies on social capital and human flourishing found uniquely within church communities. Additionally, the sermon stresses the importance of passing on the faith to future generations, with parents and church leaders serving as role models and mentors. The church is depicted as a pillar of truth and a vital part of God's plan, requiring active participation and dedication from its members to maintain its integrity and mission.

Please open your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. And find verse 1. The songs we sang were so appropriate for the beginning of this new series. Thank you so much Cameron for bringing those to us.

This is the inerrant, all-sufficient, sweeter than honey word of God. Verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ our hope to Timothy a true son in the faith grace mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord and the end Jesus Christ our Lord to Timothy a true child in the faith as I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. The grass withers and the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever. Let's pray.

Lord come and teach us, come and lead us by the hand. We thank you that you are our shepherd. We are your people and the sheep of your pasture. We thank you that you are such a good shepherd as you lead us through this wilderness world by your word. Oh Lord, come and lead us again by your word.

Amen. Please be seated. So at the beginning of the year, the elders stood up here and we said that we wanted to really dedicate this year in a particular way to practical Christianity focusing on very practical instruction. And we began with the book of Titus and also the book of Acts. And In Titus, we encountered one of the pastoral epistles.

There are two pastoral epistles, Titus and 1st and 2nd Timothy. In Titus, we saw one man who was charged to bring order to the churches in Crete. One man, many churches, and in a pretty rough place as you know all Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. And now you have Timothy who is charged to take care of a local church, the local church in Ephesus. And so these pastoral epistles were written by the Apostle Paul.

There's a real sense of urgency as you can see in the language because he's really at the end of his life. He's laying down his last will and testimony for the church to secure the church in coming generations and he's really urging the church to keep a laser beam focus you know in a lot of ways he's a little bit like a reflection of Hebrews 12 1 & 2 about the runner who lays aside every weight that might hinder him. He's like an archer, helping Timothy to keep his eye on the target. He's like a seaman who's got to look at the lights to line up as they guide him into the harbor so that he's not destroyed on the rocks. He's really calling for a laser beam focus.

I don't know if you've ever ridden motorcycles, but if you've ever ridden motorcycles, you know you must know one thing. If you're going to go through two posts in a gate, don't look at the posts. You'll hit the posts if you look at the posts, but if you look dead center between the posts, you'll most likely make it. And I think Timothy is a little bit like that. He's really calling the church to narrow their focus in really critical matters.

And the importance of this letter, I can't be underestimated, it really presents some of the most complete guidance for local church life that exists in the whole Bible. And Tim, And Titus was very much like that too. He addresses the organization of the church, the challenges of the church, the worship of the church, men and women in the church, all the different kinds of people in the church. And so this is really a critical book and I'm really glad we're here just to sort of in many ways reset our own vision for the church of Jesus Christ here at Hope. You know it's interesting you know if you read the mainstream press they are over and over trying to make a point that the church is in decline.

You know, liberals are declaring the decline in the death of the church. Elon Musk tweeted a little while ago, he said, unless there's more bravery to stand up for what's fair and right, Christianity will perish. Well, you know, he's right about a few things, but he's dead wrong on the church. The church will never perish. The church is actually the center of God's favor.

The church is a family, it's a building, it's a household, and by the way it's the only family and building and household and nation, it's a holy nation, It's the only nation that God's actually building all the other nations come and go and not the Church of Jesus Christ. The church flourishes and the people in the in the true church who follow the Lord Jesus Christ are a flourishing people. That's why David said, I'm like a green tree in the house of my God. That's what you get with the Church of Jesus Christ. You know, there was a book that was recently written by Byron Johnson and Thomas Kidd.

It's called The Death of Religion? Big question mark. Nuns, Others, and the Flourishing of Faith. And in the book they bring together really massive research over many many decades. Millions, maybe hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the Pew organization and the and Gallup polls and lots of other polling institutions and they're looking to try to answer where do you find human flourishing That's really the question of the book.

These are two Baptists that are writing this book and what he what they're saying in the book is that it's really it's really only among regular church members where you find markers of, they're calling it social cohesion, that's kind of what we have here, where people are, they're serving one another, there are relationships of trust, and on the other hand in the broader world it's characterized by anxiety, I'm quoting from the study, anxiety, isolation, hopelessness, and crippling despair. Well I mean I think that this has been broadly known already in the press, I don't know if you remember, I think it was last year the Surgeon General of the United States was calling our society as having an epidemic of loneliness and isolation and the sources of that low there they're physical they're emotional they're social there are all kinds of forces that are driving this loneliness but these authors are saying that there are there several domains of human flourishing that are happening in the church in a way that they don't happen everywhere else in happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close relationships, and even financial and material stability are found in the church like nowhere else.

These authors are saying that non-religious Americans are twice as likely to experience severe levels of anxiety and depression compared with other Americans. While churchgoing Americans they suffer half as much hypertension, half as much depression, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, lower suicide rates, much lower non-marital child bearing, lower delinquency, and in the church a significantly longer life expectancy. In other words, the church is very very different. They are happier, they're healthier, they have better spouses, they're more generous, I'm just quoting from the book. They're more ethical, they're more tolerant, they're more active and responsible citizens.

And the studies are examining these, they're church-going people, character development, life expectancy, coping mechanisms, stress reduction, and all kinds of other research. And what they use a term that's very interesting, social capital, that in the church you have genuine social capital that really contributes to human flourishing. They say organic religion insulates individuals from harmful outcomes and contributes to a host of pro-social behaviors linked to the common good, they say. And Social capital, what's social capital? It's friendships, it's parenting mentors, it's marriage mentors, it's regular contact, eyeball to eyeball with real people in a world where everybody's scrolling to death.

And they're saying that the greater part of human flourishing is happening in the church. I love this quote, pastors who urge their people to attend weekly services are not throwing them a guilt trip, they're throwing them a lifeline. You can quote me on that. I stole it from the book. Well, first and second Timothy really focuses on the prosperity of the church.

It's so critical. All of us are so critical to the health and the prosperity of the church. And I hope you understand that you'll see it as we go through the expositions of first and second Timothy. Paul what Paul is doing. He's actually he's passing the baton to the next generation.

That's what he's doing. When you think about a book of the Bible, you have to ask what is really happening here? What's the context? Why is why is this being written and to what kind of people are being written to. And Paul is very clearly he's passing the baton in Saint Timothy 2 2 he says entrust these things to faithful men that they may be able to teach others also.

We're always in the business of entrusting to those who will teach others. That's what we do. That's what families do and that's what is supposed to be happening in churches of Jesus Christ to reproduce ourselves. Now just pause on that for a minute. All of us in this room play the same role in one way or another.

You're going to be passing a baton on to another generation. Even you who are kids in this church, I'm looking at some of you kids right now, and you know what? You're gonna be doing the same thing. You're gonna grow up, it cracked me up to be at the Father Son retreat and see all these, you know, five and a half, six footers that used to be three feet here in this church. You know, and now they're entering into the phase where they're gonna be passing on a baton to the next generation.

Well, that's what parents are supposed to be doing. Parents are supposed to be teaching teachers. You bring your children up so that they might teach the next generation. That's why in Deuteronomy 6, that's why in Psalm 78 you have the very same pattern. You teach you, your son, and your grandson all the days of your life, and everybody is in that orbit.

Even if you're a little kid in this church, I just want you to have a vision for what you're gonna end up doing. And you fathers, you need to make it understand, You're training a trainer. You're not just training a kid. You're training somebody who's gonna rise up and train another generation And Timothy's really doing that right here. You know what parents you've got about 20 years to pass that baton and Then you're done and the concrete is going to be hard and whatever you taught them they're going to carry on so you better do a really good job guys and girls okay women wives mothers okay you're preparing a new generation and that's what we're actually doing here every Sunday During worship we're passing on the faith once delivered and we continue to repeat it over and over again to ourselves And to one another we're better bringing the Word of God to bear testimony of the greatness of God from one generation to the next and We want our kids to hear we want them to hear it loud and clear every week but when we do that and when you come and play your role by exercising your gifts and loving the brethren you're actually stabilizing the church in doctrine and in order.

You're doing the things that God has designed us to do. We are a body, we are a family with multiple gifts. The church is not just a couple of talking heads, it's a whole family that operates together and that's the picture that you find in in 1st and 2nd Timothy. Now I want to make some just introductory comments here. I'm gonna say there are three massive mountain peaks in First Timothy.

Are you ready for them? First of all, it's the purpose of the church. In chapter 1 verse 5, now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience and sincere faith the purpose of the church I'll elaborate on that in a minute second our conduct in the church this is chapter 3 verse 14 that you may know how to conduct yourself in the household of God. This study is to teach you how to conduct yourself in the house of God. You're not here to do your own thing, you're here to do God's thing.

Come and get on God's bandwagon and go do the stuff that God wants you to do in the church. This is not your church, it's Jesus Christ's church. And we play by his rules and orders. And the third is the importance of the church. In 1 Timothy 3.15, how important is the church?

The church is the pillar and ground of the truth. That's how important the Church of Jesus Christ is. It's tragic that people sort of treat the church as some offhand convenience thing, you know. They don't make it the center of their life. But if the church is the pillar and ground of the truth, you need to make the church the center of your life, for sure.

So, he's explaining all this. Let me try to summarize it. Timothy is charged to guard the apostolic gospel to protect the church by preserving love, by establishing sound doctrine through worship, through qualified leadership, through holy conduct, and through faithful pastoral care in the household of God, which is the pillar and ground of the truth. So that's it. Now, Timothy actually was one of Paul's closest companions, even though he was much younger than the Apostle Paul.

He's a young man who's going to carry on the work, but Paul met Timothy in Lystra where Paul was stoned. You got to read the story about what happened in Lycester. Paul is stoned, left for dead, dragged out of the city. He walks back in the city to evangelize again. Amazing story.

But he meets Timothy there really through his mother and his grandmother, which we encounter in chapter three here in First Timothy. But there were tremendous pressures on on this young pastor. He brought Most scholars say that Paul met Timothy probably he was in his teens or early 20s and now in the writing of this letter Paul Timothy is the pastor of the church in Ephesus he's probably in his mid-30s it's okay for pastors to be pastors in their mid-30s okay that's probably where where Timothy is and Paul has left Ephesus and he leaves him there verse 3 as I urged you when I went on to Macedonia remain in Ephesus. So Paul has left Ephesus and he's gone to Macedonia left Timothy there and Paul in this letter to Timothy he's identifying the problems in the church and what he needs to do about it because Timothy was a man under pressure. Ephesus was a wild place.

If you go to Acts chapter 19 there's this remarkable story of this riot that took place in Ephesus. Paul is preaching the gospel. People are there. They're bringing their magic books all their self help books and they're burning them in the city square. They're making the city fathers angry.

The people who are making the idols aren't making hardly any money because the people have turned away from their idols. They're not buying their stupid little idols in the marketplace and Demetrius he stirs up the crowd. I mean there are exorcists out Jewish exorcists and all kinds of crazy things going on in the city and Demetrius who's a silversmith who makes who makes little gods he stirs up the craftsmen in the town who are losing all this money against Paul because because the spread of the Christian of Christianity often has a negative impact on profane industries. And then the city erupts into confusion. They have a crowd, they rush into this big amphitheater.

You can visit it today. The amphitheater has been restored. It's huge. It's really a remarkable structure. About 20, 000 people fit in this amphitheater, and they're screaming, and they're screaming out, great is Diana of the Ephesians.

And they want to tear Paul and people in pieces. He wants to go into the amphitheater and he's being constrained and The city clerk somehow quiets the crowd and dismisses the assembly and the riot is over. But it was a wild city. Because of the language here, Most everybody believes that Timothy was tempted to bail. He was tempted to get out of Dodge because it was such a rough place.

He also had false teachers that were in the church and they were distracting the other believers through all kinds of unimportant obsessions about myths and genealogies and all kinds of unbiblical regulations and false teachings and represents they were opening up their Bibles and teaching falsehood out of the Bible. And you know Timothy was under tremendous pressure in this church and interestingly enough, you know after Paul leaves Ephesus after this riot, He's traveling and he stops at Miletus, which is a port, and he calls the elders of the church in Ephesus to travel to meet him on the beach in Miletus, which was maybe a half a day's journey, a half a day's walk. And he gathers the elders of the Ephesian church and he tells them that wolves will rise up in their midst and they're gonna have to deal with the wolves in the church. So there was just a lot of wild things going on in Ephesus. And here's Timothy's, he's probably around 35 years old, you know, leading the charge in this whole thing.

And you know, he is young. That's why Paul says, don't let anybody to look down on your youth he says flee youthful lusts maybe there are some resident youthful lusts Timothy was dealing with and Paul is telling him to flee youthful lusts. You know, you think, well, 35 is not that young. A youth in that culture usually extended to about 40 years old. He also had some physical problems.

He had some stomach problems that is addressed in chapter 5 verse 23. So The Apostle Paul is urging Timothy to deal with with these problems. Now, let's jump into the text here. Verses one and two, let's take a zero in on verses one and two. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ our hope.

Hey how about that? Our church name is right there in that sentence, hope. Notice the authority. This is, He declares himself to be an apostle. This is apostolic authority.

If you go to Luke chapter 6 you'll read that Jesus chose 12 and of course one dropped out and was replaced. Paul was identified as an apostle in 1st Corinthians 15 and in chapter 14 and in Ephesians 2. The church is built on the foundation of the the Apostles and the prophets and Paul was appointed an apostle because of a personal appearance of Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road. He says according to the commandment of God our Savior That commandment came on the Damascus road in Acts chapter 9 verses 1 through 16 and Paul gives thanks for God appointing him as an apostle. I received mercy and then he says to Timothy a true son in the faith you know how is Timothy a true son maybe probably two different ways to think of his being a true son.

First of all there was kind of a father-son relationship here. Quite likely Timothy didn't have a father. He's never mentioned, only his mother and his grandmother are mentioned in chapter three here, but Paul loved Timothy as a son. The second way that he was likely a true son of the faith is he was not an imposter to the faith. He had real faith.

He was a true son of the true faith. And notice Paul's desires. This is so fantastic. Paul's desire is for Timothy and the church. Look at this.

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. These are Paul's desires for Timothy and the church. Those things. In those desires you find a man who's he's just I think he's just bubbling over with awe and love and thankfulness for the goodness of God that could be mediated in this church. That grace and mercy and peace from God our Father would be the characteristic of Timothy and that whole church.

You know, that grace would saturate that place. You know, grace is God's favor toward us. Paul is saying, I want you to know God's favor toward you as my children. And then mercy. He's saying, I want you to know the compassion of God that he has for the church.

Do you understand that? It's a God's compassion for His church. And then peace. This has to do with God's reconciliation. I think these things tell us a lot about ourselves.

We need grace. We need to know God's favor toward us. We need God's mercy. We actually need to experience His compassion, not just once, but maybe multiple times in the day. We need peace.

We need peace with God in order to just grasp our friendship with God, that Jesus Christ has made peace for us before God. And I want this church to understand that too. You who are in the true church of Jesus Christ, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So after he really declares his intentions for this church In verse 2, he starts talking about the problems in the church. Oh, problems.

Yikes. Ever been in a church where there were problems? Well, you know, some people think, Oh, if we could just go back to the New Testament church. Oh, really? Really?

Are you serious? Read the New Testament. There's tremendous trouble. Don't expect that there won't be trouble in your church from time to time. So he states the problem, and Paul said in another place, he said, I fought with beasts in Ephesus.

There were many adversaries it was a pagan city it was it was it was a beautiful well-appointed city with marble everywhere. If you visit the city, you'll see the temple of Diana, the temple of Athena Nike, the goddess of victory. Some of your shoes are named after that goddess. The church in Ephesus, at the same time, had a tremendous history. Some of the best known believers were in that church right there in Ephesus.

Paul spent almost three years teaching in what was called the School of Tyrannus. It was probably, he probably rented a commercial building and taught there for almost three years. And some of the best known believers were there in that church. Apollos was there, the greatest preacher in the New Testament church, mighty in the scriptures. You can read about him in Acts chapter 18.

Priscilla and Aquila, that wonderful couple, they had a church in their house. They risked their necks for the Apostle Paul. You had Tychicus there who's mentioned three times in the New Testament. You had Onesiphorus mentioned three times in the New Testament. And you had Gaius and Aristarchus.

Those two guys were seized during the riot when Paul was also seized and it was quelled. Trophimus was there. And guess who else was there? The Apostle John. John probably, John the writer of the Gospel of John probably ended his life in the church in Ephesus.

There's this story about the Apostle John that's told over and over again, whether it's mythology or not, I don't know. Early church fathers quote this, but he, when he got really, when he was very old in his 90s, he couldn't walk and they'd have to carry him to the pulpit to preach. They carried him there. And toward the very end of his life, he would always say the same thing. He would say, love one another.

And then somebody asked him, Why do you always tell us to love one another? Because Jesus Christ told us to love one another. That's why. So think of that lineup of powerful Christians in that church. What a remarkable place.

As time went on though seeds of disruption were sown and in Revelation in the letter to the church of Ephesus, John says, you've left your first love. You've left your first love. There's a frailty in every church. There's a vulnerability of every church to get distracted from the main thing. So God has brought us together to build up the body of Christ together.

And is that a high priority in your life? Is it an intentional part of your life to preserve the strength of the church, the integrity of the church, the doctrine of the church, the health, the love in a local church? This whole letter is a charge to all of us to dedicate ourselves to these things so that we don't become that church that left their first love. And don't think that it can't happen here. If it could happen there, it could happen anywhere.

Well, let's talk about their error. Verse 4, he tells him not to give heed to fables. They were probably mixing the Old Testament with fables, most likely. It's not defined very clearly, but most likely it's myths, stories about gods, Gnostic myths, Jewish fables, strange views of reality that can't really be proven from the Bible, unhistorical tales, accounts, stories, legends, you know, invented stories. In 2nd Peter 1.16 he addresses it, for we did not follow cunningly devised fables and endless Genealogies, you know he uses the word endless here endless.

They don't come to anything they just keep they just keep taking you know into Nowheresville there's nothing you can really do about them and he commands them teach no other doctrine do you see that in a text command them to teach no other doctrine in other words keep your doctrine focused on what's explicitly clear in the Word of God and don't get distracted. You know these fictional things, Jewish myths, Old Testament genealogies, fascinated by what might be That's a temptation for any of us. You know, I've heard people debating all kinds of things that can't really be proven. Who are the sons of God in Genesis six? What about the giants and the fallen angels?

You know are the Giants fallen angels? What about the lost cities? What's what about the lost city of Atlantis? You know were the Greek gods, you know, were Poseidon and Zeus were they actually fallen angels? Were they?

I don't know. Nobody knows actually. And you know what about the Watchers in Genesis 6 and Jude 6 the Nephilim and you know all these kinds of things these supernatural beings that nobody really can really clearly understand, at least not in our times. He says here's the effect on the people, which cause disputes rather than godly edification in the faith. They don't cause godly edification.

These are just distractions that don't edify. Discussions and arguments, they don't edify. They don't build up. He uses the word edification it's the word it's the word oikonomia and it's it's translated elsewhere as stewardship in other words it doesn't fulfill the stewardship of the church it doesn't fulfill the duty of the church the focus of the church the administer it can also mean the administration you know Getting distracted by all kinds of unbiblical things does not fulfill the administration of God in the church. Yeah, they're so interesting.

This word is also used for household order and directing your household, discharging your household. You discharge the household of God with the Word of God and you focus the people on the Word of God. That's God's stewardship, that's God's household plan for his church. He says they are endless genealogies and that means endless, it means they don't go anywhere. That's what endless means, they just go on and on and on and on but there's no resolve there's no clarity there's no action you know there's really nothing to do about it he says verse 6 which from which some having strayed have turned aside turned aside And the language he uses is like turning out or twisting out, twisting out of sound doctrine, of what's clear.

He says they have turned aside and I love in the New King James it refers to idle talk. Do you see that? Idle talk. My favorite representation of this word is in the King James Bible. Vain jangling.

Great line, huh? Vain jangling. That's what was happening. They were like the men of Athens that Trent talked about recently they they they just what they wanted to do is to tell or hear something new not something old not something clear And they're also teaching about the law, but they're using the law, they're actually using the Bible. And they're correlating it with all kinds of other things and these subtle falsehoods but I want us to understand how how direct and how forceful Paul was about this in chapter 4 verses 1 & 2 he tells us that it's drawn from hypocrisy and lies.

In chapter four verse seven he says, but reject profane and old wives fables and exercise yourself toward godliness for bodily discipline that profits little but godliness is profitable for all things having promise of life that is that now is and that is to come in chapter 4 verse 4 he calls them questions about words perverse arguments and corrupt minds I mean this is really strong language. In 2nd Timothy 2 14, do not argue about words that have no profit but harm the hearers. In Titus 2 we we encounter this in Titus 3 verse 9, but avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, strivings about the law for they are unprofitable and useless, reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition knowing that such a person is warped and sinning and being self-condemned but you go to the very last verses of first Timothy 620 Oh Timothy guard what was committed to your trust in other words the teaching of the Apostles guard what was committed to your trust avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith and then he says grace be with you amen okay these are just stern this is This is the whole life of getting, arguing about esoterica, where there's really no love in the room, there's no profit in it at all.

And I think this is actually just an argument for the sufficiency of scripture, to focus our ministry and our life together on the things that are very clear in the Word of God and working through wild speculations is not that profitable and then Paul's urgent plea verse 3 I urged you when I went into Macedonia remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine. In other words, he's telling him hold fast, don't bail out, don't run. He says, I urge you, don't run from the problems in this church. Yeah, there's a lot of turmoil. You were made for this moment.

Years ago I read something that V Raymond Edmond said he said it's always too soon to give up It's always too soon to give up. And you can apply that to your children, you can apply that to your spouse, you can apply that to your church, you can even apply that to your boss. I don't know if you can apply that to our civil magistrates. That was a joke. But the more you run, the less you grow.

God puts you in the place where you need to grow and often there's difficulty in that place and what what unwise people do is they run away from the growth that God has for them and they try to find another pasture and then another pasture and then another pasture. But the solution is here in verse 5. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith. This is the goal. I think he's saying keep your eye on the goal.

The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart. This is the objective and Paul is saying to Timothy teach your people to keep their focus on love in the church. Because it's so easy to be distracted away from love. From this issue or that issue and people get divided and all twisted up on all kinds of issues and they often forget love and you can you can create a church you know on some big issue and you won't have love it's it's I think that you can you can think about this exhortation to love. It's a little bit like a laser beam.

A laser concentrates light in a beam. And high-powered industrial lasers can cut through metal and all kinds of things Oh a light bulb, you know just broadcasts general light but a church or a person in a church they might possess tremendous energy and power and intelligence and waste their life because the goal of their instruction is not love. They can do a lot of things, say a lot of things, but love is the greatest, says 1 Corinthians 13. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." But then notice he starts explaining the love.

He explains the roots and the sources of love. Look at the words. Love from a pure heart, that's one. From a good conscience, number two. From sincere faith, those three things.

He's explaining the way that love works viscerally. Okay, it begins in the heart. Love from a pure heart. God looks on the heart. It's the disposition of your heart that determines whether you're going to be loving in a particular situation with a particular person.

You know David said create in me a clean heart oh God and renew a right spirit within me and then he says love from a good conscience. Your conscience is your self judging faculty. Your conscience can tell you whether you're loving or not. God gave you a conscience. And then from sincere faith, a true faith, not a hypocritical faith.

That's where love comes from. The Apostle Paul is very, very clear that the goal of our instruction is love. And I think that's the primary theme of this first section in 1st Timothy. Keep your eye on the focus. Like a runner who lays aside every weight that hinders, like an archer that keeps his eye on the target like a motorcycle rider who's keeping his eye in the middle of the gate.

Let love be without hypocrisy. Let's pray. Father we thank you for your word. We thank you for giving us this remarkable letter that we might learn from it. That we might learn to walk by faith in your church.

Lord I'm so thankful for this church. Lord the people in this church are not falling apart because the social capital, the benefits of the body of Christ have fallen upon them and you're healing them, you're taking them further. Oh God, I'm so grateful for what you've done with your church to bring us into this fellowship of love. Amen.