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Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Amen. All right, so this evening I'm going to be concluding the series that I started a few weeks ago. It's basically all revolving around the verse 1 Timothy 4.12. 1 Timothy 4.12, I'll read this for you. It says, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. So this is the third part of the series where the first two sermons I preached on being an example of believers in word and conversation. That was the first one. The second one was on in charity and in spirit, very important attributes, right, to be a good example of the believers. And now finally this evening I'm going to be preaching on being an example of the believers in faith and in purity. Both extremely important characteristics that we should exemplify as believers. And I'm going to just reiterate this. I preach this in the other sermons as well, but the whole point is people will be looking to you as an example. Both people out in the world, you call yourself a Christian, you're trying to live separated and different. People out in the world are going to look at you as the example of what it means to be a Christian. All the more important reason to have a good solid testimony to outsiders, to unbelievers that, hey, I'm not just some huge hypocrite. I do believe these things. Yes, I'm not perfect, but I'm trying my best to actually change my life and do things according to the way that scripture says. Right? It's not just say one thing, do another. It's, okay, I may slip and fall sometimes, but I am actually working this way and I'm changing my life and this is what I'm doing. Right? It has a big impact and that will be strong testimony. But not just to those outside of the church, not just to unbelievers, but also within the church. We're trying to help people to grow spiritually so within the church people will also be looking to others as an example of believers. And we ought to make sure that we're an example of the believers. Of course, in the context of 1 Timothy 4, he says, hey, don't let anyone despise your youth because youths generally aren't looked to as examples for anything because they're young. And generally speaking, the youth are people looked at as people who think they know everything and really know next to nothing. And look, broad brush, but that's how the young, the youth are viewed. And obviously there's exceptions to the rule and this is all the more reason why the Apostle Paul is saying, hey, look, don't let anyone despise your youth just because you're young. But in order for that to be the case, you better show yourself to be a good example. Show yourself to be serious. Show yourself that you have charity and you have the right spirit and the faith and the purity and all these different areas that you can be the example. And then by showing that, no one can despise your youth because you're showing wisdom beyond your age. Because you're showing that you're walking in the spirit and doing the right things. And yes, you can be an example. But we need to apply this to ourselves and say, hey, I need to be a good example for others in the church. I need to be a good example for the younger children that are growing up. Hey, I know a lot of the reasons. There's people who have moved to our church specifically because they said, I want my children to grow up hearing this. I want my kids who are all young right now to be in this kind of environment, to hear this kind of preaching, to be raised hearing the Bible preach this way. I want them growing up right. You know, maybe I didn't. Maybe you didn't have all the best upbringing. Maybe we didn't hear and experience all the stuff, like have the perfect godly setting to learn all these things. Maybe you didn't receive that, but you know what? I want my kids to learn that. And yes, let them hear the Word of God. That's the most important thing, right? Bring them to church, but also be teaching them at home. But now, in addition to that, how about other members of the church step up and be, hey, let's all care about these kids coming up. They're going to be looking at various people. I'm going to be an example. I'm going to help show people what it's like to be a Christian. This is why I'm going through this series, because it's literally saying you need to be an example in all these areas. So, we split it up. Now we're at the last two in this verse 12, faith and purity. Okay, so let's start with faith. And this is why we started in Hebrews 11, because if you're talking about people being an example of the faith, what better chapter than Hebrews 11? It's kind of a no-brainer to turn to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 is a passage known as the Hall of Faith. So, it's this passage that it references so many different heroes of the faith, and it does so in a way that's illustrating, it's actually illustrating their faith. Because what is faith? It starts off Hebrews 11, one says, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So, how do you know that God's real? Well, we have faith. Can you see God? No. Are we audibly communicating with God? No. I mean, I hope not. In the sense of just hearing voices, right? Like, that's not happening today. People have communicated with God in different ways in the past. Hebrews 1 talks about that. You know, that in divers manners, the Lord has communicated with his prophets. And again, I'm not quoting that correctly at all, but today, we have the word of God. Today, we're going to hear and look to his word, but what is it? We believe. We have faith. So, faith and believe are like, you know, believe is a verb, faith is a noun. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So, when we walk by faith, and actually, I've got that reference here. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5-7, for we walk by faith, not by sight. And I'm just going to start with this too. Stay in Hebrews 11. 2 Corinthians 5-6 says, therefore, we are always confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. And as believers, as people who are saved, we know, we believe, we have full confidence that since Jesus saved our soul, He's granted us forgiveness, we've accepted the payment He made on our behalf for our sins, we know that there's a home reserved for us in heaven. But we know that by faith. We trust that the Bible's true, we trust that God is real, we trust all these things, we have faith in these things, and we're confident knowing that while we're in this body, we're absent from the Lord. Why? Because the Lord's in heaven. We have a home reserved for us in heaven, but we're here on earth, and as long as we're trapped in this fleshly body, we're not there yet. Right? So for we walk by faith, not by sight, we are confident and willing, rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. So, you know, those of us who are saved, if you really just stop and think about it, what is death? It's not that scary. It's not. Because as a believer, we know where we're going. And, you know, if you just were to think of, like, hey, if I could just be here forever or be in heaven with the Lord forever, you know, it's kind of like, it's a no-brainer. Because we know we're not going to have all of the physical ailments and problems and things that go along with this world when we're with the Lord. It's just so much exponentially better. It's like, yeah, I'm willing to just be with the Lord. You want to kill me? Go ahead. Then I just get to go be with the Lord right now. Now, look, obviously, don't take that the wrong way. We don't have these death wishes of just like, man, what can I do to make sure I leave this planet? No, we care and love for other people, and we want to be a blessing and minister, whether you have children, other family members, or even just other people in general, right? You know, our job is to minister to other people, preach the gospel, help other people along the way. So we have a job to do that's extremely important, which is why we keep enduring here. But no matter what that day is for us, hey, we're confident. As soon as I'm absent from this body, I'm going to be present with the Lord. Amen. Right? So we ought to be living, in a way, as an example of that faith, that we're actually walking by faith and not by sight, because what we do, we're trusting that the Bible's true, Word of God's true. So because of that, it's going to actually have an impact or an influence on our behavior. And it did, absolutely, for all the heroes that are referenced in Hebrews 11. And, you know, we just read the entire chapter, but let's look, kind of briefly skim through some of these examples, because they're really good examples on how, on what they did, so that we could start thinking about, well, how can I be an example with my faith? And obviously, there's going to be situations here that you'll never find yourself in. Right? But you can see the circumstances and maybe make an application and be like, oh, this is kind of like this other situation that I might run into. And then I could demonstrate my faith and be an example of someone who has strong faith when these really hard times present themselves to be able to still stand strong, even though I can't see what's going to happen, I'm still going to act on my faith. So Noah was brought up as an example, one of the examples, right? I'll tell you right now, you won't have the choice that Noah had of having to build an ark in order to survive a worldwide flood. I can say that with 100% confidence, that will not be you, because God already promised He's not going to destroy the world with the flood. So you won't have to do that. Noah was the only one that had to do that. However, if you think about what all that entailed, one, it entailed something that had never happened before, right? The sheer magnitude of the catastrophe that was facing him was incredible. And the fact that it rained and the fountains of the deep burst out, that was a massive cataclysmic event that happened in history, unlike anything ever, Noah's just told, hey, I need you to build this boat. And it needs to be able to store these animals and you need to bring food. God's giving them all this instruction. And it might sound a little crazy, like what? Okay, well, I might not understand everything. And we don't know to what detail God told Noah about everything that's going to happen. We only know what we could see in Scripture. If there was anything more that he was aware of, we don't know. And we could only assume that this is what the Bible says is what he was told. Why would we think that he told him anything else, right? And Noah, the Bible says there in verse 7, by faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear. He still was afraid of those things that were going to come. He didn't see them. He didn't see the clouds forming. He didn't have his seismic activity monitors going off and seeing if there's any rumblings going on in the earth for the great fountains of the deep to break open. He didn't have any of the instruments to know that. But he moved with fear because God told him. He was warned. And he believed God. He believed that what he's hearing is true. So he's acting on it. He moved fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. So a great picture of someone who believed the warning about the destruction, believed what he had to do in order to avoid that destruction and let God take care of him at the end of the day. God sealed him in. He put him in that boat and he was saved from the destruction. How about Abraham? By faith Abraham, when he was called, verse 8, to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. And he went out not knowing whither he went. So God calls Abraham out and says, look, I need you to go somewhere. Where? Well, don't worry about it. Just start going and I'll tell you when you get there. Type of a thing. Right? Sounds a little crazy, but you know what? When you just have confidence that is God going to steer me wrong? No. So I'm willing to step out in faith and be an example of someone who believes God so much that I don't have to know the actual destination. I don't have to know every step along the way necessarily. But I'm going to start walking because God said to walk. I'm going to start doing because God said to do. And there's things in your life that the Bible says, hey, do this, don't do this. And especially as you grow spiritually, you're not going to always understand, well, why? Why is this bad or why can I not do this? Why is that? You may not know, but to be an example of a believer, you're going to do it anyways because you trust, no, look, God is real. God is true and God loves me and God's not going to steer me in a bad direction. He's not going to cause me to fall into a pit. God loves me. So I'm going to just obey what the Bible says and do that even if I don't fully understand. And Abraham was a great example of that. He didn't know where he went. Verse 9 says, by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, for he looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. That's what he was looking for, a spiritual city. And that guided him through his life and his decision making. Sarah, another great example, and we're going to look at her again later on. Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age. Why? Because she judged him faithful who had promised. She heard the promise of God. She's an old woman. She's already gone through menopause. She's already past the point, physically speaking, humanly speaking, of being able to have a child, to get pregnant, to carry that child and deliver that child. She's past the age. Not possible. In man's terms. But when she heard the promise of God, she did believe it. And that faith allowed her to have the strength then to receive seed and get pregnant and carry that child. And look at the great blessing that that produced. Why? Because she judged God faithfully and not only just judged it in her mind, but then acted it out. All of these people, it changed their life. Now she might not have done that many things different receiving the seed, but the important part was that she put the faith that it was true that what was being said. But we see Noah, we see Abraham, they're actually acting and going and doing things. And if we're going to be a good example of the faith, this is what you should walk away with when you read Hebrews 11 are all the things that the people did that had faith. It's how their faith was the basis of their decision making. When it came to a point, hey, I have to choose, what am I going to do here? These people are being referenced because what God said is the determining factor of their decision. So verse 24, we're talking about Moses. By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And look, this is really applicable for anyone today. You have the opportunity to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. You have a short amount of time on this earth, and if you want to, you can go and just get yourself wrapped up in sin. Everyone's got that choice. Go ahead. Go ahead. Live it up. Do whatever it is that you think is just so much fun out in this world. Try to get as much money as you can. Go gamble. Go drink. Go do drugs. Whatever, right? Fornicate. Go ahead. Go ahead. You're going to end up seeing what a miserable waste of life that is. Hey, you can do it though. Or you could be wise like Moses, and even though, I mean, he had access to whatever he wanted, being raised in Pharaoh's household, right? It's like a royal household he's being raised in on this earth in Egypt, the worldly of worldliness, right? Who knows what, I mean, I don't even want to think about it, but whatever types of luxury and decadence and whatever the world had to offer, Moses had at his fingertips. Some people out in the world probably would have loved to have that opportunity and loved to have that, oh, man, I wish I could be in Moses' shoes because he's in Pharaoh's household. Just like people today go, oh, man, I wish I could be like a rock star, movie star, and I could have these houses and all this, you know, the women and the drugs and the party life and all this stuff and all these houses and all these cars and all these things and all these toys and just look at that and covet it, thinking that it's so great, whereas Moses was wise and he said, you know what, I'd rather, he chose, I'm going to choose, I'd rather suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Why does it even matter? He had faith. You have to have faith. First you have to trust that God is real, you have to trust the word of God, the Bible is the word of God, and you're going to trust that, hey, God knows what's best for me. I don't care what the world says. I don't care what the world's vision of success is or fun is. You know, I'd rather just trust the Bible. See, because where does that lead? When you're suffering affliction with the people of God instead of enjoying the pleasure of sin for a season, you know what you're doing? You're racking up rewards in heaven because God is a just God and every believer is going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ and you're going to receive for what you did in your body here and all the more reason to have to walk with the faith that you have. You already have the faith that it's real. You already have the faith you're going to see Jesus again, don't you? I mean, the Bible tells us about the judgment seat of Christ. You believe you're going to be there? You believe you're going to stand before God one day? Do you believe you're going to stand before Jesus Christ one day and everything that you've done in your entire existence is going to be tried before Jesus Christ? Do you believe that? Because I do. Unfortunately, it's not something that we're always thinking about all the time. But to be an example of the believers and to be an example in faith, we need to take that faith and still realize that and put that into our life as, hey, I'm going to do these things because I know that this is true, something I can't see yet. I can't see the judgment seat of Christ. I can't physically see what it's going to even look like and what the throne looks like. I don't know what it looks like. But I know it's real. So if you really know it's real, then what are you going to do about it? Well, I'm just going to go. I mean, I'm saved anyway, so I'm just going to go out to the bar tonight. Then I'm going to pick up somebody. I'm going to commit adultery because that's fun. Whoa! How short-sighted is that? Like, yeah, it's fun for, I mean, it wouldn't even be fun. Here's the thing, too. Sin is so deceitful that the things that are promoted as being fun, if you actually go out and start doing those things, you're going to realize it's not even that fun. It's not what it's cracked up to be. And especially as a believer, because as a believer of Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Ghost inside of you. And even more so, if you've been living spiritually, the more you've grown spiritually, the less fun any sin that you think is going to be fun to try to do it, like, oh, I'm just going to do this, or you really feel like backslidden and you want to get into sin, it's going to be miserable for you. So just stay away from it anyways because, one, you won't enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, and, two, you're going to be getting yourself into trouble with God, and who knows who else, right? Every time you sin, you're going to be causing problems with other people, too. It's never just an impact on you. So many examples of faith here. Like I said, we're not going to read all of them. Let's go down to this summary of some other people. Verse number 32, For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson, Jephthah, David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets. Like all these people, all these great examples of faith, who through faith subdued kingdoms. When they're trusting in God to give them the guidance and the deliverance, and, hey, should we go and fight or not? Remember David going, should we go to the fight or not? Are they going to deliver me or not? Should I go fight now? And God's like, yes, go. No, wait, you stay back here. You know, like just trusting in the Lord that God is going to, you know, and through that, people are subduing kingdoms. Wrought righteousness, obtained promises. Sarah was listed in that example as one of those people, right? She obtained the promise. Why? Because she had faith. Stop the mouths of lions, Daniel. Right? Have faith. Hey, you've got this judgment against you, a death sentence. Yeah, but they still have faith in God. Hey, you know, God's still able, certain death? Yeah, God could still get me out of that. Certain death, a man's eyes? Yes, not so certain if you got involved. I mean, think about Shadrach, Meshach, and I was just listening. I was just listening recently to the Daniel series that's been put out. Pastor Anderson's, those ones I've got through, I think, the first four chapters. And, of course, the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And what a story of faith, right? I love that story. What an awesome example of believers. The example of the believer, the believers are being told, hey, worship the devil, worship Satan, worship this image. Come on, it's not that big of a deal. Everyone else is doing it. You do it too, all right? Oh, and by the way, if you don't do it, you're going to have really serious repercussions. In their case, it was death. Yeah, if you don't do this, we're going to throw you into that fire. And look, this is why they're a great example of the faith because most of us will never have to face that either, probably. I don't know. I mean, if the great tribulation begins in our lifetime and it's tribulation such as hasn't been since the world began, yeah, you might have to face a decision like that. We don't know, so you always have to be ready and strengthen your faith and make sure you're ready so that, hey, if that time comes, I'm going to be like Shadrach, Meshach. Hey, they were good examples. I'm going to be a good example too. I'm going to have the faith that just says, hey, you know what? Our God, He is able to deliver us from that burning fiery furnace. But you know what? If He chooses not to deliver us this time, we're still not going to bow down. I don't care what you say. We know what's real. We got our faith in Christ. Nothing you say or do is going to change that. That's an example of believers. You know what a bad example is? Someone puts a gun in your head and you'll renounce Christ. Okay, yeah, I don't believe in Him anymore. Just don't shoot. It's a bad example. And again, you know, Word of God doesn't come to that. I mean, it's not like I'm looking forward to having to face that. But you know what? If you do face that and succeed through it by keeping your faith, there's a crown of righteousness for you that's going to be waiting at the judgment of Christ. And maybe God will deliver you and maybe He won't, but there's definitely, you've earned yourself a crown by walking by that faith. So we need to be an example of faith. Let's shift gears a little bit here. Because like I said, we read through all of this already and I could literally just go on all night through Hebrews 11 because it's an awesome chapter and there's so many great examples here. But let's look at a couple others. Look at Matthew chapter 8, quickly. Because I still have to teach on the purity as well and I definitely want to get to that. I love this example in Matthew 8. Matthew 8, it's the example of the centurion when he's requesting of Jesus for a servant to be healed. And he gets this awesome compliment from Jesus that this guy had more faith than everyone that Jesus had been in contact with in Israel. This guy had this great faith. And let's read about this. Look at verse number 5 of Matthew 8. When Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion beseeching him and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. And hey, that sounds great. And for most people it would be like, cool, well come on, I'll show you the way. Right? Look at what he says. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof. We see immediately the humility and the recognition of who Jesus is. And many people might believe, hey, Jesus is the son of God and whatever, but he is really showing that faith that Jesus is the son of God by saying, look, I am not worthy for you to step foot into my house. There is no reason why you should come and do this because I am so far inferior to you. So don't come, he says, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. So not only is he saying, I'm not worthy for you to even step foot into my house, but I know because you're the son of God, you don't have to go. You don't even have to physically show up and place your hands on my servant. You can just say the word and he's healed. Now, look, that was great faith. That is great faith. Because even just in general as human beings, we kind of think something needs to be done. Remember Naaman the Syrian? He was all upset when Elisha told him, yeah, go dip yourself seven times into the Jordan River. And he got all mad going like, oh, there's better rivers. What do you mean, this Jordan River thing is dirty? Like, what's so special about that? And he got all upset about it. And he expected, by the way, he says, like, I thought that he's going to come down and he's going to call the power of God. He's going to do this great big show. That's what he's expecting needs to happen to be healed. And it's like, no, just believe. And then once you believe, yeah, you're just going to do what he says. Oh, is that all I have to do? Okay, that's simple enough. I'm going to go dip myself seven times. Well, here, he already knows, you just have to say it. He fully trusts he's the Son of God. Like, you don't even have to come. And then he gives this example for a second. He says, for I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. I say to this man, go, and he goeth, and to another, come, and he cometh. And to my servant, do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to them that followed, verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. I mean, this guy just, like, hey, I know what it's like to be in charge of things, and Jesus is in charge of everything. So you just have to say the word, and it's done. Great faith. Great faith. We ought to have the faith. And look, when you have the trials and troubles in your life, and you have things that are going to cause you stress and distress over whatever is going on, just trust, trust in God. Hey, God's going to get me through this. No matter how bad the situation seems to be, don't fear, don't doubt. Stay true and say, you know, I'm just going to keep on living. I'm going to keep making decisions. Instead of blaming God or charging God foolishly or trying to put something like blaming God for, oh, man, why are you allowing all this bad stuff to happen? So I'm just going to keep on doing what I know God's told me to do, and I'm going to keep making those decisions and trust that God knows why things are happening and I'm going to keep doing, and that's all I have to do. And he's powerful enough to make anything happen in my life, to make any situation better, to make anything change. He is able to do it. And since we believe that, we're going to keep following and not fall back and not start to pick and choose, well, I like this, I don't like that. All right, I'm going to skip over James 2. Maybe next week I'll preach on James 2. I kind of wanted to get into this. I haven't gotten into James 2 in quite a while. But at the end of the day, turn if you would now to 1 Timothy chapter 1. How are we an example of the believers in faith? It's by acting and doing based on what you believe. That's it. That the decisions you make, it's based on, well, here's what my belief is. Hey, I believe church is really important and getting in the best church I can is really important. So many people have shown and demonstrated that by saying, well, you know what, I'm going to make a sacrifice and I'm going to make a drive or I'm going to move my whole family or I'm going to do, you know, this is what I'm going to do because I believe that this is really important. So hence what happens? Action. Hey, I believe it's really important that people hear the gospel because if they don't, they're going to hell. So how do you demonstrate that faith that you have? Well, I'm going to start telling people how to be saved. I'm going to start showing them the gospel. Because think about it. Those of you that don't give the gospel, do you believe that if people don't put their trust in Jesus, they're going to die and go to hell? Do you believe that? How much do you believe that? Because then the only other thing is, what you're doing by not acting on that, by helping other people, what you're demonstrating is, well, you don't really love other people. Because obviously you can still believe that to be true, but then the only other alternative for not sharing that with people is that you really don't love them that much. You might say you love other people, but your actions are proving that you don't. Bottom line. Now look, no one expects you to be perfect and Mr. or Mrs. perfect soul winner overnight. It's going to take time, but start putting forth the effort. Make that decision to say, you know what, this is important. I do believe this is important. I'm thankful for the gift that I received. I believe it wholeheartedly to be true. I'm going to do what God's commanded me to do and be a good ambassador and to be a good example of the believers in my faith by sharing my faith. The most fundamental, basic way that you could be a good example of believers in faith is by telling other people about that faith. But you need to take what you believe and put it into action. That is what people see, that is what everyone sees, and that's what it means to be a good example. Just having faith in your heart, no one sees that. You're not really being an example. Makes sense, right? All right, let's move on because I already preached for a while on this subject to purity, being a good example in purity and oh man, oh man, what an important time to be having the standards where we can be examples in purity. And I shouldn't have to break this down too much, but I mean if you just think of what is pure. When you think of purity, you think of like maybe like little babies, like just pure innocence, right? Purity, you think about if you want to get like, man, I want a good cold glass of water, but I want it like really pure. I want no impurities in it. I don't want any fluoride in it. I don't want any poison in it, right? I don't want a bunch of dirt in it. I don't want to have to use a life straw in order to drink it. I want a pure. So what's it going to be? It's going to be clean. It's going to be clear. There's not going to be any floaties or microorganisms. I mean, it's like I just want pure water, just pure. Give me purity. Well, this is how obviously, yeah, I want a cold glass of water. I got one, but good enough. The purity we need though extends obviously to other things that are not carnal. So the Bible says this in 1 Timothy 1, verse 5, now the end of the commandment, and we looked at this already a couple weeks ago, is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned. So the charity, we saw how important charity was when I preached on that, but it's charity out of a what? A pure heart. It'd be a good example by having a pure heart. That means the desires of your heart ought to be pure. They ought to be good. They ought to be righteous. They ought to be clean, right? The opposite of purity is going to be unclean. It's going to be tainted. It's going to be, you know, like all wickedness is going to bring in things to make you unpure. You're in 1 Timothy chapter 1, I'll read for you from 2 Timothy 2, but flip over to chapter 5 real quick. The Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 2, flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And it's interesting because the whole, the foundational verse that I'm preaching from about being a good example, it mentions word, conversation, charity, spirit, faith, and purity. 2 Timothy 2.22 says, flee also youthful lusts, follow the righteousness, faith, charity. All those things have been mentioned already in 1 Timothy chapter 4, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Look at verse number 1 of 1 Timothy chapter 5. The Bible reads, rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father and the younger men as brethren. The elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity. And I'm gonna park it on this just for a minute because I think just throughout history in general, there's an objectification of women, right? Among men. It has been probably as long as time that women have been objectified and have been put in a light that is going to cause men to think impure thoughts about women. But we're teaching on purity. So I'm really going after the men right now, purity in your life. Purity when it comes to the opposite gender. Purity in your heart. Purity in your mind. And you know how you do this? How you have purity is when you treat the younger women, so the elder women, you treat them like a mom. Right? And you think about a normal family, nowadays things are so perverted and twisted and weird, it's kind of like people are losing all sense of normalcy, but we all still know this. In a normal household, your mom is gonna be, you're gonna have a very pure love for your mom, right? And the same thing with your sisters. If you have sisters, there's nothing weird going on there. It's a sister. Like, hey, I love you, sis. And you could give her a hug, and you could give her a kiss, and it is totally normal and fine and pure, right? Well, within the church, because that's what 1 Timothy is talking about here, it's talking about elders and youngers with the men and with the women. So with a man, hey, rebuke not an elder. The older men in church, don't go around rebuking the older men. Treat them like a father, right? And treat him. So treat the older men like fathers. The younger men as brothers, brethren, right? But then the elders and youngers, brethren, right? But then the elder women like mothers, as you would your mom. Have the love for the older women like your own mom, and the younger as sisters with all purity. It's, you know, the attributes, the characteristics of the reprobates are the ones that says they have eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin. And they're going to be looking at people, you know, like their eyes are full of adultery. And God forbid we have Christian brothers that are going to be having their eyes full of adultery. And it's going to be harder and harder with the world, with Satan at work, with the media, with the internet, with everything, you know, the most impure things being pushed to start to influence your own mind. And you have to maintain the purity to be able to deal with people and look at them. When you see, you know, if you're to get something just put in front of your face, you see some model on the magazine rack in the checker, you know, instead of lusting after that image, why don't you start thinking, hey, that's somebody's daughter. That could be your sister that, you know, treat that and start to have that thought instead of objectifying and thinking of it in an impure way. And this is how we ought to be viewing people in general and have that purity of going like, no, this is, I mean, this is a sister. This is not anyone I should be looking at. And for those of you who are married especially, you better be looking at everyone as a sister. Everyone says a sister. That's not, you have your, you've made your choice and you're done. And you need to keep your mind pure. You need to keep your heart pure. And so what would be a bad example? Obviously people aren't going to be able to get a look into your mind or a look into your heart like that. But you know what? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And when guys are going around talking about, you know, what this one is and how hot that one is and you know, that language, man, you know what you're doing. I mean, it's just becoming a little bit more evident, you know, to stop with that. That's what the world does. Let's maintain good standards, good, pure standards and be able to treat the youngers and view them as sisters with all purity. Now, that being said, obviously there's another side to being pure with the women. Be an example of the believers in purity, right? And look, men and women alike, purity, one of the first things that popped into my mind just on this whole subject is being pure when you get married. Purity, you want to be an example of purity? How about you make sure you're pure when you get married? That is something that needs to be promoted and exalted and have this good example set forward that people can be virgin when they get married. Because the world is doing everything possible to try to destroy the purity that people can have before they get married. It is rampant and the culture has degraded so much that no one even cares anymore. Well, you know what? I believe the Bible, we ought to care, we ought to promote. They always say, look, this is important. This is an example in purity. And how is that going to play itself out also? Well, you know, how you present yourself being pure. Turn, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter 3 because we have a good example, an example of the believers for the women in purity. Now, the word that's used here is chaste. But chaste and purity, it's like the same thing. It's practically the same exact meaning. There's a couple other verses here that I'm going to just read while you're turning to 1 Peter chapter 3. 2 Corinthians 11, 2, the Bible says, For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. What is a chaste virgin? Pure. Right? Titus 2, 5 says, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. There's a good way of keeping purity and being a good example of purity as well. That admonishment for ladies as well. But look at 1 Peter chapter 3. I love this passage because it actually gives us a good example of Sarah as being a good example of a good wife, of a good lady. Verse number 1, the Bible says, Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. Remember, in conversation. Be an example of believers in conversation. That was the first week. While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear, whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. We care about God's value, not the world's value. And this is how you can be an example in your faith as well. Because the Bible's saying something totally different than what everyone out in the world is saying. So what am I gonna do though? Okay, I'm gonna still act on this and I'm gonna live the way that the Bible is saying is a good way to live. So as a woman, what does that mean? Well, we just read it. Hey, be in subjection to your own husbands. How about you have chaste conversation coupled with fear? How about the adorning, the outward adorning? Don't get all immodest and start getting all the attention on you with all the plaiting of the hair and a wearing of gold and putting on apparel, but how about you just let your good works show through? And don't fall into the trap of objectification trying to get men's eyes on you to lust after you. Instead, if you're looking for the right man, look for someone who cares about your character and who you are and what you do and your good works. That, hey, no, I'm actually a good, I'm a good woman. I care about serving God. I care about doing what's right. And a good man is gonna be looking for those good characteristics and qualities in a woman. If you want a good man, because that's what a good man, look, the wrong man is not gonna be looking for those things. So don't try to attract the wrong man. The right man's gonna be looking for those things. So whatever you're trying to attract, that's what you need to put forth. Do you want to attract someone who's really interested in you in what you think and believe in what you do or someone who's only gonna care about how you look? That in 10 or 20 or 30 years or whatever, when you don't look the same, maybe they don't have the same affection for you either because you were trying to attract someone that cared more about your looks than about who you were. And, hey, men, be interested in someone that's not just about the looks but about who they are. If you're looking to marry someone, that's what you want to be looking for. And you know what? It's not gonna be the one that's getting all of the attention necessarily. Right? The good godly woman is gonna be modest and has the meek and quiet spirit because they're trying to please God. For after this manner, verse 5, in the old time, the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves being in subjection under their own husbands even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are as long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement. Sarah's a good example of purity. We need purity. And, you know, there's... I was not really racking my brain but it's kind of like... It's almost difficult to figure out, like, what do you want to focus on and how do you want to focus on purity and everything? Like, how about purity and what you watch, what you put in front of your face, what you listen to? That's what's gonna influence how you think. The level of purity, what you're thinking about, is gonna be influenced by what you're consuming. So how impure are the things that you're putting in that's gonna affect your heart and it's gonna then have that impure, impurity going out. And, look, we need to guard our heart. We ought to have a pure heart. Last place we'll look at, Titus chapter 2, how about pure doctrine? Right? Purity, obviously, in righteousness, the way we live, but how about just making sure we've got pure doctrine? Pure is gonna be undefiled, right? It's not spotted. It's not blemished. It doesn't have, you know, all these false things to it. Let's study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed because we have good doctrine. Look at verse number 7 of Titus chapter 2. The Bible says, in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works. Again, to be an example, that's what a pattern is. A pattern of good works and then this in doctrine showing uncorruptness. So if you have corrupted doctrine, that's not pure doctrine. But if it's uncorrupted, it's pure, it's good, it's clean, right? And you wanna show yourself a pattern of good works, but then in your doctrine, uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, so what does that mean to be uncorrupted in your doctrine? It means every, your doctrine that you hold to, the foundational beliefs, the things that you hold to be true, ought to be supported clearly in scripture. It's uncorrupted. You're not having to go somewhere and yank a verse out of context to make it fit what you believe. You have good foundational support that just underlies that here's what I believe and here's why and here's what the Bible says. You're gonna have good, pure, uncorrupted doctrine. And too many times people fall into the trap of wanting something to be true or wanting to prove something and they'll go and use scripture that has nothing to do with that or at least maybe it has something to do with it but it totally does not show what you're trying to show to people. And don't ever do that because you need to be a good example and if you know something doesn't really apply, don't use it and don't say it because if what you believe is true, you'll have plenty to work with in the scripture. And if it's not true, then you gotta change what you believe. And I know I'm not perfect in everything that I believe. I know this, right? But what we're striving for is that purity. Just as much as I know I'm not perfect in every thought and everything in my heart, I know I'm not perfect, but look, we need to be striving for those things. That is the goal. We're trying to get more pure. We wanna be that good example in our faith, in our purity, and in everything else that was mentioned there. Be an example to the believers. We're wrapping it up on this. Think about, and you know, the mind, as many of you know, Philippians chapter 2 is one of my favorite passages of the whole Bible. The mindset of Christ is about others. So being an example is an example to others. It's putting your heart in the right place of saying, I'm gonna do these things because I want other people to be able to look at me and know that this, I'm gonna be a good example for them in all of these areas. Get that in your heart as a motivation. And it should be, you know, being motivated by serving others is that charity, the caring for other people where we wanna be, and that's the end of the commandment, is charity out of a pure heart. If you don't quite understand that now, because the younger Christians, you transition as a believer, if you're growing, from being very self-centered to transitioning more to caring more about other people, and have the faith to know that that's, just keep going down the path and saying, you know what, I don't really feel that way about other people. I don't really care about them. Well, start making changes and have the faith that you ought to be caring about other people more. Right? Because look, just be brutally honest with yourself. I'm not gonna come ask you. Don't go asking people, hey, do you really care about other people? But we all could probably be guilty to some degree or another of going, you know what, I really don't care about them. Well, let's work on that and try to change that so you do care about people. And then how are you gonna do that? Well, I'm gonna make sure, one, that I'm a good example so that if people are looking at me, I can say, hey, yeah, this is how we do it. I believe these things to be true. I'm acting on my faith. I'm gonna have good purity and a good conversation. And yeah, I want people to be able to look at me and be able to say, okay, yeah, that is how you ought to live the Christian life. And a lot of that's gonna have to do with then you going forth and being the minister and caring about other people, having that charity. As far as I've ordered prayer, dear Lord, thank you so much for the admonition. And God, it's a tall order for us. If we're honest, it is. It's not easy, especially in this flesh. And I am looking forward to the day, Lord, where this wicked, sinful flesh is just gonna be rotting in the ground and my soul and my spirit's gonna be with you in heaven, dear Lord. But here we are, and we're trying to mortify the deeds of our flesh daily. God, help us in that endeavor. Help us have pure doctrine. Help us to have a pure mind and a pure heart. And help us, dear Lord, with our doctrine, with everything. And to be able to be a good example of the believers and that people could look to us and that we can just be the example, Lord. There's so many things that we need to work on. Thank you for your long suffering and your mercy, but please guide us into truth and wisdom. And Lord, bring to remembrance your word in our heart when we start going down the wrong path and when we need to catch ourselves and get back right. Lord, we love you. We love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we're gonna sing one last song before we're dismissed. Brother Will, please come up here and lead us. Turn to song number 14. Song number 14. Song number 14. Thank you for the victory. Song number 14. On the first. And along the hills of life We Christian soldiers rise In rest the battle and the fight Shall wail the longest skies The gifts of love and nails we loath Let all our strength be hurled It is the victory we know That overcomes the world It is the victory It is the victory Oh, it's the victory That overcomes the world It's better over us to learn Our sword, the word of God We'd rather love the saints to learn The shouts of trials rise Like faith and life The world is where it's left on Or every field Though faith by which they conquer death Is still our shining shield Faith is the victory Faith is the victory A glorious victory That overcomes the world On every bend of flow We march on up and thread and array Let sense of youth be left behind And on pursue the grave Salations will bid on each youth The truth of heard about The earth shall tremble in our dread And echo with our shout Faith is the victory Faith is the victory A glorious victory That overcomes the world To him that overcomes the world By faith we shall begin Before the angels we shall learn His name the best in heaven Then on earth from the hills of life Our hearts will all proclaim We'll make wish all the host of night May Jesus come renewing Faith is the victory Faith is the victory A glorious victory That overcomes the world