From His Heart

Speaker 1

Are you ready to get profitable in your life? Here's Pastor Jeff Shreve with a stock tip.

Speaker 2

Bodily discipline profits little. Godliness is profitable in all things. So discipline is a profitable work. As far as disciplining yourself for the purpose of godliness, no one can do that for you.

Discipline yourself. I can't do sit-ups for you. I can't do the elliptical for you. I can do it with you. I can't do it for you. I can't discipline you.

To be a godly person, that's something that you have to do. And it starts with nourishing yourself in the truth.

Speaker 3

There is truth. There is hope that you always dream. Love. He can heal every scars. Real truth. Real love.

Speaker 1

In 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 3, the apostle Paul told Timothy to suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. You see, as believers, we are soldiers in God's army. And we as believers should want to be good soldiers. To do that, we must be disciplined soldiers.

This is from his heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, who today will show you how to have a profitable life and stock up on the things that really matter. Today you'll hear part two of the message we started last time called the Discipline of a Good Soldier. It'll encourage you to stand up for the truth, nourish yourself with the word of God, and faithfully serve the Lord.

The lesson is entitled the Discipline of a Good Soldier. It's one of seven in Pastor Jeff's series, Soldiers of the Cross. We're hearing part two today. Open your Bible to 1 Timothy, chapter 4, and we get a little review from yesterday. Then Pastor Jeff continues with the lesson, the discipline of a good soldier.

Speaker 2

There is a spiritual battle raging all around us. Look at verse 1 again of 1st Timothy 4. But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, some will. We have that word apostatized, because to fall away is the Greek word where we get the word apostatized. Some will fall away from the faith, paying attention and adhering and listening to and latching onto deceitful spirits, demon spirits and doctrines of demons, teachings of demons by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience, as with a branding iron. Men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be carefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. This is a spiritual battle. And Jesus said of the devil, he is a liar and the father of lies.

See, the devil attacks with subtle lies and deception. And he has deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons that are being pumped out into our world. Well, how does he do that? I mean, do we have some demon around here that says, hey, you can go to the demon church and a demon comes and speaks? No. The devil uses people as his messengers to corrupt others. How does he share doctrines of demons? Verse 2. By means of the hypocrisy of liars. People who are seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. Their conscience is so totally seared and destroyed that they don't know the difference between good and evil. But they are teaching doctrines of demons and they're leading people astray. That's how the devil works.

What does he want to get you to do? The devil wants you and me to think negatively about God. And see, in this passage in First Timothy 4, he talks about those who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods. They may come across like, you know, God's standard is here, but our standard is even higher than God's. And we don't involve ourselves in marriage at all because we're just going to be chased. And we don't eat certain things because we just think those, you know, this puts us at a higher standard. And they can come across. And you look at some of those folks and they can seem like man, they're really with it. They're really man, they're all in. But what are they doing? They're deceiving you. They're tricking you. And they're making God out to be a negative God.

Cause it says that God has created these things to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. God wants us to get married. Now for some people, his plan is to not be married. But that's not for very many. For most of us, God wants us to be married. He wants us to have children, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And he wants us to enjoy the things that he has made. They're sanctified, he says, by means of the word of God in prayer. And they're created to be enjoyed. So there's a spiritual battle that's raging all around us. That's what is going on today.

Second question. Considering what is going on today, what is the need? What do we need to combat the battle that is raging? Discovery number two. There is a desperate need for disciplined soldiers. For disciplined soldiers. Now he tells Timothy. Now remember, Timothy is not like Paul. He is not so naturally bold as Paul is. He has to tell Timothy, listen, Timothy, God hasn't given you a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Hey, we need. In this battle that's raging, we need disciplined soldiers. Those who are trained and those who are fit and those who are ready to enter into the warfare and to be ready in the toughest part of the battle.

See, this isn't a minor battle. This is a major battle. And the stakes couldn't be higher. Cause the souls of people, the eternal souls of people weigh in the balance. Now, all of us know about physical discipline, and we know that's hard. Spiritual discipline is hard, too. Spiritual discipline is hard work to spend time growing in your faith. And we have to nourish ourselves and grow ourselves up in the Word and grow ourselves in prayer. It's hard work. And secondly, it's heart work. Heart work, you say? What in the world is that? The word discipline is the Greek word gumnazo. It's where we get our English word gymnasium. And you know what they did at the gymnadzo? They would exercise naked. You say, well, I wouldn't want to go to the gym. Well, I might not want to go there. But they would strip themselves down. That's how they exercised.

And so when the Bible says, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness, God is saying, strip down and get honest with me. So many people don't do that. You don't exercise naked with the Lord, so to speak. You don't get honest with God. You come and you have your fig leaves that are covering things over like Adam and Eve did. You're not dealing with things in your life. You're telling God what you think he wants to hear, not the way it really is. You know, you can spend a lot of time studying the scripture and not have a heart for God. That's what Jesus got onto the Pharisees and the scribes and the religious leaders. He said, rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain did they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. Your heart is far away from me.

What does God want? He wants your heart. Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes delight in my ways. Discipline. Hard work. It's heart work. Psalm 62:8. Trust in him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Don't tell God what you think he wants to hear. Tell him what really is. Be honest. Be real. Lord, I'm struggling with this, Lord. I don't like this person, Lord. I really have a difficulty with that person, Lord. I'm facing things at work that are just overwhelming to me, Lord. I just feel like I'm about at the end. You can say all those things to God.

Psalm 13 is a great Psalm. The first time I preached Psalm 13, I called it when God feels a million miles away. And in Psalm 13, David says this to the Lord, give me light in the darkness, lest I die. I mean, he felt like it was just. He was about ready to expire. God, I need you. Where are you? I desperately need you. Discipline, hard work. It's heart work. It is profitable work. Profitable work. See, bodily discipline. We all know what that does. We know that when you start off a new year and you say, well, gosh, I need to lose some weight and I'm going to go on this program. I'm going to diet and I'm going to exercise. I said that to myself for January, diet and exercise. I did good for like three days. But I have trouble with the diet part. It's the first three letters die. Diet. It's just like, I'm dying. I don't want to eat this kale, you know, it's just hard. It takes discipline to do that.

It takes discipline to go to the gym. I'm going to get up every day at 4:30 and go to the gym. And you do that for a day. You're like, mm, I don't think I'm gonna go today. Can't go every day, you know. And pretty soon you're not going at all. It takes discipline for that. And that's bodily exercise. And he says that profits little, little. Cause it's only profitable in this life. And it's only profitable in this life for a short time. Godliness is profitable for all time. It lasts for all eternity. So we get so hung up on how we look on the outside, our outer man is decaying day by day. You ever do this? You look in the mirror and you're like, who is that? Hey, what happened? I looked a lot better yesterday. What happened? And it sneaks up on you. You know, maybe not notice it much day to day, but you see a picture of yourself like three years ago, like man today, three years. What happened? Bodily discipline profits little. Godliness is profitable in all things.

So discipline is a profitable work. And then discovery number three answers the question, what difference does it make? There is a lasting impact from disciplined soldiers. A lasting, eternal impact that disciplined soldiers make on the world. See, we make a difference when we're faithful to tell the truth, when we're faithful to the Lord, when we're doing what verse 6 says in pointing out these things to the brethren. Timothy, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus when you're constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of sound doctrine. You are speaking the truth, you are telling people the truth. And let me just say, as far as discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness, no one can do that for you. Discipline yourself. I can't do sit-ups for you, I can't do the elliptical for you. I can do it with you. I can't do it for you. I can't discipline you. To be a godly person, that's something that you have to do. And it starts with nourishing yourself in the truth.

I like what Warren Wiersbe said about the pastorate. He said, you know, pastors, we are called to reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction three things. Second Timothy four, reprove, rebuke, exhort. Of those three things, two are negative, reprove and rebuke. One is positive. Exhort. He said, you know, when you're driving in a car, you have signs on the road that will tell you this particular city 25 miles straight ahead. You have signs that give you direction. And then you have signs of warning. Watch out for falling rocks, watch out for ice on the bridge, slow, because you have this curve that you're going to take for a pastor. We are to tell people, hey, this is where we're going. This is how you need to walk the Christian life. This is what you need to live, and this is what you need to be wary of the doctrines of demons.

We need to be faithful to the truth and to speak the truth in love and to immerse ourselves in the truth. So we know the truth. Now the writer of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 5, says to the people, you know, by this time you ought to be teachers, but you're not. You have need of someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God. And you have come to need milk and not solid food, because everyone who partakes only of milk is a babe. You're not accustomed to the word of righteousness, but it says this, solid food is for the mature, who, because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Good and evil.

Do you have your senses trained to discern good and evil? You know what's interesting in that, in the Greek construction, the word for good is kalos, K, A, L, O, S. The word for evil is kakos, K A, K, O, S. They are very similar, good and evil. You have to have your senses trained to be able to tell what is good, what is right, what is of God and what is of the enemy, what is one degree off course. We are to speak the truth in love. Hey, we have a world that doesn't want to hear the truth. They balk at the truth. I love what RG Lee, the great preacher of yesteryear at Bellevue Baptist Church, said. He says, is it cruel to tell a man the truth? Is a man to be called cruel, who declares the whole gospel of God and points out to men their danger? Is it cruel to arouse sleeping people to the fact that the house is on fire? Is it cruel to jerk a blind man away from the rattlesnake and the coil? Is it cruel to declare to people the deadliness of disease and tell them which medicine to take? I had rather be called cruel for being kind than to be called kind for being cruel.

Hey, speak the truth in love. We're to tell people the truth. God has called us to be watchmen on the wall. We sound the alarm. We tell people, this is how you live the Christian life, and this is what you need to watch out for. And there are doctrines of demons out there. And let me tell you where doctrines of demons go. They go primarily to institutions of higher learning. They go into the colleges, into the universities, into the seminaries. And seminaries have a real problem about drifting to the left because seminaries deal with academic pride. And they're always wanting to be one step ahead of the church. So they are very susceptible to something new. Hey, if it's new, it's not true. We preach Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Hey, we have to be faithful to tell the truth. And then we make a difference when we're faithful to live the truth. To live out the truth. He says in verse 11. Prescribe and teach these things. Labor and strive, Timothy, in these things. And the word prescribe means to command. Command and teach these things. People need to hear it. You know, you see guys today. And not to throw stones, but, you know, I sit at a little coffee table and we're just gonna have a little chat. Somebody asked me about that once, and I said, no, we use a pulpit because we are called to prescribe and teach these things. The word prescribe means command. And there's a command coming. I'm a herald from the King. We're not having a little fireside chat to kind of talk about what God has said. This is thus says the Lord. This is what we're supposed to do. If you don't like it, take it up with God. I didn't write the book. I'm just here delivering the mail.

And then he says in verse 12, let no one look down on your youthfulness. Timothy was in his 30s, and that was considered young. Anyone under 40 in that day and age was considered young. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, what comes out of your mouth. Conduct, faith, love and purity. Be an example to those who believe. There was an old saying some years ago, your life speaks so loudly that I can't hear what you say. I mean, people watch our example. I would rather see a sermon than hear one any day. I'd rather you go with me than merely point the way. The eye is a more ready pupil than ever was the ear. Good advice is often confusing, but example is always clear. I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day.

Thomas Fuller, the Puritan, said, this teaching is putting nails in the wood. An example is hammering them in deeply. Parents so often wonder, I don't know why my kids went off the rails. We had them in church every Sunday. Why did they go off the rails? Hey, kids can go off the rails. You can do everything right and kids can go off the rails. But here's the question you have to ask yourself. Was I an example to my kids? No written word, no spoken plea can teach our children what they should be, nor all the books on all the shelves. It's what the parents are themselves. They're watching you. Mom and dad. And people at your office are watching you. You say you're a Christian, they're watching you. They're listening to what comes out of your mouth. They're seeing how you act and how you react. They're seeing how you respond. Is it in faith or is it in fear? A fearful world desperately needs to see a fearless church and a fearless Christian.

And your purity, that's purity in mind, purity in motives, purity in your morals. Man, when you have a person like that, that's a good soldier. That's a soldier that can make a difference. That's a disciplined soldier that makes a difference for the kingdom of God. Why? Because that person is not only sharing, they're shining. They're shining for Christ. Does anyone do it perfectly? No. Did Paul do it perfectly? No. But he could say this. Hey, be an imitator of me as I follow Christ, as I imitate Christ. Do what I'm doing. We need to be able to say that to our kids. We need to be able to say that to people at the office. We need to be able to say that to people at school. Hey, I don't do it perfectly, but follow in my footsteps because I'm following after Jesus with all my heart.

I'll close with this story. Years ago, I was listening to a sermon by Adrian Rogers and he was talking about a girl in his church who went off to college. And she came back and she talked to Dr. Rogers and she said, when I went off to college, I took a class. And she said, my professor seemed so wise and so nice and so knowledgeable, but he told me things that I hadn't heard before. He said that the Bible had errors in it. He said that stories in the Bible weren't true. They're just stories. He started to pick the Bible apart. And she said, I was almost ready to believe him and to abandon. And she said, but then I remembered you. And I remembered how you lived your life before us. And I remembered how you preached the word of God. And I remembered what you taught and what you stood for. And I remembered your life and your testimony. And I knew what that man is telling me is not true. It's not true.

Why? Because Adrian Rogers, although not perfect, he was a good soldier. He was a disciplined soldier. He walked in the truth. He taught the truth. He nourished himself on the word of God. And what he did, I can do what he did, you can do, and we can do. The need is great. And God is looking for men and women, boys and girls, who will sign up and say, here I am. Send me.

Speaker 1

God is close by and waiting for you to say, send me. Send me, Lord, into my life with a new and a fresh perspective on the needs around me and how I can be a magnetic attraction for people to see an authentic life that is a testimony to draw people closer to you, Jesus.

Today's lesson is part two of the message called the Discipline of a Good Soldier, one of seven in Pastor Jeff Shreve's series, Soldiers of the Cross. And it's also our gift to you to say thank you for your support from his heart this month of any amount. With that gift, we'll also send you the companion booklet, the Lord's Army.

To get the series on CDs, DVDs, a USB flash drive, or digital download, and the booklet, you can make that gift when you call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go online to fromhisheart.org and request the series and the booklet. Again, call 866-40-BIBLE or go online to fromhisheart.org. Thank you for praying for and joining with us in this Kingdom effort.

Thank you for joining us on From His Heart. I'm Larry Nobles, trusting you'll be right back here tomorrow for the beginning of the third message in Pastor Jeff's series, Soldiers of the Cross, with a lesson called the Courage of a Good Soldier. Join us on Friday as we celebrate Independence Day with a word from God, sharing real truth, love, and hope from His heart.

Speaker 3

There is tremendous truth. There is hope that you always dream. Love.

Speaker 1

From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out more. Go to promisheart.org.