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Colin Smith: We are in process over many things. We're in process over repentance, we're in process over holiness, we're in process over spiritual growth, we're in process over prayer, we're in process over overcoming temptation and so forth, but we are not in process over who Jesus is.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And Colin, I’m glad you’ve acknowledged that the Christian life is a life of growth, and we continue to grow in our relationship with Christ, but if we truly are a Christian, we don’t need to wonder about who Jesus is. That’s not a thing that’s in process.

Colin Smith: Yeah, that’s exactly right. And a Christian is a person who has come to a settled conclusion about the Lord Jesus Christ, confesses faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you may have all kinds of unanswered questions. I mean, there may be so many questions that you never answer in this life. We know in part; God hasn’t revealed everything to us.

But the gospels are given to us, the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are given to us so that you can come to a settled conclusion about who Jesus is. And the marvelous promise is given to us in scripture, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Steve, that’s about as clear a statement as anyone could ever hope to read.

Steve Hiller: That’s right. And we’re going to look at that truth today from the book of 1 Timothy, chapter 6. So grab a Bible, join us there as we continue a message called Gospel Hope. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Anyone who says or thinks that Christian faith is a private matter has not read the New Testament. This is a public confession before witnesses. That's the point Paul is making here. And the role, of course, of witnesses is to remind a person of the confession that they have made.

This is true in a wedding. Why do we have all these bridesmaids in weddings? And all these groomsmen? You know what the purpose of witnesses is? Is to remind the bride and groom of the vows that they took in future years when times may become difficult and surround them with that strength. That's what you're there for.

And Paul says to Timothy, it's the same in the church. That's why when the church family gathers for a baptism, what a wonderful thing that is to witness people within the body of Christ confessing Jesus as Lord in baptism. And the purpose of the witnesses is that we should remind one another in difficult times: you're not your own, you're bought with a price.

You're not aimless and lost in this world. You belong to Jesus Christ. You have made your good confession. You are his. And we are to encourage one another in this way. Now, you see that is exactly what Paul is doing for Timothy here. You are God's man.

And, you know, here's the marvelous thing: if you are God's man, if you are God's woman, if you have nailed your colors to the mast, if you have truly been crucified with Christ and raised to new life in him, you don't begin each new day wondering who you are and why you're here and to whom you belong. You're Christ's. You're united to him in his death and resurrection forever. You have made a confession. And from now on, it is no longer for you to live for yourself, but for him who died for you and was raised to life.

And just before we move on here, I want you to notice that this confession is never something that the Christian makes up. Do you notice that having spoken about Timothy's confession, Paul goes on immediately to speak about Christ's confession? Verse 13: "Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession." You remember that Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?" And Jesus said, "It is as you say."

So when we make our confession that Jesus is Lord, we are agreeing with Christ's confession. And that is why Paul says in verse 12, "Timothy, it's a good confession." If you have confessed Christ as your savior and your Lord, you have made the best confession that a person in this world can ever make. For you have identified yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, who died bearing your sin and rose to bring you into everlasting life. You belong to him and you are God's man, God's woman. What a privilege.

Have you made that confession? If you are, have, remember who you are: God's man, God's woman. If not, I invite you to talk with Pastor Greg, one of the other pastors. We're preparing for a baptism service in the new year. And this would be a wonderful opportunity for you to move your faith from the realm of private opinion into the realm of public confession before many witnesses. And it would be our joy to share your joy in confessing Christ.

You've made a confession, Timothy. Second, you have embraced a calling. Verses 13 and 14: and here Timothy is being given a great charge in the sight of God, who gives life to everything, verse 13, and of Jesus Christ. Paul says, "I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame."

Now what is the command he's referring to? It seems that the command is in verse 11 and 12: that there's a character for Timothy to pursue, a battle for Timothy to fight, and a life for Timothy to gain. Notice verse 11, the character that he's to pursue: "But you, man of God, pursue righteousness and godliness and faith and love and endurance and gentleness."

Timothy, you've made this confession that you're God's man. Now you go after the life that God's man pursues. That's how you're to live. I give you this charge: go after it. And realize, Timothy, that there will be a battle to fight. Verse 12: "Fight the good fight of the faith." He's speaking to Timothy about all that's involved in nailing your colors to the mast, standing with Jesus Christ in a Christ-rejecting world. You will always find yourself in conflict with the currents of the culture when you take your stand with the Lord Jesus Christ. So fight the good fight of the faith.

And then, Timothy, verse 12: "Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." Now notice the language: pursue, fight, take hold. It's all active.

And I guess the question when you think of all the load that is on Timothy, and the question that surely comes to us many times, is: where do you find the energy for this life? You know, you've been a Christian for many years and the word of God says to you: pursue and fight and lay hold. Oh man, I'm so tired.

So I think it's very significant you see that Paul, when he gives this charge, he says in verse 13: "In the sight of God who gives life to everything, I give you this charge." You see what he's saying, Timothy? This is really tough to keep pursuing godly character, to keep engaging in the fight of faith, to keep laying hold of the life to which you were called. It's relentless. It's demanding. But I'm giving you this charge in the sight of God who gives life.

And that means not only that he's your creator, but he's the one who sustains your life. Or to put it another way: the God who will give you energy for this life. As you pursue this calling, you pursue this calling in the sight of God who gives life. And as your days are, so will your strength be. So Timothy, remember who you are: you're God's man, and God gives life to his people for the pursuit of everything that he calls us to do.

Steve Hiller: You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, and a message called Gospel Hope, part of our series, 10 Distinctives of a Gospel-Centered Church. And if you missed any of the broadcasts in our series, you can listen online at openthebible.org.

Well, Open the Bible is listener-supported. We’re able to bring you Pastor Colin’s teaching because of your generosity. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a copy of Pastor Colin’s new 30-day devotional book called Grow in Faith. And Colin, who is this book for?

Colin Smith: Well, it’s for everyone who wants to grow in their faith. And hopefully that’s every Christian believer. You know, the disciples at one point said to Jesus, "Lord, increase our faith." And they’d been following Jesus for some time when they said it. They’d left everything in order to follow him, but they came to a place at one point where they realized, "We’re going to need to grow in faith."

And I think every Christian comes to a place like that. You know, "I’ve been trusting Jesus for some time, but now I’m facing circumstances where I’m really going to have to trust him. Lord, increase my faith." So this 30-day devotional book is designed to help and encourage growing in faith. I have loved working on this, and I’m very excited about the opportunity of sharing it with you.

Steve Hiller: Well, we’d love to share a copy with you as our thanks for your financial support this month. You can give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That’s 1-877-673-6365, or openthebible.org. Let’s get back to the message. Again, here’s Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: So Timothy, you've made this good confession. And Timothy, you have embraced this great calling. And now here's the third distinguishing mark of God's man or God's woman, and it's this: anticipation of Christ's glorious return, which is the note on which we end.

Verse 14: "Keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now let's pause to try and take this in. The appearing. You're going to see the Lord Jesus Christ. God will bring about this day, Paul says here, in his own time.

But you can be certain of this: that the day will come when your faith will be turned to sight. Now, this is an amazing promise. And I want us to grasp why. Because right here in verse 16, where Paul in his doxology, his expression of praise to God, is speaking of the greatness and the glory of God, do you notice that in verse 16 he speaks of how God lives in unapproachable light? Unapproachable light.

That's very important statement. God is not obscured in unapproachable darkness. He is, the Bible says, inaccessible in unapproachable light. In other words, we are not alienated from God because he is obscured in darkness. We are alienated from God because he is inaccessible to us in light. Our problem is not that we can't find God, that he's obscured in darkness. Our problem is we couldn't get near him if we did.

And you see, if you think about the Bible story all through the Bible, what we find is this: the best of men, when they stand in the presence of the holiness of God, can't stand up in the sheer intensity of the glory of the Son of God. That's true both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

John chapter 12 and verse 41, John tells us that Isaiah in the Old Testament saw Jesus' glory, Jesus' glory. Now, he's referring, of course, to the vision that most of us know well in Isaiah chapter 6, where Isaiah sees the glory of the Lord. John says what he was seeing was Jesus' glory, the glory you're going to see.

And what happened when Isaiah saw Jesus' glory? He sort of crumples up and he said, what? "Woe is me because I am ruined." That's the Old Testament. What about the New? In the New Testament, John the apostle, who had sat right next to Jesus at the Last Supper, eating and drinking with him, John is given a vision of the glory of Jesus in the book of Revelation. And he sees Jesus in his glory. And in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 17, John says when he sees Jesus' glory, "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if dead."

You see, in the incarnation, the glory of the Lord Jesus was veiled, which is why the disciples could walk around in cornfields eating with him and all that stuff. But now that he is ascended, the glorified Lord Jesus—and you're going to see him in his glory. When Isaiah saw Jesus' glory, he goes, "Woe is me, I'm ruined." When John, who sat by Jesus at the communion service, sees Jesus' glory, he falls at his feet as though dead. So how is it going to be for you and for me when the Son of God appears in all his glory with all his holy angels with him?

And yet, Jesus says to us: "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." See God. And John, who fell at the feet of the glorified Christ as if dead, says in his letter: "When he appears, we shall see him as he is."

Now, if you really think about that, you will be asking the question: how is it possible? If Isaiah crumples and John falls at his feet as though dead, how will it be possible for me to stand with joy in the glorious presence of the Son of God when he appears?

There was a man by the name of Thomas Binney, who wrote a hymn that some of us may know. I think it's worth all of us being aware of it. A hymn that asks and answers exactly this question. I don't think I've found any more beautiful expression of it in all the years outside of the Scriptures themselves. And so I want to quote four stanzas from Binney's hymn for you.

And I do this because I feel absolutely certain that Binney must have had this very passage of scripture from 1 Timothy in chapter 6 in his mind when he wrote this hymn: God in inaccessible light. Binney's hymn begins with these words: "Eternal Light, Eternal Light! How pure the soul must be when, placed within Thy searching sight, it shrinks not, but with calm delight can live and look on Thee."

You see what he's saying? To stand in the presence of God, to even look on the holiness of the Son of God in all his glory, the soul would have to be absolutely pure. Otherwise, it's going to shrivel up in the white heat of the presence of the glory of the Lord. Our God is a consuming fire. So how is it possible for people like us to look with calm delight, with joy on the presence of Jesus?

He asks the question pointedly in the second verse: "Oh, how can I, whose native sphere is dark, whose mind is dim"—I live in this darkened world—"How can I, whose native sphere is dark, whose mind is dim, before Thee, Ineffable, appear, and on my naked spirit bear the uncreated beam?" By the way, I had to look up the word "ineffable" in the dictionary.

"Ineffable" means too great for description in words. That's what it means. Now you see his point: God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. And here I am living in this dark world. And when I stand before God, everything about me is going to be exposed. I will stand, as it were, naked before him, everything exposed. How can my naked spirit bear the intensity, the laser light, uncreated because God is uncreated? He always has been, always is, and always will be. How can I, who live in this dark world, stand in that kind of light where I'm fully exposed?

And here's the answer. You ready for it? "There is a way for man to rise to that sublime abode." And here it is: "An offering and a sacrifice, a Holy Spirit’s energies, an Advocate with God." How can I live in the joy of God's presence? How can I live in the otherwise unapproachable light?

The answer: an offering. That is, the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me. That's the offering. A sacrifice: Christ bore our sins in his body on the tree. A Holy Spirit's energies: the Holy Spirit uniting you to Jesus Christ in his death and in his resurrection so that all that is his becomes truly yours. And the risen Lord Jesus Christ, our Advocate, standing right now in the presence of the Father on your behalf, so that by him, the risen Lord, you may be able to dwell with joy in God's eternal light.

And then Binney ends his song this way: "These"—that's the offering, the sacrifice, the Holy Spirit's energies, and the Advocate with God—"These prepare us for the sight of holiness above; the sons of ignorance and night may dwell in the Eternal Light through the Eternal Love." Isn't that beautiful?

You can dwell in the Eternal Light of God through the Eternal Love of God, poured out in the offering and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit to bring you into union with him, and the risen Lord Jesus Christ standing now at the right hand of the Father as your Advocate with God.

So folks, this is the wonderful life that we share together in the church. We make the same confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. We pursue the same calling in the energy that God gives to us of a holy life, fighting the good fight of faith and laying hold of the life to which we have been called.

We live in the same anticipation of Christ's glorious appearing, which is not a dreadful thought to us but a wonderful thought to us, because we are called into the blessing of life under the rule of God with all its joys for those who are given an entrance into what otherwise would be inaccessible. An entrance that comes through the offering, the sacrifice of Jesus, the work of the Spirit, the advocacy of the Son of God in the presence of the Father. What a blessing to be God's man, to be God's woman.

Steve Hiller: Well, if you know Christ as your Savior, I hope you’ve been encouraged by that reminder of the blessing that it is to be His man or to be His woman. And if you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but you’d like to, I hope you’ll come to Him today. Or maybe you’ve got questions about beginning that relationship with Jesus. I hope you’ll contact us here at Open the Bible. You can call and talk with one of our staff members. Our toll-free number is 1-877-OPEN-365. That’s 1-877-673-6365 or openthebible.org.

Well Colin, it’s Friday and the weekend’s coming.

Colin Smith: Yeah, and I want to encourage you to get to church on Sunday. You know, across the country, people who love Jesus will be gathering to praise him. And if you love Jesus, that’s something you’ll want to be part of. So find a church where the Bible is opened. And if you live in the Chicago area and you don’t have a church home, I’d love for you to join us at The Orchard. There are six locations in the northwest suburbs. For more information, go to theorchard.church. That’s theorchard.church.

Steve Hiller: Well, thank you, Colin. And thanks for listening. I’m Steve Hiller, and I hope you’ll join us next time. This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: Fly through the Bible is a short, simple, and shareable book that you can use with a friend, a neighbor, or a loved one who needs to know Jesus. It's also freely available online. Fly through the Bible will introduce you to five people in the Old Testament, five events in the life of Jesus, and five gifts God gives to every believer.

You could ask a friend to read Fly through the Bible with you. The book has 15 chapters; you could read a chapter and meet together over coffee and discuss the questions. Fly through the Bible is designed to help you open the Bible with others. It will give you a better grasp of the Bible's story and, most of all, it will help you to grow in your love for Jesus Christ. For more information, visit openthebible.org/fly. That's openthebible.org/fly.