Tuesdays with Timothy #4
1 Timothy 1: (5- 7 ) Now the end of the commandment is charity out
of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith
unfeigned:
The
man of God has to take up his charge to gospel fidelity with love and that must
come from a pure heart. He must have a clean and holy heart. A heart that has been
cleansed and purified by the Holy Spirit and a heart that is continually
sanctified by the Spirit of God through the Word of God. This pure heart will
preach with pure motives. A man of God must strive to live a life of holiness. As
Robert Murray M'Cheyne said "In great measure, according to the purity and
perfection's of the instrument, will be success. It is not great talents God
blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon
in the hand of God. A word spoken by you
when your conscience is clear, and your heart full of God's Spirit, is worth
ten thousands words spoken in unbelief and sin." All Christians must fight
this battle, but so much more the man of God.
A conscience free of guilt from both man and God
goes along with the pure heart. If a man is living in unconfessed sin in His
life, then he will not be able to preach the Word effectively. The man of God
much strive and labor, as Paul, to live with a good conscience toward man and
God. Not a perfect life, for no one can live a perfect life. But if He loves
God, and loves God’s people, the man of God must strive with all that is in him
to have a good conscience. A man with a guilty conscience, full of unconfessed
sin, will not be able to stand boldly before His people and declare the truth. Acts 24:16
And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of
offence toward God, and toward men. Paul
exercised himself, he strained, he labored, he took great pains to do what was
right. And when he failed, he took great pains to confess and repent.
He
must also preach from a true faith in the Lord Christ. There have been many a
minister that preached the gospel truth, that have yet to grasp hold of them.
Many men have declared the good news without hearing it, and expounded gospel
truths without receiving them for themselves. I have known men who were
faithful teachers of the Word, or so it seemed, who later came and confessed
that they never had really believed the things they taught. They preached them
because that was what the church believed. So with unfeigned faith in the gospel
truths, the man of God must stand before the people and proclaim the truths
that are settled in his heart with unswerving faith and conviction. The man must love the truth, receive the truth
and its sanctifying power, apply the truth with obedience and gospel
repentance, and then hold to the truth and proclaim it was pure faith and
conviction.
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