My name is Riley and I’m thankful that I get the opportunity to cover the pulpit tonight while Pastor Nate is at a gathering for his seminary cohort. I’ve been on staff here as a worship leader and pastor for year, but tonight is my last time stepping into the pulpit as a Calvary pastor. This Sunday, I’ll be joining the Cypress Community Church leadership team as their Associate Pastor of Worship. So tonight is very bittersweet for me.
But as I was praying about what to teach tonight, I realized – how often does someone get to preach their last sermon to a group of people? There’s a weird amount of pressure on that. You start thinking, Okay, this has to be the one. The career highlight. The sermon people reference years from now. No pressure at all.
So I thought about a lot of passages. I could’ve gone with something warm and comforting like Jesus’ love in John 14. I could’ve talked about the good work God promises to complete in Philippians 1. Solid choices. Very on-brand farewell sermon material.
But instead, I kept getting pulled back again and again to 1 Timothy 1:18. A passage all about fighting the good fight of faith, and the real danger of drifting to the sidelines spiritually. Not exactly warm and fuzzy. More steel-toed boots than a hug. But as I was praying about this message, I felt like God wanted me to give you a message about persevering in your faith till the end.
So tonight, I want to teach a message I’m calling “GUARD THE GOODS” And my prayer is that as we watch the Apostle Paul commission Timothy for spiritual combat, we’d leave with a stronger spiritual backbone and the tools we need to guard the good deposit of our faith.
1 TIMOTHY 1:18-20
“This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.”
Story: Freddie Freeman’s Walk-Off Home Run – Demonstration of Endurance
- In the 2025 Baseball World Series, there was a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays that turned into an endurance test more than a baseball game. It went 18 innings (and for context, a normal baseball game is 9 innings long). It lasted over six and a half hours.
- By the time it crossed midnight, nobody was playing on hype anymore—this was grit. Some fans weren’t even cheering anymore… they were just in the bleachers with their hands folded praying to God that this game would end with their team winning.
- But then in the 18th inning, Freddie Freeman from the Dodgers stepped up to the plate. Not fresh, not energized – just resolved. And as the Blue Jays pitcher threw the ball across the plate, Freddie hit a walk-off home run, ending one of the longest World Series games in history.
- Now, that game wasn’t won because the Dodgers were better. It was won because they stayed in the fight longer. And that’s exactly what Paul is calling Timothy to do in 1 Timothy 1:18–20. Not easy faith, not exciting faith, but the kind that refuses to disengage when quitting feels reasonable. Paul isn’t saying, “Win the fight.” He’s saying, “Stay in it.”
Application: For us believers today, we receive the same calling from Jesus. Through the easy moments of life and the difficult moments, just keep showing up. Just keep swinging. Just don’t quit. So now let’s take a look at our passage and see how Paul encourages Timothy to stay in the fight.
POINT 1 — OWN THE CHARGE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN (v.18)
Paul begins with a deeply personal moment: “This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child…” Paul is intentionally transferring responsibility. He’s saying, “Timothy, I’ve walked with you. I’ve trained you. I’ve poured into you. But now this is yours.” Paul can’t believe for him. Paul can’t fight for him. Paul can’t obey for him. And this is a truth every Christian must eventually face: Your faith in Jesus is your responsibility. Not your parents’. Not your spouse’s. Not your pastors’. You can find encouragement from these people for sure – but nobody can choose faith and obedience but you.
Confirmed by God’s Calling
Paul reminds Timothy of “the prophecies previously made about you.” We don’t know exactly what those prophecies were, but we know this: Timothy’s calling wasn’t accidental. God had spoken purpose over his life. Listen – Paul brings this up because pressure has a way of making us forget who God said we are. Sometimes you need to remember what God has said before the fight gets hard.
Bible Cross-Reference: David + Saul
- In 1 Samuel 17, we read a story about David, who was a young shepherd, and Goliath, who was a giant warrior. In the story, Goliath mocks the Israelite people, God’s people, and tells them, “I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me! If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves!” David heard this and was consumed with passion to defend God’s name and God’s people.
- Now why would David be willing to go toe to toe with a 9 foot giant soldier? It was because David remembered something. Listen to this – He said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me…” (1 Samuel 17:37) When David was a shepherd in the field, apparently David had a fist fight with a Lion and a bear and was delivered from the both by the hand of God.
- So David didn’t invent faith on the battlefield. He remembered God’s faithfulness from back when he was in the pasture. Sometimes you need to remember what God has said to you, or done for you, before the fight gets hard.
Commissioned Into Battle
Paul doesn’t commission Timothy as a strategist or administrator. He commissions him “wage the good warfare” – Like he’s commissioning Timothy as a soldier. It doesn’t sound like Timothy wanted to be a soldier – in fact, Timothy struggled with insecurity and anxiety, 2 things that are tragic on the battlefield. So why would Paul take Timothy out of his comfort zone and charge him as a solider? Listen – Because ministry – real ministry – requires that we be alert and ready to protect our faith. This warfare is good because: It defends truth. It protects the church. It preserves the gospel.
Satan is Dangerous but Jesus is Victorious
But here’s the truth – Timothy may be commissioned to fight and protect his faith and the church, but we all know that Jesus has already conquered the enemy of our faith – Satan. Let’s just be really clear here – Jesus protects His church. Jesus preserves the Gospel. Jesus defends the truth. Satan has no chance at ever overthrowing the church. Now, even though Satan has been defeated, he is still dangerous. Like a dying snake, he can still lash out and get some venom in you if he makes contact. But can he overturn the victory that Jesus already has? Not a chance. Paul isn’t commissioning Timothy to fight because he thinks that Jesus needs help. Far from it. Paul and Timothy are only commissioned to fight because as they stand in Christ’s victory, they can be ambassadors for the Gospel of King Jesus and lead people to repentance and faith.
Story: WWII D-Day vs. V-E Day
- Historians will tell you that the end of World War II in Europe was decided on D-Day. When Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, the outcome of the war shifted permanently. Hitler was defeated strategically. The war was won.
- But here’s the thing—the fighting didn’t stop that day.
- For almost a full year after D-Day, soldiers kept dying. Cities were still under fire. The enemy, though defeated, was still dangerous. Why? Because a losing enemy is often the most desperate.
Application: So don’t be surprised that you face temptation. Don’t get confused when you slip into old habits. Don’t lose your mind when you experience loss and heartbreak. Satan, although defeated, is still desperate to take you down before Christ returns. But don’t think for a moment that his power is stronger than Christ’s power. His power is made strong in your weakness – Cry out to Jesus, lean on His word, and continue to fight against the lies of the enemy.
Transition: Now the question becomes: How do you fight this war?
POINT 2 — FIGHT WITH FAITH AND A GOOD CONSCIENCE (v.19a)
“…holding faith and a good conscience.”
Faith Is Our Covering
Faith is one of those words that unfortunately, gets misunderstood. Sometimes it’s talked about like currency – “If I just have enough, then I can get what I want from God”. Othertimes it’s wishful thinking – “I’m just trying to have faith through this situation.” But really in it’s most simple form, faith is allegiance to Jesus. It requires us to repent from making ourselves the authority over our lives and turning toward Jesus and making Him the king of our lives. It’s total submission to His authority, total resolve to make His mission your mission, and to love the people He loves.
Faith is our shield
- Ephesians 6:16 – “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.”
- Faith doesn’t stop the darts from being fired
- Faith keeps the darts from taking you out
Faith resists the enemy
- 1 Peter 5:8–9 – “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion… Resist him, firm in your faith.”
- The command isn’t “understand everything”
- The command is stand firm
- Faith is how you hold your ground when fear tries to push you back
William Mounce – “Faith is never merely intellectual assent; it expresses itself in loyalty and submission to Christ.”
Maintaining a Good Conscience
The word that Paul uses here for conscience is a word that means an internal moral witness. This is not like the cartoons where there’s a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other should debating about whether or not we should fully give into temptation. It’s not an argument between two opposing wills – it’s a warning signal. Maintaining a good conscience means responding when God convicts you instead of ignoring it. A good conscience maintains integrity before God and people. It’s the act of practicing what you preach. It isn’t sinless perfection – It’s quick repentance.
Why these must stay together
Paul links faith and conscience intentionally. Faith is the covering. Conscience is the warning. Ignore either – and you drift. The funny thing here is that although we are called to wage the good warfare, we’re really not the one’s doing the spiritual battle. Again, our job is not to try and win a battle over the devil – We’re simply called to hold onto Faith, listen to the alerts of our conscience, and endure.
Story: Friend who went off the path and got poison oak.
Application: Don’t get lazy in your faith and forget that you’re in a battle. We need faith so that we can be covered by Jesus’ strength and victory in the battle to save souls. The believers who persevere to the end of their lives with their faith intact are true warriors of the faith and are sensitive to the Spirit as he guides their conscience.
Transition: So what happens if we don’t engage in the good warfare, or worse yet – what happens when we start fighting for the other team?
POINT 3 — TAKE SHIPWRECK SERIOUSLY (vv.19b–20)
“By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.”
Shipwrecking Their Faith
What does it mean to shipwreck your faith? And how did Hymenaeus and Alexander shipwreck theirs? At least for Hymenaeous, we know that his issue was with a false doctrine concerning the resurrection of dead believers. Later on in 2 Timothy 2, Paul explains that Hymenaeus taught that the resurrection had already happened. Many scholars believe that the core issue here is that Hymenaeous preached a spiritual resurrection and disregarded a physical resurrection, which contradicts the doctrine of the bodily resurrection of Jesus and Christians in the future resurrection. So the issue is false doctrine that distorts the Gospel. That’s why Paul calls it blasphemy. So our faith can be shipwrecked when we distort the Gospel and lead others to believe that false doctrine.
“Handed over to Satan”
This is one of the most sobering phrases in Scripture. Listen – Paul isn’t condemning them to hell. He’s disciplining them. To be handed over to Satan means: Removal from the church’s fellowship. Losing the spiritual protection found in church leadership. They were being placed back into the world’s domain where Satan has authority. The punishment is removal of protection, not infliction of evil. We see this again in 1 Corinthians 5, where Paul removes an unrepentant man from the church: “so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” Listen – Discipline always aims at restoration. Sometimes the most loving thing the church can do is let someone feel the weight of separation – so they might finally turn back.
FINAL EXHORTATION
Church, Paul’s warning is clear: Hold faith. Obey your conscience. Or drift toward shipwreck. Faith must be guarded. Conscience must be obeyed. And truth must be taken seriously – because souls are at stake.
