Paul's People: A Study in Faithfulness | 2 Timothy 4: 9-22

From the book of Lamentations and it says in chapter 3 verses 22 and 23 the.

Loving-kindness of Yahweh indeed never cease for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Let's begin this morning.

And sing together. Come now found. Come out of every blessing to my heart to sing thy grace streams of mercy never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melody. A sonnet sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount. I'm fixed upon it mount of thy hitherto. Thy love has blessed me to this place and i know safely hold on me. Wear me with much strength to be a fetter. Bind my wandering heart to one from sinning.

I shall see thy lovely face. For in blood washed senses to our sleep a gift of grace is Jesus my redeemed out to give righteousness. And through thy steadfast love my deep and boundless peace. To this i hold my hope is only Jesus.

Unto him he will stay in us as us fled and suffered a brave breath. I long to follow Jesus for he has said that he will bring me home and day by day i know he will renew me until i stand with joy before the throne.

To this i hold my hope is only Jesus. Oh the glory evermore is complete. Still my lips shall repeat. Hope is only Jesus. Still my eyes and the rays. Still my lips shall repeat. Yet not i but through Christ in me.

Yet not i but through Christ in me.

Yet not i but through Christ in me amen. You may be seated. Book of Isaiah chapter 25. I'm going to.

Read together the entire chapter it's only 12 verses and we'll pray together. Isaiah 25 beginning in verse 1. Oh lord you are my god. I will exalt you. I will give thanks to your name. For you have worked wonders plans formed long ago with perfect faithfulness.

For you have made a city into a heap a fortified city into a ruin. A palace of strangers is a city no more will never be rebuilt. Therefore a strong people will glorify you. Cities of ruthless nations will revere you.

For you have been a defense for the helpless a defense for the needy in his distress a refuge from the storm a shade from the heat. The breath of the ruthless is like a rainstorm against a wall. Like heat in drought you subdue the uproar of aliens.

Like heat by the shadow of a cloud the song of the ruthless is silenced. The lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain. A banquet of aged wine choice pieces with morrow and defined and refined aged wine.

And on this mountain he will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time. And the lord god will wipe tears away from all faces.

And he will remove the reproach of his people from all the earth. For the lord has spoken and it will be said in that day. Behold this is our god for whom we have waited that he might save us. This is the lord for whom we have waited.

Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation. For the hand of the lord will rest on this mountain. And moab will be trodden down in his place as straw is trodden down in the water of a manure pile. He will spread out his hands in the middle of it as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim.

But the lord will lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands. The unassailable fortifications of your walls he will bring down lay low and cast to the ground even to the dust. That passage describes ultimately god's final triumph over the nations in his destruction of the evil and of the wicked.

And of course that passage also describes the the hope that we as the righteous have that he will prepare for us a banquet and we will enjoy that on the mountain of our god. On that final day we stand with me as we pray together.

Let's bow our heads our father. We gather together with great joy because we are your people called by your name redeemed by your son and his work for us on the cross. And ultimately our eyes and hearts look forward and anticipate with great expectation and hope that day when you will fulfill your every promise you will bring to pass your every purpose.

But you must do this. You will do this because you are mighty and able and sovereign. And everything in the heavens and everything on earth answers according to your plan and your purpose. And you have decreed all of these things.

And you will bring your every purpose to pass. And so we thank you that we can rest in you and trust in you until that time. We pray that you would fix our hearts and our minds upon the goal that is before us that we would run our race with endurance.

That we would do so with faithfulness to you and the very end looking forward to that prize and fixing our eyes on it just as the lord jesus christ fixed his eyes on the prize and suffered on our behalf.

So we pray that you would make us a faithful people mortifying sin following you in faithfulness walking in holiness and in truth. And you would be honored and glorified through our conduct our lives and our worship here together as your people fill our hearts with joy and affection and fix our eyes and minds upon christ our savior.

In whose name we pray. Amen. Let's sing together. It is well like a.

Shall be sight the clouds be rolled back as a school.

Out of ephesians chapter 3 verses 16 to 19 it says that he would give you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man so that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being firmly rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth and to know the love of christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of god.

We're going to sing together this morning to end our music service. Oh great god.

O great God of highest heav 'n, Occupy my lowly heart, Reign supreme, Conquer every wrath, Let no vice or sin remain That resist your holy war, You have loved and purchased me, Make me yours forever, I was blinded by my sin, Had no ears to hear within, Had no taste for heaven, Opened up your blessed soul, My soul, You are O great God of highest heav 'n.

Paul’s Final Charge to Timothy and the Church

2 Timothy chapter 4. As we finish off our brief study in this great letter of the prophet Paul to his faithful ministry partner Timothy who is back in the city of Ephesus Paul's last words to Timothy, his last words to the church and such a bittersweet letter because we know it's at the end of his life but also a man who is looking forward to his eternal presence with Jesus Christ with great joy.

And we've seen in our brief study of 2 Timothy so far that this letter was written from the Mamertine prison in Rome where Paul was under, he's being held there. It's not really a prison it's simply basically a cell almost a hole in the ground.

And this great apostle Paul who would be used by God to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem out into the Gentile world the man who would write 13 letters of the New Testament who would be used to plant churches to disciple believers in Jesus Christ who could stand toe-to-toe with any Athenian Greek philosopher or any of the religious Jewish authorities back in Jerusalem he was writing this from this dark, cold, stinking dungeon abandoned by his friends and co-workers awaiting execution at the hands of the godless pagan Romans that he had tried to reach with this very gospel.

And in our study which has not been exhaustive we've tried to glean out the essence of what Paul was trying to communicate to Timothy what he wanted him to focus in on as his priorities for his ministry after Paul leaves the scene.

And when you boil down both 1 Timothy written several years earlier and this last communication to Timothy we can see that Paul wants Timothy to focus on two very critical issues. Two critical issues Timothy's own personal spiritual life in other words his own sanctification as we might say his holiness.

And the second one is the word of God. The scriptures, the writings, the sacred writings the God-breathed word of God as Paul said in other words how he handles his own spiritual life and how he handles the word of God are to be priorities.

And we saw in the first message which I call spirit-empowered ministry because in that passage Paul lays the foundation for Timothy for what he has to do that's going to enable him to do the rest of his ministry and that is to stir up or rekindle the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his life.

And at this point Timothy might have been there are some indications through scripture here that he might have been getting a little weak a little shaky in his faith. This is an empire-wide persecution of Christians that is spread out of Rome and going all over the place.

And Timothy all the way back in Ephesus certainly would have been experiencing some of that. So Paul wants him to stir up the ministry of the Holy Spirit so that he can then complete the rest of his ministry and carry out the rest of the commands that Paul gives throughout the rest of this letter.

Paul gives 32 command force verbs to Timothy. It's just almost like a staccato machine gun type of a series of things that he wants him to do. He's coming to the end of his life time is getting close.

He doesn't know when he's going to be executed. He knows that he will. But the Roman judicial system is ponderous. It's fickle. Anything can happen at any time. And it's really important for Timothy to stir up the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his life so that he can carry out the rest of his ministry.

All valid ministry is accomplished in, with, and by the energizing enlightening, encouraging, and empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit in the mind, in the heart, life of the believer in Jesus Christ as we use the spiritual weapons of warfare not carnal ones as Paul has taught.

And the chief weapon of our spiritual warfare is the Word of God and that has to be empowered as well by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Then the second message we looked at how Paul wants Timothy to preach and teach the Word of God.

He wants him to very publicly, broadly teach and preach the Word of God. But it's also very important that Timothy find faithful men. You remember that from 2 Timothy 2 find faithful men who will be able to teach others also so that the Word of God and the Gospel is perpetuated from generation to generation and generation.

That was called how to safeguard the Gospel. That's one of the ways the Gospel and the Word of God is safeguarded. It not only has to be safeguarded in its purity, as he says but it also has to be sent down to the next generation or it will stop.

Very important priority for Timothy. And when Paul says safeguard its purity he uses this word sound. You see this 8 times just in the pastoral letters which means that in those 3 letters written to just 2 men Timothy and then Titus 8 times Paul is concerned about maintaining, guarding the sound or purity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And you remember we looked at that word hygieno in Greek we get the word hygienic from this. It carries with it the concept of pure, clean or uncontaminated. It is the never ending battle to be vigilant to keep the Gospel and the Word of God from becoming contaminated from being altered.

And Satan is very very clever about how he does it. If he can't just contradict it put it to a stop he will redefine it as we well know redefine biblical terms into non-biblical definitions. Last week in the 3rd installment of 2 Timothy we called it finishing strong in a race full of wicked runners.

As Paul winds down this letter he arrives in chapter 4 and that priority preach the Word. Very strong command force verb there for Timothy to preach the Word and preach it when it's in season and preach it when it's out of season preach it when it's popular to do it and preach it when everything is against having it done.

When the secular or religious authorities whoever they are and wherever they are try to get the church to not teach or preach the Word of God. We don't stand down. We double down because that's a command from a higher authority than any secular or religious authority in the entire world.

As we zeroed in last time on verses 6 -8 we saw Paul's very personal look very personal look at his state the state that he was in and he was very well aware of what was going to happen to him. And we saw his past ministry and then his look ahead into the future.

He looked ahead with great joy and he anticipated the reward he would receive the righteous crown from the righteous judge Jesus Christ. So today as Paul ends this last letter and he ends his life we are going to look at Paul's people a study in faithfulness from 2 Timothy 4, 9 -22.

Paul was a people person. He really was tremendous, brilliant theologian and he's so well known for all of the very intricate, complex theology that he wrote throughout the New Testament. But remember that was all done for a purpose and that purpose was people so that people would hear and understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So this morning as we wind up our study we're going to see in the final words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy and the church final instructions and then a comment about his final trial his final greetings and then his final goodbye.

And you have an outline there in your bulletin if you care to follow along. Final instructions verses 9 -15. And before we look at our passage this morning let's commit our time to our Lord and do what Paul said and just rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us Our Father.

We thank you for your word. We thank you for this opportunity to gather together in fellowship. We know it was all made possible by your grace and that grace was given to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And now Father as we look into your word help us to understand what you would have us learn help us to get a picture of the heart of the Apostle Paul this great Apostle and great church planter and missionary as he finishes out his last words to Timothy and to the church accomplish every purpose that you have in it Father and we will praise you in Jesus name Amen.

In verses 9 -15 we have Paul's final instructions. And of course the first person referenced here is the person this letter was written to. It would be Timothy. And Paul says in verse 9 do your best to come to me soon.

Now one of the first observations we make in these 14 verses is that Paul begins and ends this section with the same statement. If you look down at verse 21 he says do your best to come before winter.

Up at the top do your best to come to me soon and then do your best to come before winter. A heartfelt plea for Timothy to travel all the way from Ephesus. Remember that is a seaport town that is in what is now western Turkey and so he's going to have to journey all the way from Ephesus over land, over sea all the way to Rome to be with Paul.

But Paul is just so passionate about Timothy being there. So Paul says twice do your best. Some translations say make every effort or be diligent to come. This is one of the last imperative one of the last command force verbs that are found in 2 Timothy.

There are five of them in this passage and two of them he uses to say make every effort. One reason that Paul wants him there is that Paul was closer to Timothy than any other person that he worked with.

Timothy was a tremendous compatriot and a fellow missionary Paul had probably led him to Christ, he repeatedly calls him my son in the faith and so Paul wants him there and he certainly wants to just encourage Timothy and impart some final wisdom to him, we know that through this letter but Paul also wants him there so that he can also be encouraged even at this stage of his life the Apostle Paul understands his need for Christian fellowship.

If the Apostle Paul recognized his need to be ministered to by his brothers and sisters in Christ what does that say about you and about me? One of Satan's great tricks is to isolate Christians off individually and then lie to them that they're alone that nobody cares, that they're suffering through whatever their issues are by themselves and even to the point that even God doesn't care about them because, you know, if he did he would do something about this.

You need to remember this, no matter who you are or what you are going through in this life. God sees, God knows and he is the good shepherd he loses none of his sheep and he also leads and feeds them through this whole time we are here on this earth and he will lead them home as well.

Paul at this stage of his life in ministry still feels the deep need to have spiritual fellowship with fellow believers. And since Timothy is his closest friend two times he exhorts him to make every effort, be diligent do your best to come to me soon.

And the reason is found in verse 10 for, and there again Paul is very fond of this little preposition here little words are very important in scripture this one is called it means because come to me soon because Demas having loved this present age has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica, Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, meet Demas.

Demas a man whose name got inscripturated into the word of God forever. Why? Because he did some great missionary feat or he preached a great sermon at some point in time, no not at all because he abandoned the apostle Paul.

So this is a study not just in faithfulness but also a study in faithlessness as we're going to find out it moves from referencing the most faithful friend he had his most faithful earthly friend in Timothy to this guy Demas one of the most unfaithful.

Demas is first mentioned in scripture by Paul in Colossians 4 .14 that was written during his first imprisonment there in Rome. And apparently at that point in time Demas was a man who he could trust and he was with Paul during that first imprisonment.

He says this in Colossians 4 .14 Luke the beloved physician sends you his greetings and also Demas. So at least at that point in time he was there with Paul in a very cordial fellowship relationship. And then in Philemon Paul refers to Demas as one of his fellow workers so he was also working with Paul on his missionary endeavors.

But both references were made during Paul's first imprisonment in Rome and remember things had changed. This is 2nd Timothy probably written about 7 years later. And even though that was still a Roman imprisonment under Nero things had changed 7 years later.

And the reason Paul gives for why Demas bugged out he loved this present world he loved this present world. And so it's somewhat difficult to say with certainty if Demas was a true believer who just chickened out you know.

Or was he a man who never really truly believed in Jesus Christ at all. You read through the commentators and scholars and they are sort of mixed on this. But we do know this in 1 John 2 .15 the apostle John said this do not love the world nor the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him. So regardless of what his spiritual status was before the Lord his actions were not faithful. And two other men mentioned in verse 10 were faithful men Crescens and Titus.

Little is known about Crescens other than he went to Galatia and Paul says Demas in love with this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia Titus to Dalmatia.

The language here indicates to many Bible students that even though Demas left bugged out deserted him. The way he states Crescens has gone and Titus has gone to Dalmatia indicates that Paul probably sent them there and that very well could be he sent them there because those were cities that had Christian churches and Christian populations and he probably wanted them there to minister to the people there again Crescens very little is known about him but he goes written down in history as one of Paul's faithful followers.

Titus also a faithful servant of Christ but also much better known. Paul wrote his letter to Titus who at that time was ministering on the island of Crete probably about a year before he wrote this last letter to Timothy.

And we know from Galatians 2 -3 that Titus was a Gentile and a missionary companion of Paul who calls him in Titus 1 -4 my true child in a common faith. So again Paul had probably led Titus to faith in Jesus Christ but we know he was a faithful trustworthy mature Christian.

He had a particularly effective ministry in Corinth to the Corinthian Christians. And we know that he delivered the second Corinthian letter to the Corinthian Christians. And then he organized a collection for the needy saints down in Jerusalem and made sure they got that.

And Paul's reason for leaving Titus on the island of Crete. He says this in his letter to Titus. For this reason I left you in Crete that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.

So this man is a mature believer a faithful reliable worker in Jesus Christ. He could turn him loose on the entire island of Crete and trust him to do what he directed him to do. Mature faithful kind of worker needed in every age in every church setting.

Now in verse 11 Paul mentions two more men who were very different. He says in verse 11. Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you for he is useful to me for service. Luke is mentioned only three other times in the New Testament even though Luke wrote more of the New Testament than anybody else including the Apostle Paul.

Luke acts as the largest body of literature written by any single person in the entire New Testament. And very interesting. Luke was also a Gentile so we know that Timothy had a Gentile background. Titus was a Gentile and Luke was a Gentile.

Well this just fits right because Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles. So these men would have been very useful for Paul. In various letters Paul calls Luke the beloved physician in Colossians and he also in Philemon says he's his fellow worker.

Luke was not only a physician and a co-worker with Paul he was also a tremendous historian. We know that from his writings in Luke Acts he was also an excellent theologian. We also know that from what he wrote.

And he's also a faithful brave man to be with Paul at that point in time in Rome we're going to see every other Christian had bugged out but to be with Paul and to minister to him. You're taking your life in your hands because of the persecution that was going on now Mark who is sometimes referred to as John Mark must have lived en route to Rome because Paul wants Timothy to pick him up and bring him with you.

For he is useful to me for service. Well Mark was from Jerusalem and it started out with Paul and Barnabas on that first missionary journey if you remember that. But when they arrived in Perga in Pamphylia Mark left and went back to Jerusalem.

Years later when they were organizing the second missionary journey Barnabas wanted to take Mark along. But you remember what happened. Paul said no he didn't want to take him. He didn't trust him anymore because he had bugged out on that first mission.

But close to 20 years later when Paul wrote to the Colossian believers again from his first Roman imprisonment Mark was with Paul and had been restored to fellowship and service because in his closing remarks in that letter Paul said this Aristarchus my fellow prisoner sends you his greetings.

And also Mark the cousin of Barnabas about whom you received instructions if he comes to you welcome him. Clearly Mark had matured he had grown into a useful and faithful disciple of Jesus Christ and Paul had forgiven him and welcomed him back into service and remember God also used Mark to write one of the four gospel accounts of the life of Jesus Christ.

Mark is proof that immaturity at an early stage of discipleship does not preclude one from maturing and becoming a useful tool in the hands of the Savior. In verse 12 Paul mentions this man Tychicus he says.

But Tychicus I sent to Ephesus. Some commentators believe Paul is sending Tychicus to Ephesus to not only take this letter to Timothy which he did but also to maybe replace Timothy as Timothy travels to Rome so that Tychicus can continue ministering to the church there in Ephesus this guy would have been an extremely faithful person to be entrusted with a copy of 2nd Timothy to be delivered all the way over roads over the ocean.

We know that he was used by Paul to deliver his letter to the Ephesian Christians. Also he delivered Colossians to that congregation in the Lycus Valley. And maybe he even delivered Titus's letter to Titus on the island of Crete.

He's just a faithful reliable man to be entrusted to make those journeys with the Word of God in verse 13 almost as an aside almost as an afterthought. Paul makes a request for his personal needs when you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus and the scrolls especially the parchments Carpus only mentioned here.

Nothing is known of this man outside of this reference but we can surmise that Paul must have stayed with him at some point in his journeys because he left his cloak there as he calls it. And also the parchments.

The cloak would have been a large heavy woolen blanket with a slot cut right in the middle so you could poke your head through and wear that on your journeys cross country to keep warm. And so Paul would obviously need this and want this garment down in that cold dungeon before winter came.

He would have wanted that brought. And also what he calls biblios or books and especially the parchments. Now Paul is not talking about books like we know them that are bound. In fact what's probably going on here in the construction of the sentence and the grammar of it is what he's probably saying is he's using that second clause to specify what it is he's exactly talking about.

In other words Paul is saying bring the books or writing materials. What I mean is the parchments. Parchments would have been rare. They would have been hard to make and very expensive. They made them out of animal skins.

They would tan the skin and work with it and cut it to shape and then they would use that like we would use a sheet of paper and very valuable very expensive. We don't know if Paul is asking for parchments that had scripture written on them.

Some people think that we don't know that for sure from the text. Or were they blank parchments that he wanted to write letters on. We don't know the case but we do know that he wanted them there and he wanted Timothy to bring them.

Another factor is why he needed to come soon and why he needed that cloak is that traveling by sailing ship was essentially shut down in that area of the world because the storms in the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea became so severe you couldn't travel by ship.

So it was so important for Timothy to come before winter. Also if Paul did have any ambient light down in that dungeon it would surely go away or just totally disappear you know when the days got shorter and the weather got worse so it's so important for Timothy to get there as soon as he could.

This was probably written somewhere in the early summer of 67 AD so Timothy just had a brief period of time before the storm set in to get to Paul in Rome. And in verses 14 and 15 we see both the low point and the high point in our study of faithfulness on the low end of the spectrum of faithfulness this man Alexander and at the very highest place of faithfulness the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul says in 14 and 15 Alexander the coppersmith showed me much harm. The Lord will award him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself for he vigorously opposed our words. Like many of these names they are common names.

Different people have that same name. One of them Alexander defended Paul's preaching in Ephesus and that's recorded in Acts chapter 19. This is probably not that man it is also probably not the Alexander mentioned in 1 Timothy 1 20 that Paul mentions as being a part of a group of people that made shipwreck their faith among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander probably not those people one of the main reasons is the detail that Paul uses to describe him and what he says about him.

The specific identification of this Alexander as Alexander the coppersmith indicates that he is a different man. Sometimes the translations will say metal worker but however you look at it that was a way to identify him and separate him from everybody else a further detail is his sin against the word of God he says he opposed our message.

It indicates a particular enemy of not only Paul which he was but also of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When people oppose God's message and God's messengers they are opposing God and that's always a fool's errand and it never ends well for that person.

God knows his own sheep he also knows who is opposing him and Paul simply commits the judgment of that person to God and to the future and he says the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. So we have a strong contrast between the faithless Alexander and the absolutely faithful Lord.

During times of trial even times of persecution even times of persecution when your life is at stake keep your eyes on Christ on the finish line and on our faithful Lord. One thing Paul does here and it's very important to look at compared to what goes on in our generation.

Paul names names. Did you notice that? Paul names names. He's got no problem at all naming the names of false teachers, apostates and people like that. He also names the sin. He opposed our teaching he says and he leaves the judgment to God.

Very important. But Paul also does one more thing. He warns Timothy. He warns Timothy. This is Paul the missionary, Paul the theologian, Paul the apostle but this is also Paul the pastor, the shepherd.

All faithful pastors, all faithful shepherds warn the sheep about the wolves and they do it by name. Very important to see. He's a dangerous man. Stay away from him. Some New Testament scholars believe that this Alexander may have actually testified against Paul at his hearing at his trial.

In fact, he may have done more than that because this particular word is translated in the Living Standard Bible as showed. He showed me much harm. The ESV says did me much harm. It's known by linguists to be used in other contexts to inform against.

To inform against. In other words, Alexander the metal worker may have informed against Paul when Paul came to Rome. Maybe even pointed him out to the Roman authorities. He would have known who he was.

Paul was famous. He would have betrayed him and pointed him out so he would be arrested and then maybe even pointed him out and testified at his defense. One of the reasons that scholars think that is because the very next thing Paul talks about is his final trial.

This is Roman Numeral 2 in your outline. Verses 16 through 18. He says that my first defense no one supported me but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them. In the Roman justice system there were two hearings for the accused.

The first one in the Latin is prima actio. Prima actio where the charges were made against the person. The second hearing called secundo actio was where the guilt or innocence was determined. Paul's arrest and preliminary hearing probably happened before Luke or Tychicus or Onesiphorus arrived in Rome because these faithful men probably would have been there with Paul at the risk of their own lives.

But what about the Roman Christians? Ten years before when Paul wrote Romans that tremendous theological treatise at the end of that letter he mentions a bunch of the Roman Christians who were there. By my count it's over 30 different people he mentions.

And ten years later none of them are there to stand with the Apostle Paul at his trial. And the language is very comprehensive. He says no one stood with me. All deserted me. Well we may be able to understand why.

There's tremendous persecution going on. Maybe many of them had already been arrested. Maybe executed. Maybe they had fled Rome. But one thing's for certain they weren't there when the Apostle Paul needed them.

Persecution will often separate the strong from the weak. And often the real from the fake. And at least it will show forth the faithful from the unfaithful. Nero had absolute power. Absolute power. But the guy was also a psychopathic paranoid murderous monster.

Paul was famous and at that first defense his prima actio would have been crowded with anti-Christian citizens wanting to both show their allegiance to Nero. You know Nero Caesar is Lord. Caesar is Lord.

But also to point to Paul and try to carry on the persecution of Paul. And remember Nero had been the Caesar in power seven years before when Paul wrote the Philippian Christians. Right? And at that time there was not that Christian persecution.

But remember what Paul said at the end of that letter? All the saints greet you. Especially those of Caesar's household. Could it be that Caesar had a special personal bone to pick with the Apostle Paul because people in his own household maybe even some of the Praetorian Guard who would have been guarding Paul during that imprisonment had come to Christ and he understood Paul to be a real powerful influence for the cause of Christ.

The language is comprehensive. No one. All. Paul always gracious, always forgiving just like Stephen. Remember how Stephen forgave the men who were stoning him to death? And don't forget in Acts chapter 7 Paul was right there.

He was right there. Maybe this is what influenced him. May it not be charged against them. As we saw last time finishing strong includes not becoming angry or bitter at the injustices or betrayals that will happen.

We must focus on Jesus Christ and His faithfulness because that's what we're commanded to do in Scripture and that's what the Apostle Paul did. Verse 17 begins with a very contrastive term, but. But. And once again it's a study in strong contrast.

Even though people have abandoned Paul, even brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord is faithful. No matter what it looked like to the jeering, cheering crowd in that court sitting that day who probably looked at this little Jewish guy and thought, look at him, he's all alone.

Where's all your supporting people? Where are the other Christians? He's all alone. The Apostle Paul understood he was not truly alone. So what does he say? But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me so that through me the preaching might be fulfilled and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was rescued from the lion's mouth.

Paul's strength, his courage, his commitment to his Savior and the Gospel even the power to forgive was because he was relying completely on the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his life. That first principle that he wrote to Timothy in the first chapter.