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

Kootenai Church

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May 27, 2024

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17:33: Worship 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.
17:48: They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Let's begin this morning and sing together,
17:55: Come, Thou Fount. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing
18:19: Thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
18:29: Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above.
18:38: Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it, mount of Thy redeeming love.
19:02: Hitherto Thy love has blessed me, Thou hast brought me to this place.
19:11: And I know Thy hand will bring me safely home by Thy good grace.
19:19: Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God.
19:28: He to rescue me from danger, bought me with His precious blood.
19:52: Oh to grace how great a debtor, daily
19:58: I'm constrained to be. Let Thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee.
20:09: Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the
20:16: God I love. Here's my heart, oh take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.
20:43: Oh that day when free from sinning, I shall see
20:49: Thy lovely face. Full of raven, blood washed linen, how
20:56: I'll sing Thy sovereign grace. Come my Lord no longer tearing, bring
21:04: Thy promises to pass. For I know
21:09: Thy power will keep me, till I'm home with Thee at last.
21:20: Be Thou my vision,
21:49: O Lord of my heart. Be all else to me, save that Thou art.
22:01: Thou my best thought, by day or by night.
22:09: Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
22:19: Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my true word.
22:35: Hey Father, I Thy true son.
22:41: Thou in me dwelling, and I with riches
22:52: I heed. Adore, mend, and depraise.
22:58: Thou mine inheritance, now and always.
23:05: Thou and Thou only, first in my heart.
23:13: High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.
23:22: High King of heaven, my victory won.
23:29: May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun.
23:37: Heart of my own heart, whatever befall.
23:44: Still be my vision, O ruler of all.
23:59: A gift of grace is
24:14: Jesus my Redeemer. There is no more for heaven now to give.
24:24: He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom.
24:31: My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace.
24:37: To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus.
24:45: For my life is wholly bound to His. O how strange and divine
24:55: I can see. All is mine, yet not I, but through Christ in me.
25:04: It is dark, but I am not forsaken.
25:21: For by my side, the Savior, He will stay.
25:27: I labor on in weakness and rejoicing.
25:34: For in my need, His power is displayed.
25:40: To this I hold, my shepherd will defend me.
25:47: Through the deepest valley, He will lead.
25:54: O the night has been won, and I shall overcome.
26:00: Yet not I, but through Christ in me. No fate
26:17: I tread, I know I am forgiven. The future sure, the price it has been paid.
26:29: For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon.
26:35: And He was raised to overthrow the grave.
26:40: To this I hold, my sin has been defeated.
26:49: Jesus now and ever is my plea. O the chains are released,
26:58: I can sing. I am free, yet not I, but through Christ in me.
27:07: With every breath,
27:19: I long to follow Jesus. For He has said that He will bring me home.
27:30: And day by day, I know He will renew me.
27:37: Until I stand with joy before the throne.
27:42: To this I hold, my hope is only
27:47: Jesus. O the glory evermore to Him.
27:56: When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat.
28:03: Yet not I, but through Christ in me. To this
28:09: I hold, my hope is only Jesus. O the glory evermore to Him.
28:21: When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat.
28:28: Yet not I, but through Christ in me. When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat.
28:41: Yet not I, but through Christ in me. Yet not
28:48: I, but through Christ in me. Yet not
28:55: I, but through Christ in me.
29:01: Amen. You may be seated. Book of Isaiah, chapter 25.
31:25: I'm going to read together the entire chapter. It's only 12 verses. And we'll pray together. Isaiah 25, beginning at verse 1.
31:35: O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You. I will give thanks to Your name.
31:41: 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.
31:50: A palace of strangers is a city no more. It will never be rebuilt.
31:56: Therefore, a strong people will glorify You. Cities of ruthless nations will revere
32:02: 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.
32:11: The breath of the ruthless is like a rainstorm against a wall. Like heat in drought,
32:17: You subdue the uproar of aliens. Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.
32:24: 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.
32:35: And on this mountain, He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations.
32:43: He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces.
32:49: 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,
32:56: Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited.
33:03: 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.
33:16: And He will spread out His hands in the middle of it, as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim. But the
33:21: Lord will lay low His pride together with the trickery of His hands. The unassailable fortifications of your walls
33:28: He will bring down. Lay low and cast to the ground, even to the dust. That passage describes ultimately
33:37: God's final triumph over the nations and His destruction of the evil and of the wicked. And of course that passage also describes 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
33:50: God on that final day. Will you stand with me as we pray together? Let's bow our heads.
34:02: 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.
34:11: And ultimately our eyes and hearts look forward and anticipate with great expectation and hope that day when
34:18: You will fulfill Your every promise, You will bring to pass Your every purpose. You must do this,
34:23: 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.
34:34: And You have decreed all of these things and You will bring Your every purpose to pass. So we thank
34:39: 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 to the very end, looking forward to that prize and fixing our eyes on it just as the
34:58: 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 that You would be honored and glorified through our conduct, our lives, and our worship here together as Your people.
35:18: Fill our hearts with joy and affection and fix our eyes and minds upon Christ our Savior in whose name we pray.
35:29: Let's sing together it as well. When peace like a river attendeth my way,
35:52: When sorrows like sea billows roll,
36:01: Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say,
36:11: It is well, it is well with my soul.
36:20: It is well with my soul.
36:29: It is well, it is well with my soul.
36:40: Though Satan should buffet,
36:46: Though trials should come, Let this blessed assurance control
37:00: That Christ hath regarded
37:05: My helpless estate And hath shed
37:12: His own blood for my soul.
37:19: It is well with my soul.
37:28: It is well, it is well with my soul.
37:38: My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought,
37:49: My sin not in part but the whole
37:59: Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.
38:08: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.
38:17: It is well with my soul.
38:27: It is well, it is well with my soul.
38:37: And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
38:48: The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
38:58: The trump shall resound and the
39:03: Lord shall descend, Even so, it is well with my soul.
39:16: It is well with my soul.
39:26: It is well, it is well with my soul.
39:41: With my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul.
39:58: 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.
40:34: We're going to sing together this morning to end our music service. Oh, great God. Oh, great
40:49: God of highest heav 'n, Occupy my lowly heart.
40:58: Own it all and reign supreme. Conquer every rebel power.
41:07: Let no vice or sin remain That resist
41:13: Your holy war. You have loved and purchased me.
41:21: Make me Yours forevermore. I was blinded by my sin,
41:35: Had no ears to hear Your voice,
41:40: Did not know Your love within, Had no taste for heaven's joys.
41:49: Then Your Spirit gave me life, Opened up Your Word to me.
41:58: Through the gospel of Your Son, Gave me endless hope and peace.
42:15: How to live a life
42:30: That's dependent on Your grace. Keep my heart and guard my soul
42:38: From the evils that I face. You are worthy to be praised
42:48: With my every thought and deed. Oh, great
42:53: God of highest heav 'n, Glorify Your name through me.
43:01: You are worthy to be praised With my every thought and deed.
43:10: Oh, great God of highest heav 'n, Glorify Your name through me.
48:55: We've seen in our brief study of 2 Timothy so far that this letter was written from the
49:01: Mamertine prison in Rome where Paul was under, he's being held there.
49:07: It's not really a prison, it's simply basically a cell, almost a hole in the ground. And this great
49:14: Apostle Paul, who would be used by God to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, from Jerusalem out into the
49:21: 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
49:34: Athenian Greek philosopher or any of the religious
49:40: 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
49:53: 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
50:02: 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.
50:12: And when you boil down both 1 Timothy, written several years earlier, and this last communication to Timothy, we can see that Paul wants
50:20: 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.
50:33: And the second one is the Word of God, the scriptures, the writings, the sacred writings, the
50:39: God -breathed Word of God, as Paul said. In other words, how he handles his own spiritual life and how he handles the
50:46: Word of God are to be priorities. And we saw in the first message, which I call spirit -empowered ministry, because in that passage,
50:55: 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
51:07: 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.
51:18: This is an empire -wide persecution of Christians that is spread out of Rome and going all over the place.
51:26: 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
51:33: 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.
51:42: 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.
51:53: He's coming to the end of his life. Time is getting close. He doesn't know when he's going to be executed.
51:59: He knows that he will, but the Roman judicial system is ponderous. It's fickle.
52:05: Anything can happen at any time. And it's really important for Timothy to stir up the ministry of the
52:12: 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
52:26: 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.
52:37: 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
52:44: Holy Spirit. And then the second message, we looked at how Paul wants Timothy to preach and teach the Word of God.
52:50: 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.
52:57: You remember that from 2 Timothy 2 .2. You find faithful men who will be able to teach others also so that the
53:03: Word of God and the Gospel is perpetuated from generation to generation and generation.
53:09: That was called how to safeguard the Gospel. That's one of the ways that the Gospel and the Word of God is safeguarded.
53:16: 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.
53:26: Very important priority for Timothy. And when Paul says, safeguard its purity, he uses this word sound.
53:32: You see this eight times just in the pastoral letters, which means that in those three letters written to just two men,
53:39: Timothy and then Titus, eight times Paul is concerned about maintaining, guarding the sound or purity of the
53:47: Gospel of Jesus Christ. And you remember we looked at that word hygieno in Greek.
53:53: We get the word hygienic from this. It carries with it the concept of pure, clean, or uncontaminated.
54:01: It is a never -ending battle to be vigilant to keep the Gospel and the
54:06: Word of God from becoming contaminated, from being altered. And Satan is very, very clever about how he does it.
54:14: If he can't just contradict it and put it to a stop, he'll redefine it as we well know. Redefine biblical terms into non -biblical definitions.
54:24: Last week in the third installment of 2 Timothy, we called it Finishing Strong in a Race Full of Wicked Runners.
54:30: As Paul winds down this letter, he arrives in chapter 4 and that priority, preach the
54:36: 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.
54:45: 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
55:00: 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.
55:11: As we zeroed in last time on verses 6 through 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.
55:23: 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,
55:36: Jesus Christ. 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
55:47: Timothy 4, 9 through 22. Paul was a people person. He really was.
55:54: Tremendous, brilliant theologian and he's so well known for all of the very intricate, complex theology that he wrote throughout the
56:03: New Testament. But remember that was all done for a purpose and that purpose was people. So that people would hear and understand the
56:09: 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.
56:18: Final instructions and then a comment about his final trial, his final greetings and then his final goodbye.
56:26: And you have an outline there in your bulletin if you care to follow along. Final instructions verses 9 through 15 and before we look at our passage this morning let's commit our time to our
56:37: Lord and do what Paul said and just rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us. Our Father we thank you for your word.
56:46: 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
56:56: Lord Jesus Christ. And now Father as we look into your word, help us to understand what you would have us learn.
57:05: Help us to get a picture of the heart of the Apostle Paul this great
57:11: Apostle and great church planter and missionary as he finishes out his last words to Timothy and to the church.
57:21: Accomplish every purpose that you have in it Father and we will praise you in Jesus name. Amen. In verses 9 through 15 we have
57:29: Paul's final instructions and of course the first person referenced here is the person this letter was written to.
57:35: It would be Timothy. And Paul says in verse 9 do your best to come to me soon.
57:43: Now one of the first observations we make in these first, these 14 verses is that Paul begins and ends this section with the same statement.
57:50: If you look down at verse 21 he says do your best to come before winter.
57:57: Up at the top do your best to come to me soon and then do your best to come before winter.
58:05: 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
58:14: 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.
58:22: But Paul is just so passionate about Timothy being there. So Paul says twice do your best.
58:28: Some translations say make every effort or be diligent to come.
58:35: This is one of the last imperatives, one of the last command force verbs that are found in 2
58:41: Timothy. There are five of them in this passage and two of them he uses to say make every effort.
58:48: One reason that Paul wants him there is that Paul was closer to Timothy than any other person that he worked with.
58:54: Timothy was a tremendous compatriot and a fellow missionary.
59:00: Paul had probably led him to Christ. He repeatedly calls him my son in the faith. And so Paul wants him there.
59:08: And he certainly wants to just encourage Timothy and impart some final wisdom to him. We know that through this letter.
59:14: But Paul also wants him there so that he can also be encouraged. Even at this stage of his life the
59:20: 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?
59:34: 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.
59:46: 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.
59:53: You need to remember this, no matter who you are or what you are going through in this life
59:59: 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.
01:00:11: 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.
01:00:21: 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.
01:00:30: And the reason is found in verse 10. For, and there again Paul is very fond of this little preposition here.
01:00:37: Little words are very important in scripture. This one is called causal gar. It means because, come to me soon, because Demas, having loved this present age, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.
01:00:52: Crescens has gone to Galatia. Titus to Dalmatia. Meet Demas. Demas, a man whose name got inscripturated into the word of God forever.
01:01:03: Why? Because he did some great missionary feat? Or he preached a great sermon at some point in time?
01:01:10: No, not at all. Because he abandoned the apostle Paul. Okay? So this is a study not just in faithfulness but also a study in faithlessness as we are going to find out.
01:01:22: It moves from referencing the most faithful friend he had, his most faithful earthly friend in Timothy to this guy
01:01:30: Demas. One of the most unfaithful. Demas is first mentioned in scripture by Paul in Colossians 4 .14.
01:01:37: That was written during his first imprisonment there in Rome. And apparently at that point in time
01:01:42: Demas was a man who he could trust. And he was with Paul during that first imprisonment.
01:01:48: He says this in Colossians 4 .14, Luke the beloved physician sends you his greetings and also
01:01:54: Demas. So at least at that point in time he was there with Paul in a very cordial fellowship relationship.
01:02:02: 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.
01:02:11: But both references were made during Paul's first imprisonment in Rome. And remember things had changed.
01:02:17: This is Second Timothy probably written about seven years later. And even though it was still a
01:02:25: Roman imprisonment under Nero things had changed seven years later. And the reason
01:02:31: Paul gives for why Demas bugged out, he loved this present world.
01:02:38: 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 or was he a man who never really truly believed in Jesus Christ at all.
01:02:51: You read through the commentators and scholars and they are sort of mixed on this. But we do know this in 1
01:02:56: John 2 .15 the Apostle John said this Do not love the world nor the things in the world.
01:03:04: If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him.
01:03:10: So regardless of what his spiritual status was before the Lord his actions were not faithful.
01:03:16: 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.
01:03:25: And Paul says Demas in love with this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.
01:03:32: Crescens has gone to Galatia. Titus to Dalmatia. The language here indicates to many
01:03:38: Bible students that even though Demas left, bugged out deserted him.
01:03:46: The way he states Crescens has gone and Titus has gone to Dalmatia indicates that Paul probably sent them there.
01:03:53: 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.
01:04:06: Again Crescens very little is known about him. But he goes written down in history as one of Paul's faithful followers.
01:04:15: 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.
01:04:28: 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.
01:04:39: So again Paul had probably led Titus to faith in Jesus Christ. But we know he was a faithful, trustworthy mature
01:04:47: Christian. He had a particularly effective ministry in Corinth to the Corinthian Christians.
01:04:53: 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.
01:05:04: And Paul's reason for leaving Titus on the island of Crete? He says this in his letter to Titus for this reason
01:05:11: I left you in Crete that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.
01:05:19: So this man is a mature believer. A faithful, reliable worker in Jesus Christ.
01:05:25: 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.
01:05:37: Now in verse 11 Paul mentions two more men who were very different. He says in verse 11 only
01:05:43: Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you for he is useful to me for service.
01:05:51: Luke is mentioned only three other times in the New Testament. Even though Luke wrote more in the New Testament than anybody else including the
01:05:56: Apostle Paul. Luke acts as the largest body of literature written by any single person in the entire
01:06:02: New Testament. And very interesting Luke was also a Gentile. So we know that Timothy had a
01:06:09: Gentile background Titus was a Gentile and Luke was a Gentile. Well this just fits right? Because Paul is the
01:06:15: Apostle to the Gentiles. So these men would have been very useful for Paul.
01:06:21: In various letters Paul calls Luke the beloved physician in Colossians. And he also in Philemon says he's his fellow worker.
01:06:30: Luke was not only a physician and a co -worker with Paul he was also a tremendous historian.
01:06:36: We know that from his writings in Luke Acts. He was also an excellent theologian.
01:06:42: 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
01:06:53: 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.
01:07:01: Now Mark who is sometimes referred to as John Mark must have lived en route to Rome because Paul wants
01:07:08: Timothy to pick him up and bring him with you for he is useful to me for service.
01:07:15: Well Mark was from Jerusalem and it started out with Paul and Barnabas on that first missionary journey if you remember that.
01:07:22: But when they arrived in Perga in Pamphylia Mark left and went back to Jerusalem.
01:07:28: Years later when they were organizing the second missionary journey Barnabas wanted to take
01:07:34: 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.
01:07:42: But close to 20 years later when Paul wrote to the Colossian believers again from his first Roman imprisonment
01:07:50: Mark was with Paul and had been restored to fellowship and service.
01:07:55: Because in his closing remarks in that letter Paul said this, Aristarchus my fellow prisoner sends you his greetings and also
01:08:03: Mark the cousin of Barnabas about whom you received instructions if he comes to you welcome him.
01:08:11: 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.
01:08:21: And remember God also used Mark to write one of the four gospel accounts of the life of Jesus Christ.
01:08:28: 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
01:08:40: Savior. In verse 12 Paul mentions this man Tychicus he says but Tychicus I sent to Ephesus.
01:08:48: 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
01:08:59: Timothy as Timothy travels to Rome so that Tychicus can continue ministering to the church there in Ephesus.
01:09:07: This guy would have been an extremely faithful person to be entrusted with a copy of 2nd
01:09:15: 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
01:09:24: Ephesian Christians. Also he delivered Colossians to that congregation in the Lycus Valley.
01:09:31: And maybe he even delivered Titus letter to Titus on the island of Crete.
01:09:37: He's just a faithful, reliable man to be entrusted to make those journeys with the
01:09:44: Word of God. In verse 13 almost as an aside, almost as an afterthought,
01:09:50: Paul makes a request for his personal needs. When you come, bring the cloak which
01:09:55: I left at Troas with Carpus and the scrolls, especially the parchments.
01:10:02: Carpus only mentioned here. Nothing is known of this man outside of this reference.
01:10:08: 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.
01:10:20: A 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.
01:10:31: And so Paul would obviously need this and want this garment down in that cold dungeon before winter came.
01:10:39: He would have wanted that brought. And also what he calls biblios or books and especially the parchments.
01:10:47: 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.
01:11:05: In other words, Paul is saying, bring the books or writing materials. What I mean is the parchments.
01:11:11: Parchments would have been rare. They would have been hard to make and very expensive. They made them out of animal skins.
01:11:16: 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.
01:11:26: We don't know if Paul is asking for parchments that had scripture written on them. Some people think that.
01:11:31: We don't know that for sure from the text. Or were they blank parchments that he wanted to write letters on?
01:11:37: We don't know the case, but we do know that he wanted them there and he wanted Timothy to bring them.
01:11:44: 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
01:11:56: Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea became so severe, you couldn't travel by ship.
01:12:02: 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.
01:12:15: 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
01:12:23: AD. So Timothy just had a brief period of time before the storm set in to get to Paul in Rome.
01:12:31: And in verses 14 and 15 we see both the low point and the high point in our study of faithfulness.
01:12:40: On the low end of the spectrum of faithfulness, this man Alexander and at the very highest place of faithfulness the
01:12:48: Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says in 14 and 15 Alexander the coppersmith showed me much harm.
01:12:56: The Lord will award him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our words.
01:13:04: Like many of these names, they're common names. Different people have that same name. One of them,
01:13:09: Alexander defended Paul's preaching in Ephesus. That's recorded in Acts chapter 19. This is probably not that man.
01:13:15: 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
01:13:26: 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.
01:13:35: The specific identification of this Alexander as Alexander the coppersmith indicates that he's a different man.
01:13:43: 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.
01:13:52: A further detail is his sin against the Word of God. He says he opposed our message.
01:14:00: It indicates a particular enemy of not only Paul, which he was, but also of the
01:14:05: Gospel of Jesus Christ. When people oppose God's message and God's messengers, they are opposing
01:14:12: God. And that's always a fool's errand. And it never ends well for that person.
01:14:19: God knows his own sheep. He also knows who is opposing him.
01:14:24: And Paul simply commits the judgment of that person to God and to the future.
01:14:30: And he says the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.
01:14:35: So we have a strong contrast between the faithless Alexander and the absolutely faithful Lord.
01:14:42: 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.
01:14:57: One thing Paul does here and it's very important to look at compared to what goes on in our generation, Paul names names.
01:15:03: 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.
01:15:10: He also names the sin. He opposed our teaching, he says. And he leaves the judgment to God.
01:15:17: Very important. But Paul also does one more thing. He warns Timothy. He warns
01:15:23: Timothy. This is Paul the missionary, Paul the theologian, Paul the apostle, but this is also
01:15:29: Paul the pastor, the shepherd. All faithful pastors, all faithful shepherds warn the sheep about the wolves and they do it by name.
01:15:40: Very important to see. He's a dangerous man. Stay away from him. Some New Testament scholars believe that this
01:15:47: Alexander may have actually testified against Paul at his hearing, at his trial.
01:15:53: In fact, he may have done more than that because this particular word, and it's translated in the
01:15:58: Living Standard Bible as showed, he showed me much harm. The ESV says did me much harm.
01:16:05: It's known by linguists to be used in other contexts to inform against.
01:16:12: To inform against. In other words, Alexander the metal worker may have informed against Paul when
01:16:19: Paul came to Rome. Maybe even pointed him out to the Roman authorities. He would have known who he was.
01:16:25: 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.
01:16:35: One of the reasons that scholars think that is because the very next thing Paul talks about is his final trial.
01:16:43: 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.
01:16:54: May it not be counted against them. In the Roman justice system there were two hearings for the accused.
01:16:59: The first one in the Latin is prima actio. Prima actio, where the charges were made against the person.
01:17:06: The second hearing called secundo actio was where the guilt or innocence was determined.
01:17:12: 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.
01:17:25: But what about the Roman Christians? Ten years before when Paul wrote
01:17:30: Romans, that tremendous theological treatise, at the end of that letter he mentions a bunch of the
01:17:37: 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
01:17:45: Apostle Paul at his trial. And the language is very comprehensive. He says no one stood with me.
01:17:52: All deserted me. Well we may be able to understand why. There's tremendous persecution going on.
01:17:58: Maybe many of them had already been arrested, maybe executed, maybe they had fled Rome. But one thing is for certain, they weren't there when the
01:18:06: Apostle Paul needed them. Persecution will often separate the strong from the weak.
01:18:13: And often the real from the fake. And at least it will show forth the faithful from the unfaithful.
01:18:21: Nero had absolute power. Absolute power. But the guy was also a psychopathic, paranoid murderous monster.
01:18:31: 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.
01:18:43: You know, Nero, Caesar is Lord. Caesar is Lord. But also to point to Paul and try to carry on the persecution of Paul.
01:18:53: And remember Nero had been the Caesar in power seven years before when Paul wrote the Philippian Christians, right?
01:18:59: And at that time there was not that Christian persecution. But remember what Paul said at the end of that letter?
01:19:05: 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
01:19:15: Apostle Paul because people in his own household, maybe even some of the Praetorian guard who would have been guarding
01:19:21: Paul during that imprisonment had come to Christ and he understood Paul to be a real powerful influence for the cause of Christ.
01:19:30: The language is comprehensive. No one. All. Paul, always gracious, always forgiving, just like Stephen.
01:19:38: Remember how Stephen forgave the men who were stoning him to death? And don't forget in Acts chapter 7, Paul was right there.
01:19:44: He was right there. Maybe this is what influenced him. May it not be charged against them.
01:19:52: 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
01:20:08: Apostle Paul did. Verse 17 begins with a very contrastive term, but.
01:20:14: But. And once again it's a study in strong contrast. Even though people have abandoned
01:20:20: 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
01:20:32: Jewish guy and thought, look at him, he's all alone. Where's all your supporting people? Where are the other
01:20:38: Christians? He's all alone. The Apostle Paul understood he was not truly alone.
01:20:44: 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
01:20:53: Gentiles might hear and I was rescued from the lion's mouth. Paul's strength, his courage, his commitment to his
01:21:01: Savior and the Gospel, even the power to forgive was because he was relying completely on the ministry of the
01:21:07: Holy Spirit in his life. That first principle that he wrote to Timothy in the first chapter.
01:21:14: And the mention of being rescued from the lion's mouth, probably a reference to Satan. Probably a reference to Satan who wants him dead and out of the picture.
01:21:23: But Satan and his demons are not sovereign. Nero and all of his pagan followers are not sovereign over Paul's life.
01:21:32: The Lord Jesus Christ is the true king of this universe and Paul had trusted him since his conversion and knows he is in the sovereign living hands of his own
01:21:42: Savior. Paul knows the Mamertine prison is not his final stop. It may be his final earthly stop but not his final eternal stop.
01:21:54: So in verse 18, the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.
01:22:02: To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. For all who have turned from their sins and trusted in Jesus Christ as their
01:22:12: Lord and Savior, Christ will rescue you from every evil deed and bring you safely into his heavenly kingdom.
01:22:21: He'll not only rescue you from every evil deed. Don't you like Paul's honesty? This is evil. Paul doesn't mince words with what's going on.
01:22:28: He doesn't try to soft soap it or redefine it. This is truly evil.
01:22:33: But even though it's evil, God will rescue me from it. And that brings us to Roman Numeral 3, his final greetings.
01:22:40: You would think he would stop there, I mean with that doxology. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. But Paul's not done greeting people, right?
01:22:47: Paul's a people person. No matter what his personal situation, even at the end of his life, even being abandoned by all of his friends and coworkers, even under a death sentence,
01:22:58: Paul still is concerned about people. So what does he say in verse 19? Greet Prisca and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus.
01:23:08: We first hear of Priscilla and Aquila and Prisca is just a short form of that name, that woman's name.
01:23:14: We first meet them when Paul met them at Corinth on his second missionary journey. They had left Rome because of the persecution of Jews by that emperor and had traveled out of there and come to Corinth.
01:23:28: And they became traveling partners with the Apostle Paul. At some point came to faith in Jesus Christ.
01:23:34: Probably going to happen if you're hanging out with Paul, right? And what happened then they later did travel back to Rome we know because Paul greets them in the
01:23:43: Roman letter. But at some point after that they went from Rome to Ephesus. And so Paul knows they're in Ephesus with Timothy and he wants
01:23:53: Timothy to greet them. Greet Prisca and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus.
01:23:59: All we know of this man is what Paul mentions in the first chapter back in chapter 1 when he says may the
01:24:05: Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.
01:24:14: But when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me. May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the
01:24:21: Lord on that day and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.
01:24:28: It's thought by some New Testament commentators that the way Paul describes him in chapter 1 and of the double reference to his household, greet his household, that maybe
01:24:39: Onesiphorus had been arrested and martyred himself and that his household was just back in Ephesus.
01:24:45: Could be. We don't know that for sure. We do know that this man was a faithful man, not ashamed of Paul or his gospel.
01:24:53: In verse 20 he mentions a man named Erasmus. He says
01:24:59: Erasmus remained at Corinth and I left Trophimus who was ill at Miletus. The only place
01:25:05: Erasmus is mentioned other than this is two other places in the New Testament. But he was important enough to Paul to let
01:25:12: Timothy know his location. He left him in Corinth. And Trophimus who had traveled with Paul and is mentioned both in Acts chapter 20 and Acts chapter 21
01:25:22: Paul left him sick at Miletus. Miletus was close to Ephesus on the seacoast there.
01:25:28: And he didn't heal him since it seems kind of strange since clearly Paul was gifted with the apostolic signed gift of healing.
01:25:37: Now the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movement have a range of answers for this but really the simplest and most biblical answer is that as the
01:25:44: Apostles closed out their ministries and their lives and as more and more of the New Testament was being completed the signed gift of healing and other signed gifts were simply fading out of practice.
01:25:55: Make every effort he says in verse 21. Do your best.
01:26:03: Be diligent to come before winter. And then he mentions Eubulus sends greetings to you as do
01:26:11: Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers. Do your best to come to me but make sure you greet these people.
01:26:19: And very interesting here only one of those names is one of them is
01:26:25: Latin. Eubulus is a Greek name but the other three are Latin. So these very well could have been people in the Roman Church at the time.
01:26:32: And of course and all the brothers. All the brothers.
01:26:37: So there are still some Christian brothers around. One of the reasons Paul probably says this is because when
01:26:44: Timothy arrives Timothy is going to need some contacts right? In the city. And so Paul is probably saying this in order to give
01:26:51: Timothy some hope that there are still some Christians out there he can make contact with.
01:26:57: Claudia is also the feminine form of the name Claudius. So there's three men and one woman mentioned here.
01:27:03: The last group to greet Timothy all the brothers. There's some men here, some women here who still love
01:27:10: Jesus Christ. And again the grace and forgiveness of Paul are on display since none of these people, he's already said that all have deserted me, none of them were there.
01:27:21: None of these people stood with Paul at his trial. And this simply demonstrated
01:27:28: Paul's forgiveness and gave Timothy some contacts to come to. Fellowship is always important.
01:27:35: Fellowship is always important. And fellowship in times of persecution, in times of trial is vital.
01:27:42: As we arrive at Roman Numeral 4 and verse 22 we see Paul's final words to his beloved
01:27:48: Timothy and to the church in his final goodbye. The Lord be with your spirit grace be with you.
01:27:57: Paul began this letter by telling Timothy to rekindle the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his life, remember? And it's almost as if Paul just comes full circle to end his letter with a reference to Timothy's own spiritual needs here.
01:28:11: The Lord be with your spirit, grace be with all of you, and the you is plural.
01:28:18: Even that last word, Paul is spreading that greeting out to everybody who's there with Timothy in Ephesus.
01:28:27: Paul was a people person and though he's at the end of his life, his thoughts were predominantly with others.
01:28:34: And the one he thought of most, of course, was the Lord Jesus Christ. He is referenced in Paul's 13 letters, just with this term, the
01:28:42: Lord, okay? 295 times. That's not to mention the words Jesus or Christ or any combination of them.
01:28:49: In this last chapter, five times he's mentioned, just in this last chapter.
01:28:55: Verse 8, the Lord, the righteous judge, will reward Paul, he said. In verse 14, the
01:29:00: Lord, not Paul, will repay Alexander the coppersmith for his treachery. In verse 17, the
01:29:06: Lord stood by Paul and strengthened him when all had abandoned him. In verse 18, the
01:29:11: Lord will rescue him and deliver him into his heavenly kingdom. And in verse 22, his last words to Timothy is a prayer for the
01:29:19: Lord to be with your spirit and his grace to be with all of you. This last section reminds us that when all is said and done, the three things that really matter to a believer are the fellowship of our brothers and sisters in Christ, in other words, people, the ongoing presence of Christ our
01:29:40: Lord in our lives, and the reality of his grace we experience now and forever.
01:29:49: Amen? Let's pray. Father, we know that we are indebted to you and you alone for the abundant grace we have received through our
01:30:07: Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And Father, we are so grateful for the ministry of the
01:30:13: Apostle Paul, including this bittersweet last letter to Timothy and to the
01:30:18: Church. May we be faithful to what you have called each one of us to do.
01:30:25: And may we also, Father, like Paul, keep our eyes fixed on the goal and our great
01:30:33: God and Savior Jesus Christ who waits for us there. We ask these things in his name.
01:30:38: Amen. Great is thy faithfulness,
01:31:09: O God, my Father. There is no shadow of turning with thee.
01:31:21: Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not.
01:31:29: As thou hast been, thou forever will be.
01:31:35: Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness.
01:31:44: Morning by morning new mercies
01:31:50: I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
01:32:00: Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.
01:32:10: Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses from above join with all nature in that full witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
01:32:41: Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness.
01:32:49: Morning by morning new mercies
01:32:54: I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
01:33:05: Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.
01:33:15: Pardon for sin and the peace that entereth.
01:33:22: Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide.
01:33:30: Strength for today and pride hope for tomorrow.
01:33:38: Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside.
01:33:45: Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness.
01:33:53: Morning by morning new mercies
01:33:58: I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
01:34:09: Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.
01:34:17: For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our