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

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You're listening to the expository preaching ministry of Kootenai Community Church, located in Kootenai, Idaho.

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We pray that Christ is exalted and your spirit is blessed by the teaching of God's Word. For more information about Kootenai Church, please visit us online at kootenaichurch .org.

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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.

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And we've seen in our brief study of 2 Timothy so far that this letter was written from the

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Mamertine prison in Rome, where Paul was under, he's being held there.

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It's not really a prison, it's simply basically a cell, almost a hole in the ground. And this great apostle

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Paul, who would be used by God to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem out into the

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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

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Athenian Greek philosopher or any of the religious

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Jewish authorities back in Jerusalem. He was writing this from this dark, cold, stinking dungeon, abandoned by his friends and coworkers, awaiting execution at the hands of the godless pagan

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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

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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.

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And when you boil down both 1 Timothy, written several years earlier, and this last communication to Timothy, we can see that Paul wants

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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.

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And the second one is the Word of God, the scriptures, the writings, the sacred writings, the

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God -breathed Word of God, as Paul said. In other words, how he handles his own spiritual life and how he handles the

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Word of God are to be priorities. And we saw in the first message, which I call spirit -empowered ministry, because in that passage,

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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.

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And that is to stir up or rekindle the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his life.

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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.

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This is an empire -wide persecution of Christians that is spread out of Rome and going all over the place.

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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

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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.

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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.

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He's coming to the end of his life. Time is getting close. He doesn't know when he's going to be executed.

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He knows that he will. But the Roman judicial system is ponderous, it's fickle.

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Anything can happen at any time. And it's really important for Timothy to stir up the ministry of the

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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

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Holy Spirit in the mind, in the heart, life of the believer in Jesus Christ.

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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

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Word of God. And that has to be empowered as well by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And then the second message, we looked at how

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Paul wants Timothy to preach and teach the Word of God. He wants him to very publicly, broadly teach and preach the

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Word of God, but it's also very important that Timothy find faithful men, you remember that from 2 Timothy 2.

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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.

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That was called how to safeguard the gospel. That's one of the ways that the gospel and the

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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.

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Very important priority for Timothy. And when Paul says safeguard its purity, he uses this word sound.

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You see this eight times just in the pastoral letters, which means that in those three letters written to just two men,

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Timothy and then Titus, eight times Paul is concerned about maintaining, guarding the sound or purity of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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And you remember we looked at that word hygienic in Greek. We get the word hygienic from this.

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It carries with it the concept of pure, clean or uncontaminated. It is a never -ending battle to be vigilant, to keep the gospel and the

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Word of God from becoming contaminated, from being altered. And Satan is very, very clever about how he does it.

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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.

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Last week in the third installment of 2 Timothy, we called it finishing strong in a race full of wicked runners.

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As Paul winds down this letter, he arrives in chapter four, and that priority, preach the

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Word. Very strong command force verb there for Timothy to preach the Word.

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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.

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When the secular or religious authorities, whoever they are and wherever they are, try to get the church to not teach or preach the

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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.

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As we zeroed in last time on verses six through eight, we saw

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Paul's very personal look, very personal look at his state, the state that he was in.

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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.

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He looked ahead with great joy, and he anticipated the reward he would receive, the righteous crown from the righteous judge,

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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

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Timothy 4, 9 through 22. Paul was a people person. He really was.

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Tremendous, brilliant theologian. And he's so well known for all of the very intricate, complex theology that he wrote throughout the

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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.

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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.

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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

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Lord, and do what Paul said, and just rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us. Our Father, we thank you for your word.

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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

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Lord Jesus Christ. And now, Father, as we look into your word, help us to understand what you would have us learn.

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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.

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Accomplish every purpose that you have in it, Father, and we will praise you in Jesus' name, amen.

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In verses 9 through 15, we have Paul's final instructions. And of course, the first person referenced here is the person this letter was written to.

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It would be Timothy. And Paul says in verse 9, do your best to come to me soon.

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Now one of the first observations we make in these 14 verses is that Paul begins and ends this section with the same statement.

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If you look down at verse 21, he says, do your best to come before winter.

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Up at the top, do your best to come to me soon, and then do your best to come before winter.

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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

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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.

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But Paul is just so passionate about Timothy being there. So Paul says twice, do your best.

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Some translations say make every effort or be diligent to come.

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This is one of the last imperatives, one of the last command force verbs that are found in 2

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Timothy. There are five of them in this passage, and two of them he uses to say make every effort.

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One reason that Paul wants him there is that Paul was closer to Timothy than any other person that he worked with.

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Timothy was a tremendous compatriot and a fellow missionary.

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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

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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.

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Even at this stage of his life, the Apostle Paul understands his need for Christian fellowship.

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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?

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One of Satan's great tricks is to isolate Christians off individually and then lie to them.

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That they're alone. That nobody cares. That they're suffering through whatever their issues are by themselves.

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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.

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You need to remember this. No matter who you are or what you are going through in this life,

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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.

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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.

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And since Timothy is his closest friend, two times he exhorts him to make every effort.

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Be diligent. Do your best to come to me soon. And the reason is found in verse 10.

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For, and there again, Paul is very fond of this little preposition here. Little words are very important in Scripture.

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This one is called kaazalgar. It means because, come to me soon, because Demas, having loved this present age, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

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Crescens has gone to Galatia. Titus to Dalmatia. Meet Demas. Demas, a man whose name got inscripturated into the

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Word of God forever. Why? Because he did some great missionary feat or he preached a great sermon at some point in time?

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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're going to find out.

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It moves from referencing the most faithful friend he had, his most faithful earthly friend in Timothy, to this guy

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Demas, one of the most unfaithful. Demas is first mentioned in Scripture by Paul in Colossians 4 .14.

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That was written during his first imprisonment there in Rome. And apparently at that point in time,

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Demas was a man who he could trust, and he was with Paul during that first imprisonment.

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He says this in Colossians 4 .14, Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings and also

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Demas. So at least at that point in time, he was there with Paul in a very cordial fellowship relationship.

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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.

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But both references were made during Paul's first imprisonment in Rome. And remember, things had changed.

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This is 2 Timothy probably written about seven years later. And even though there was still a

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Roman imprisonment under Nero, things had changed seven years later. And the reason

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Paul gives for why Demas bugged out, he loved this present world.

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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.

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You read through the commentators and scholars and they are sort of mixed on this. But we do know this in 1

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John 2 .15, the Apostle John said this. Do not love the world nor the things in the world.

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If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

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So regardless of what his spiritual status was before the Lord, his actions were not faithful.

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And two other men mentioned in verse 10 were faithful men, Crescent and Titus. Little is known about Crescent other than he went to Galatia.

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And Paul says, Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

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Crescent has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. The language here indicates to many

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Bible students that even though Demas left, bugged out, deserted him, the way he states

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Crescent has gone and Titus has gone to Dalmatia indicates that Paul probably sent them there.

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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.

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Again, Crescent, very little is known about him, but he goes written down in history as one of Paul's faithful followers.

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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.

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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.

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So again, Paul had probably led Titus to faith in Jesus Christ. But we know he was a faithful, trustworthy, mature

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Christian. He had a particularly effective ministry in Corinth to the Corinthian Christians and we know that he delivered the second

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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.

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And Paul's reason for leaving Titus on the island of Crete, he says this in his letter to Titus, for this reason

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I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.

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So this man is a mature believer, a faithful, reliable worker in Jesus Christ.

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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.

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Now in verse 11, Paul mentions two more men who were very different. He says in verse 11, only

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Luke is with me, pick up Mark and bring him with you for he is useful to me for service.

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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

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Apostle Paul. Luke acts as the largest body of literature written by any single person in the entire

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New Testament. And very interesting, Luke was also a Gentile. So we know that Timothy had a

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Gentile background, Titus was a Gentile, and Luke was a Gentile. Well, this just fits, right? Because Paul is the apostle to the

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Gentiles. So these men would have been very useful for Paul. In various letters,

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Paul calls Luke the beloved physician in Colossians. And he also, in Philemon, says he's his fellow worker.

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Luke was not only a physician and a co -worker with Paul, he was also a tremendous historian.

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We know that from his writings in Luke Acts. He was also an excellent theologian.

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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

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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.

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Now, Mark, who is sometimes referred to as John Mark, must have lived en route to Rome because Paul wants

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Timothy to pick him up and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.

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Well, Mark was from Jerusalem, and it started out with Paul and Barnabas on that first missionary journey, if you remember that.

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But when they arrived in Perga, in Pamphylia, Mark left and went back to Jerusalem.

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Years later, when they were organizing the second missionary journey, Barnabas wanted to take

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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.

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But close to 20 years later, when Paul wrote to the Colossian believers, again, from his first Roman imprisonment,

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Mark was with Paul and had been restored to fellowship and service.

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Because in his closing remarks in that letter, Paul said this, Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings, and also

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Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome him.

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Clearly, Mark had matured. He had grown into a useful and faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.

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And Paul had forgiven him and welcomed him back into service. And remember, God also used

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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

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Savior. In verse 12, Paul mentions this man, Tychicus. He says, but Tychicus I sent to Ephesus.

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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

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Timothy as Timothy travels to Rome so that Tychicus can continue ministering to the church there in Ephesus.

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This guy would have been an extremely faithful person to be entrusted with a copy of 2

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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

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Ephesian Christians. Also he delivered Colossians to that congregation in the Lycus Valley.

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And maybe he even delivered Titus' letter to Titus on the island of Crete.

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He's just a faithful, reliable man to be entrusted to make those journeys with the

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Word of God. In verse 13, almost as an aside, almost as an afterthought,

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Paul makes a request for his personal needs. When you come, bring the cloak which

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I left at Troas with Carpus and the scrolls, especially the parchments.

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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.

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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.

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And so Paul would obviously need this and want this garment down in that cold dungeon before winter came.

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He would have wanted that brought. And also what he calls biblios, or books, and especially the parchments.

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Now Paul's 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.

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In other words, Paul is saying, bring the books or writing materials. What I mean is the parchments.

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Parchments would have been rare. They would have been hard to make and very expensive. They made them out of animal skins.

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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.

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And very valuable, very expensive. We don't know if Paul is asking for parchments that had scripture written on them.

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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?

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We don't know the case, but we do know that he wanted them there and he wanted Timothy to bring them.

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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

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Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea became so severe, you couldn't travel by ship.

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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 when the days got shorter and the weather got worse.

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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

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AD. So Timothy just had a brief period of time before the storm set in to get to Paul in Rome.

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And in verses 14 and 15, we see both the low point and the high point in our study of faithfulness.

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On the low end of the spectrum of faithfulness, this man, Alexander, and at the very highest place of faithfulness, the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says in 14 and 15, Alexander the coppersmith showed me much harm.

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The Lord will award him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our words.

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Like many of these names, they're common names. Different people have that same name. One of them,

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Alexander, defended Paul's preaching in Ephesus. That's recorded in Acts chapter 19. This is probably not that man.

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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

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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.

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The specific identification of this Alexander as Alexander the coppersmith indicates that he's a different man.

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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.

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A further detail is his sin against the word of God. He says he opposed our message.

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It indicates a particular enemy of not only Paul, which he was, but also of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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When people oppose God's message and God's messengers, they are opposing

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God, and that's always a fool's errand, and it never ends well for that person.

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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

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Lord will repay him according to his deeds. So we have a strong contrast between the faithless

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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.

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One thing Paul does here, and it's very important to look at compared to what goes on in our generation,

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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.

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He also names the sin. He opposed our teaching, he says, and he leaves the judgment to God.

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Very important. But Paul also does one more thing. He warns Timothy. He warns

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Timothy. This is Paul the missionary, Paul the theologian, Paul the apostle, but this is also

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Paul the pastor, the shepherd. All faithful pastors, all faithful shepherds warn the sheep about the wolves, and they do it by name.

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Very important to see. He's a dangerous man. Stay away from him. Some New Testament scholars believe that this

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Alexander may have actually testified against Paul at his hearing, at his trial.

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In fact, he may have done more than that because this particular word, and it's translated in the

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Living Standard Bible as showed, he showed me much harm. The ESV says did me much harm.

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It's known by linguists to be used in other contexts to inform against, to inform against.

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In other words, Alexander the metal worker may have informed against Paul when Paul came to Rome, maybe even pointed him out to the

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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.

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One of the reasons that scholars think that is because the very next thing Paul talks about is his final trial.

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This is Roman numeral two in your outline, verses 16 through 18. He says, at my first defense, no one supported me, but all deserted me, may it not be counted against them.

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In the Roman justice system, there were two hearings for the accused. The first one in the Latin is prima actio, where the charges were made against the person.

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The second hearing called secundo actio was where the guilt or innocence was determined.

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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.

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But what about the Roman Christians? Ten years before, when Paul wrote

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Romans, that tremendous theological treatise, at the end of that letter, he mentions a bunch of the

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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

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Apostle Paul at his trial. And the language is very comprehensive. He says, no one stood with me, all deserted me.

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Well, we may be able to understand why. There's tremendous persecution going on. Maybe many of them had already been arrested, maybe executed.

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Maybe they had fled Rome. But one thing's for certain, they weren't there when the Apostle Paul needed them.

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Persecution will often separate the strong from the weak, and often the real from the fake.

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And at least it will show forth the faithful from the unfaithful. Nero had absolute power, absolute power.

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But the guy was also a psychopathic, paranoid, murderous monster. Paul was famous, and that that first defense, his prima actio, would have been crowded with anti -Christian citizens wanting to both show their allegiance to Nero, you know,

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Nero, Caesar is Lord, Caesar is Lord. But also to point to Paul and try to carry on the persecution of Paul.

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And remember, Nero had been the Caesar in power seven years before when Paul wrote the Philippian Christians, right?

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And at that time, there was not that Christian persecution. But remember what Paul said at the end of that letter?

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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

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Apostle Paul because people in his own household, maybe even some of the Praetorian guard who would have been guarding

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Paul during that imprisonment, had come to Christ, and he understood Paul to be a real powerful influence for the cause of Christ?

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The language is comprehensive. No one, all. Paul, always gracious, always forgiving, just like Stephen.

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Remember how Stephen forgave the men who were stoning him to death? And don't forget in Acts chapter 7, Paul was right there.

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He was right there. Maybe this is what influenced him. May it not be charged against them.

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As we saw last time, finishing strong includes not becoming angry or bitter at the injustices or betrayals that will happen.

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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

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Apostle Paul did. Verse 17 begins with a very contrastive term, but, but.

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And once again, it's a study in strong contrast. Even though people have abandoned Paul, even brothers and sisters in Christ, the

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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

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Jewish guy and thought, look at him, he's all alone. Where's all your supporting people? Where are the other

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Christians? He's all alone. The Apostle Paul understood he was not truly alone.

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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

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Gentiles might hear. And I was rescued from the lion's mouth. Paul's strength, his courage, his commitment to his

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Savior and the gospel, even the power to forgive was because he was relying completely on the ministry of the

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Holy Spirit in his life. That first principle that he wrote to Timothy in the first chapter.

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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.

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But Satan and his demons are not sovereign. Nero and all of his pagan followers are not sovereign over Paul's life.

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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

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Savior. Paul knows the Mamertine prison is not his final stop. It may be his final earthly stop, but not his final eternal stop.

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So in verse 18, the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.

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To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. For all who have turned from their sins and trusted in Jesus Christ as their

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Lord and Savior, Christ will rescue you from every evil deed and bring you safely into his heavenly kingdom.

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He'll not only rescue you from every evil deed, and don't you like Paul's honesty? This is evil. Paul doesn't mince words with what's going on.

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He doesn't try to soft soap it or redefine it. This is truly evil.

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But even though it's evil, God will rescue me from it. And that brings us to Roman numeral three, his final greetings.

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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.

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Right? 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,

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Paul still is concerned about people. So what does he say in verse 19? Greet Prisca and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus.

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We first hear of Priscilla and Aquila, and Prisca is just the short form of that name, that woman's name.

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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.

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And they became traveling partners with the Apostle Paul, at some point came to faith in Jesus Christ.

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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

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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

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Timothy to greet them. Greet Prisca and Aquila. And the household of Onesiphorus.

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All we know of this man is what Paul mentions in the first chapter, back in chapter one, when he says,

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May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.

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But when he arrived in Rome, he searched for me earnestly and found me. May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the

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Lord on that day, and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.

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It's thought by some New Testament commentators that the way Paul describes him in chapter one and of the double reference to his household, greet his household, that maybe

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Onesiphorus had been arrested and martyred himself, and that his household was just back in Ephesus.

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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.

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In verse 20, he mentions a man named Erasmus. He says,

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Erasmus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus.

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The only place Erasmus is mentioned, other than this, is two other places in the New Testament, but he was important enough to Paul to let

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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,

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Paul left him sick at Miletus. Miletus was close to Ephesus on the seacoast there. And he didn't heal him, since, seems kind of strange, since clearly

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Paul was gifted with the apostolic signed gift of healing. Now the

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Pentecostal and Charismatic movement have a range of answers for this, but really the simplest and most biblical answer is that as the apostles closed out their ministries and their lives, and as more and more of the

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New Testament was being completed, the signed gift of healing and other signed gifts were simply fading out of practice.

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Make every effort, he says in verse 21, do your best, be diligent to come before winter.

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And then he mentions, Ubilus sends greetings to you, as do Pudence and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers.

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Do your best to come to me, but make sure you greet these people. And very interesting here, only one of those names is, is one of them in Latin, Ubilus is a

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Greek name, but the other three are Latin. So these very well could have been people in the Roman church at the time.

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And of course, and all the brothers, all the brothers.

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So there are still some Christian brothers around. One of the reasons Paul probably says this is because when

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Timothy arrives, Timothy is going to need some contacts, right? In the city. And so Paul is probably saying this in order to give

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Timothy some hope that there are still some Christians out there he can make contact with.

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Claudia is also the feminine form of the name Claudius. So there's three men and one woman mentioned here.

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The last group to greet Timothy, all the brothers. There's some men here, some women here who still love

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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.

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None of these people stood with Paul at his trial. And this simply demonstrated

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Paul's forgiveness and gave Timothy some contacts to come to. Fellowship is always important.

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Fellowship is always important. And fellowship in times of persecution, in times of trial is vital.

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As we arrive at Roman numeral four and verse 22, we see Paul's final words to his beloved

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Timothy and to the church in his final goodbye. The Lord be with your spirit, grace be with you.

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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.

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The Lord be with your spirit, grace be with all of you.

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And the you is plural. Even that last word, Paul is spreading that greeting out to everybody who's there with Timothy in Ephesus.

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Paul was a people person. And though he's at the end of his life, his thoughts were predominantly with others.

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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

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Lord, 295 times. That's not to mention the words Jesus or Christ or any combination of them.

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In this last chapter, five times he's mentioned, just in this last chapter.

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Verse eight, the Lord, the righteous judge, will reward Paul, he said. In verse 14, the

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Lord, not Paul, will repay Alexander the coppersmith for his treachery. In verse 17, the

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Lord stood by Paul and strengthened him when all had abandoned him. In verse 18, the

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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

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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.

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In other words, people, the ongoing presence of Christ our Lord in our lives, and the reality of his grace we experience now and forever.

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Thank you for listening to the latest podcast from Kootenai Church. If you'd like to learn more about Kootenai Church or to donate to our church ministry, you can do so online by visiting kootenachurch .org.

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We hope you enjoyed this podcast and pray you'll join us again next time. Once again, thank you for listening.