2 Timothy - Part 6 — John Hunter

Paul’s Entrusted Deposit and the Good Thing Committed to Timothy

2 Timothy 1 verse 12. For the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 3 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. 4 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.

5 The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain. 6 But when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. 7 The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day.

8 And in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus thou knowest very well. 9 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 10 The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

We spent time on verses 12 and 13. And in verse 13 we noted that Paul is appealing that Timothy would hold fast an outline of truth, what Paul called sound words, which he had heard from Paul. And so he appeals to him that he would take note of the delineation of divine truth.

But in verse 14, he calls the same truth now, that good thing which was committed unto thee. He's not now drawing attention to how he outlined the truth, but he's drawing Timothy's attention to the fact that the truth has been committed to him.

And he says, Timothy, that good thing which was committed unto thee. And he's talking about the gospel and the whole truth of God. He calls it that good thing. Now, I'm not going to go into the different webs for good in your New Testament.

Enough to say that this word, this adjective here, good, is the word callous, which above the idea of good includes the idea of beautiful and attractive. He's indicating that the truth of God is something that is delightful.

Let me expand a little on the adjective, that good thing, that beautiful thing, that fair thing, that excellent thing, that worthy thing, that admirable thing. Or if I might be allowed to use an old good Scots word in Scotland, we would say that bonny thing.

The truth of God is beautiful. And yonder in Ephesus, there stood the temple of Diana where Timothy was. There was pagan worship with all its ugliness and with all its immorality. And in contrast to that, there was declared the beautiful, attractive, winsome truth of God.

If in verse 13, he calls it sound words, healthy words, that is healthy teaching that will produce healthy Christians. So in verse 14, he calls it beautiful truth because it's calculated to produce beautiful men and beautiful women.

You see, Christianity is that which is beautiful and the lives of God's people indicate the doctrine that they believe. Now you'll find this time and again. For instance, 1 Timothy 3 verse 1, an elder desires a good work.

It's a beautiful work. In 1 Timothy 4 verse 6, he talks to Timothy about being a good minister of Jesus Christ. The same idea of attractiveness and beauty. When you come to 2 Timothy 2 verse 3, endure hardness as a good soldier.

It's all got the idea of beauty, attractiveness, winsomeness, that which is worthy in every way of the truth of God, that beautiful thing which was committed unto thee. And he's looking upon it now as a casket of truth that has been handed to Timothy.

Now if you go back to verse 12, Paul says to Timothy, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep my deposit. Paul's about to leave the world and he's committing all the truth for Christ to look after.

But here in verse 14, it's Timothy that is committed to and it's expected that he, that good thing that was committed to thee. Now tomorrow night, I shall be reaching, I hope, down to verse 2 of chapter 2.

And I'll have quite a bit to say about the handing on of truth from one generation to another, committed from man to man, generation to generation. But I want you to notice what he says in the middle.

That good thing which was committed unto thee, keep, guard, by the Holy Spirit. Now we come now to the idea that Timothy was to defend the truth. He's looked upon as a defender of the faith. Now you will note please, that by this time, truth had become fixed.

That is, it had been made known. And he says, now Timothy, the truth that I taught you, you'll need to guard it, you'll need to defend it. You see, ideally every Christian should be a defender of the faith.

But it would primarily fall upon public men to defend it as they declare it, and in their declaration defend it. We are here to defend, first of all, truth that centers in the person of Christ. Now when you go home tonight, if you go into the middle of your Old Testament and turn to the song of Solomon, chapter 3, you will find there that the writer is speaking about 60 valiant, mighty men, who surround Solomon.

Every man has a sword, expert in war, and they are there to defend the person of Solomon against attack in the night. Have you got the idea? Men guarding, defending a person. Now in Christianity we are called upon to defend the person of Christ.

Constantly he is being attacked, not only from pulpits by men who profess to be his friends, but he is being attacked by enemies. And you know, the person of Christ is something that is very precious to us.

The Hypostatic Union and the Two Natures of Christ

I want to talk to you about this. You see, we know him as the Son of God, but the Lord Jesus became a real man. Have you got that? Now I want you to listen carefully now. Because there is a mystery about Christ's person that only God can fully understand.

And as I talk to you about Christ's person, I want to draw your attention please to what the scholars call hypostatic union. Now that might be a word completely unknown to you, but there's no reason why you shouldn't know about it, for you might meet it someday.

Hypostatic union. Now hypostatic union is the union of two complete natures in the person of Christ. Have you got that? That is, he is one person, but he has two complete natures. He possesses completely the nature of God.

On the other hand, he possesses totally and completely the nature of a man. So that you have united in the person of Christ the nature of God and the nature of true manhood. Now these two natures never co-mingle.

Got that? They are never confused. They are there separated, but existing in one person. He's totally God and yet he is totally man. Now I must confess to you tonight that I am not too happy with the expression that is used by many preachers concerning Christ.

They refer to him as the God man. Now I'm not happy about that. Now I'll tell you why. If you're preaching or teaching or speaking to people that don't know things too well and are not too instructed, they might think that when you talk about the God man, that Christ is part God and part man.

Half God and half man, and that's not true. He is totally and completely God and he is totally and completely man. And these two things never co-mingle at any time. Now you can appreciate this. Because of the limitations of our intelligence, at times we shall speak of him as doing certain things as God and doing other things as man.

For instance, you may have heard of that. And they'll talk about Christ as God muzzling the storm. And then they'll turn and they'll talk about Christ as man sleeping at the back of the boat. Or if you like, they'll talk about him as God raising Lazarus.

But as man at the grave of Lazarus, Jesus wept. Now, because of the limitations of our intelligence and our lack of apprehension, we possibly have got to speak like that. But that gives us no right to divide his person.

He is not two persons. He's one person. He's not two persons God and man. He's only one person. But he possesses two natures that are complete and total. The nature of God and the nature of man. Now, you may have one or two problems about that.

But that's why I said to you earlier that only God knows and understands fully the person of Christ. There's a mystery about him. I've been telling lots of the young folks all last week, when you come to Christianity, you're dealing with things that are miraculous and to a certain extent are mysterious.

That is, your intelligence will take you so far and after that faith has got to take over. You've got to believe what your Bible says, whether you fully understand it or not. For instance, one day the Lord Jesus spoke about his person.

Here's what he said. No man knoweth the father save the son and he to whomsoever the son shall reveal him. Now you've got that. He says no man knoweth the father except the son and he to whom the son shall reveal him.

Now that's good. Then he said this. No man knoweth the son but the father, period. He says no one can adequately, fully, perfectly, intelligently understand the son except the father. So great is the mystery of his person.

So unique is this divine person who has taken manhood and humanity into himself. That only God, the father, can fully understand the sacred mystery of his person. And you and I must learn to covet and be prepared to defend what men cannot understand, the wonder and glory of Christ's person, so that we're like the 60 men, courageous, valiant, mighty, with the sword of the word of God, prepared to defend the person of Christ.

Defending Christ’s Person and Sacrifice

Have a look at the Old Testament illustration. If you were to go home tonight and read Genesis 15, you would find that Abraham had laid out certain sacrifices. You've got that. And then birds of prey came down to attack.

And you are told that Abram drove them away. Now this is different. If in the song of Solomon, 60 men are defending a person in type illustration, the person of Christ, in Genesis 15, Abram is defending the sacrifice.

And we are called upon, not only to defend the person of Christ, but we are called upon to defend the sacrifice of Christ. It's under constant attack by men who will not submit to the fact that they are sinners and need a Savior, who will not admit to the fact of the sacrifice of Christ personally and the blood that he shed, which cleanses from all sin.

And constantly in our preaching, we declare and defend the sacrifice of Christ. Now he says, Timothy, listen, that good thing, which was committed unto thee, God, by the Holy Spirit. Ah, this is interesting.

That is, if you are going to defend the person of Christ, you must be a person who is being led and controlled by the Spirit of God. Got that? Now listen carefully. So that means this, that it calls for Spirit-filled men to teach divine truth, to guard the Word of God, and to defend the person of Christ and the sacrifice of Christ.

Notice, you'll guard it by the Holy Spirit. Now, when you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14, you are told that the natural man receiveth not the things of God. They are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Now what he's saying is this, that a natural man is a man who's not born again. And he doesn't understand these things that I'm speaking about, because they are only discerned by those who have or possess the Spirit of God.

Now this is great. Now listen again. Because, you know, we have failed our young people. Oh yes, quite convinced about that. That as elders and teachers, we have failed our young people. We send them to colleges and universities, but we fail to tell them that at these colleges and universities, they will come under the teaching of brilliant men, who will undermine their faith in God and in Christ and in the Bible.

But these brilliant men are unbelievers, so they don't know the first thing about it. The Bible says, the natural man receiveth not the things of God. They are spiritually discerned. And it matters not how clever he is, he just doesn't know.

And our young people should have been taught to pay absolutely no attention to them, because they are in the light, and these gentlemen are in the dark. Got that? You see, it's sad, but it's true, that Christianity is the only system where people are allowed to talk, who don't possess the capabilities.

That's right. The only area where people who don't know are allowed to talk. For instance, you look around you. In Christendom, all these religious organizations, they have men propagating what they believe, who are not born again.

And because they're not born again, they don't possess a gift from the ascended Christ. Yet you'll get them making all sorts of statements about Christian things. They just haven't a clue. Now, this is interesting.

You see, for instance, supposing your child was ill and needed an operation, who would you take the child to? Would you take them either to a surgeon or a butcher? They both use the knife. Oh, you say, I would take the child to the man with the qualifications.

That's right. And so when it comes to spiritual things, there are certain qualifications essential to teach divine truth. And the religious world is riddled with men, who from platform and pulpit, are giving their opinions on what they think.

And they just haven't a clue. So, he says, if you are going to guard it, Timothy, you have no power within yourself. Your power lies in the indwelling Holy Spirit, who has committed himself to take of the things of Christ and reveal them to us.

Now, you've got that. You see, even among Christians, as I said to you the other day, one of our big weaknesses is the fact that we've lots of folks amongst us who can talk. Big weakness that. They can talk.

And they get on to platforms and get on to their feet to talk. But we don't believe in an any-man ministry. We believe in the functioning of men who are gifted of God, to teach and to preach. So, it's not an any-man business at all.

It's a sacred function, limited by the disposition of gift by the ascended Christ. Timothy, guard the entrusted deposit by the power of the Holy Spirit. That's it. What we are needing is spirit-filled men.

But somehow, that question is never raised amongst us. Isn't that right? Even in the ordinary level, for instance. If you're looking around and feeling that you could do with a little help amongst the elders, and that the elders sit down and they're maybe talking about one or two brethren, whom they might think could help them in their excellent work, tell me, did anybody ever suggest at any time, well, the first thing is, the brother must be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Because others have gone to extreme, we've recoiled. It's too bad. With lots of believers, being filled with the Holy Spirit is looked upon as abnormal instead of normal. And when a man takes a platform to expound divine truth, he should be accepted fundamentally that he's a man who is spirit-filled.

Otherwise he'll damage the work of God. Now look again, now please, at the close of the verse. He says, that beautiful thing which was committed unto thee, guard by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in you.

No, which dwelleth in us. Now why does he put it like that? He's putting it like that for this reason. That he is indicating that while Timothy has to guard it by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit doesn't dwell in certain particular Christians who are gifted above others.

The Holy Spirit dwells in every Christian. Now please, let me prove to you now that that is true. That is, that the moment that you believe, you receive the Holy Spirit. Now turn with me, turn back please, to Galatians chapter 3.

Faith, Sonship, and the Indwelling Spirit

Now if you get a hold to this tonight, it will save you from Pentecostal error. Galatians chapter 3, verse 26. For ye are all, we should read, ye are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Now notice please, the moment that you believe and put your faith in Christ, you become a son of God.

We are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Not Jesus Christ. The other evening, I drew attention to the difference. That Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus refer to the same person, but the aspect of truth is different.

The emphasis always falls on the first word. Jesus Christ is the man who was here, who is now up there. That's why Peter will invariably talk about Jesus Christ, for he knew him down here before he went up there.

Paul will invariably talk of Christ Jesus, that's the man up there who was once down here. Because when Paul got converted, Christ was in the glory. And our union, our union is in Christ, not in Jesus.

In Christ. Your union is with the risen man. You have no links with Christ before the cross. None at all. Christians and the church are united to the man in the glory. Got that? Now, we have got it. The moment that you believe, you become a son of God.

Now into chapter 4 now please. Verse 4. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman made under law, to redeem them that were under law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your heart, crying, Abba Father. Now please come back to verse 5. Christ comes to redeem, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Now notice carefully please now. Careful. In your New Testament, adoption is always connected with sons, not with children. Now Ephesians 1 should read that. Predestinated not to the adoption of children, to the adoption of sons.

You see, the difference is this. That you are born into God's family as a child, but you are placed in God's family as a full-grown son. You see, when you speak of a child, you speak of origin and birth.

When you speak of a son, you speak of dignity and status. And so you have been adopted to redeem us, to redeem them that were under law, that we might receive sonship, the adoption of sons. Let me illustrate.

Supposing you are married and had no children, and you decided to adopt. So you adopted this baby boy, and he's brought into your family legally. You sign all the papers, and legally he's your son. Now right, he never was your child, never was born of you.

But legally, you look upon him as your child, but he's brought into your family as the status of a son. It's two different aspects of the same thing. What is taught is that you're born by you birthed into God's family as a child, but then in his sovereignty, he places you in his family as a full-grown son.

Now there's no question of growing from a child to a son. Both things are true. Ah, but notice now verse six. Because ye are sons, now you were sons the moment you were converted. And because now you are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father.

So God has now given you the very spirit of sonship. You see, if you adopted a boy into your family, while he never was born of you, neither could you ever give him your spirit. But when God brings you into his family, he gives you the status and dignity of a son, and then he gives you the very spirit of so that you can fully enjoy the relationship.

You can look up and say to God, Abba Father. Now notice again, verse six, that God sends the spirit of his son into your heart. You don't ask for it. He gives you it. Got that? Now you remember in nights past, I've kept telling you these things, that God does everything.

Your only link is faith. God does everything. Let me say this, never in the New Testament have you asked to go through an experience to get a blessing, not even the so-called second blessing. Never have you asked to go through an experience to get a blessing.

You get every blessing in Christ, Ephesians 1 verse 3. Then God says, now that's what I've made you, you be that. So all this idea of tarrying meetings, telling people to let themselves go to get the second blessing, and they'll speak in tongues, and the proof that you've got the spirit is that you'll speak in tongues, just a lot of nonsense, absolutely nothing in it.

Doctrinally it's wrong. God sends the spirit of his son into your heart the moment you become a son of God, and Galatians 3 verse 26 says you're a son of God the moment you put your faith in Christ. In fact, in fact, in the epistle to the Romans, you find this, that you're taught this, verse 9, if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his.

You can't be a Christian and not have the spirit of God. Is that clear? Now I hope I've made these things clear, and I'll need to sit down now, my time's up. Just the one verse tonight, sorry about that.

That beautiful thing which has been committed unto you, God, by the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in us. So Timothy, you'll receive the power and the strength to guard the truth of God by the Holy Spirit, but remember that Holy Spirit dwells in every believer.

It's not just a number of believers, and because some of this experience they've got the spirit and the rest have not. Oh no, we've all got the Holy Spirit, but he'll come to the aid of those whose business it is to declare and to defend the truth of God.

Thank you.