Sunday Sermon: Share in Suffering for the Gospel (2 Timothy 1:8-18)

You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on this podcast we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a

New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe. In honor of the word of the

King would you please stand. Again, this is 2nd Timothy chapter one beginning in verse eight.

Hear the word of the Lord. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our

Lord and nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our savior

Christ Jesus who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel for which

I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do.

But I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phagellus and Hermogenes.

May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome, he searched for me earnestly and found me.

May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day.

And you well know all the service that he rendered at Ephesus. You may be seated as we pray.

Heavenly Father, as we come into this passage today, I pray that you show to us, you illuminate to us this statement here that Paul says to Timothy, that we should not be ashamed, but should share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.

It is not by our power that we are sustained in this faith that we believe, but it is by the power of God that we have come to know

Jesus Christ and will be sustained in Christ and will be delivered into his presence on that day that we stand before Christ.

May our reliance be fully upon you. And I pray that your favor would be upon us, that you would show us mercy to uphold us, to seal us by your

Holy Spirit for that great day of redemption. And may we continue boldly in the gospel, not ashamed for that which was proclaimed to us in Christ Jesus our

Lord. It is in his name that we pray, amen. It is believed that Polycarp was perhaps the last man who had ever known an apostle of Jesus Christ personally.

Polycarp, it was believed, was a disciple of the Apostle John. And Polycarp was murdered, or was martyred, murdered, yes, martyred for his faith when he was in his 80s.

He had been warned over and over again that he would be put to death if he did not renounce his faith, but he continued preaching the gospel to his dying day, even as he was tied to a stake and the match was lit that would burn him there.

God had prevented the flames from harming him, and so eventually he was stabbed when he was put to death.

But Polycarp was never ashamed of preaching the gospel of Christ. He had men who served him who were ashamed.

In fact, it was when the proconsul was coming to arrest Polycarp that they first seized a couple of the men who had been ministers with Polycarp and had tortured them to give up Polycarp's location, and those men relented and they gave in.

And church history would regard those men as being as Judas, who had given up and betrayed

Polycarp into the hands of his adversaries. When Polycarp was captured, he was told by the proconsul, take the oath and I will let you go.

All you must do is renounce Christ. And Polycarp answered, for 80 and six years,

I have been his servant and he has done me no wrong. And how can

I now blaspheme my king who has saved me?

Polycarp, who knows by these words he would be led to his death, and yet he continued to stand on the hope of the gospel that it is

Christ who has saved me. You can try to destroy my body, but Christ is the one who ultimately will deliver me up on that day.

In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus told his disciples, do not fear him who can destroy the body and then after that can't do anything to you.

But fear him who has the power not only to destroy the body, but even to destroy the soul in hell.

So do we fear man or do we fear God when it comes to our hope in the gospel?

That's what we will consider today as we come to 2nd Timothy chapter 1. The apostle Paul is of course in chains, in a dungeon pit even for the gospel that he has proclaimed, and there's not a whole lot of risk for us in our

American culture that by sharing the gospel we're probably going to be thrown in a hole somewhere. But even though it may not cost us our lives at the hands of the government, nonetheless how apprehensive do we tend to be to share our faith with others because we're worried as to what others may think of us, or what they may say, or how they may regard us.

So we must consider these things that Paul tells to Timothy that we may be strengthened and emboldened to share our faith with others and likewise not be ashamed of the testimony of our

Lord. As we look at this passage today, verses 8 through 18, it will break up in this particular way.

In verses 8 through 12, Paul will give Timothy what has essentially become our thesis statement of the book of 2nd

Timothy. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.

So do not be ashamed is this first instruction that we are given. And then secondly, in verses 13 and 14,

Paul will say, follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and the love that are in Christ Jesus.

Be by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit. And so that will be the next instructions we will see is guard the gospel.

Do not be ashamed of the gospel, secondly, guard the gospel. And then Paul is going to give an example for Timothy to follow.

Follow these examples, which we will read in verses 15 through 18. But again, we are reminded of what

I said in the beginning when we started our study of 2nd Timothy, of kind of the main purpose of this book.

Timothy, they're about to put me to death for preaching the gospel. And when they do, you must continue preaching the gospel until they kill you too.

We may not be put to death for our faith in the gospel, but may it be by God's mercy to us that we continue to preach the gospel to our dying day.

So let's come back to verse eight, where in this first portion, Paul tells

Timothy not to be ashamed, but to share in suffering for the gospel. Verse eight, once again, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our

Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.

Now, I want to point out something to you as we come into this section. Notice that at the start of it, Paul says, do not be ashamed, but share in suffering.

Now, notice toward the end, verse 12, which is why I suffer as I do, but I am not ashamed.

Notice that he says that again, kind of in reverse. And in between, Paul shares the gospel.

He says that God gave us this grace in Christ Jesus before the ages began and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our

Savior, Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

So leaving nothing to assumption, even as he is teaching his servant,

Timothy, about these things and encouraging him to be bold in the gospel, he reminds

Timothy once again what the gospel is, that good news which was proclaimed to us that you must hold to and also teach to others.

Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our

Lord. Romans 1 .16 is the thesis of that letter that Paul wrote to the

Romans. And it's that verse that says that I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe, to the

Jew first and also to the Greek. There was a Christian rap group, a Christian rap label a few years ago.

I don't know if it's still in existence or not, but it was called 116. And it was called that because of Romans 1 .16,

for I am not ashamed of the gospel. One of the artists of that particular label, Andy Mineo, was on Fox News.

And he was on Fox to sing his latest hit song. And he's wearing a hat that says 116 on it.

And the anchor invited him onto the program to sing his new song. He said, now 116 up here on your hat, what does that mean?

And Mineo said, well, that's my tribe. The guy said, well, yeah, right, 116, it's your label,

I get that. But what does it mean? And Mineo just simply repeated, he looked uncomfortable. He was jostling, kind of dancing back and forth on his feet.

And he said, well, it's my tribe. I was like, dude, everybody who's a fan of yours knows what that means.

It's Romans 1 .16. And here he was, clamming up and afraid to even quote the verse.

All he had to do was quote the verse. The anchor's probably not going to ask you to expound on it because you're under time constraints.

You've got to get to your song. But at least be able to say, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God for salvation.

We see churches today that are not even preaching hard truth but are choosing instead to entertain the masses by presenting all kinds of gimmicks and so on and so forth to attract people in.

And originally when this began within American evangelicalism several decades ago, the ambition was, you know, if we do something attractive that's going to get people in, we'll fill the seats, there will be butts in the pews, we'll have as many people here as we can fill this place up, and that's what we want.

If we can get them here, then we can share the gospel with them. But then they started to recognize something.

Once we get them here and we start telling them, you're sinners headed for hell, so repent and turn to Jesus Christ, what's happening?

Well, they don't want to hear that. So they turn around and they walk out. So how do we keep them here?

Well, we have to soften the message a little bit. So the intention in the beginning may have been good.

We want as many people to come as possible so that we can share with them the gospel. But then after a while seeing that once we make people uncomfortable, they're going to walk out the back door.

Well, I guess we're going to have to soften our gospel. And what does that demonstrate?

That they're ashamed of the gospel. And there's not even a lot of suffering that's going on there unless you're looking at your bank account and thinking, well, my bank account is suffering, so we need more people here that way

I can get more money. Maybe that's what they had reasoned in their hearts. But when we soften the message, when we are unwilling to tell a person that they have sinned against the holy

God, and because of that sin what they deserve is death, and their hearts are convicted so that the gospel now becomes good news, but God, who loved us, gave his son to die on the cross for our sins.

When we soften that message, when we think, just, you know, people don't even understand the word sin.

Well, then you have to explain it. When you start reasoning to yourself why you don't have to preach that message anymore, it demonstrates that you're actually ashamed of the gospel.

And it doesn't matter how good your intentions are. I don't want to turn anybody off.

I don't want to turn anybody away. You know, it's better that people are in here than out on the streets on a Sunday morning. I don't know. It might be better for them to be out there.

But you start to reason in your mind all these reasons why, and you might have good intentions behind it, but if you are withholding the gospel from those who really need to hear it, then you're really not loving at all.

If you'll remember in Matthew chapter 16, Jesus was with his disciples outside of Caesarea Philippi, and he asked his disciples, who do people say that I am?

And they said to him, well, some say you are Elijah, or one of the other prophets.

Some say you're even John the Baptist. And Jesus puts it on them, but who do you say that I am?

And Peter is the one who speaks up and says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.

And Peter, always ready to give that Sunday school answer, Jesus says to him, blessed are you,

Simon Bar -Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my

Father who is in heaven. And you are Peter, and on this rock

I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Just a few verses later,

Peter is being told by Jesus and the other disciples who are with him that Jesus is going to go into Jerusalem.

He's going to suffer. He's going to be arrested. He's going to be put to death. But he tells his disciples, don't fear, because I'm rising again on the third day.

He tells them that. And Peter pulls Jesus aside and rebukes him and says, far be it from you,

Lord. I will never let this happen to you. And Peter, who was just congratulated a few verses before for giving this wonderful, blessed gospel answer, his

Lord now says to him, get behind me, Satan, for you are not speaking with the mind of God, but with the mind of a man.

Peter had great intentions, didn't he? He just didn't want to see his

Lord go to death. I won't ever let this happen to you. We would say

Peter just loved his Lord. So what was so bad about that? If Peter had his way, you and I would not be saved.

So good intentions do not make the gospel powerful.

It is the power of God, by the power of God that we have been given the gospel, and it is by the power of God that we are sustained in the gospel.

Consider how Paul puts that when he says this to Timothy. Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our

Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by what?

By the power of God. And this goes right with what we had read at the end of the section last week where Paul said to Timothy, God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self -control.

And then demonstrating here an understanding that it is by the power of God we have come into this faith, and it is by the power of God that we are sustained in this faith.

He called us, he saved us, and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace.

It is by the power of God. In the next letter to Titus, Paul says the following in Titus 3, 3,

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

It is not by our works, it is by his grace. And Paul says to Timothy that he saved us and called us to a holy calling.

Now let me qualify that word us, that pronoun there. What does

Paul mean by us? Is he talking about all believers? Is he talking about those who go out and minister?

As I have spent more and more time in 2 Timothy, I have come to realize more and more that this is a truly pastoral letter.

And what do I mean by truly pastoral? Well, 1 Timothy, it was clear when we were reading there about the instructions that Paul was giving

Timothy that Paul intended for Timothy to give those instructions to the whole church. In 2

Timothy, Paul is really having a one -on -one with Timothy, but intending that Timothy would take those things that Paul has taught him and entrust them to other men, entrusting them to faithful men.

We're going to read about that next week in chapter 2, verse 2, where it says, You have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses what you have heard.

Entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. So it seems the instructions that come from Paul to Timothy in this letter, he means for him to teach to other men who are essentially going to be pastors.

So that's what I mean by this being a truly pastoral letter. There is not much, as much in 2

Timothy as there is in 1 Timothy about teaching the whole church something. So when

Paul says to Timothy, although we can certainly apply this to the whole church, but in its immediate context, when

Paul says that Christ saved us and called us to a holy calling, he is very specifically saying you and me.

God saved you, Timothy, and me, Paul. He has saved us and called us to a holy calling.

You and I very specifically have been called to this work. Now, as far as application goes, we can certainly broaden this out and say that each and every one of us, every one of us who has been saved by faith in Christ, we have been called to a holy calling.

Indeed, that's true. But specifically, as Paul is encouraging

Timothy here before Paul is about to die, he is excluding it here to just he and Timothy.

And this was not because of our works. We've done nothing great to earn this. But because of his own purpose and grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

Now, this is a very sovereign election sort of a presentation of the gospel here.

It's really not the point of the passage. But I know that it is very tempting for many preachers, especially of the

Reformed persuasion, to want to camp on this presentation of the gospel that's right in the middle of of what

Paul is telling Timothy here and want to talk about God's predestining us for salvation. And all of that is certainly true.

It's just not the focus of the passage. Paul is reminding Timothy of the gospel, but he doesn't mean to go on a long theological tangent of how

God had predestined us for salvation before the ages began. We can certainly draw that from the presentation.

But it's not the main point. In verse 10 it says, which has now been manifested through the appearing of our

Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

So God had predestined all of this before the ages began and even predestined you and I to this holy calling and it's only in these days in which we live that God has revealed what he was doing in his timing and has now been manifested through the appearing of our

Savior Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter 4 the apostles had been persecuted for the gospel that they had been proclaiming.

And when they had been released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

No longer preach in the name of Jesus Christ what Peter had said. You decide for yourselves what to do with us.

But as for us we cannot help but proclaim what we have seen and heard. In verse 24, when the others had heard it they lifted their voices together to God and said,

Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father

David your servant said by the Holy Spirit, why did the Gentiles rage and the people's plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the

Lord and against his anointed. For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant

Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the

Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant,

Jesus. Consider that, that God had predestined from before the world began.

This was in the very prayer of the apostles. God had appointed that Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the

Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, would do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

God predestined the death of Jesus Christ.

And if God had predestined the death of his own son, why do you sit there and say,

God would never predestine me to go through this trial that I'm going through. There is nothing happening in your life that God did not foreordain.

And do you trust him enough with it to know that he is ultimately working out something good for you, even in the midst of this trial that you are going through?

Romans 8, 28 is a verse that is so often overused, and I hate that it gets so overused, because in it is such a beautiful promise.

For those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

For those who love God, he is working all things together for your good.

The good and the bad that happens to you, he works together for your good. And what ultimately is that good that God is working all things toward?

Verse 29, those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.

It's to conform you to the image of Christ. Again, Paul to Timothy share in suffering for the gospel.

To conform you to Christ, that you would be made more like Jesus. And I love that Paul puts it as, he predestined to conform you to the image of Christ.

So if he has predestined you for salvation, he's also predestined you for sanctification. That you might be grown in holiness, which is the same statement that's made at the beginning of Ephesians 1 as well.

That we would be holy and blameless before him in love. And so once again, as Paul is saying these things here to Timothy, he is essentially saying in a broader sense though not specifically stated in these words, but he is here in this pit writing this letter by the foreordained plan of God.

And I am not ashamed of that. I've been persecuted for the gospel.

I am here in this hole. I am writing this letter to you and it's all by God's foreordained plan.

Because of this calling that he has called us to. And Paul considered it a blessing that he would suffer for the name of Christ.

Previously, as we read about in 1 Timothy chapter 1, he was an insolent opponent.

A blasphemer. One who persecuted the church of God. But God had mercy on him and made him part of the church of God and even would be an apostle to the

Gentiles. So Paul considers this a holy calling. A blessed thing that has been appointed to us.

It's all because of his own purpose and grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

It's only now been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel for which

I was appointed a preacher and apostle and a teacher. Again, Paul considered it a blessing to be called to this.

He is suffering but he considers it a blessing. In verse 12, this is why I suffer as I do but I am not ashamed for I know whom

I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

Again, the instruction as it's being given to Timothy, guard the gospel. Do not be ashamed, guard the gospel.

And once again, reminding Timothy that this ability to not be ashamed and to guard the gospel comes not by his own power but by the power of God.

Someone may ask of me, Gabe, how did I come into this faith? Was it because someone preached the gospel to me and I made a decision or was it because God foreordained it before the foundation of the world?

And my answer is yes. We all have a responsibility to respond to the word of God that is given to us.

Paul preached to the Areopagus in Acts chapter 17. God has commanded all people everywhere to repent.

And we're going to be held accountable on that day with regards to what we did with that message that was preached to us.

And as Paul will say in Romans 9, no one will be able to stand before God on that day and say, well, it's your fault

I didn't believe. No one will be able to blame God. You will still have to answer for what you did or did not do in obedience to the command and the calling of the

Lord Christ. But ultimately we know that the power that has come to us that has brought us to belief and the power that sustains us in this belief is not ours.

It's not of ourselves. But it is of the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

And so Paul says, I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

So he tells Timothy to guard the gospel. And he says, I know that it will be guarded by the power of God.

My friends, God does not need me. I am so blessed that he has called me to this service that I would be given this opportunity to be a pastor and preach the gospel of God.

It is a high honor for me. But he doesn't need me. If God forbid

I were to fall and come into grave sin and make myself disqualified for this position.

You know what God will do? He'll raise up somebody else to carry it on. His purpose that he had foreordained will be accomplished with or without me.

And so what a blessing it is that he would include me in this purpose.

And as we had considered when we were in 1 Timothy 3 he's called the whole church and has intended that the whole church would be a servant in this purpose.

In 1 Timothy 3 15 where Paul said that the church is a pillar and a buttress of the truth.

Meaning that God has appointed that the church would hold up the truth and even defend it from those who try to attack it.

This is part of God's foreordained plan. When I was a first a pastor and preaching through 1 and 2

Timothy to my church in Kansas there was a man one time who wrote on an offering envelope he wrote on the envelope, and I still have this envelope by the way,

I kept it. And I still have it in my possession. He wrote on the envelope, why do you need my donation when

God has already predestined who is going to heaven and who is going to hell? I don't know who it was that wrote that.

I had a pretty good idea, but I didn't know who it was that wrote it. But I stood in the pulpit the next Sunday and I said why do you need to be included in this call to share the gospel with others?

Because God commanded you to. That's why. Has he predestined? Absolutely.

Do you have to obey? Yes you do. And when you stand before him on that day you are going to be held accountable as to whether you were obedient to the call of God or not.

But Paul says that I'm convinced he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

And my friends, it's been entrusted to you as well. So this is the first section here where Paul says to guard the gospel.

In part two, in verses 13 to 14, he says follow the pattern. Look again at verse 13.

Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Once again, Paul is saying to Timothy that it is by the power of God that we have come into this and it is by his power that we are sustained in it.

By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. It's by his power and yet an instruction is still being given.

Guard the good deposit. So it's God's work but you still must obey.

I love the way that this is put side by side as well in Philippians chapter 2. In verse 12,

Paul says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

So once again, the question is it I that work out my own salvation with fear and trembling or is it God who works in me both to will and to work for his good pleasure?

Yes. Yes is the answer to that question. You have heard the instruction.

You have heard the command. You have heard the gospel. So be obedient in it but ultimately knowing that it is by the power of God that we have come into this belief and we will be sustained in it as well so that no one is walking through heaven's gates on that day thumping their chest and proclaiming their own glory.

Look what I did. You're in the wrong place if that's you. We will walk through heaven's gates proclaiming

God's glory and it was he who has done it from beginning to end.

You know oftentimes when there is an argument or a rebuttal against this approach this understanding to the predestined and foreordained plan of God which again is not just our reformed theology.

It's our reformed confession because it's in the Bible. Not because we wrote a confession that states it but because the

Bible states it. And every time you hear pushback on this you'll often hear well we're just robots then.

God just made us robots and we're just walking around doing whatever he has pre -programmed us to.

My first response to that is well Hebrews tells us that when Jesus became as one of us.

When he left his throne in heaven and was made like his brothers it's said in Hebrews. Was Jesus a robot?

And their answer will be well no of course not. I said okay then it's of no reformed position that we're robots.

If Jesus wasn't a robot we're not either. So that's number one. But number two if God were to have just pre -programmed me to believe whatever he wanted me to believe

I would just say praise God to that. Because I know my own thoughts and they're stupid.

I don't want more Gabe. I want more Christ. So if that's going to be the result praise

God. And if he pre -programmed me to praise God well praise God all the more. I personally don't have a problem with that.

It's not my position. It's not my belief but I just don't understand how that's supposed to be an insult. Praise God because he saved me.

There are those who will say well did God fore -ordain us for belief or did he just you know did he look into the future and he saw who was going to believe and so he picked them based on a future decision that they were going to make.

I said see you've taken you think that you're defending free will but you actually took away more free will with that statement.

If God looks into the future and he sees a decision that we're going to make and he chooses us based on a future decision that we make then we can't have made any other decision except the decision that he foresees us making.

So you still don't have free will as much as you want to try to argue for it. It's all of Christ and praise

God that it's all of Christ. For we hear it plainly in Romans 3 that there is none righteous and no one seeks for God.

You are saved not because you sought God but because he sought you and he will guard until that day what has been entrusted to us.

By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Finally Paul says verses 15 to 18 he says follow these examples. Now this is less an imperative we've had two imperatives thus far.

Do not be ashamed but share in suffering and then the second part follow the good pattern and guard the gospel and then lastly he says follow these examples more implied than explicitly stated.

Look at verse 15. You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me among whom are phagellists and homogenies.

And so first of all you have this contrast between don't follow these guys but follow the example that was given in Onesiphorus.

Phagellists and homogenies bad dudes. They abandoned me they will not be faithful to the cause.

They will have to stand before God on that day. But consider verse 16 may the

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

But when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me. And as I said in our introduction to 2nd

Timothy this is further evidence we have that Paul was probably in a hole somewhere not in a dungeon because Onesiphorus would have known where to go if he was in a jail cell.

But because we couldn't find where Paul was it was in one of these pits that prisoners were kept in and he searched throughout

Rome until finally he found where Paul was. He arrived in Rome and searched for me earnestly and found me.

Verse 18 May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day.

And you know well all the service that he rendered at Ephesus. And so consider previously where Paul had said in verse 12

I know in whom I have believed and I am convinced he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

And he uses that same phrasing with regard to Onesiphorus. That Onesiphorus is going to receive the same treasure and the reward.

May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day.

And so what we have here what has been presented by Paul to Timothy to not be ashamed of the gospel but to share in suffering.

That's number one. Number two follow the pattern of the sound words that you have been taught and guard the good deposit that has been entrusted to you.

And then number three don't follow these guys example but follow these examples.

So what are our applications here? Well I love imperative heavy sections like this because it makes the application easy.

What Paul has told Timothy you go do it. Where Paul says do not be ashamed but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.

Now as I said in the beginning my friends we're probably not going to find ourselves at the end of a rifle being told by our government that you must renounce

Christ or you will be put to death. As Polycarp was told all you have to do is revile

Christ and you won't be burned at the stake. And Polycarp's response again was for 86 years

I've been his servant and he's done me no wrong. How can I turn against him now? How can

I blaspheme my king who saved me? We have such wonderful freedoms and comforts here in this nation but how hesitant are we to just share the gospel with our neighbor?

John Calvin in his sermon on this section of 2nd Timothy Calvin understood persecution.

He understood real persecution in his day more persecution than I've ever faced and yet Calvin said the number one thing that is going to prevent us from sharing the gospel with somebody next to us is apprehension.

We're just afraid of what they're going to think of us and so it keeps us from sharing the good news of the gospel with somebody else and then we must search our hearts and recognize whom do we fear?

Do we fear God or do we fear man? We're afraid of man's opinion instead of fearing the judge of the universe and revering him and worshipping him and so just as Paul has instructed

Timothy here so we must be ready to suffer just a little bit a little ridicule from your neighbor and you might suffer more than that you might be ostracized by your neighbor.

There was a woman that my wife and I witnessed to over a decade ago who was a Mormon and she left her

Mormon faith and became a Christian for a time then after a few years she went back to it and sometime after as my wife and I were reflecting upon that and we were trying to see what was it that went wrong it was being ostracized by her family.

She was being cut off by her family probably even disowned in whatever lesser official sense of the term but that was just too much for her to bear and she ended up leaving the faith and going back to Mormonism because she couldn't stand being cut off from her family.

Some of us will have to make greater sacrifices than others when it comes to sharing the gospel but how many of us are not sharing it just because we fear just a little bit of ridicule?

Turn with me if you will over to 1 Peter chapter 4 1 Peter 4

Let's look at this one together. 1 Peter 4 beginning in verse 12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.

Verse 12 but rejoice insofar as you share

Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

If you share the gospel with somebody else and they hate you for it and they ridicule you for it guess what? You're blessed.

Jesus said the same in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and falsely accuse you on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, Jesus says for so they persecuted the prophets who went before you.

If you find yourself being hated and reviled for the gospel that you believe, rejoice because you are blessed.

Back to 2nd Timothy so that first application that we likewise would not be ashamed of the gospel but would be willing to share in suffering.

In the second part of that follow the pattern of the sound words and guard the good deposit that has been entrusted to you.

This is another way of stating what we had considered in 1st Timothy chapter 3 that the church is to be a pillar and a buttress of the truth.

And so as Paul is instructing Timothy here follow the sound doctrine that you've been taught and also guard it from those that would wish to malign it or those that would try to speak against it.

But you must also guard it in the sense that you continue to follow it. Don't try to within your own life morph the gospel into something that is going to be a little more receptive to other people so you soften it that way people don't ridicule you as much.

Be careful of that. Guard the gospel so that you continue to hold on to the sound doctrine and the sound words that you have been taught and even within yourself you don't try to change it into something else that becomes friendlier to other people.

You don't try to change it into something else that would allow you to satisfy the temptations of your flesh every once in a while.

I can go after this sin and that's okay because the gospel is actually this. Beware of that.

But follow the pattern that has been shown to you and guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

And lastly, you likewise follow good examples. As said in Hebrews chapter 13 verses 7 and 17, consider those who had taught you the faith and imitate their faith.

First Corinthians 11 Paul is saying to the Corinthians, imitate me because I am of Christ.

God has so wonderfully given to us, has blessed us with examples in the faith to follow.

And so look toward those sound men and women of the faith and follow their example.

It's why we have the breakout groups, why we have a men's group, why we have a women's group so that men will know who those more mature men are in the faith and help to build them up in their faith.

Women, you know who those more mature women are that you may grow in the faith that you imitate from them as well.

That's instruction Paul gives in Titus when we get to Titus in chapter 2. Older women teaching younger women, older men teaching younger men.

The model of discipleship that we have in the church. So we likewise have an obligation to look toward those who are more mature and imitate their faith.

This is one of the reasons why we as elders understand plurality eldership to be the biblical model of eldership in the church.

Because if it was just me, if it was just the pastor, who am I looking toward to help build me up?

But as we have this plurality of elders, I can look to my brother Chris and look to Alan and they likewise look to each other and look to me and we build each other up.

And so may we as elders even model that for our congregation. That you would also look to those who have matured in their faith that you may also mature in yours.

So once again those instructions given to Timothy are the same to be given to every one of us. Do not be ashamed but share in suffering for the gospel.

Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard and guard the good deposit that has been entrusted to you.

And beware of these bad examples but follow good examples that have been given to us in the faith.

I want to close with the lyrics of these of this hymn before we come to the

Lord's table this morning. I'll read the verses through and then I'll get to the chorus and you'll recognize the chorus from our passage this morning.

I know not why God's wondrous grace to me he hath made known, nor why unworthy

Christ in love redeemed me for his own. I know not how this saving faith to me he did impart, nor how believing in his word wrought peace within my heart.

I know not how the spirit moves convincing men of sin revealing

Jesus through the word creating faith in him. I know not what of good or ill may be reserved for me of weary ways or golden days before his face

I see. I know not when my Lord may come at night or noonday fair, nor if I walk the veil with him or meet him in the air, but I know whom

I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which

I've committed unto him against that day. Acts 14 .23

says that the apostles went with prayer and fasting committing them to the

Lord in whom they had believed and they said that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

We'll go through many trials before that day but it is by the power of God that we will be kept until that day.

... ... ...

... ... ...

... ...

... ... ... ... ...

... ...

This is when we understand the text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web and we thank you for selecting ours, but this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family.

Find a good gospel teaching Christ -centered church to worship with this weekend and join us again Monday for more

Bible study when we understand the text. ...