Sunday Sermon: Introduction to 2 Timothy (2 Timothy 1:1-2)

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.

The Greeting and Opening Prayer for 2 Timothy

Second Timothy chapter 1 verses 1 through 7. I'm reading from the English Standard Version. This is the Apostle Paul writing to his servant, Timothy. Hear the word of the Lord. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved child, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our Lord.

I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience. As I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwells first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

For God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power, and of love, and of self-control. You may be seated as we pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the study that we just finished in 1 Timothy, being reminded of what it means to be of the household of God, what our responsibilities are as a church.

And now, as we come into this book, and we think about, furthermore, our responsibilities as Christians in this world, how we go out into the world with this faith that we have, the boldness that we need to have in the face of opposition, the courage that we need to have to share the gospel with others, though they may hate us for it, but we share it because we know it is only this message that can save someone else.

I pray that you would strengthen our faith as we go through this book, that you would give us boldness and courage in these days to stand firmly on the truth, so that even if the culture opposes it, we stand with Christ, for we know it is only in Christ Jesus that our sins are forgiven, and we have the promise of everlasting life.

A solution to our death problem is found in Christ alone. Bless our study, and open our hearts to receive your word. It is in Jesus' name we pray, amen. You know, we as human beings tend to cling to the famous last words of the dying.

I don't think this is a cultural thing. I think this is universally across all cultures with all human beings. You can go on Amazon, and you can find books of people that have put together the famous last words of someone.

Some person's last words have been deeply profound and worth remembering and passing on to another generation. In 1776, before Nathan Hale was hung by the British for being a spy, he said, I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.

There are other words that have been deeply tragic. John Belushi, the famous Saturday Night Live comedian who died of a drug overdose at the age of 33, it is said that his final words were, don't leave me alone.

Other last words are ironic. While under fire by the Confederates, General John Sedgwick boldly said to his men, they couldn't hit an elephant at this distance. And then he was hit by a bullet and killed.

I've always been touched by the accounts of those who were able to address their loved ones with their dying words. Vince Lombardi, the famous football coach, as he was dying, he turned to his wife and said, happy anniversary.

I love you. And then he died. The late R .C. Sproul talked about his dad's last words to him. The last words he spoke to anyone, he said to R .C., son, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race.

I have kept the faith. And then he passed. His father's last words were Paul's last words. From 2 Timothy 4 .7. Now the book of 2 Timothy, it is indeed the last letter that we have from the apostle Paul.

They weren't exactly his dying words. Evidence even from the letter will suggest that Paul lived several more months after writing this. In fact, he probably even read or wrote other letters. And I am so very thankful to the Holy Spirit that he preserved this letter, that we would have 2 Timothy.

His time was near as he writes, the time of my departure has come in chapter 4 verse 6, as he was about to be martyred for preaching the gospel. So for all intents and purposes, these that we read here in 2 Timothy, these are Paul's famous last words.

The message of the letter is to tell Timothy to guard the gospel and persevere even in the face of suffering. As said in chapter 1 verse 8, join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.

So if we think of 1 Timothy, if we think of the main message of 1 Timothy being right there in the middle in chapter 3 verse 15, where Paul said, I write these things to you so that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is his church.

Then the main message for us here in 2 Timothy would be to hold fast to the message of our Lord God. Join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God. There's our key verse there in understanding 2 Timothy.

Dr. Votie Bauckham has summarized the central message of 2 Timothy this way. Timothy, they're about to kill me for preaching the gospel. When they do, keep preaching the gospel until they kill you too.

So as we explore this message further, and I would like to note as I said that, keep preaching the gospel. I had a lot of amens until I said, until they kill you too. You kind of died off there at the end.

But as we look at this together, our outline for this morning, we're going to consider the author and the recipient of the back and the background of the letter. The book of 2 Timothy is the second of three pastoral letters between 1 Timothy and Titus.

And as we consider those things about 2 Timothy at the very end, we also want to leave room for some application. So as we study this together, how are we going to apply it? How is this relevant to us even in our present time, in our modern age, even as you live in Southern Arizona?

What does the Holy Spirit have to say to us who live 2 ,000 years later with regards to these final words of the Apostle Paul? Now as I said, we continue a series in the pastoral epistles, 2 Timothy being the second book of those pastoral books.

This is four chapters. It is 83 verses, and it is just over 1 ,200 words long, which means if I were to read to you this book out loud, it would only take about 10 minutes. And you might say, that would be a good short sermon.

That would be all right. By comparison, the Sermon on the Mount is twice as long as 2 Timothy. And though the Sermon on the Mount is three chapters and 2 Timothy is four, the chapters in 2 Timothy are shorter.

The first couple of verses clearly identify for us who wrote this and to whom. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus to Timothy, my beloved child.

Now look at something regarding the structure of just those two verses. A lot of times we just kind of blow past the introduction and we think the meat of the letter is later on. But Paul always has something profound to say even in his introduction.

I want to highlight certain words for you. And if you're one who likes to underline, maybe these would be the words you would like to underline even in the introduction to this letter. So notice again in verse 1 that Paul says, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus.

You see that? And then at the end of verse 1, he says, by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus. And he says to Timothy, my beloved child, grace, mercy, and peace from God, the father and Christ Jesus, our Lord.

So catch those key words of Christ in Christ from God, the father and Christ Jesus, our Lord. So Paul recognizing that his ministry is of Christ in Christ from Christ, and he wishes these same things for Timothy, that he also would be of Christ in Christ from Christ.

And my friends, even though we're hearing this from an apostle to a pastor, yet it should be the same application for us as well, that we would desire these things that are of Christ, that are in Christ, that are from Christ.

The very faith that we have qualifies as that. You would not have faith if it were not of Christ, in Christ, and from Christ. And that sets a tone for the rest of this letter, that we would be bound up in Christ Jesus to receive the message that Paul has to share in his last words.

Timothy was, of course, not Paul's biological son, but he was a son in the faith. He is first mentioned in Acts 16 .1 as the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. We learn a little bit more about Timothy's backstory, even in this letter.

We saw it here in the introduction. Look at verse five. I am reminded of the genuine faith within you. Another way to read that, in fact, is the unhypocritical faith. This is a consistent faith that Timothy has.

And as Paul is writing this, this is not something in which he's going to be rebuking Timothy, but encouraging Timothy, is the very nature of this letter, hence why he would say, I know of your sincere faith, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am convinced is in you as well.

At the time Paul was writing this, Timothy was a pastor of the church in Ephesus, as he also was when we were in 1 Timothy. Paul would have been in prison in Rome, and this is considered to be his second imprisonment.

His first was when he wrote the letters of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, as Pastor Allen had taught from in Sunday school today, also the letter to Philemon. These would have been the letters that Paul wrote during his first imprisonment while he was under house arrest, and we see that scenario at the end of the book of Acts.

This imprisonment, when he's writing this letter, is probably a lot less comfortable. So whereas his first imprisonment he was under house arrest, he could live in his own home, he was chained to a praetorian guard, he couldn't go anywhere, but anybody could come to him and he would preach to them as a church would basically gather there in his house in the capital city of the Roman Empire.

But here in this instance, Paul is not in that kind of environment anymore. He's in a jail cell, probably chained in stocks, like he's got chains on his feet that are chained to the wall. He can't even walk around in his own cell.

It may even be that the conditions were worse than that, because some Roman prisons were just a hole in the ground, and a prisoner would be lowered into that hole and chained to the hole and that would be it.

And they would probably stay there until they died or would be taken out to be martyred. And there would be other prisoners that would be there in that hole along with the Apostle Paul. And there would be people that could go to him and could visit him there, certainly, but it's a lot less great an environment than when he was in his own home.

So it's not like Paul is gathering a church to himself. As a matter of fact, we're going to see toward the end of this letter that in that situation, Paul was abandoned by a lot of his friends. They didn't want to be there.

They didn't want to hang out with a guy in his hole. And so Paul is in a pretty rough situation. But yet look at the way that we start this letter in verse three, I thank God whom I serve. And Paul is still grateful to the Lord for his circumstance and the calling that he had been given in Christ, even though he was in such a horrible situation as he found himself in now, thrown in prison for preaching the gospel.

Now the book of Acts ends in about AD 62 or 63. And since 2 Timothy was written shortly before Paul's death, that means it would be dated no later than the year 67. We have very little information about Paul's ministry in those four years.

Most of it comes from church tradition, although we have some hints given to us from scripture as well. In Romans 15, beginning in verse 23, Paul says this, I have had for many years a longing to come to you whenever I go to Spain, for I hope passing through to see you and to be helped on my way there by you when I have first enjoyed your company for a little while.

Then in verse 28, he goes on to say, I will go on by way of you to Spain. Paul first returned to Jerusalem and that's where he was arrested and put on a ship for Rome. And that's how we end the book of Acts, as I mentioned, with Paul under house arrest in Rome.

In his letter to the Philippians, which was written during that time of imprisonment, he talked about whether he should go and die and be with the Lord or remain for their benefit. In chapter one, verse 25, he says, convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and your joy in the faith.

So it wasn't in that imprisonment that he was martyred. In fact, Acts 28 30 says, he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him. So the implication is, even according to Luke, that Paul did not die in that first imprisonment.

He was held for two years and then he was released. Beyond that, we have no biblical account of that, that Paul made it to Spain, but we do have some extra biblical evidence. Clement of Rome, one of the early church fathers, said that Paul had reached the furthest limits of the West.

The Muratorian canon, about 80 years after Clement, said that Luke, in writing the book of Acts, omitted the martyrdom of Peter, as well as the departure of Paul from the city of Rome when he journeyed to Spain.

So church tradition maintains that Paul did make it as far West as Spain. And then it was perhaps as he was traveling back East, that he was arrested again and imprisoned in Rome a second time. And at the end of that time, he was executed, probably under the reign of Nero.

So it's during that second imprisonment that he wrote this letter, under persecution for the gospel of Christ, which Timothy witnessed in Paul's ministry, Paul encouraged Timothy to guard the gospel and to share in suffering.

So that is our main theme for this letter, guarding the gospel and sharing in suffering. So having considered the author and the recipient of this letter, and the background for the letter, let's consider next the occasion for the letter and some of the themes that we will see as we go through the letter together.

What does a man on death row for preaching the gospel have to say to his son in the faith? As Paul wants him to continue preaching the gospel with all boldness, it could be that Paul wanted to write one last letter to Timothy and encourage him, strengthening him in his role as a preacher.

So we have here nothing but positive. That's really what Paul intends here. I know that Timothy's a strong young man in the faith. I just want to write one last letter to him and encourage him in those things that I know he's already doing well.

But it could also be that Paul was concerned about Timothy's steadfastness in the mission. And I've heard this presented both ways. So I've heard some preachers that will say, you know, Timothy was kind of struggling.

So Paul was writing him a letter like, come on, Timothy, you got to hold fast. You got to continue strong, finish the race. I'm finishing the race. You've got to finish the race strong as well. Could be that that was Paul's motivation.

And it could be that, again, Timothy already was a strong, bold man in the faith. And Paul is just meaning to encourage him all the more. I don't think that we can definitively settle on either approach.

But we can consider that Paul was motivated in one of these two ways, either to just encourage an already strong young man or encourage a young man that was starting to weaken a little bit that he might become all the more bold in this commission that he's been given.

So in verses six through eight, Paul says, for this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has given us not a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self-control.

Going on to verse eight. 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. And again, that could just be because Paul wants to encourage Timothy.

In Philippians 3 .1, Paul wrote, finally, brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble for me. And it's a safeguard for you. That could have been his same motivation for writing to Timothy.

I'm telling you stuff I've already told you. And it's no trouble for you to hear this again. It's a safeguard for you. And it's a joy to me to write these things to you. Or it could have been that he was concerned that Timothy was in danger of becoming spiritually weak.

Maybe Timothy was becoming like those people that the Philippians were troubled by. There were certain preachers that once Paul had been arrested and thrown in jail, those preachers were going, well, I don't want to be associated with Paul because I might get arrested too and thrown in jail for preaching the gospel like he was.

And there were others that were even competitive with Paul. They were trying to say, if he's thrown in jail, must have been for a legitimate reason. So we're not with Paul. We have a cleaner record than Paul does.

So don't think that we're the criminals like Paul is. And maybe Timothy in his own way may have been troubled in his spirit thinking my mentor has preached the gospel and now he's been thrown in a hole.

I don't want to be thrown in a hole for preaching the gospel. So maybe Timothy's starting to rethink some things himself. And so Paul encourages Timothy to be strong in the truth. Verses 13 and 14. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me and the faith and the love that are in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

Guard the good deposit that has been entrusted to you. He tells Timothy to be strengthened. Chapter two, verse one. You then my child be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And he also tells Timothy to preach the word.

Verse two, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. As John MacArthur notes, quote, these final words to Timothy include few commendations, but many admonitions, including 25 imperatives, unquote.

That's 25 instructions or commands that this teacher has for his student. MacArthur continues, quote, since Timothy was well-versed in Paul's theology, the apostle did not instruct him further in doctrine.

He did, however, allude to several important doctrines, including salvation by God's sovereign grace. Chapter one, verse nine. Chapter two, verse 10. The person of Christ. Chapter four, verse one and eight.

And perseverance, unquote. Like Paul's previous letter to Timothy, he makes references to creeds or confessions that Timothy would have learned and were common in the church in the first century. In 2 Timothy 2, 11 to 13, he said, it is a trustworthy saying.

For if we died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. And so as we consider these things, as we go through 2 Timothy together, here are seven main themes that we will find.

Now, these seven themes are made up of six imperatives and then one final word of assurance. So seven themes, which are six imperatives and a final word of assurance. So number one, here's the first theme that we will find in 2 Timothy.

Sound Doctrine and the Warning Against False Teachers

Be sound in doctrine. We heard that instruction in 1 Timothy, did we not? We see it again in 2 Timothy. Be sound in doctrine. Timothy was to hold fast to the true word that he had been taught from childhood and had also learned and developed all the more from the apostle Paul.

One of the most famous verses in 2 Timothy is chapter 3, verses 16 to 17. All scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. That the man of God, remember that in 1 Timothy, Paul called Timothy a man of God.

He's the only person in the New Testament that is called man of God. And here, Paul uses that phrase again, that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work. Timothy was also to pass on this sound teaching to other faithful men, that the work of God would continue from one generation to the next.

In chapter 2, verse 2, Paul says, and the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these things to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. In chapter 2, verse 14, Paul says, remind them of these things.

Remind them, talking about those faithful men that have been entrusted with these doctrines, solemnly charging them in the presence of God, not to dispute about words which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.

So, our first theme that we'll be finding here in 2 Timothy is be sound in doctrine. Second theme, avoid error and false teachers. Remember that contrast that we saw in 1 Timothy, be sound in doctrine, avoid false teachers.

We're going to see that same contrast come up in 2 Timothy. There is a constant back and forth through the letter with Paul encouraging sound teaching and then warning against false teachers, sometimes calling them out by name.

In chapter 1, verse 15, Paul says, you are aware of this, that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are phagellists and hermogenies. In chapter 4, verse 14, he says, Alexander the coppersmith showed me much harm.

The Lord will reward him according to his deeds. And I love that reference because it's like, hey, you know, Alexander, not the guy that lives down there, not that guy, the coppersmith. You know where his shop is over there on Pinal in Casa Grande?

You know that guy? Yeah, watch out for that guy. Don't have anything to do with him. Jesus confronted the Pharisees to their faces in the midst of a crowd of people. There are strong themes of calling out false teachers, especially here in 2 Timothy.

By keeping his doctrine pure, Timothy was also to keep himself pure, walking in holiness and not wandering from the truth into sin. That's where false teaching takes you. It takes you away from the pursuit of holiness in Christ.

It takes you into more and more godlessness. We saw that even at the end of 1 Timothy. So this is a theme that is shared between 1 and 2 Timothy. Sound doctrine leads to godliness. False doctrine leads to ungodliness.

So our first two themes, be sound in doctrine and avoid error and false teachers. A third theme that we will see throughout this letter, follow the example that you've been given. Paul not only names the names of false teachers, but he also gives the names of godly examples.

Go down in chapter 1 where he mentions phagellus and homogenies. Look at verse 15. You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are phagellus and homogenies. 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 until he found me. That's one of the hints that we have that Paul was probably not in a jail cell.

He was probably thrown in a hole because they couldn't find him. Where is it that Paul has been thrown? Onesiphorus actually made the effort to go throughout Rome until he found where the apostle Paul had been kept.

He was not ashamed of my chains. Verse 18. May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. And you well know all the service that he rendered to me at Ephesus. So right after we have this calling out of a false pair of teachers, phagellus and homogenies, Paul turns around and says, God bless Onesiphorus.

So we have good, solid examples that Paul presents before Timothy. At the conclusion of the letter, there are references to numerous saints. Paul will mention those who wandered away from the faith, like Demas, for example.

But most of all, Timothy has been given an example to follow in the apostle Paul. Chapter one, verse 13. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me. And also chapter three, verse 10.

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, and even, verse 11, my persecutions and sufferings. So Paul sets himself even as an example for Timothy to follow.

And this is not in any way arrogant, because this is a guy riding from a hole in the ground. He's not boasting in himself, but encouraging Timothy to follow the good examples of those sound teachers that have been set before him.

A fourth theme that we will find in 2 Timothy is the encouragement to persevere in the midst of hardship. Timothy was to be ready to suffer persecution and all other kinds of trials. In chapter three, verse 12, Paul says, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Underline that verse. Memorize it. Be reminded of it. You will be hated just because you want to live a godly life. You don't have to go downtown and stand on a box and preach the gospel. You just want to live an ethical, godly life.

And because you won't fall in line with the world, they will hate you for that. And Paul says, just by desiring to live a godly life, you'll be persecuted. Sometimes he might even find himself deserted by those he thought were his friends, as Paul had been.

In chapter four, he mentions that Demas, in love with this world, deserted him and went back to Thessalonica. He says in verse 16 of chapter four, at my first defense, no one supported me, but all deserted me.

Yet, he graciously adds, may it not be counted against them. Giving Timothy another example to follow. And I am reminded of the words of our Lord Christ. We'll consider this when we get there to chapter four.

But what did Jesus pray from the cross? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. This is, after all, how Jesus responded when his own disciples deserted him when he was arrested. Christ didn't, on the cross, say, well, this mission is over.

All of my disciples ran away when I was hanging on this cross. In fact, after Jesus rose from the dead, he comes back to Peter and asks him three times, Peter, do you love me? After Peter denied him three times.

As we've seen the same diligence and love and mercy that has come from our Lord Christ, so Paul follows that example and sets that example before Timothy as well. We must be gracious and willing to forgive one another.

And this is part of persevering in the midst of hardship. Number five, a fifth theme that we will see here in this letter, Paul encourages Timothy to be a good soldier, a good athlete, and a good farmer.

Like these are themes that we see that come up in the letter and they are repeated throughout 2 Timothy. Paul introduces these metaphors in chapter two, but elements of each example occur throughout the letter.

Chapter two, verses three through six, Paul says, suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

Also, if anyone competes as an athlete, Paul says, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. And through these metaphors, we recognize that the soldier represents duty, the runner, self-discipline, and the farmer, patience.

When Paul says in chapter two, verse 14, charge them before God not to quarrel about words. Well, that sounds like a soldier giving orders and is not to be entangled in the affairs of everyday life. When Paul says in chapter two, verse 22, flee youthful passions.

That sounds like a runner who's supposed to run far away, right? When Paul says in chapter four, verse two, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. That is the daily work of a farmer. Farmers are farming in season and out of season.

Doesn't matter whether your crop is in season, a farmer still has work to do. And at the end of the letter, Paul repeats those themes again when he says, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

We see the themes of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer. A sixth theme that we will see throughout this letter, Paul will encourage Timothy, he will instruct Timothy, preach the gospel without ceasing.

No matter what happens, Timothy was to continue preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Another way of understanding this is that Timothy needed to fulfill the requirements of his office as a pastor. Back to chapter four, verse two again, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season.

Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with great patience and teaching. As I've heard Steve Lawson explain this, be ready in season and out of season. It's another way of saying 24 -7, 365. All the time, you need to be ready to preach the word.