Guarding the Truth - 2 Timothy 1:8-13
Notes
Transcript
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the 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 dwelt 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 love and self-control.
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,
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 Phygelus 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 he rendered at Ephesus.
Introduction
Introduction
As we have gone through the years as a church, we have studied the writing of Paul often.
At this time, we are going through the book of Romans in Sunday School, which Pastor Philip has preached through before, and the book of Ephesians is what Philip has began to go through just a few weeks ago.
We have been through Philippians and Colossians. Philip has gone through Acts which chronicles the ministry of Paul through his time of imprisonment in much detail.
Paul’s works and ministry are central in the New Testament, and vital to the beginning of the Christian church in the time after Christ’s first advent.
Paul was called by God in a very unique way, and Paul was a very unique man.
All of the other apostles had walked with Christ when He was here on earth, but Paul was called directly by Christ when he was opposing the church.
Paul was a very dedicated man, and he focused that dedication and hard work on the calling that Jesus had given to him as an apostle.
Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
And so we come to the second letter to Timothy that Paul had wrote and we find that his dedication to the truth, even in front of rulers, had landed him in prison, awaiting trial by Caesar.
He believes that the end of his life is near, so he writes this to Timothy as a kind of last will and testimony, a way to pass the torch to others.
He does this by bearing his heart for the ministry, the truth, and the One who gave him his ministry and truth.
He is writing this to a man named Timothy, and through inspiration to all those who would come after him.
Timothy was a man that Paul loved.
He was a part of Paul’s inner circle, who worked with Paul in ministry.
He was mentioned by Paul in several letters and had several important duties that Paul gave him.
In other words, he was a trustworthy man and vital to the spread of the gospel and building of the church in the gentile world.
Paul loved Timothy and saw him as a son in the faith.
Paul watched him grow in the Lord, and even though Timothy was a young man, Paul saw his faith as sincere.
I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.
Paul sees the beginning of the truth that was past on to Timothy from his grandmother and mother, growing in Timothy into a real faith, able to withstand hardship and false teaching that he will face in the future.
And in Timothy he sees that this faith and heart for ministry is enough to pass the baton to.
But in his two letters to Timothy, he wants to really get across how important it is to continue to hold to sound doctrine and truth.
He says at the end of his first letter…
O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,”
And his says it again in our passage today…
By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
And what is this good deposit?
It is what was mentioned in verse 12.
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.
It is the gospel, its truth and its ministry.
Christ came to Paul with the gospel on that road to Damascus, Paul took that gospel and ran.
He gave it to whoever God had given to him to give it, always trusting that it would be the power of God to salvation, never something in itself.
He spent his life fighting for its simple grace against those who wanted to add to it works, against those who wanted to take away from it necessity, and against those who would confuse it with other philosophies.
And no because of this gospel, he finds himself in prison and about to die for it.
So here in the end he wants Timothy to have the same boldness and faith in this simple truth, that God saves unworthy sinners by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
And this call to Timothy was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the hand of Paul, and given to us that we should listen as well.
God is calling us in the same way, no matter how timid we are, what our age is, or our background, to hold on to this gospel with our lives.
He is showing us that…
Every Believer Must Guard What Has Been Given to Us in Christ
Every Believer Must Guard What Has Been Given to Us in Christ
By Not Being Ashamed of The Gospel v.8-12a
By Not Being Ashamed of The Gospel v.8-12a
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,
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.
That Paul was not ashamed of the testimony of the Lord was clear by the way he lived his life.
He stood before courts and kings with the truth that Christ had saved him with.
He wrote in the first chapter of Romans
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
There is no real power to save outside of the truth of what God has done through Christ.
He said in verse 7 of this chapter
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Many say that Timothy may have had a timid personality, because of all the times Paul encourages him to not be afraid.
Whether this is the case of not, if we understand the truth correctly, it will cause us not to fear.
The very understanding of the truth itself is empowering.
This truth that reality is God’s is what empowers Paul.
The reality that there is a God is empowering.
The reality that He is in control is empowering.
That we are His, and cannot be ultimately hurt.
And by ultimately, I mean where it counts, in the end.
They can do all sorts of things to us, penultimately, right up until the end, but in the end we will be His.
Paul suffered now, willingly and without fear because he knew who’s he was.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Because of this reality, Paul was not ashamed of the gospel, and he knew that this would empower Timothy and us to face whatever would be in front of us in this life.
There were those who had abandoned Paul because of the embarrassment of his imprisonment.
Demas had deserted him.
For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
In Philippians he mentioned those that thought it was good that he was in prison.
The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.
But he exhorted Timothy to not be ashamed of his imprisonment because of the reality of what God is doing ultimately.
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,
Timothy was to go on preaching and standing for the truth no matter the consequences here.
The power of God was enough of a shield.
Look at how he presents God’s power to us.
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,
Threaten me with whatever you will, I’ve been saved and called with a holy calling.
Should I listen to your voice or God’s?
Your purpose is temporary, His is forever. Yours for a short time, His from before ages began all the way into eternity future.
When He makes a purpose, He follows through.
He proved that through sending Jesus Christ and abolishing death and bring life eternal.
In the second century there was a pastor named Polycarp.
He, like Paul but without inspiration, wrote a letter to the church of Philippians and was discipled by the Apostle John.
When he was 86 years old, he was dragged before the Roman proconsul for his preaching of the gospel.
His meeting is recorded like this:
2 Therefore when he was brought forward the Pro-Consul asked him if he were Polycarp, and when he admitted it he tried to persuade him to deny, saying: … “Swear by the genius of Caesar, repent, say: ‘Away with the Atheists’ ”;
(The Romans called Christians atheists, because they denied the Roman gods.)
but Polycarp, with a stern countenance looked on all the crowd of lawless heathen in the arena, and waving his hand at them, he groaned and looked up to heaven and said: “Away with the Atheists.”
3 But when the Pro-Consul pressed him and said: “Take the oath and I let you go, revile Christ,”
Polycarp said; “For eighty and six years have I been his servant, and he has done me no wrong, and how can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”
1 AND the Pro-Consul said: “I have wild beasts, I will deliver you to them, unless you repent.”
And he said: “Call for them, for repentance from better to worse is not allowed us; but it is good to change from evil to righteousness; ”
2 And he said again to him: “I will cause you to be consumed by fire, if you despise the beasts, unless you repent.”
But Polycarp said:“ You threaten with the fire that burns for a time, and is quickly quenched, for you do not know the fire which awaits the wicked in the judgment to come and in everlasting Punishment. But why are you waiting? Come, do what you will.”
Polycarp was killed that day a martyr who refused to be nailed to the stake, saying that God would give him power to endure the fire with no more restraint than ropes.
Polycarp knew who was in control, he knew what God had done for Him through Jesus, and because of this, he was not ashamed of the gospel.
We guard this wonderful truth that has been given to us, first by not being ashamed of it, second…
By Trusting in God’s Faithfulness v.12b
By Trusting in God’s Faithfulness v.12b
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.
Paul was facing down death by execution, but that didn’t cause him to be afraid or ashamed.
He was exhorting his disciple Timothy to have the same conviction in the face of whatever should come his way.
And he is showing Timothy why he should have this same conviction to guard this truth, no matter what comes.
In this verse, he gives his logic behind his reasoning.
How could it be reasonable to stare down danger over an idea?
What if that idea is truth? Is it still worth it?
Paul would say, “absolutely!”
This verse may sound familiar as it is the basis for a hymn that we sing.
Major Daniel Whittle served in the Civil War and under the ministry of D. L. Moody became an evangelist.
He wrote over 200 hymns during his ministry in America and England.
The four verses of this song start with the words, “I know not”.
But the refrain says:
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.”
We may not know a lot of things as we live this life, but we can be assured of one thing, God is faithful to keep His promises.
The author of Hebrews knew this was true when he spoke of the promise that God made to Abraham where God swore by Himself that He would bless Abraham and that by Abraham’s offspring He would bless the earth.
So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,
so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,
where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
This fact that it is impossible for God to lie, is the basis for our boldness for the gospel.
It is how we know when He says that He will save us and bring us to an eternity with Him, because of the person and work of Christ, we can count on it.
We stake our lives on this truth.
And all the distractions of this sinful world, we strive to ignore.
The deceiver wants us to keep our eyes low, to put our faith in things here.
In the world’s system of government, in the money of this world, in men and women of this world.
But none of them are able to be fully trusted, but God is.
You can stake it all on Him, and He will not let you down.
You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?
Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!
And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.
The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.
There is all kinds of uncertainty in the world today.
There are all kinds of things that we can be unsure of.
But there is one thing that we can stake everything on, and ultimately we can rest on…
God is faithful.
We can guard this gospel we have been entrusted with by not being ashamed of the gospel, by relying on the faithfulness of God and finally,
By Listening to the Truth v. 13-14
By Listening to the Truth v. 13-14
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.
Timothy had served with Paul for years and had witnessed many of the things that we have studied in the bible.
He could recall how Paul handled the different controversies in the early church with the Judaizers.
How they came in to spy out the grace of the gospel in the Galatian church, and Paul stood up against them.
He had seen the super apostles in the Corinthian church who lifted themselves up by putting down Paul’s preaching and manliness.
He had witnessed Paul stand up to unbelieving Jews who dragged him outside the city and stoned him almost to death.
And in all of these situations, he saw Paul stand back up, and go preach the gospel.
He heard the truth from Paul, in the face of the lies of the world.
Where others had backed down, Paul stood up.
And in these truths, Paul exhorts Timothy to stand up as well.
Paul says in 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.
The word translated “follow” in the ESV and “retain” in the NASB means to hold on to, or to keep.
He is to hold on to this pattern of preaching the gospel that he had witnessed Paul doing in his ministry.
In several places Paul sets himself up as an example to be imitated.
In the first letter to the Corinthians, he encourages the Corinthian church to
I urge you, then, be imitators of me.
That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.
He sends them Timothy to remind them of his ways.
In Second Thessalonians he sets an example of hard work and earning your own bread, even though he had the right to be supported by the church.
It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate.
He wanted them to thing of others first over their own rights.
In Philippians, he tells them to look to himself and others who are mature and hold to the truth.
Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
Paul is living for truth, and living as an example of how other believers should live.
He is doing this on purpose, knowing the ministry that God has given him.
So he can confidently, and humbly, tell others to imitate himself in how he live, and why he lives.
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
He is imitating His example, Christ.
And we are to do the same, we take Paul as an example of how one lives for the gospel and for the truth.
And this is how the truth is passed down from generation to generation.
We can look back through history and see a long line of faithful men and women that believed and preached the truth.
Even when it wasn’t popular and they were not free to do so.
We can see how they gave their lives for the gospel as well.
And so we follow their examples, as Paul is teaching Timothy to follow his pattern here.
I want you to think about the last phrase of 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.
The sound words are the truth that is passed on, to be followed, held on to.
But we are to hold onto them in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
This is not just dead, rote memory of facts that we are to hold onto.
But these are truths that are alive, that have real meaning.
These are truths that are able to empower us to overcome even death because of Christ.
To stand up for the truth.
So there is both. We learn, we study, we even memorize facts.
But when we do, they don’t just end up making us smarter, they change our lives.
There is and has always been two ditches that we can fall into.
A heady, facts only system of knowledge that doesn’t affect our lives on one side.
And a silly, stupid thinking that says we don’t need to know anything, but just live right on the other.
Both are wrong.
We have been given 66 books to learn about sound doctrine, more than enough for a lifetime of study for all of us.
And without the truth in them, how will we know how to live in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus?
No, we are exhorted to do both, learn the truth, and live in light of that truth, as Paul did as he lived as an example.
Then our passage concludes with verse 14:
By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
We guard the good deposit of the gospel by listening to the truth, empowered by the Holy Spirit who indwells us.
Without that, none of this would be possible.
Without the reality of the entire godhead working for us, we would be hopeless.
Paul could not have faced what he did, and we couldn’t face what we have to either.
But praise God He did not leave us alone!
And so, as is God’s way, He commands us to do something that we cannot do on our own, and gives us the power to do it Himself.
Conclusion
Conclusion
In the last two verses of chapter one, he gives us examples of this played out in his life.
You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.
He gives negative examples of those in Asia that turned away from him.
Asia is where Ephesus is where Paul and Timothy ministered together and Timothy pastored himself.
And he mentions names.
Phygelus and Hermogenes.
Can you imagine being called out in scripture for turning away from the apostle?
They just couldn’t hang… it got too rough for them.
What a terrible memorial for Paul to give to Timothy.
He is baring his soul to Timothy.
Feel his pain, not just because they left him, but because they left the truth for temporary ease.
But there is also Onesiphorus.
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 he rendered at Ephesus.
Onesiphorus is Paul’s example of loyalty.
He didn’t leave the truth, he wasn’t ashamed.
He searched for Paul while he was in prison, not ashamed of Paul’s chains or the gospel.
Be like Onesiphorus.
We don’t know what we will face in the future, but we know that we are commanded and given the grace to guard what has been entrusted to us in the truth.
Let us encourage each other to do so with grace, in the faith and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit
Romans 15:13 (ESV)
Romans 15:13 (ESV)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.