This evening, if you have your Bible, and we’ll turn with you to 2 Timothy. We’re coming to the end of the year, and the beginning of the New Year. And oftentimes, people at this time will be making New Year’s resolutions this evening.
Many people will be getting together, and they’ll be celebrating the coming of the New Year, and they look at it as an opportunity to start over. However, the problem is, most people make New Year’s resolutions in their own strength. And even if you’ve got a very strong will, it seems like the New Year’s resolutions fade very quickly once the New Year begins.
And people fall back into their old habits, their old ways, (0:54) and the things that they were going to change don’t necessarily change. Well, as believers in Jesus Christ, we know that the strengths make a difference in our lives, it doesn’t come from our ability or our willpower, but it comes from the power of God. And that the Lord has called us, and redeemed us, and set us free, and delivered us from our sin, and enables us to walk in his strength and power.
And this evening, I want us to look at some words that the Apostle Paul is sharing with Timothy. This is one of the prison letters that Paul wrote, he wrote to Titus and Timothy, two young men that had been with him on his missionary journey, that he was instructing in the ways of Christ, helping them to grow in their understanding and love for the Lord. And he was going to entrust these young men with leading churches, and leading Christians, and passing the Word of God onto them, and teaching them the lessons that God had taught Paul, and that Paul was teaching them now.
This is a challenge in this letter that Paul lays before Timothy, and that’s what we’re going to look at this evening. As we face a new year, what is the challenge that lays before us, and what will God call us to do on his behalf, and how will he enable us to do it? Let’s just take a look, beginning at 2 Timothy chapter 1, and I want us to begin at verse 5.
When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in my grandmother Lois and my mother Eunice, and I am swayed that in thee also. Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee, by the putting on of my hands.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Let’s just pause here for prayer, and then we’re going to look at the verses that follow. Lord, I pray that you would just help us to understand the challenge that Paul is laying before Timothy.
Help us to remember how you called us out of darkness into light, those that have been influential in our lives, those that have gone before us and walked in faith and set examples. May we learn from them, and Father, help us to seek to walk with you, and to live our lives in a manner which is glorifying to you. Help us in the year ahead to have opportunities to share with others the hope we have in Jesus, and to let our light so shine before them.
We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
The first thing that Paul does is he’s going to lay a challenge before Timothy, but before he does that, he tells Timothy, Remember, remember where your faith came from. Remember who instructed you.
Remember the example they set for you. And he gives them three people that have been influential in Timothy’s life. His mother, his grandmother, and Paul himself.
It’s interesting, we don’t understand the influence that we can have on other people. This is one of the things that Timothy is being challenged by Paul in this letter, is to realize the influence that he will have on other people, and how he can have the power to be faithful to the calling that God has placed on his life. After Paul initially reminds him of the godly influence of his grandmother and mother, and he, the apostle Paul, that also persuaded him in his walk with the Lord, he challenges him to look to the Lord and grow in the use of the gift that God has given to him.
Each one of us has a spiritual gift that God has given to us, it’s just his fellowship. We’re to use that gift for his glory and the edification of his body, and that we can be used by him to show forth his light to a world that doesn’t know him. One of the things that we can do is live our lives in a manner that the world sees us and sees something different in us.
I was talking to a man this last week and he was telling me that, you know, he said that when he met his wife he wasn’t a believer. He said, she was, and they got married. He said, you shouldn’t have done that because it’s not what God said.
But when they got married, one of the things he said is, I being a non-believer didn’t handle myself very well in the marriage and at times, you know, I would get mad with her and all these things would happen. But he said, her character was so different. All she showed was the love of Christ to me through her actions and through her love.
He said, you know, I got saved by seeing how she loved Jesus. How she lived and walked with him. I wanted that for my life. That’s what, in the next year, that’s what we need to ask is, God give us the strength, give us the power to do this.
Because in and of ourselves we can’t. The natural tendency is for us to slip into guilty temptation that Satan would place before us to allow our character to not reflect Christ’s character, but oftentimes to reflect the character of the ungodly of this world. So how do we do this and how do we deal with this? Well, Paul’s going to challenge Timothy and that’s what we want to look at tonight.
Let’s look at verse 8. It says, the first thing he tells Timothy is, do not be ashamed. One of the things that Satan wants us to do is to be ashamed of the gospel. If you’re ashamed of the gospel, you’re not going to share it with anyone.
You’re not going to want people to even know you’re a Christian. Because oftentimes the world will not only make fun of you, but call you names. If you stand for the truth of God’s word and the truth of God’s character, they will mock you and curse you and try to discourage you.
Paul says, the first thing he says to Timothy is, do not be ashamed. To not be ashamed is that you’re encouraged and walk in pride to be God’s child. You want the world to know that you’re God’s child and you want them to see that Christ is in you.
He says, don’t be ashamed not only of the gospel, but don’t be ashamed of standing with Christ and understand that when you stand, you’re going to be in a spiritual battle. As a soldier on the Lord’s side, you’re going to have to stand against the world that desires to not only discourage you, but to continue to enslave people in rebellion to God. That Satan’s goal is to deceive mankind and cause them to join him in rebellion against the Lord.
So Paul tells Timothy, not only be ashamed, but to stand and be encouraged. Not only does Paul tell Timothy that here, but he tells the Ephesian church that in chapter 6 of the book of Ephesians, where he tells them to stand and he tells them that three times in that chapter, to stand. And it’s not that they’re to turn and run, but they’re to stand and to hold their ground.
The way they do it is in the power of the Lord. There he gives us, put on the full armor of God and realize that we’re wrestling against not flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places. That we can’t do that in our strength, own strength.
It’s not a physical battle, but it’s a spiritual battle. The only way that you can win that spiritual battle is through the power of God. Well, Timothy is going to go on and be encouraged by the Apostle Paul in this letter.
He says, why are we to stand? Why are we not to be ashamed? Why are we to be willful to stand even if affliction comes? He says that we’re to do that because of the power of God who has saved us. We’re to realize that he has saved us by his power, not we didn’t save ourselves. He called us.
So we’ve been saved and we’ve been called. Each one of us has had a calling on our life. Oftentimes you can look at people and you can say, well, you know, that man over there, he was called to be an evangelist.
He was called to be a missionary. He was called to be a pastor. Each one of you has been called to be a follower of Christ where he places you.
And in the opportunities he gives you, the people he calls you to minister to. Each one of us has a calling. I’ve shared that before, that we’re not to be ashamed and we’re not to think any less of our position that God would place us in, but to realize he places us there because there are people that we will come in contact with that other people won’t.
That he’s called us to share the gospel with them. So Paul tells Timothy to realize that not only has he been saved, but he’s been called. This calling is a holy calling, not according to our work, not according to our abilities or great things that we can do, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
If you go back and look at this, this talks about when did God have a plan for you? When did he have a plan for me?He had a plan for mankind even before he created man. He knew that if he gave man a choice, if he gave us a choice, we’d choose wrong. Which we did.
Each one of us, it says in the scripture, is a sinner by nature. We willfully have chosen to rebel against God. None of us stand without condemnation because of our sin.
The thing is, God knew this. So before the foundation of the world, Paul says it here. He says it in Ephesians.
The Lord tells us this throughout the scripture that Jesus was designated to come to earth and he was without sin to take our sin upon himself. As we see this, Paul says that before the world began, God had his own purpose. And this purpose would manifest itself in his grace, which was extended to us and given us through Christ Jesus.
So God’s grace was given to us and extended to us for a purpose, not just that we could escape hell, but that we could bring glory to God’s name with a life that would be lived honoring him. So in the year ahead, let’s take a look at how we can honor Christ. Well, Paul tells us this as he lays out this outline for Timothy.
He says, so the death that had control over our lives, sin is a manifestation of death, and it leads ultimately not only to physical death, but spiritual death as well. Well, he gained victory over death. Not only did he gain the victory over death, but he says that he brought light to the fact that we have immortality through him and we have the power to accomplish and live according to his will and accomplish his purposes in this life that we may bring glory to him, not only today, but throughout eternity.
Verse 11:
Whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher to the Gentiles.
Paul tells Timothy, well, this is where God has placed me. He places each one of us with certain responsibilities.
For the witch cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed.
Paul says, I could be ashamed and say, Why God would you place me in prison when you called me to be a preacher, a teacher, an apostle to the Gentiles? You called me to do these things, and now I find myself in prison.
I could say, well, I’m ashamed that I even followed the gospel, but I’m not ashamed. Going back to the statement he made earlier in the letter, he said, I am not ashamed of what my circumstances are. But even in these circumstances, he uses those to be a witness to those around them.
We know that Paul did this because when he was a prisoner in Rome, both his first time and the second time he was imprisoned in Rome, he shared the gospel with people. We know that for a fact because we see later on that there was some of the very household of Caesars that came to faith in Christ. How would they have heard about Christ if it wouldn’t have been through Paul and other Christians? Some of them shared because they shared the gospel while they were in prison and things weren’t going what appeared to be their way, but God placed them there for the purpose of sharing the gospel, even within the house of Caesars.
So you see Caesars persecuting Paul, but at the same time Christ is winning hearts of some of Caesars’ servants and household of Caesars, and they’re coming to know the Lord.
Verse 12
For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
Now what had Paul committed unto Christ? Paul had committed his life unto Christ.
Paul had committed his soul unto Christ. Paul had given his life to Christ, trusting in him and the forgiveness to be found at the cross of Christ. He said, I’ve committed this, and God isn’t going to renege on that commitment.
Now, Satan wants to attack the truthfulness of God’s character and the ability of him to fulfill his promises. One of the things that he’s doing in our day, and he’s done throughout history, is to attack the Jewish people, the ones whom God says are the apple of his eye, the nation that he called out and created, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who he gave promises to and to their descendants. And those promises have not all been fulfilled.
And so Satan wants us to believe that God is done with the Jews, but if God’s done with the Jews, then his word isn’t true and his promises aren’t fulfilled. So then he could be done with us, and his promises aren’t true and might not be fulfilled in our lives. Well, Paul says that’s not the case.
He says, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Now, I want us to take a look at the next two verses, and I want you to see what he calls Timothy to do and what the call is placed on each of our lives. First of all, hold fast the form of sound word, which thou hast heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus.
The first thing that we’re to do is we’re to have solid teachings and we’re to hold fast the word of God’s word. God’s word is to be implanted in our heart. God’s word is to be that which we live our lives by.
One of the things that Satan does is he tries to get people so that they do not know the word of God. If you get a Christian that doesn’t understand and know the word of God, he can be easily deceived by people who come and they are very smooth talkers. And Paul talks about these men.
They come as shepherds, they come as wolves in sheep’s clothing, pretending to be shepherds, pretending to be teachers. (19:04) But really, they come with false doctrines, and they can be very persuasive. Well, how did Paul, when he presented the gospel to those that heard it, he commended the Bereans because they said, well, we’re going to not just believe what you say, but we’re going to compare it against the scriptures.
We’re going to see whether what you say is true. Well, how do you know that if you don’t know the word of God, don’t know where to go in the word of God, you check what people are telling you? One of the things that I see happening in the church today is you have people who don’t even know what a Christian is. All of a sudden, everybody’s becoming a Christian.
It’s not necessarily according to the definition that God gives us as what a believer in Jesus is. People haven’t given their hearts and lives to Christ. They may have trusted in a religious system, but the religious system places its means of salvation in works.
It places it in means of salvation, in belief and trust in a church organization. But it may not keep any personal relationship with Christ, yet they will call them Christian. Well, why will they do that? And some of these people, you know by their testimonies, that their lives have been transformed.
They’ve given their hearts to Christ. But how can they be so deceived into calling people Christians who aren’t even Christians, don’t even know the gospel? Because they don’t know the word of God to adequately compare it to what the world would say are Christians. For example, people come to the United States and they call us a Christian nation, because in America, over the years, we’ve had a strong Christian influence.
We have more of a Hindu influence and more of a Muslim influence today. But in our history, it’s been a Christian influence. But there’s never been a case where the whole country has been Christian.
But you get people that will come from foreign countries where they’re coming out of a Hindu or coming out of a Muslim or coming out of a other false religious system where that’s the main foundation of their nation. They come here and they think America is Christian simply because that’s been a background in our history. But the problem is, if you don’t know what a Christian is, you can be easily deceived.
So it begins by knowing the word of God. So Paul tells him, the first thing he needs to do is hold fast the form of sound words. Don’t be deceived by false doctrine.
Don’t be deceived by that which is error. And these words which thou hast heard in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Then he says the second thing, that the good thing which was committed to thee by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
The second thing he says is, you have been given, and Jesus gave to each one of us, the power of his spirit to dwell in us that we can understand the word of God, we can walk in the power of God, and we can do what God would have us and call us to do. So the first thing we need to do is know the word of God, hold fast to the word of God. The second thing is walk in the power of God’s spirit, through his Holy Spirit.
Then he says, this thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia, that turned away from me, of whom Phagellus and Hermogenes, the Lord gave mercy into the house of Inephorus, for he befriended me, and was not ashamed of my shame. And so the next thing we do is, he says there are going to be people that come, and there are going to be some that appear to be with you, but they’re really not with you. And he gives the name of these first two individuals.
Because they appear to be with us, but they really were not with us. They didn’t want to do the things of the Lord that we had called them to do, but Inephorus did. And he came and ministered to Paul in prison.
He wasn’t ashamed of Paul, that he had been put in prison. In fact, he ministered and met his need. And he was a blessing to Paul.
Paul says, but when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and found me. So this is what our attitude is to be of the second individual, not the first two. We’re not to seek to undermine and destroy the gospel by saying that we’re working for the gospel, like these first two men did.
And Paul says, they really tried to undermine Paul’s ministry. The third individual came and ministered to him and supported the ministry, and that’s what our character is, to support the truth of God’s word. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day.
And in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well. And Paul is talking about when they were together at Ephesus. Well, now I want to just close with three things that Paul specifically tells Timothy are to be his character.
And part of his character is he’s going to be standing in this battle for Christ and against Satan. He says in chapter , verse , Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul wants us to always be strong, but he tells us where our strength comes from.
It’s not from our great strength of character, but it’s walking strong in the Lord. The Lord gives us our strength, and the Lord is the one that we are to look to. Go again to the book of Ephesians chapter . It tells us to stand and stand in the Lord.
It doesn’t say stand in your own strength. It says stand in the Lord. We’re to keep our eyes on Christ.
We’re to stand in Christ. And we’re to walk in his power and his might. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.
So what is the purpose of standing in the Lord? What is the purpose of walking in his power? What is the purpose of understanding that we’ve been called to do God’s will? What is the purpose in understanding that our salvation is sure and we can trust in God? It’s not so that we can just say, okay, I’ve got my ticket to heaven. But I’m to be used by God to instruct others. We’re sitting here tonight because other people went before us who in turn learned the Word of God from others who went before them and from God’s book, the Bible, and instructed people on how to live.
And if they wouldn’t have done that, we wouldn’t understand how we’re to live. And one of the things you see happening in much of Christianity today is teachers aren’t instructing people in the sound doctrine of God’s Word and the truth of God’s Word. And when they don’t do that, then they have nothing to teach the other people that are following them on how to live as God’s people.
One of the sad things is how little people want to be instructed today, how little they want to come to church and to have the opportunity to learn God’s Word. You go to some countries where they don’t have all the distractions you have in America that are brought on by the world, and people go and literally sit for hours to be taught of God’s Word. I read where, for example, in India, when teachers come and preach to Christians in India, if they can’t bring a message that’s an hour long, a minimum of an hour long, people feel that they don’t really have enough to say.
They say, we expect to be taught, and they’ll literally go and walk for hours and sit for days to be taught God’s Word because they want to learn what God has to say to them. And yet you look, in America, Wednesday night services are a thing of the past, Sunday night services are a thing of the past, even Sunday morning services to many people are a thing of the past. They say they’re Christians, but we’re distracted by everything else, and we want to be doing everything else except doing God’s Word.
Well, we’re called to teach God’s Word to those that are coming, and part of it begins even in our families at home with our children, and that’s why God gave and instructed in the book of Deuteronomy the importance of teaching and instructing your children in every aspect of life, every moment of your life to be used for an opportunity to teach about the character of Christ. Likewise, we should teach to be used by God to do that, and we’re to walk in the strength of the Lord, and we’re to be used by Him to teach others. The second thing, know, therefore, endure hardiness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
Each one of us is a soldier in the army of God. What does that mean? We’re in a spiritual battle, and we need to know whose side we’re on. One interesting thing is who is on the Lord’s side the way the Course starts out.
Who is on the Lord’s side? Who will serve the King? And the thing is, if we’re Christians, we need to realize we’re on the Lord’s side, and we don’t need to be tempted and yielding to the temptations of the world and allowing Satan to gain access to our lives and access to our ability to be used by God and to walk in His power and strength. We need to realize as a soldier we need to be doing His will. And if you go and look at how an army functions, an army functions because it functions properly when the soldiers listen to their commanding officer and do what he says.
And oftentimes they may not understand