Pastor Brad DeLong - A Look At Second Timothy

so thankful to be a part of the lord's body and his church and i'm grateful to be able to worship the lord and dive into his word with each of you tonight as well that's exactly what we're going to do tonight if you were here on sunday or you watched via live stream you know that we discussed the truth and the truth of god's word and we based that discussion out of ii timothy a letter that i have studied quite a bit recently and one that has just captivated me so much that i wanted to explore it together tonight this will be a little different from most of our weeks a different format and the fact that i'm standing down here hopefully you can all see me uh that's obviously different some of you are already uncomfortable that's okay we're all right we're gonna read this book of second timothy all the way through and then we're gonna talk through as much of it as we can get through tonight we may only make it through one chapter okay but the body will be edified and we're going to learn the word together and we're going to establish the context of this as well and i would i would apologize for this being different but i don't think that's appropriate for a couple reasons one reading scripture together is both powerful and biblical we'll discuss that more in just a little moment or just a couple moments but the second reason is i believe we all came to be edified and reading this book of ii timothy alone will do just that and lastly i am so excited for this lesson and this opportunity to study the word together that i am not inclined to apologize for something i'm excited about so hopefully those reasons are good enough for you but spa and i have been talking recently and discussing the benefits of expository teaching which is simply taking a text and walking through it being careful to rightly divide just like paul talks about with its context its backdrop in mind and to interpret it correctly it's essentially following along in scripture and just trying to mine out those principles and message and figure out what is the author saying here and it often utilizes the exegesis which is a critical explanation and interpretation of a text it's obviously bible-based which is exactly what we want and it's exactly what we need additionally i've

realized i've revisited all over again that there is inherent power in scripture alone just reading it i talked to an elder this week we were talking about the enemy trying to come against us and i told him there was a time the only thing i knew to do was open my bible and i started reading to that enemy the the word of god and it did not take long for that battle to conclude and i felt victory there's power in the word just reading it reflecting on it meditating on it is intrinsically powerful and also listening to it's powerful and i'm doing some a little bit of ground work here laying a little bit of groundwork before we read because i want to remind us all tonight that scripture was mainly in an oral tradition it was passed on orally it was passed on by spoken word many times and we thank god that the authors were inspired to write it out for the rest of us but there is something truly edifying and nourishing about reading it out loud just like they would have done in synagogues in the early church case in point as i've noticed there's times when i have preached a thought and i thought that i came up with it and i thought oh this is really going to ring true and it did not hit home like a reading a scripture did i thought oh this will get them no the scripture the word is what really uh settles in our hearts and helps us it's powerful so with all that in mind with the power of scripture in mind recent exploration of this text and its bearing on what was preached sunday in mind and then with that edifying nature of sharing scripture with one another and mind we're going to read through this entire book tonight it's about four or it is four chapters long and we're going to dive into the word of god together this reading is usually less than 12 minutes unless i'm reading it and it's about five minutes um but i have been told i need to slow down a little bit so i'm going to do just that uh we're going to break up the monotony of my voice as well i've asked several readers to help me read a chapter uh individually but before we do i want to provide a little background and context for this book and then

we will read it through then we'll discuss it together and we'll just see how far we get probably we will do this in two parts just a heads up so if we're on chapter one and it's uh 8 22 don't be alarmed all right i know what time it is i think so paul was obviously the author of this letter was written around a.d 67 which is an approximate date and time table and many believe that this was his final letter that he wrote before his passing and potential execution by the romans and all of this historical context matters not not just for us who really like the history of it and enjoy it but for everyone because you can see how his setting would have affected his writing his his demeanor his address of course the letter was inspired by god which paul talks about in chapter 3 and verse 16 but the lord used paul in his relationship with timothy in his current setting to communicate this inspired letter and tonight i'm i'm giving you a 3 000 foot view there's entire books and and volumes have been written on this book and others like it we won't be able to cover all that in that great detail but it is helpful to know that paul was likely imprisoned either uh in a a in a home or in a jail cell during his writing he's apparently in the middle of a court trial that's that's not going very well he's seeing the writing on the wall for himself and his tone indicates that especially in chapter four one commentator it said that it really sounds like paul is settling some accounts setting some records straight knowing his time was likely short when you read that chapter you see some of that and it adds a lot of clarity it's also important to note he's on the brink of of death and his final letter was written to none other than timothy who he calls his son in the gospel what we do before we die is significant it's important we we would do something very important before our death it shows us what's most important to us it holds great weight and paul's letter to his disciple timothy shows just where his heart really is maybe maybe wrote other letters that were not included in the biblical text but the fact that he wrote this one so close to his death shows

how important it was to him in fact someone said this is probably paul's most personal letter and you see examples of that throughout this text now can you see why all this would help you as you read it yes okay you can now you can just say no absolutely not you don't have to necessarily agree with me without reading it or without knowing the context it's almost like reading a text message out of context you you can really misinterpret it that way you get a text that says i i can't even some of you know i don't really know what that means but if you don't know the context you're like you can't even what what are you talking about what does this mean or i'm i'm dead what does that mean if you don't know the context you need to know what's going on around it and only reading half or part of a text at one time may not give you the full picture a book like second timothy short enough to read it all in one sitting so we will get to that in just a moment i promise okay someone you're like let's read already we will we will before we do i want to talk also about the audience timothy everyone say timothy timothy is the audience that paul was writing to he's likely stationed in ephesus at this point he had been with paul on his journeys there he may have been recommissioned to return there in light of some of the false teachings that had arisen there was a need for an apostolic voice some think that he might have been pastoring there others believe he was sent there either as an evangelist kind of in our terms a prolonged evangelist or as a helper and maybe even a representative of paul or the apostles either way he's sent to a very prominent church it's it's in a large city a major trading hub it's one of the largest seaports in that whole region it's also home to one of the seven wonders of the world at the temple of artemis it would have been a major cultural hub maybe even a hub and a headquarters for the churches in that region it was a an area where all the highways met kind of like st louis all the major highways just converged here it was a hub for that and this is where the infamous goddess diana

was said to have resigned the church made such waves in this city that the riot of ephesus happened in acts 19. many of you remember that they they shouted great is diana of the ephesians for hours and hours this is that city the setting that young timothy is sent into and it's it's not all that much better in the church unfortunately as i said this is a prominent influential church it's listed in revelation among the seven churches of asia minor is the same church that was condemned in revelation for losing their first love in chapter two but then on the other hand they were also praised for testing those who claim to be apostles but are not revelation said and said you found them to be false this might have been part of the reason timothy was sent there in the first place if that's the case he was doing his job he was doing it right and when he was there it was a contentious environment at the point of this writing he had likely been there for several years helping to teach doctrine which provides i feel like provides a whole lot more clarity when you read second timothy 3 and 16 all scriptures but given my inspirat inspiration of god profitable for doctrine timothy's helping teach this and he's helping to hold back the flood tide against or against that doctrine against those teaching he's facing difficulty and false teachers and as i said paul is concerned for him writes to him to affirm him and remind him the validity of the truth and the gospel that we discussed on sunday in both the city and in the church timothy is facing opposition in the full context surrounding this this writing it really adds a lot of clarity and perspective on his letter in other words i'll say to proclaim the truth in the absence of opposition's one thing but to proclaim it while it's being tried outside the church and inside the church on multiple levels that's another thing entirely this is what timothy's up against he's paul spends the back half with a letter helping timothy face that opposition spends most of the first two chapters just affirming timothy if i broke it into three parts it starts with paul's affirmation of timothy and his calling he encourages him to step into that calling to fan the into flame the gift of god he then switches into discussing and dealing

with false teachers false doctrine and he concludes with some final thoughts and admonitions uh i'll pause here just before we start reading and say i know i mean you could probably tell i enjoy the the history surrounding these writings it's all fun to me personally but more than that i hope it helps us all understand this book better and hear it more clearly as we read it together so as we read in just a moment i remind you consider all this the context the setting the audience the historical backdrop of these characters their relationship to one another and also on your hand out everyone have a handout you know that all right if you don't have a handout you can lift your hand very simple handout you could even write on your phone if you had to you have space to write at least three things that stand out to you which speak to you from this book and you can obviously list more than just three we'll start at the beginning but you have to run i'll read this chapter you can follow along we'll have it on the screen as well but adam is uh uh he's he's he's on it all right he's gonna have to do a lot of cycling through sister amber's gonna read the second chapter by the maguire but the cardin i will do my best not to stop and commentate and we will be reading it in the niv i hope you all are okay with that if you're not you can come talk to me after a week and we can pursue unity all right here we go ii timothy chapter 1 he says i paul an apostle of jesus christ by the will of god in keeping with the promise of life that is in christ jesus to timothy my dear son grace mercy and peace from god the father and jesus christ our lord i thank god whom i serve as my ancestors did with a clear conscience as night and day i constantly remember you in my prayers we're calling your tears i long to see you so i may be filled with joy i'm reminded of your sincere faith which first lived in your grandmother lois and your mother eunice and i'm persuaded and now lives in you also 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 the spirit god gave us does not make us timid but gives us power love and self discipline so don't be ashamed of the testimony about our lord or of me his prisoner but rather join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of god he has saved us and called us to a holy life not because of anything that we've done but because of his own purpose and grace this grace was given us in christ jesus before the beginning of time but it's now been revealed through the appearing of our savior christ jesus who has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel and of this gospel i was appointed a herald an apostle and a teacher that's why i'm suffering as i am if this is no cause for shame because i know whom i have believed and i'm convinced that he's able to guard what i have entrusted to him until that day what you've heard from me keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in christ jesus guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you guard it with the help of the holy spirit who lives in us you know that everyone in the province of asia has deserted me inclu including fijalis and homogeneous and the lord show mercy to the household of onisiphris because he refreshed me was not ashamed of my chains on the contrary when he was in rome he searched for me until he had found me may the lord grant that he will find mercy from the lord on that day you know very well in how many ways he has helped me in ephesus now we go to chapter two sister amber you then my son be strong in the grace that is in christ jesus and the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others join with me in suffering like a good soldier of christ jesus no one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs but rather tries to please his commanding officer similarly anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor's crown except by competing according to the rules the hard-working farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops reflect on what i am saying for the lord will give you insight into all

this remember jesus christ raised from the dead descended from david this is my gospel for which i am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal but god's word is not chained therefore i endure everything for the sake of the elect that they too may obtain the salvation that is in christ jesus with eternal glory here is a trustworthy saying if we die with him we will also live with him if we endure we will also reign with him if we disown him he will disown us if we are faithfulness he remains faithful for he cannot disown himself keep reminding god's people of these things warn them before god against quarreling about words it is of no value and only ruins those who listen do your best to present yourself to god as one approved a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth avoid godless chatter because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly their teaching will spread like gangrene among them are hymenaeus and philetus who have departed from the truth they say that the resurrection has already taken place and they destroy the faith of some nevertheless god's solid foundation stands firm sealed with this inscription the lord knows those who are his and everyone who confesses the name of the lord must turn away from wickedness in a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver but also of wood and clay some are for special purposes and some for common use those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes made holy useful to the master and prepared to do any good work flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness faith love and peace along with those who call on the lord out of a pure heart don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments because you know they produce quarrels and the lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone able to teach not resentful opponents must be gently instructed in the hope that god will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will now if you have locked onto anything make sure you write that down and continue to key

in on that context but michael's going to read chapter three but mark this there will be terrible times in the last days people will be lovers of themselves lovers of money boastful proud abusive disobedient to their parents ungrateful unholy without love unforgiving slanderous without self-control brutal not lovers of the good treacherous rash conceited lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god having a form of godliness but denying its power have nothing to do with such people they are kind they are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth just as janus and jambres opposed moses so also these teachers oppose the truth they are men of depraved minds who as far as the faith is concerned are rejected but they will not get very far because as in this case of those men their folly will be clear to everyone you however know all about my teaching my way of life my purpose faith patience love endurance persecutions sufferings what kinds of things happen to me in antioch iconium and lystra the persecutions i endured yet the lord rescued me from all of them in fact everyone who wants to live a godly life in christ jesus will be persecuted while evildoers and imposters will go from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived but as for you continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of because you know those from whom you learned it how from infancy you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in christ jesus all scripture is god's breathe and is useful for teaching rebuking correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of god may be thoroughly equipped for every good work in the presence of god and of christ jesus who will judge the living and the dead and in view of his appearing in his kingdom i give you this charge preach the word be prepared in season and out of season correct rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction for the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine instead to suit their own desires they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to

hear they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths but you keep your head in all situations endure hardship do the work of an evangelist discharge all the duties of your ministry for i am already being poured out like a drink offering and the time for my departure is near i have fought the good fight i have finished the race i have kept the faith now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing do your best to come to me quickly for demas because he loved this world has deserted me and has gone to thessalonica crescens has gone to galatia and titus to dalmatia only luke is with me get mark and bring him with you because he is helpful to me in my ministry i sent tychicus to ephesus when you come bring the cloak that i left with corpus at troas and my scrolls especially the parchments alexander the metal worker did me a great deal of harm the lord will repay him for what he has done you too should be on your guard against him because he strongly opposed our message at my first offense no one came to my support but everyone deserted me may it not be held against them but the lord stood at my side and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it and i was delivered from the lion's mouth the lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom to him be glory forever and ever amen greet priscilla and aquila and the household of anesthesia erastus stayed in corinth and i left trophamus in sick and miletus do your best to get here before winter ubulus greets you and so do putin's linus claudia and all the brothers and sisters the lord be with your spirit grace be with you all amen i feel like if we could hear paul's voice it would sound just like by the gardens it's so powerful i read a book some time ago and the author noted the power of simply sitting in a group and reading the word of god together there's nothing more we could add to it that is

more powerful this i believe is apostolic what we just did and i want us to be more and more familiar with the word of god scripture alone by itself is is powerful and it's all the more helpful when we do as paul said and we rightly divide the word of truth and i know this isn't a group saying but before we go any further i'd just like to see your response to what we just read anyone just from what we just did gleaned something as we read that you gained insight i want to see your hands if you want my i know you're shaking your head but and that is a representation of how powerful scripture is just in and of itself so we're going to dive into chapter one i've got about 20 minutes that's all right though paul opens the the book with his greeting you start to see that personal nature we were talking about right right off the bat now he adds in his formalities his his usual title that identity piece but but then he greets his his close uh friend and he spins several verses doing this he says paul an apostle of christ jesus by the will of god and i love that he says in keeping with the promise of life he's staring death in the face he says in keeping with the promise of life by or through jesus or that is in christ jesus to timothy my dear son grace mercy and peace from god the father in christ jesus our lord if you compare this to his other letters he usually says something like grace and peace to you from god our father in the lord jesus christ but this this greeting seems to be a little more personal my dear son he says timothy and titus were the only ones that we know of that were listed as sons to paul but he doesn't ever call titus his dear son he does call him my true son if you read the book of titus which is another great read i find it interesting that he says titus my dear son i want to explain to you why i left you on that island of crete with all those horrible people apparently he didn't explain to him as he was leaving he just said hey i'll see you later titus and he takes off and then he writes a letter explaining why he didn't

do that to timothy i think he did send timothy but he's very close to timothy in addition to that personal greeting i want to notice a commonality in many paul's writings in the writings of other apostles and i don't have a ton of time to touch on this but i want to draw attention to this he says mercy and peace from god the father and christ jesus our lord now some have taken that point or taken that to point to the doctrine of the trinity a doctrine that i would say would be entirely foreign to paul and to timothy bo instead i'll mention dr david norris and others have pointed out that that greek conjunction chi the word and or that's translated in often joins two proper nouns where there is no distinction of persons intended some have said that they use that conjunction to add emphasis and even to point to those two being one joining those two together some have said it it can be translated even or also there's a lot of debate over that but again with the backdrop of their teachings the shaman and many other places it's highly unlikely they would use that language to express plural gods i would say it's not likely at all they often use it to tie those two together and i say that to avoid confusion paul continues in verse 3 he said i thank god whom i serve as my ancestors did with a clear conscience as night and day i constantly remember you and my prayers recalling your tears i long to see you so that i may be filled with joy i'm reminded of your sincere faith which first lived in your grandmother lois and your mother eunice and i am persuaded it now lives in you also again you see that personal nature paul and timothy paul uses some of these same passages of thanksgiving other letters but he he uses such personal details and this one obviously it's written just to timothy as opposed to an entire church but he says i long to see you timothy i want to see you uh he recalls timothy's tears we don't know why timothy was crying we have no idea he doesn't say you were crying because but it could have been their their last time together he recalls timothy's tears and then he starts discussing timothy's mother and grandmother brother river pointed this out several weeks ago and this

is very significant especially in light of what we prayed over and and what we preached sunday and i'll just stop here and say when we had that prayer from generation to generation altar call i really felt like there was an impartation that was happening as those older generations prayed for the younger ones and prayed that they would hold true to that truth of god's word it was such a powerful time i don't know the full extent of what happened in that prayer but i'm so thankful for that impartation it happens in this in this passage these ladies were incredibly influential in timothy's life so much so that they are listed and celebrated in the word of god this is such a powerful testimony in verse 5. he said i'm reminded of your sincere faith which first live and your grandmother lois and your mother eunice and i'm persuaded now lives in you also again i pause here to remind all of us that there is nothing greater paul keys in on this that you could leave for children grandchildren in another generation than an apostolic heritage an example distinction and instruction these two ladies think about this instilled something into timothy's life and when he was older he did not depart from it in fact he was sent to defend it and uphold it paul tells them in chapter three he said remember those scriptures that that mom and grandma taught you those are the same ones you're taking to ephesus and you're going to defend them and stand for them so who knows the impact of what you are depositing into your children and grandchildren nieces nephews anyone that the lord puts in your path and calls for you to invest in when it comes to an attack like what happened with timothy when what they believe comes under attack they're going to be able to defend it and uphold it because you invested it in them i don't really have time to say this but i've got to say it i was praying one day for mila and the thought hit me i thought my goodness what is she going to face in her life things that i've never faced i thought me and lord you've got to protect her and i felt like the lord reminded me she has the same word you've got she's going to receive the same spirit you've got it's always been under fire she's going to be

all right as long as you give her my word as long as she's got the holy ghost she's going to be okay but i've got to give this word to her and impart it to her so be like lois and eunice started teaching timothy scripture at a young age and also i'll say to grandparents notice that eunice timothy's mother was not the only one who took it upon herself to teach timothy scripture grandma lois got in there too they were probably living in a multi-generational household but grandma was intentional about sitting timothy down making sure he had scripture and instruction we don't hear about timothy's father he apparently was not part of that instruction but even still what they invested into timothy shaped his whole life and ministry so go get them grandma and grandpa or paw paw and meemaw or whatever you're called there's a lot of names for grandparents nowadays instruct that next generation and the ones after you in righteousness and the word and your sincere faith teach them the truth as i hurry along we are not getting through this whole book i know that paul continues in verse six for this reason for your faith i remind you faint and the flame the gift of god a gift which is in you through the laying on of my hands the spirit god gave us does not make us timid but gives us power and love and self-discipline so don't be ashamed of the testimony about our lord or of me as prisoner but rather join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of god again paul describes this personal moment in relationship at some point another he had laid hands on timothy in a good way in a good way and he had prayed for him and he had commissioned him and i i thought again about this last sunday who knows what you prayed over that next generation how powerful that is how that will keep them but paul brings timothy back to that moment of affirmation and confidence sometimes we just got to get back to a moment like that and remember those prayers those promises he talks about that gift and the spirit of god in the next verse for the spirit god gave us it doesn't make us timid but it gives us power love self-discipline you can imagine timothy's probably feeling isolated somewhat timid at this point he's an ephesus he's facing

opposition his his mentor uh pastor the apostle is in prison fighting for his life so paul reminds timothy that he's got the power of the spirit behind him and that the spirit itself gives him power and love and self-discipline verse 8 he says don't be ashamed of the testimony about our lord or of me as prisoner rather join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of god when you think about it it's easy to see that there might be some shame and maybe some embarrassment on the part of timothy his mentor is in prison the man who poor and invested him is is serving a prison sentence and this is the focus of the next couple verses you just imagine your pastor being in prison i don't want to imagine that but imagine hey isn't your pastor in prison didn't he teach you that well look where he is now timothy is he's under fire in this and paul's obviously very very concerned especially when you consider the early church had been prone to to some factions and followings based upon key leaders it drives that point homo paul had to rebuke the church in corinth for this very thing they were arguing oh well i follow apollos and i follow paul and paul's like who's apollos and who's paul we all follow christ this is the setting in some of that backdrop see you can imagine that paul being in prison probably would open up some of his teachings his letters to criticism as well we all know we have the hindsight and and the word we know he was used by god as an apostle he wrote over half the new testament volume but he was being opposed in question at this point by individuals in that church of ephesus so he says don't be ashamed of me timothy or the testimony but join with me in suffering for this gospel by the power of god and he reminds timothy of what that gospel really is he saved us and called us to a holy life not because of anything we've done but because of his own purpose and his own grace this grace was given us in christ jesus before the beginning of time but it's now been revealed through the appearing of our savior christ jesus the same jesus who's destroyed death brought life and immortality to light through the gospel and of this gospel i was appointed

a herald an apostle and a teacher don't be ashamed of that gospel don't be ashamed of the testimony in case you forgot this is the gospel he saved us he called us to a holy life he saved us by his grace he specifically is jesus christ and jesus destroyed death and brought life and immortality through the gospel and by the way i am a herald and i'm an apostle and i'm a teacher of that gospel verse 12 he says that's why i'm suffering as i am don't forget why i'm in here timothy this is why i'm suffering if this is no cause for shame he says it again because i know whom i've believed oh how powerful is that i'm not ashamed you ought not to be ashamed i'm in prison yeah but i know whom i believe and i am convinced even where i am even with my trial going horribly even with the writing on the wall that i'm staring death in the faith he is able to guard what i have entrusted to him until that day paul reminds timothy again the reason and it is a good reason that he's in prison and he reminds timothy that he's got no reason to be ashamed and also i'm not ashamed because i know in him whom i believe i know him i know his word i know his redeeming power i know that my suffering's not in vain especially if you look at his his writings he knows what he's facing not only that but i'm convinced that he's able to guard what i have entrusted to him until that day in this case paul's entrusted everything he can to the lord including his life and his breath and on the heels of talking about how the lord will keep him and the lord will hold or keep what he's entrusted to the lord he tells timothy and what you heard from me keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in christ jesus guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you i've entrusted something to the lord that he's going to keep now you guard what's been entrusted to you timothy guard it with the help of the holy spirit who lives in us this is this is so powerful it speaks to what we discussed on sunday timothy's hearing all kinds of other opinions other doctrines it's likely we saw it in the church of ephesus

they were teaching that jesus had already returned he'd already come back for the church as crazy as that sounds this was permeating the church it was a direct contradiction to what paul had preached and taught and among all these other things we've discussed this is so applicable to where we are in our culture these teachers were able to persuade others that the very thing that they were hoping for had already happened think about how detrimental that would be to the church you don't really have a hope anymore there's implications of that so paul reminds timothy and us you hold on to what you heard from me and from the word keep this as the pattern the form the example the standard the measuring read for all other teachings in other words if they don't line up with the pattern and with the word discard them and if they do keep and guard them if you're scrolling on social media timothy and you read something that does not line up with the pattern of the word you don't hold on to that but you guard what follows the pattern in the form of sound doctrine and teach you god and that word guard obviously means to god and to keep a close eye on to constantly watch and observe the implications abound for us because we're the church and i talked about this sunday where the pillar of truth we closely guard the good deposit that was entrusted to us first timothy paul uses the same word that word guard he says timothy keep or guard that which was committed to your trust this wasn't just shared with you one day this was committed to your trust now you're you're included you've received the gospel it's been entrusted to you guard it like i said earlier this means a whole lot more when you consider the context what timothy was facing he's feeling somewhat ashamed at this point his teachings the teachings of the word of god are being opposed members of the church of ephesus we're buying into false teaching not to mention the craziness of the city of of ephesus the worshipers of diana and i thank god that apc has held on to sound doctrine for almost 90 years and we're going to continue to do that but with all the deception and false narratives that surround us the admonition that paul gives us it just hits home tonight you guard that gospel

hold on to those teachings you don't let go of the good thing that was entrusted i feel the holy ghost talk it is a good thing i don't think i found anything better and that word good there doesn't it's the translation it doesn't totally do it justice in the english it is so good if you're going to guard anything it ought to be this i got to guard my time yes i need to guard my home absolutely different kind of guard i understand i'm going to guard this not letting anyone steal this from me that teaching the work keep a close eye on the deposit observe the word closely it was entrusted to you so you hold on to it with the help of the spirit of god and i thank god this whole thing guarding this word it isn't hinging on just one person it's not even just hinging on the pastoral staff or leadership team although we all plan to hold on to it with everything we've got but the admonitions to all of us tonight the church the pillar of truth guard the good deposit which was committed and entrusted to you and we're obviously going to close this out with the final couple verses of the chapter and i want to talk just for a moment about onisiphras paul says you know everyone in the province of asia has deserted me including phy jealous homogeneous many or may the lord show mercy instead though to the household of oniciphus because he often refreshed me he was not ashamed of my change everyone else is kind of selling out and they're teaching false doctrines and these two men in particular who are jealous and homogeneities they had done paul wrong along with alexander who we heard about in chapter four and others but onisiphrus stood by the apostle in his teachings he often refreshed me he was not ashamed of my chains on the contrary when he was in rome he searched hard for me until he found me may the lord grant that he will find mercy from the lord on that day you know very well and how many ways he helped me so you can obviously get a glimpse of what's going on here paul's basically said everyone in the province deserved it everyone in the missouri district deserted me everyone in the section deserted me on the church and he cites the two guys i would not want

to be either of these guys paul calls them out for thousands of years of readers to see you talking about air and laundry like these two guys they were part of that and that one uh commentary i read said that some scholars believe they had asked paul to step aside deserted him but then there's oniciphrus this is part of his testimony i want to i would love to be included in testimony like this he refreshed me he wasn't ashamed of my chains he he searched for me until he found me when everyone else had abandoned me may the lord grant that he would find mercy from the lord on that day he helped me in ephesus in many ways that's a list i think we'd all like to land on that list along with anissiph he showed himself to be a true christian and example in the midst of a contentious environment in the middle of a church drama nisiphris exemplified what brother maguire preached last week he was a peacemaker didn't mean that he didn't oppose he in doing so he opposed false doctrine more than likely if he stood with paul but he was able to rise above all of that strife opposition and drama in order to be a help and a strength in the middle of it all and he uses this example paul uses his example to build upon as he starts the next chapter a chapter i plan to start on in just a couple weeks assuming the lord allows me to circle back to this great book i will say that i fully intend to get to all of this tonight that is not going to happen i wanted to go as deep as we could on a wednesday night but i've so enjoyed studying this and i didn't want to gloss over any of these points in chapter one so next time we will be able to dive right into the second chapter we'll have the context and we'll work our way through all three if i don't talk too much why don't we stand together this morning after reading and and listening to this book uh i started my time of prayer with the lord and really that me and brother maguire are talking about this when i'm reading the bible that is my time of prayer and i can read while the two aren't exclusive but i i stood to my feet and i got

so overwhelmed with thanksgiving for the word of god this word has changed my life it's changed my family's life it's it's changed our entire eternities and tonight we took about 12 minutes to read through it that one book and we may have gained more in those 12 minutes than you got in the last 20 of me talking we probably did it is so powerful and i'm so thankful that you all allow me to teach it and each wednesday and each sunday we get to come and divide the word of truth and we leave here with eternal value things that change our lives i think it'd be appropriate for us to take a season here and thank the lord not just for the teachings of ii timothy but for that truth and book as a whole in all of its writings would you take a moment and thank god for the truth that we have in his word lord i thank you jesus oh lord not just because i enjoy reading it and studying and hiding in my heart but i thank you lord that this truth has changed my entire life not only from the outset but it continues to change my life i thank you for every day i get to open your word lord and read it and and study it jesus and allow you to speak to me it changes me constantly and continually i pray you'd help me to take these lessons from second timothy to heart lord and to continue to study and continue to read it continue to allow it to change me oh lord i thank you jesus for the word that we have this word that's profitable is so profitable for us thank you jesus for your word and the power of it paul told timothy in first timothy 4 he said devote yourself to the public reading of scripture to teaching and preaching what we did tonight is apostolic and it's biblical and i feel like i i know just from teaching it and studying today it's it's helped me so much i believe it strengthens us as a body