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Can we sing number one 81181?
Yes. No.
For safety.
Great crime.
The Lord is our heart. Lord, Lord will.
We read one verse at the morning reading and the hymn brings to mind and Psalm 18.
Psalm 18 and verse 29.
Or by thee I have run through a troop by my God have I leaped over a wall. He's asked God's blessing. Our God and our Father, we thank you for the encouragement of the Scriptures. We pray our God is thy word is before us this afternoon that thou was used to stir our hearts. We realize while the enemy is great and thy people of all they had to say. Our brethren have discouraged our hearts.
So that they did not go forward to take the land or God. We realized the tendency of honest is our brother has exhorted this morning that to complain even as we sit in the laugh of spiritual luxury.
Grant our God, that thou hast used thy word to store our affections and our minds, and that we might to spend whatever little time might be left to us for our Lord's glory and honor.
Realize to our God there are unique challenges, difficulties of the hour. They need that wisdom and need that comes from above through thy word, our God, our dear younger brother and families, our God, as well as us who are a bit older however own set of issues. Our God, we look to thee for thy blessing on thy word, for the strengthening us collectively, and as we've had reminded to the very intensely personal character of what we're reading. So we look to thee for thy blessing, the help our God and Father and our weakness. We look to thee.
But I undertaken and blessing upon thy word to their hearts would be renewed afresh, drawn after Thee, Lord Jesus, for Thy love. It took Thee all the way to the cross, there to pen that ultimate sacrifice for sins, that we might forever belong to Thee. Bless thee and praise the Lord Jesus. Now seek Thy blessing our God and Father, as we ask all in His precious name, even the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
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Second Timothy. Chapter One.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus.
To Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing, I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice. I am persuaded that in thee also.
Wherefore I put the 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. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, who had saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works.
But according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
But has now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. For unto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, 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 hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost, with which dwelleth in us. This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are jealous and homogeneous. The Lord give mercy under the House of.
Onusiferous.
For he off to refresh me, and was not ashamed of my chain. But when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me 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.
We did get through the first part of the chapter this morning. For any that have arrived since the meeting this morning, I would suggest that we start perhaps with verse 6.
Here we have Paul exhorting Timothy to.
Stir up the gift that is in him.
I personally feel this is a very needed admonition.
For some here in North America, if I may be so bold.
I feel there's a lot of gift out there that could be used.
And.
What is the problem?
I don't know for sure but.
The very next verse, Paul says God hath not given us the spirit of fear, and we can be afraid to use what the Lord has given us. Now of course there can be problems in both directions. There can be those who have a gift in one point and who try to exercise themselves outside of their gift, and that's not right either.
But the Lord has given each one a gift.
It may not be an outstanding gift, could be not may not be a public gift, but God has given each one of us a work to do and given us the ability to do it, and He would have us to exercise it.
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And here we see.
Here we see that the gift does not always reside in those that have a bold outward personality that finds no difficulty.
In ministering to a crowd, or in getting up on a platform, or in putting oneself forward, your God had given a gift to Timothy, who by nature was a timid and somewhat retiring man.
And he would probably far rather have listened to other people.
As get out there himself.
And the Lord, through Paul, says Timothy, stir up that gift.
I have had more than one young person ask me how do I know what my gift is?
How do I know what my gift is?
I would suggest this.
Don't ask what your gift is. Do what is right in front of you. Do what the Lord has put in front of you. Is there something to be done that is right there, available in your own local area? Then do it. And if you honor the Lord faithfully, where you are.
You can depend upon it. If the Lord wants to use you more widely, He will see to it that that happens. But in gift, and we don't want to get sidetracked into a long discourse about it, but in the Scripture, and we won't go over the scriptures now, it would take too long. We get three things in connection with Gift.
We get the individual in his own or her own. Yes, sisters have gifts too. We get brothers and sisters.
Fitted naturally in their personality, constitution and in their bodies actually to receive the gift.
Then we get the giving of the gift.
And then we get the development of it through the use of it.
God recognizes all three and so if you have something that if you would like to do something for the Lord.
Don't ask what's my gift? What should I be doing? Should I be preaching the gospel? Should I be going out and visiting people or what should I be doing?
Do what is right in front of you, because there comes a time later on in this epistle.
When Paul has to say to Timothy.
It's in the 4th chapter, he says.
In verse five, do the work of an evangelist. Was Timothy naturally an evangelist? I don't think so. I don't think so. God doesn't usually equip evangelists with a timid personality.
Least most of the good ones I've seen are not equipped that way.
There comes a time occasionally when we have to do something that isn't naturally our gift, but at the same time, we each have something that we can do for the Lord. God has given us what we need to do or what we need in order to do it. And there's sometimes a need, as with Timothy, to stir that gift up. Rather than have so many things in my life.
Taken up with the cares of this life and other matters.
That my gift.
Lies. What is? What happens to it? It's either wrapped up in a napkin or maybe it's.
Put aside like the man who buried his talent in the earth. We need to be reminded of that, I believe, here in North America.
I'd like to go back for a test very quick moment to the fifth verse where we have.
Mentioned made of Timothy's mother and grandmother and I think of a verse in Proverbs chapter 14, the first verse it says every wise woman buildeth her house and so this is an encouragement for the sisters here and.
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If we go back, especially to Second Chronicles, the latter chapters, when it mentions a king, it will often mention who his mother's name was, and that influence was either for good or for bad. If we looked at those chapters, the 29th chapter, the 22nd chapter, and some other chapters, and see, we could see that there was a decided difference in cases.
So what a happy situation we had here where Louis and Eunice were able to exhibit that unfeigned faith which was later found in Timothy.
At the risk of lingering a little longer, Brother Christensen on verse five, I would like to reference a few other things. If you read that Proverbs 14-1 in the Darby translation, it says the wisdom of women built of houses. It's true, it's a wise woman, but I believe it's put that way in a particular way is because there is a certain character of wisdom that women have. And in Proverbs it says I was my father's son.
Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. There is a distinction, and Paul takes the place of the spiritual father to Timothy in this chapter. But let's not lose the influence, the impact of Lois and Eunice.
When we come to the 4th chapter we read of not only Timothy but another young man that was influenced by Paul. His name was Mark. John Mark. If we turn back to Acts chapter 12 we find that there was a prayer meeting in the House of who? Mary, the mother of John Mark who was her husband.
Doesn't say was she a single mother? Was she a divorcee? Was she a widow? Scripture does not say, but it does say the prayer meeting was in the House of Mary and that's where the apostles went. What an influence that they had upon John. She had upon John Mark, for the Saints of God were in their home. And we know that John Mark failed in the pathway. But at the end of Paul's ministry, he's referencing the Timothy to take John Mark with him. He's profitable to the ministry. And so there was an influence of Mary, the mother of Mark. And so Timothy, again, it's not only his.
Mother, but his grandmother. What about his father? We don't know his name, but he knew he had when he was a Greek. As far as we know, we have no scriptural support to say that he was a believer. Now, here's a woman from another challenging situation. Maybe she was married and had a husband, but he was an unbeliever. What a challenge that that would be. What a what an excuse to to fall into the ways of the world having to go against the current of your husband. And so we find that the godly influence of a mother and a grandmother had tremendous impact.
In the life of Timothy, and so we speak of do the work of evangelists. What greater work of an evangelist is there for a mother and a grandmother to bring the gospel before their own children and grandchildren. So what a mighty sphere of services is and so we just want to emphasize the the importance and the influence many of us can thank back to not only a mother but grandmothers that impacted us and influence in very significant ways in the ways of the Lord.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And so that ends.
On Feign, faith evidently came through the teaching of the Word of God.
Go to chapter four or three says From a child, Thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, How old is a child?
Brother Bill, where does that start? I've heard this is the thought of an infant and it could go all the way into the womb.
Yes, I think that's important that sometimes we don't realize that even in their young years when we think they're not taking in anything, they are taking in a lot more than we realize it. How important to read the scriptures to our children on a daily basis.
I think that must have been the case with Timothy. And faith grows.
But I have enjoyed this thought, Brethren, the disciples said to the Lord Jesus, Lord, increase our faith.
I've wondered about that.
Brother Bill, what would you say if I say it, Brother Bill, increase my faith in you? Is that a positive statement or what?
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Well, I guess my reaction would be faith is increased by using what little faith I have. If I had faith in someone and I never exercised that faith.
What good does it do me but if I have a little faith and I use it?
Is the Lord going to let me down? Of course not. Some of us are older, old enough to remember Brother Harry Hayhoe, who used to emphasize in strong tones.
God may test your faith, but he'll never disappoint your faith. Is that is that a fair answer? Yes. And I think instead of saying to the Lord, increase our faith. The more you know our person, the more you know that they are worthy of your confidence. And so it's just as if the Lord would say get to know me better, then your faith will automatically increase.
And so I think that's what we need to do, brethren, is reading the Scriptures is the secret to increasing our faith.
Going back to what you were saying, Brother Bill, on the question of gift, I think that is such an important thing. Like you say, I would like to go back to First Timothy chapter 4 where he speaks to Timothy in the context of First Timothy chapter 4 and verse 14. Neglect not the gift that is in thee.
Which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the Presbyterian or the Elderhood.
And so there he was told too, to not neglect the gift in second Timothy, stir up the gift of God that is in thee. There is a tendency, I'm sure, like you say, is that we.
Neglect those things. We need to stir them up.
And I say to the young people here, when you get home to the Lord's presence above.
Stand at the judgment seat of Christ and you say, what did you do with the gift that I gave you? Are you going to say, Lord, I can know I had a gift? Are you going to say that we need to be exercised, brother? And then like you say, Bill, I don't think we know necessarily. I remember Chuck Hendricks was asked that question.
By a young person.
How do I know the gift that the Lord has given me? He made a quote from John chapter 2 and what Mary said to the servants that were at the marriage feast. He said this whatsoever he says to you, do it not like that the Lord has laid something on your heart. Do it. You may say, I don't have a gift.
Do it. If he's laid it on your heart, then we need to be exercised, brethren. And I find that when you use your gift, like you say, gift develops.
So remember your father-in-law telling us younger brethren about the first time he got up to give the gospel, If you remember that too, I surely do. Anyhow, the way I remember it, you can correct me if I don't give it right. But it was in Toronto and I guess there was a lot of.
Nice serious older brother in there, and he was pretty nervous when he got up to give the gospel.
In fact, he was so nervous his mouth went dry, so he took the glass of water to take a drink, and he had to hold it with two hands to be able to get it to his mouth.
But those of us who knew Brother Albert Hayhoe know that the Lord gave him a real gift in presenting the gospel. I think that shows that gift is something that is developed. So Lord has put something on your heart.
Develop it, use it, do what you can and don't be afraid of making mistakes sometimes. I've made lots of mistakes and thanks to my older brother and they corrected me. Learn to take it and profit from it, but use your gift. It's for use in this present day and I've been amazed at some younger brethren how the Lord has used them.
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When there's exercise that's important, you grow by exercise.
Brother, you gave me a gift and I opened the package up. I didn't know what it was. I would just ask you, what is this? Why wouldn't you tell me?
Why is there any more complicated than that?
Why can't I just go to my Savior and say this book tells me you've given me a gift, at least one. Would you show me what it is? Will he not answer that?
Why does it have to be more complicated than that? My father will answer.
You run into people, run into people all the time that say that I don't know my gifted or another one from Christians often that are from other backgrounds. They'll say I don't know my ministry is, I know what one is, Paul says. We've all been given the ministry of reconciliation, so there's one.
And what kind of gift goes along with that is another thing. But why can't I just go to my father and say, I don't understand this gift you've given me, it's here, will you tell me?
Very interesting to see the English word that's used here. It's stir up I believe in another translation that word is rekindled that gives the thought that there was something there that would be responsive. We sometimes.
Use a wood stove in our home to get additional heat in the winter time and sometimes.
That fire goes down, it's almost out, but then you look.
At the stove and you still see some blowing embers. Well, you take the poker and you move those around.
You add another piece of wood and you have that fire rekindled. So I think that that's somewhat the thought of this passage here in Timothy.
It's interesting that here in Second Timothy, it's by the footing on of my hands.
Whereas in first Timothy chapter 4, where you have the House of God in its order, it's by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery for the elderhood. And I think it shows that one, there is a desire to use our gift and whatever measures that may be that we seek the fellowship of our local brethren. And I think that's that's proper.
In its place, so the Lord help us rather than in Second Timothy.
Evidently he doesn't speak of the elder Hood is by the putting on of my hands so those who are older can encourage those that are younger. I just take it that the pudding on of the hands is just a way of showing fellowship that we understand.
Yes, although I I would suggest that in those early days of the Church.
Paul, as an apostle and as he could call himself a wise master builder, could recognize in this young man Timothy potential and that God could have used him as the instrument by which Timothy was made aware that God was.
Giving him that gift is that. Is that possible?
But yes, in the normal way the elder hood would express fellowship and I think that comment is very good that it's always good to work with and with the.
Fellowship of our brethren, especially our older brethren.
Brother Bob, when I was a young man, almost every time you saw me and greeted me, you said stir up the gifts. That's in you, brother.
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You must have said it 100 times. I don't remember that.
Thank you.
Thank the Lord.
Well, this next verse, the seventh verse is.
Of real importance.
God hath not given us the spirit of fear.
And that fear can take many forms. Fear of ourselves, fear of failure, fear of the condition of things in the professing church, fear of the world around.
And shall I say it?
Fear of failure and perhaps being corrected by my brethren, as Bob has said.
God hasn't given us that spirit of fear, but of what power?
The word here for power is the same root word that is used in.
Our English word dynamite.
Dynamite. Wow. In a day of ruin we can talk about power. In terms of something as strong as dynamite, Yes we can.
As we've emphasized, the Lord is the same and in the pathway of faithfulness to Him.
All his power is behind us.
You never need to have that spirit of fear.
Burden. Yes, and as we will find out later in this epistle, it is a mistake to pretend to have power as it was in the days of the early Church when everything was in order.
To go out there pretending to have the power of Pentecost is a mistake. To pretend that souls are going to come to Christ and that there's going to be that oneness of believers that we had or that we rather read about in the early church. God is not going to turn back the clock.
We must recognize very clearly that we are living in the days.
Of the ruin of the testimony. And to try and pretend that that is not so is a mistake. But once we have taken that position, there is no limit to what God can do in faithfulness.
And then it goes on to say end of love.
The word there is the word used in Greek for divine love.
Love how very, very important, and that's already been emphasized today. And finally, of a sound mind, you have a right mind.
There can be different thoughts as to this, but to me it implies a mind that is under the control of the Spirit of God. I believe that JND uses the term.
Wise discretion.
What does that mean? It means knowing when to say something. It means knowing what to say.
And the right time to say it.
Wise discretion. Do we need that in these days? Yes, indeed we do.
But God wants to give all this to us.
In a day of room.
And it's available for us. Paul has to encourage Timothy along that line. He encourages you and me today, every one of us, in the same way.
I was thinking in connection with Timothy, who by nature appeared to be timid. I was thinking of the admonition that's given in Acts chapter 4.
It says verse 29. And now Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants, that they with all boldness speak thy word. So it's very important, isn't it? Some years ago there was a brother that attended a few meetings in Woodbridge. He was originally from Romania.
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And he spoke about the very difficult times.
Living in Romania under the dictator there with a very harsh regime.
And very often he would smuggle Bibles from his house.
And the authorities came in and caught him on one occasion and brought him before the court.
And when he got there, the judge said to him, is it true that we found the Bible in your house?
You said no, it's not true. I had many Bibles in my house.
And the Lord gave him boldness under those circumstances. Naturally he was a very timid brother, but on that occasion the Lord gave him boldness.
That probably he was detained for a short period of time but then released. So we're thankful for that bold testimony that he gave.
Bill, assuming the sound mind.
Is just that a sound mind? We know our brains. Our physical brains are not the same as our mind. Our minds are above that.
It survives our death. Is that right, Our minds?
What courage?
Could someone who's beginning to fail.
Baby with dementia or something?
What encouragement could they take from this verse?
That God has said something and the mind that's above the brain.
To thy faith.
Take encouragement from that as they see a deterioration.
I can only tell a short story, but it could be repeated a number of times. I remember well a few years ago having lunch with a dear brother and his wife who had fairly advanced Alzheimer's disease.
And if I talked about anything natural?
To use a common expression, he was all over the map.
But as long as I stuck to spiritual things in the Word of God, you'd never have known there was anything wrong.
And maybe others have had experiences like that. I've had it several times and I don't believe this term sound mind means a mind that's in full control of itself in every aspect of life. I believe it means a mind that is under the control of the Spirit of God. And how often we find that as we get in 2nd Corinthians 4.
Though our outward man perisheth, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. And how often have some of those who we say it very kindly, those who have been what this world would call mentally challenged, and who have not been born with what would naturally be termed a sound mind, and yet God has used their minds.
Under his control to say words that have been such an encouragement and such a help and just the right word at the right time.
I remember well reading a story, and this happened many years ago because the Telegraph was invention invented way back in the 19th century and this young man was fairly if we would.
Say it kindly, simple minded, couldn't really do book learning, couldn't really grasp many things, but he knew the Lord and he knew the word of God.
And someone came to him and told him about the Telegraph. This was long before the days of the telephone and how that they could send messages from A to B and get there in very short time.
He had a beautiful answer.
He said, oh, he said, I know something even better than that. And he started a quote from Isaiah. Just imagine, he said, I know someone and he says before they even call, I will answer, he said, if they got that yet.
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Amazing. And there from a boy that probably, I don't know whether he even knew how to read.
But he knew the Word of God, and he had the right word for the right time.
I believe the Lord can give that, wouldn't you think, brother? There's.
Concurred with their.
Thank you for that.
Again, I say let's not pretend to be what we're not. A dear brother back in the 19th century wrote something like this, and some will recognize the source of what I'm going to say, he said. Wherever there is an attempt to set up and display the position in the unity, there will be nothing but a mess and a failure.
Really.
Yes, he said. God will not take that place with us. In order to be in the place of his strength, we must be in the place of his mind, and that is in the recognition of the ruin of the church. But once we take that place, there can be no limit to the blessing that the Spirit of God can give.
He was referring to the fact that some felt because of the recovery of the truth, Oh, we're back in the days of Pentecost. God is going to reunite all, christen them together. Everything is going to be happy again. We've got the truth that Paul committed so faithfully to Timothy. God has restored it to us.
We can enjoy it, we can, but no. Is there going to be a reuniting of Christendom?
Not in God's way. It will come in Satan's way during the Tribulation, but not in God's way. But if we want to walk in the pathway of faith, there can be no limit. The blessing that God can give, and we need not have the spirit of fear.
50 years ago that all those young people were getting saved in Cedar Rapids, word came from people who heard about it and said that can't be a work of the Spirit of God because this is a day of ruin.
It's a day of small things. Remember how discouraging that was to hear that not just to me, but others?
And I remember the Lord speaking to my heart and saying, let me decide how small small is.
Brother Bill, what you just said is there's an open door set before us and I remember the Lord pointing that out and all we have to do is walk through it and let him decide how small small is.
But it is so important, isn't it? In our day, we've gone through that pandemic.
And.
See so much fear on every side.
Rather than we need to be careful, we need to take precautions, but don't let fear dominate our lives. That is not the Spirit that God has given us. I must say I enjoyed 2 verses in Psalm 56 that were mentioned in connection with fear.
The first one is in verse 3.
Sound 53 six and verse three. What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee. So what is the remedy when we do feel fear?
Trust in God. But now notice in verse 11.
In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid. He puts God first, and there's no place for fear there. In fact, somebody has said that this is the first and second class.
Trained to heaven.
First classes in God I have put my dress, I will not be afraid. Second class, you'll get there too. What time I'm afraid so there's there's fear there. I will trust in thee. So the Lord help his brother not to give place to fear in our life. Yes, we need to be careful and walk discreetly, but don't let fear dominate.
00:45:30
We need to learn to trust the Lord is over all circumstances and He has proved himself again and again as a God that can be trusted.
If I walk up behind you in the dark, Bob and I go boom. You'll jump, you'll be afraid for a second. Things like that happen in our lives, all kinds of things. Everyone in this room has experienced fear, but what you do next is what you just said. What do you do next after you jump? Something startles you, life comes at you, and suddenly there's fear on. Reeves gave me some advice once, and he says there's a verse in the Bible that says be not afraid of sudden fear.
What a strange idea that verse suggests.
And he said, I experienced that in the Dominican Republic. I was walking along one day and all of a sudden I was filled full of fear for no apparent reason. And I took it that that was an attack of the enemy. And I thought of this verse not to be afraid of sudden fear. And then he trusted and it was gone.
Remember some years ago Brother Ernie Wakefield from Montreal was preaching the gospel and he mentioned that one of the first places fear was mentioned was in the early chapters of Genesis and.
He took up several of the sayings there. I was one of them. I was afraid. And there were four things that began with the letter I and he said that they were erased by the cross of Christ. And in connection with fear he turned us to 1St John 418, I believe, which says perfect love casteth out fear. So there was an antidote for each one of those.
Fears and difficulties that surface there in the book of Genesis.
We might mention one thing in connection with this seventh verse, not to be labored too much. You know, Brother Bob, you thought of getting into the second chapter and we'll do our best to get there, but.
One thing we need to remember is that.
Having confidence in the Lord and not being afraid is not at all compatible with pride.
We cannot talk about pride, we never could, but far less so in a day of room. And if the Lord says, as he says here, God hath not given us the spirit of fear, that's true, but it also needs to be mixed.
With a very healthy humility.
In that we are part of the ruin of the church.
Sometimes there gets to be the tendency.
And I must confess that when I was younger, I was guilty of it too.
That if in the great house that's mentioned in the 4th or in the second chapter, rather a great House of Christendom, there is moral evil and doctrinal evil.
Thank God there's one corner of the great house where things are done right, and although we wouldn't say it out loud, by implication it was well. And that's where I think we are.
No, no 1000 times no. I had to learn that the failure will be most evident where the truth is sought to be maintained.
Now that sounds like a paradox, but it's true. The more you and I seek to maintain and walk in the truth of God, the more the failure will be evident because there will be such a contrast between what is reality and what is not.
00:50:10
And that humbles us. It ought to humble us, and we ought to be humbled into the dust.
But as we've said earlier, and we emphasize it again, that does not mean discouragement, It does not mean being afraid. It means going forward with what God has given us. But I like the way you brought that out, Bob, from Psalm 56.
Put God between US and the fear and things will come in their right perspective, won't they?
Like to just say a word to well I think.
It's important to say that the ruin is of the testimony to the church. And when we look at God's eternal purpose of blessing for the church, you can't say that they're ruined there. It's in the testimony that we are responsible for. That's where the ruin is.
And like you say, when we profess to have everything doing right.
Be careful, because you're going to be right on the edge of some pretty serious things. Let's not do that, brother. Let's go on individually with the Lord and with our brethren. But God professed to be where everything is done right. We should seek that which is right, Definitely.
And enjoy the truth of God as much as we can. But to profess that we are the ones that have it right is is going to be ruining itself. And so the Lord help us.
The testimony is in ruins. If you go out into the city of Burbank, how many places say they're the church?
There's any number of places, but I thought the church was one. The body of Christ is one. Yes, it is. It continues to be one even today. But the testimony to that truth is in ruins. And so you see what has resulted. The Lord help us, brethren, to distinguish that. I I trust that that's clear. Maybe you can clarify it more. If that's no, that's very clear, Brother Bob and I say a hearty Amen to that.
The Church is the bride of Christ and.
She will be presented, how does it say, a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing? But it's the outward testimony that is in Ruth. Amen.
I was struck forcibly some years ago by hearing a statement made by Mahatma Gandhi, known to some as one of the fathers of Indian independence and for many years the British.
Or occupiers of India.
And there was a nominal Christian profession.
There, but the statement that he made was that wasn't for Christians. I would be a Christian. So Doctor Lee, he was acquainted with what Christianity taught, but he could not see that connected with the way the professors walked so.
What a lesson that should be to us today.
When my mother was young.
And I was young.
She was very vigorous, very competent, very busy.
In a little boy's brain, I didn't really evolve. It's the only mother I had. I just, that was my impression of her.
Fast forward.
80 years or so into her, when she's in her late 80s and early 90s. I go to visit her and to walk from here to that door probably take 45 minutes.
And she was shrunken down, and she was reduced. And I used to think of that verse, Despise not thy mother when she is old.
And so we have in verse 8. Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.
00:55:01
It's possible, I suppose, to be ashamed of the Lord in the sense of disappointed, as we had this morning, which leads to discouragement because our hopes are somewhere they don't belong.
We get called up short and we realize that we have had our hopes somewhere there, and we have to be brought down and realize our confidence is in the Lord. But to be ashamed of the testimony. It can be a response to seeing the weakness and outward testimony as you put it off, and not ought not to be that expression. The day of small things comes behind a phrase, if I remember right. Don't despise the day of small things.
And so we recently had the experience of visiting some very small.
Gatherings, literally two or three. It was so encouraging.
You go there and they're just.
They're just for the Lord, they're engaged with Him, they're digging into the Scriptures, they have various personal ministries and all the rest. It was so heartwarming. And so we ought not to despise the testimony our mother when she is old.
Near neighbor of mine brought me to a little farmhouse over 45 years ago, and it became that testimony. There became a mother to me, it nourished me, it protected me, all those things that Bill Brockmire was talking about. So yes, it's weaker. We ought not to despise it. It's precious to him and it's a great privilege.
To be in any way identified with it. Oh, I gotta drive an hour and a half and there's only four or five old people there. No, you get to drive an hour and a half only and there's four or five people there. It's as you say, it's, it's a perspective. And yes, your testimony is old in, in, in North America. Other places it's not. But let's not despise it. It's precious to him. We ought to be able to look back and see how precious it is been to us.
And value it as such.
It's been said that in First Timothy we have the testimony of the Lord, and in Second Timothy we have me as prisoner.
And it seems like the line of things we're bringing out is really ashamed of me as prisoner. Paul cast out. Paul not listened to.
May I suggest to brethren, the testimony of the Lord goes beyond the practicing of the truth that there is one body.
One body isn't even mentioned in First Timothy.
But there's many things that are brought in that I believe are encompassed in the testimony of the Lord.
Chapter 2 we have the furtherance of the gospel. There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified and detained time. It's part of the testimony of this, the gospel. You come into proper place of the man and the woman. You get the place of the care for. You have the care of oversight brought out in that chapter. You have a matter of diet. You have a matter of of exercise in chapter 4 you have the matter of.
Caring for the widows, we have some very intense things and yes, we even have the matter of relationship to government in terms of prayer and for on the chapter 2, chapter 6, we have the matter of stewardship and money and things of this sort. And so I don't, I appreciate very much the remarks that have been made. I, I do think we, we get a little bit off track when we limit the testimony of the Lord to the, to the gatherings that were in as small or large as they may be. I connect that more with Paul, me, his prisoner that was reproached. There was a day when the Christian testimony was mighty and powerful.
And impactful and now we see our great weakness and especially in our local assemblies. But let's not be afraid of be a let's not be ashamed of me as prisoner either. But I I would just like to add that in regard to the comments that have been made.
As you said, we get to drive there. I love that. It's a privilege to do that because he's there.
And if we forget that sometimes, and I know it's, I'm sure you've experienced in others talking to a young person who's discouraged because they go someplace where there's only a few, well, how about doing something about it?
There's power.
Not like what build he exhorted us. It's not, it's not Pentecost power, but there's power. Doesn't Philadelphia? Aren't they told there's an open door before them? Isn't the Spirit of God the same Spirit of God? Isn't he still gathering people? Isn't he still saving people? Well, by faith, can't you act and do something about it?
01:00:31
I don't believe that the Apostle Paul was just being sentimental.
Here in the early part of this chapter.
Though it you could think that.
In verse three he refers to his forefathers. In verse five he goes back a couple generations with Timothy.
As if he's rehearsing in his mind, looking backwards.
It very much reminds me of Deuteronomy, where I think it's around chapter 8 of Deuteronomy. They were considered the way that the Lord LED them.
And Paul here is we'll get as one would get if we cut all the way to the 4th chapter. I'm now ready to be offered the time of my departure is at hand. He's.
He's very reflective and he feels like almost like he's Moses and.
It but I I'm going to be going to.
But the reflection.
As he sums it up to Timothy, as Timothy is going to be more like the Joshua, Timothy is going to be serving the Lord.
Hopefully, as Paul would put it, with power and love and of a sound mind. And so he rehearses these things from the past as they did, they were told. Consider the way the Lord led you. He led you 40 years through the wilderness. You went through that ball earlier, but then it was now I'm going to bring you into a good land, a land of brooks, of water and wheat and all these wonderful things that's ahead of you. And so to me, it seems like Paul is in this, in this between things.
Not for him personally. He knew from the Lord apparently that it was personally the end of his spiritual life, but but not for not for the the Saints and not for Timothy. And he's encouraging him. You, you can see what the Lord did, but you got to go forward. And whether I'm here or not, you're going to need power and love and of a sound mind. And don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord and so on or of me as prisoner. And then he points forward.
In verse nine, Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works.
I don't believe this is a gospel theology that we're saved by faith and not by works, though that's true. We get that in other places, but it's not works of any kind spiritually that supported testimony here. As to responsibility, there has been failure. But what does he say but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
Paul, by the Spirit of God, had this remarkable buoyancy or resilience to be able to keep looking forward to that which was sure and solid. And so as, as we could say about this, this second epistle, Paul is optimistic. He's realistic about what's going on, but he's optimistic. And it's not discouragement to to to bring Timothy down, but to glue him up.
It's a good land like like like Caleb. It's out there and and and the Saints of God are loved by him and serve them. You're going to need.
Love, power and love of a sound mind.
God's eternal purpose cannot fail, can it?
Given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Here we are in time.
As I'm going to say, it works. Maybe I'm stiff necked and hard headed, but who do you think's going to win in the end? God and His eternal purpose for me and my stiff necked and hard heartedness. God knows how to handle that and He will, but His eternal purpose is going to be fulfilled. That's so wonderful to keep in mind.
01:05:10
So it's just beautiful to connect verse 8, brother. And again, we mentioned it before with verse 12.
You're saying he says to Timothy, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor be his prisoner.
Verse 12 For the witch, 'cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless.
I am not ashamed. Oh brother, this is such a encouragement to us. I know.
From my belief and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day.
What confidence?
The apostle Paul speaks with a theory should encourage us.
What a contrast with John the Baptist who won, the Lord said.
Greater than all the prophets.
He got to a point in his service where he's in prison and he has to send messengers and say art thou he that should come or look we for another?
That was the essence of his testimony. And yet he got in his in his mind, in his heart, his spiritual mind. He got his heartened and confused. What a contrast here with the Apostle Paul. He's at the end too. He's in prison and he says, I know whom I have believed.
It's not intelligence that.
Brings a clear testimony, I think, of the testimony of the blind man that was healed.
His statement was one thing. I know that whereas I was blind, now I see.
He didn't have to testify about anything else. Maybe he didn't have any knowledge about anything else, but he could testify about what he knew.
Perhaps in closing, we could sing the last two verses of 200 and 34234, verses 4:00 and 5:00.
Made mighty expose most feeble are we yet trembling before our great leader they flee. Verses four and five of 234. My voice is in much good today, so maybe some other brother could raise the tomb, please.
Why did your soul.
Hurry.
Yeah, traveling before.
Greatly.
Are.
Never the bad wall. Is this lonely?
Yeah.
Regarding our Father, give thanks for another opportunity.
Have our hearts drawn toward these to the heart. Lord Jesus, we just would thank Thee for the glory that soon ahead. In the meantime, Lord, help us to.
The gifts that we do have to use them for thine honor and for the blessing of others too. We thank Thee for this time together, our God and Father, and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.