Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
135 Which book? Yeah. The Little Flock. OK.
Nsnoise, Timothy and I've asked Jonathan Bouillard to read the chapter for us.
Second Timothy, chapter 4.
I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom. Preach the word the instant in season out of season, reprove, review, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having engineers.
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things endure affliction. Do the work of an evangelist made full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.
Which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day, and not me only, but I do all them also, that love disappearing through my diligence to come shortly unto me. Or demons have forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed at the Thessalonica. Kreskin to Galatia, Titus unto the men, unto Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry.
And take a kiss. Have I sent to Ephesus the cloak that I left at Troas, with carpets, without comments. Spring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchment. Alexander the coppersmith is much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. Of whom be thou. Where also, for he hath greatly withstood our words. At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
00:05:23
Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known.
And that all the Gentiles might hear. And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly Kingdom, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Salut Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Vanessa Forest. Erastus abode at Chorus. Patrophis. Have I left at my Needham sick? Do thy diligence to come before winter. Uvulis greedy and Putin and lioness and Claudia.
And all the brethren, the Lord Jesus Christ, and with thy Spirit, grace be with you. Amen.
So I'd like to encourage you to speak up, ask the question as we go along or make a comment. But just to get the context here, we find that these are the final words that the apostle Paul penned by divine inspiration, which we explained what inspiration was this morning. And these words are written not to a an assembly, not to a group of believers.
Not to believers in a certain area, but they're written to an individual, a man named Timothy that had been no doubt saved under the the preaching of Timothy. And although he had known the Scriptures from a child and he had traveled with Timothy, in fact, Timothy refers to him as his own son in the faith. They were very, very close. Paul is an old man by this time. He's about to lay down his life. Timothy is a young, younger man.
And what Paul is seeking to do in this last chapter of Second Timothy is to encourage Timothy to take up the torch that for the truth that Paul had held high, and to carry that torch on. In fact, that this whole second epistle is really encouraging Timothy to go on in difficult times. Second Timothy has to do with the.
Breakdown of everything in in government, in the family, in the assembly, it's Christian profession at the end of the dispensation of the grace of God. The days that are described here as the last days in perilous times in this book are days very parallel to the days in which we live. And young people, what Paul was telling Timothy is things are not going to get better.
You're not going to see brighter days of Christianity down here, but you can go on as an individual and you will find there are other individuals, some of which will take up tomorrow as we take up the last part of the chapter. There will be other individuals who will have a similar desire to go on for the Lord. Don't look for things to get easier or better. The enemy is going to do his work and.
The This epistle prepares to show us that the last days of Christianity are days of general giving up and complete ruin of the outward testimony as to the truth of God. So we're going to find that Timothy then is encouraged to go on in spite of the darkness of the moral ruin that had come in.
It's helpful as this chapter that Paul is right at the end of his life and he's speaking to Timothy and, uh, he gives them this charge. He gives them something to, to do.
And Paul was at the end of his life. He's not saying Timothy. It was a waste. I wish I hadn't done it. It's not worth it. Outwardly, it looked like all that Paul had labored for was was lying in ruins. In in the first chapter of this epistle, in verse 15, he's saying to Timothy this Thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me.
And yet he's saying it's worth it, Timothy, and it's those of us in this room, almost all of us are are still quite young. And if if you take the effort to talk to one who is older, who is, who has walked with the Lord and it has and in any measure made any sacrifices for the Lord and his and his walk to please him. They will say the same thing that Paul is saying here. You go on, you walk to the Lord, you do it, it's worth it. It doesn't matter if if others have given up. It doesn't matter if the course is hard.
00:10:13
You do this, it's worth it. It's a happy path and so it's.
It's wonderful to see Paul not as a disgruntled old man, not as one who is crushed at different defeats. He's sustained. He's saying you say the course, it's worth it.
Most of the full Pitbull especially are the ones with assembly pick up with the doctrine in the early part of the book and later on they give the practical teaching of the book. Uh, here in second Timothy, umm, most of the, the beginning of the book, the 1St 3 chapters, umm, Apostle Paul is pointing out, like uh, Jim said, the degradation of society and everything is falling away through whether it be, umm, whether it be in, uh, what have been the House of God is no being called the great house and.
Uh, problems there. And, uh, goes on in the third chapter to look at just complete moral breakdown in society, which we see today. Uh, if you look at some of the verses on your own time, you'll see that, uh, they line up very much with the thoughts of today. I'll, I'll get my own standards, what's right and we'll please God out of the picture. And that's what these ones have done in this 4th chapter is really what the apostle Paul is instructing Timothy to do in light of this. And it's not to, uh, it's not to hide in a shell.
Uh, it is to press on, but it's suppressed on with the truth to, uh, carry the gospel out. Uh, there's two things I believe in this in second Timothy where, uh, Timothy is instructed to do things which may not be associated with his quote on, quote, gifts. And, uh, we hear a lot about gifts that, you know, people, uh, weekends and so on. And you need to find your gift and do all this and that. Uh, but here in the fourth half it says, do the work of the evangelist and the 2nd and the 2nd chapter says we have to teach.
And we need to be grounded in the Scriptures so that in any circumstance that we come up against, we can, uh, as we have the verse this morning, right? We divide the word of truth, divide it in three times and in every situation have the word of God and an outline where we can, where we can take the situation and show what the word of God has to say on the matter. So in that regard, it's interesting that in these two epistles, first and Second Timothy, you have an exhortation to doctrine 13 times.
And we have it at the end of our second verse. We can't hope to cover everything in these chapters, but just to get a few practical instructions. So we're gonna skip a little bit. But it's interesting in connection with what Tim said, because what we we can't have sound behavior unless it's based on sound doctrine. And so especially in the first epistle, in the 1St Epistle, 9 exhortations as to the need for sound doctrine.
And young people, don't let anybody come along and tell you doctrine doesn't really matter, that we're all Christians and we can all get along and we can all be in fellowship with each other. Yes, we are all Christians. Yes, we are. We should all get along. And if we all acted on the doctrine, the foundation doctrines of the Word of God, we would all be together in fellowship. But that wasn't the reality in Timothy's day. There was a falling away. Even true believers were giving up what Paul had taught.
True believers were doing things that were not according to sound doctrine. And so Timothy is not told to compromise. He's told to as you get in the end of uh, well, let me read verse two. Preach the word the instant in season out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and what's the basis for it? Doctrine. You can't exhort, you can't reprove, so on without.
Sound doctrine being the basis. So I want to say again, the basis for sound Christian behavior is sound doctrine. We have to know what to do before we can, we can do it. We'll talk a little bit about that further in our, in our, our addresses. But I, I, I, people come along and say it doesn't matter anymore and we've got to give a little here and there. Compromise is letting the barrier down slowly compromise us. As we used to say, the thin edge of the wedge is just giving up a little bit here and there.
Paul says to Timothy, if you're gonna go on in the last days and after I'm gone, this is the is the basis for it. Now, one other thing, it's interesting that in this last chapter we don't have the Lord's coming as the rapture. It's not the Lord's coming for us that is brought out. But twice he talks about the Lord's appearing. The Lord's appearing always has to do with that which takes place after the rapture, whether it is appearing back in this world.
00:15:22
Or whether it is what we refer to as the judgment seat of Christ for believers. And the appearing always has to do with reward and judgment. So in the beginning of the chapter, he speaks of him judging the quick and the dead, the living and the dead at his appearing. Because there's a day coming when everybody is going to have to answer to the judge. The living are going to be when the Lord comes. The living are going to be judged when he comes back to this world and appears in this world.
The dead are going to be judged later on at the great white throne. But then I believe while it's not specifically brought out, there's the hint that then we need. If there are Christians who are acting carelessly, if there are Christians who are giving up sound doctrine, what was Timothy to do? He was to reprove, rebuke, exhort as far as the lost. He was to preach the Word the instant. In season, out of season, there's judgment coming.
Do you really believe that if we do, we'd be out giving out tracks? You'd be taking some gospel calendars from the back counter and making sure when you go home you're giving them out. If we really believe that the Lord is coming soon and that he's going to appear and judge the quick and the dead, But what about you and me who know the Lord is our Savior? We're not afraid of being judged for our sins. But he goes on then and to skip down, He says in verse 8, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me.
At that day, and not to me only, but all them that love his appearing.
You see, it has to do again with reward, because when the Lord Jesus comes back and appears in this world, we're going to appear in glory with him. And our faithfulness now in this life is.
Determining our position in the Kingdom with the Lord Jesus, the rewards are going to be handed out at the judgment seat of Christ for believers, and he's going to say be thou over 5 cities, be thou over 10 cities. There's going to be a measure of reward.
That puts our plate, gives us our place in the Kingdom, and we are determining that by our life. And so Paul wanted Timothy to have a full reward. He wanted him to live in view of the fact that he was someday going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ and receive a reward for the things done in the body, and that he was going to come back and have a place in the Kingdom. And you and I need to live in view of that, and we need to.
As He says here, we need to love his appearing to look forward to the day when the Lord is going to have his rightful place on earth and we're going to reign with Him.
Just in that connection, go over to Second Peter for a moment. This is a verse that is somewhat missed, a plot sometimes misapplied, but I wanna notice that in its context, and it goes along with what we have in our chapter, Second Peter, chapter one.
And verse 10.
Wherefore the rather, brethren?
Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. And what he's really saying is, keep the freshness of your election and your salvation sure in your soul. For if you do these things, you shall never fail. And I want you to notice this next verse. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly. Now notice this not into heaven.
But into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Everyone of us are going to have an abundant entrance into heaven When the Lord comes, we're going to meet the Lord in the air and we're going to be ushered by the Lord Jesus into the Father's house. We're all going to have an abundant entrance into heaven, but we're not all going to have an abundant entrance into the Kingdom. And what Peter was saying is similar to Paul, I want you to have an abundant entrance into the Kingdom. I want you to come into the Kingdom with the reward of feed out over 10 cities, not just be out over 5 cities.
Not just have a little, uh, subordinate place in the Kingdom, but I want you to have the full reward that the Lord wants you to have. So it's not an abundant entrance into heaven. We're all going to have that, but an abundant entrance into the Kingdom. And our life now is determining whether we're going to have an abundant entrance into the, the millennial Kingdom or not. We'll all be part of the Kingdom. Every man is going to have a reward. Every man will have praise of God. We read in Corinthians.
00:20:25
But there will be differences in those rewards and responsibilities.
As we conduct ourselves in this life, we're not doing godly things for the sake of the reward itself.
Distinction there. Umm, one thing I just wanted to point out is the timeline here, right? Paul's writing this in 60s, eighties, 60. So we're only a few decades removed from Christ himself. And how quickly has the testimony been?
Been corrupted.
Umm, eyewitnesses. The Apostle John and eyewitness was still alive.
Do you live until around 8090? So. So it's just umm.
Just curious to think about how, umm, how quickly it came into ruin and, and is that itching here, right? The you're so drawn to look at something that has been established and say, and then judges by how judged by the failures of those who practice it and then dismiss that, umm, that doctrine as untrue because of the, the frailty of the followers, you know, and then.
Be misled into something new and different for the sake that it is different. OK, Umm, but that's a category error, right? That's, that's, uh, applying the this treating a doctrine is false because of the failures of those who would seek to practice that target. So let's not mistake that category error, but it's also.
On an encouraging note to say that.
The testimony of of Christ and and given in the Word of God has endured until now. OK.
And there have always been a faithful view who devote themselves to the truth. And, uh, we'll continue to do so until the price return. So, umm.
You know it. It is our joy to fulfill.
The the purpose, you know, Timothy's purpose, seeking out those few who would, you know, be those who discern the truth for the truth sake, not for the followers sake.
That that's good. And so we never want to judge Christianity by what we see in the Christian profession. We judge Christianity by the word of God. It's going back to the foundation principles. Just say this too, brought to mind when Austin was speaking that second epistle, just a little talking about an outline of truth and understanding Scripture. Second epistles always denote days of failure and ruin, days of weakness.
What it is, is it's us. It's always the failure to act, uh, in a practical way on the truth that's given in the first epistle. And it shows again how quickly things come in between first and second Timothy, between first and second Peter, between first and second John, between 1St and 2nd Ephesians say, excuse me, Yeah, there's a second epistle to the Ephesians. It's in Revelation chapter 2, and between the time Paul wrote to them in the first epistle.
And John writes the 2nd epistle to them. They had left their first love they, and that goes along with what Austin was saying, You know, reward Christ is to be our motivation always to live in for his glory. It's Christ as our motivation, as our object. But rewards then are given us a nice little incentive. Now our time is slipping. I'm, we only got about four minutes left. And I just want to say this too, about this first part of the, uh, the chapter because tomorrow I want to get on to the ones that he commend.
In verse 7, after speaking about knowing that his departure was at hand because he was going to just about to lay down his life for his faithfulness, his testimony, then he says I have fought a good fight. We often speak of the Christian life as a good fight. That's the fight of faith. We need the armor of God and so on. But then he says I have finished my course. Now, if you notice Mr. Darby's translation, he's finished the race. You see, Paul often in his epistle speaks of the Christian life as a race or an athletic event.
00:25:33
Because again, we understand when the athlete goes out to train and give up certain comforts, he and disciplines himself. He has the prize. He has the goal in view. And what's the prize? The goal. In the Christian life, it's always Christ pressing towards the mark. It was Christ that Paul had before. But I believe the race here is in the sense of the relay race. That's what he's talking about with Timothy, because earlier in the epistle he's passing on the truth to Timothy.
Who was to pass it on to faithful men? The beginning of the second chapter. Who was to pass it on?
To more faithful men, I talked about Chapter Brown this morning who said that dictionary would answer not 85% of your questions. He made an interesting comment in his ministry one time. He said his desire and prayer was that he would pass on the truth with the same purity in which he himself received it. I thought that was a beautiful testimony, a beautiful exercise. He had received the truth ministered from the Word of God.
Through faithful men. And he wanted to faithfully pass on the truth to the younger generation. And that's what some of us who are older are trying to do in our feeble measure, to just pass on what we've received, what we've been taught by the Spirit of God from the Word, and what we've been taught by faithful men. Names that are just names to you. Gordon Hayhoe, Clarence Lundeen, Armstead Berry, Dan Anderson, all those that are just names to you young people. They passed along the truth to us as faithful men. And I trust that as we're getting older, we're seeking to do the same thing.
And so Paul was passing the relay, the baton to Timothy. Now, Timothy, my race is over. Now you take the baton and you run. Because young people, well, we're looking for the Lord to come at any moment. If we're left here a little longer, some of the older ones are not gonna be here to minister to you, to shepherd and guide you. You know, when I first went out in the work of the Lord 27 years ago.
There were a lot of older brothers on the front rows at conferences and who hosted the events and camps like this. You know, they're all with the Lord now. Some of us have moved up a generation. And if the Lord leaves us here, it's, it's going to happen again. And it happens more quickly than perhaps when we're young, we realize. So we're just seeking to pass on the baton like Paul passed it on to Timothy. I trust we're seeking to pass on the same baton that Timothy passed on to faithful men who passed on from one generation.
And that baton that was passed to me by my older brother.