Address—B. Prost
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77 in the appendix.
77 in the appendix, the 1St 3 verses reading verse 20. Christ, He is the fountain, the deep sweet well of love, the streams on earth. I tasted more deep. I'll drink above there to an ocean Fullness is mercy doth expand, and glory glory dwell in Emmanuel's land. Just the 1St 3 verses of 77 in the appendix.
All sons of life, my dear.
Jesus Christ.
You know, I often enjoy that here. Sands of time or sinking.
Some perhaps are familiar with it, but it was written by a woman by the name of Mrs. Cousins. But the thoughts in it were suggested by a man, Samuel Rutherford, who lived back in the 17th century, and he was a dear man of God. And the hymn itself is much longer than this. I think there is something like 19 verses in the original. Many of those verses which weren't suitable for our little flock in book because the expressions used in the men, the thoughts that it contained weren't exactly scriptural.
But nevertheless there's a beauty to that him which I covered, and any who are acquainted with the writings of Samuel Rutherford, particularly his letters, can't help but be impressed with the nearness to Christ and the enjoyment of the person in Christ that was part of him. He lived in a day when there was a giving up of that which was according to the mind of God. He lived in a time of much difficulty in England, and in fact, history tells us that he was summoned before the King.
I believe in the year 1661 because of the truth which he taught and which he ministered there in the in the South of Scotland. But he sent a message back to the king because he was lying on his deathbed. He said I have AI have a summons to a higher place. He said, and I can't answer you, he said, because I'm going somewhere where kings and those like them, he said, sometimes don't come.
He meant in the glory and of course, he was in no position to go down to London and answer to the charges because before long he was with the Lord. While I say that because that is particularly what I have in my heart this afternoon, but I'd like to turn for our thoughts to the book of Second Timothy.
Book of Second Timothy.
Now I'll just make a few remarks perhaps before we begin because.
The book of Second Timothy, as I suppose most of us know, is a book that was written.
Right at the end of the Apostle Pauls life, probably the last book that he wrote, or if not the last, among the last, he was in Rome, he was a prisoner, and he was, as he says in the epistle, ready to be offered out. He knew that in the short space of time, if the Lord didn't come, that he was probably going to die a marker's death.
And there were difficulties. The apostle Paul had labored for many years in his lifetime, both in the gospel and in the truth, to establish souls in the good of all of those wonderful revelations which he had gotten from a risen Christ in glory.
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Now here he was in prison in Rome, and he was seeing the breakup of much that he had labored so hard to achieve with the Lord's help. Of course, we'll read some of those verses. And so Paul gives Timothy as an individual special instruction in Timothy, particularly second Timothy, about how to react to situations when the outward testimony was in ruins. And I suppose that that isn't new to most of us here.
But what has impressed me in reading through Second Timothy recently?
Is the truth that is contained in it, but also, if I might put it in this way, the spirit of much of what the apostle says to Timmy, not so much the latter of what he says, although that was important, but the spirit that he was trying to convey. I can remember reading the history of the Saints of God, some of the history of the testimony in North America, and particularly the history.
As it involved what was turned or who was turned, A poor Shoemaker who lived in Chicago. A poor Shoemaker that Mister Darby took a special interest in because he seemed to have a real interest in the things of the Lord. And the history went on to say that this Shoemaker seemed to imbibe not only much of Mr. Darby's teaching, but much of his spirit, and went on to be used mightily of the Lord. Well, the Shoemaker, of course, is Walter Potter.
And he was lightly used as the Lord in this country. I never knew him, but we still have the benefit of his ministry today. Probably some in this room remember him. But what I was getting at was there are things in Second Timothy which came through to me recently in a new way that I had never noticed before. Not so much about what the apostle told Timothy to do, but how he was to do it. And that is important. You know, we can do the right thing, but we can do it in the wrong way.
David did that in the Old Testament. He wanted to bring the ark up to Jerusalem, but he did it in the wrong way. He brought it up on a new part. And as a result, two men had to die before the Lord because they tried to study the ark. Well, David had to learn that there was the right way of doing something, even if it was the right thing itself. And so it's going to be difficult to, shall I say, put a structure on this meeting, but we'll do the best we can.
And what I'd like to talk about is the four chapters in Timothy, perhaps referring only to a verse or two in each one, but to bring before us something of the spirit in which these things were to be carried out. The truth of it, I hope I trust, is well known to most of us here, perhaps all of us. And so let's consider it this way. To me, the 1St chapter brings before us the state of things at that time.
The second chapter brings before us the remedy for the state that is the pathway of the Faithful One in the midst of the rule. The third chapter brings before us a warning.
As to how things were to be carried out. And the 4th chapter brings the horse. The remedy in view of that warning, the state of things in the first chapter.
The pathway of the faithful in the second chapter, warnings in the third chapter as to the state of things in which it would be carried out. And then in the 4th chapter, the pathway of the faithful one considering the state of things. And so in the first chapter, let's look at the condition of things, which I think pretty pretty much answers to the condition of things today and notice.
Notice.
Chapter one and verse 13.
Hold fast to 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 which dwelt in US.
This thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are for jealous and homogeneous.
The Lord give mercy under the House of Onessa for us, for he off refreshed 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 granted to 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.
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Very well.
Well, here we find that condition of things at the end of the apostles life. As we said a few minutes ago, he labored so diligently. I suppose it would be fair to say that there has never been a laborer with the energy and the desire and the heart that the Apostle Paul had.
He was a man specially chosen in that capacity, and I love the way Mr. Wigram puts it. You know, they stoned Steven. They stoned Steven, who perhaps was the brightest light that the Lord had in that day, the brightest preacher that the Lord had. Not that I believe, if we could put it this way, that he surpassed the apostles. But there was a spirit about Stephen which none could resist. There was an energy in the gospel, and he was the man that the world picked on.
He was the man that they said we've got to get rid of that man. Well, I love the way Mr. Wigram puts it, and I can hardly say it without getting a bit choked up, But Mr. Wiggum said, you know, it was characteristic of the grace of God in this dispensation. So when the hatred and enmity of man put to death the brightest light that God has at that time, it was characteristic of the grace of God that he reached down and he picked the worst one of the whole bunch.
What it called you? He had the clothes of those that threw the stones. He was too civilized to to pick up stones and pitch them by himself. He he wouldn't do that, but he held the clothes. He didn't lose his cool, but he sat there and watched, calm and collected while it happened.
Well, I say again, it was characteristic of the grace of God that it reached down and said, Paul, you're the worst one.
But you're going to come and take this place. You're going to come and take this place with that marvelous. And God picked the worst man of that bunch. And they said, fall, if that's what you're going to do, we're going to show the whole world that the grace of God is over above all that. And so Paul never forgot that. He never forgot that he had been responsible for persecuting the church, never forgot that he had been such a sinful man and he labored as none other labor but that at the end of his life, what does he see? He sees it all breaking up. And he has to say here that all they return is you'll be turned away from me.
Well, it must have been very sad for Paul. And on top of all of this, he's in prison. He couldn't get out and do anything about it. He couldn't get out and go around and try and encourage his brethren the way he had before. He couldn't go out and try and do something to remedy the difficult. But what did God do? God used him to write the epistles so that we had Paul's ministry written down. And so God used his imprisonment in that way.
But what does he say here to Timothy? Oh, he says, hold fast. The form of sound words or an outline of sound words. I believe that simply means that there is a deposit of truth which Paul had given. And he says, Timothy, hold that fast. He doesn't say, Timothy, you've got the gift of a teacher, although he may have had that because one could say, well, I don't have the gift of giving out the truth in that way, perhaps. But you know, we never read in the word of God of a gift in taking in the truth.
A gift in giving it out, yes, but not in taking it in. And so we can all hold fast the outline of sound words. If somebody comes to me and says, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ could have sinned, I don't have to be a well thought brother or a well taught sister to be able to react immediately and immediately and say, no, that's utterly impossible. I hold fast the outline of sound words. If somebody comes along and tells me that the church is going to go through the tribulation, you know, I don't need to be a well taught brother or sister to be able to say.
No, no, thank God we're going to be caught up before that time. Behold fast and outline of the sound words.
Well, there were those here who had turned away, and Paul warns him specifically about two individuals who had been responsible for teaching here, it says.
Well, it doesn't say here what they were teaching, but it specifically mentioned something that they had turned away. And so there were things to be aware of. But then just a little comment about the House of Vanessa Forest here, and I believe this is beautiful.
Because Paul says the Lord give mercy under the House of Onessa for us. For he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain. But when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and found me. But then there's a very unusual expression in the next verse. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. And I have pondered that expression many times because I believe it's a reference back to verse 12.
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Where the apostle says, I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. And what is that day? Oh, that's the judgment seat of Christ. That's the day of Christ when you and I are in the glory, and when the Lord hands out rewards for everything, when he'll give his estimate of what we have done down here. And yet the Lord says, For the apostle says, the Lord grant that he may obtain or find mercy of the Lord in that day.
And those puzzled why was it that Paul was looking for mercy of the Lord or a true believer, the judgments, even Christ?
Well, I believe the thought here is this, and I stand corrected on it, but the way it's come home to me is this. Paul points out to the jealous and homogeneous who had been instrumental in at least being turned away and perhaps turning others away from the truth. But then he talks about the house Honourable Nessa for us and commends them highly because they had been very faithful to him and had helped him and sought him out in Rome and hadn't been ashamed of his chain.
But then he says the Lord granted he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. It seems to me that in Onasa Forest there may have been in him.
A bit of a turning away from the truth. There may have been in this man. A bit of a turning aside from the truth that Paul had presented. It was a bit too narrow for him. Perhaps we don't know, but evidently there may have been something. But Paul doesn't convince you. He doesn't mention it. He only mentions the plus side and then just in a very gentle way alludes to it. The Lord grant that he may find unto him, that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day.
In other words, when it comes to the judgment seat of Christ, yes, I know that the Lord will have to bring him for him. That perhaps there was that in his life which didn't agree with the whole truth that I was teaching, but I valued his spirit. I valued his heart. I valued the fact that he sought me out and rolled, the fact that he wasn't ashamed that I was a prisoner, the fact that he opted refreshment. I value that. But that has been a lesson to my own soul because here, I believe, was a brother who.
And I stand corrected on this, but I just give my own thought on it. Then I think that there was in him something he had turned away a little bit from the following of the truth. But what was right? The heart. Now I hastened to explain myself, because of the heart were completely right. He would have embraced the whole truth. But evidently he wavered a little. Perhaps the pulse, as I valued his heart. Well may we have that kind of a heart for the people of God and for the things of Christ.
Sometimes we see out in those.
In other places, who perhaps with less truth have more heart, and Paul valued the heart of this man in the midst of ruining.
Well, so much for the first chapter. We don't have time to dwell on these things. Let's go on to the second chapter. In the first chapter, as I suggested, we have the state of things presented, and I don't need to tell you that this is the state of things today. All in Asia corresponds, I believe, to what has happened. And Christendom today, of which we are part, we don't need, we need to be careful about how we use that word Christendom, because Christendom essentially means everything that takes the name of Christ, and we're part of it.
But here Paul has to say, all in Asia have turned away from me. That's the situation. It doesn't mean that they turned away from Christianity. They hadn't gone back to paganism or something like that. They hadn't embraced false religions, but they had turned aside from that precious truth that Paul gave the heavenly calling of the church. And as we've said before, the old nature, the nature of man constantly turns away from the heavenly calling of the church.
And we get dragged down, down, down to the level of this earth. So what do we do in the middle of that? What's the remedy?
Well, the 2nd chapter gives the pathway of the faithful one in the midst of that rule, but I'd like to dwell, as I say, more on the spirit of things rather than the letter of it. And to me, the first verse in the chapter is very significant. Notice what it says.
Thou therefore, my Son, be strong in the truth, that is in Christ Jesus. That's not what it says, That's it.
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That's what he's been telling them, that the.
Those in Asia had given up, turned away from me and so on. But what does he say here? Be strong in the grace, which is in regards Jesus. And you know, in First Timothy, and we don't have time to turn back to it. But in first Timothy, God tells us in the first chapter that he is dealing in grace in this dispensation. He talks about the law and he tells what the law is good for. But then he says.
As it were, I'm not dealing in that way with man now, I'm dealing with in grace. And so he brings before them God our Savior, a Savior, God who is presented to this world, not in law, but in grace. And you know, brethren, it's grace and grace above everything else that will keep us in the pathway. It's a sense of grace in our soul that will keep us in the pathway. And if we have a real sense of what grace is in our hearts.
It will keep us. Shall I suggest it balanced Christians, because, you know, the grace of God makes me realize that I had to be brought right to the end of myself before I could be saved. God had to bring me right to the end of myself and make me realize that I could do absolutely nothing for myself. And only then did I come to Christ and everyone in this room who was saved had to be brought to that point. But then sometimes, you know, when we get out on the Christian pathway, if we're not careful, we get to be thinking that maybe.
Something ourselves we forget. Perhaps that grace brought me to the end of myself as an unbeliever. But grace makes me realize that I am nothing in Christ, or I'm nothing by myself, only in Christ. You know an old brother long since with the Lord.
Once said, you know, before I was saved I wanted to be great in the world, and after I was saved I wanted to be great in the Church of God, and I had to learn that both are wrong.
So true grace makes me realize that I am nothing in myself, but on the other hand, it makes me realize that I am everything in Christ.
Grace is the answer to the problem that we hear about so much today. Self esteem. How many times have you heard that phrase bandied about? You need more self esteem. If people have a bit of self esteem, then they can go on, right? He's got a real problem or she's got a real problem because he or she has such low self esteem. Well, we don't find those words in the Word of God, but I know what they mean. But grace is the answer to it all because it's not self esteem that I need.
It's esteeming myself in Christ and then what happens? Oh, I realize on the one hand that grace tells me that I'm nothing, but on the other hand that grace tells me that I'm everything in Christ. A young man once said to his father, he told me this story himself. He once said to his father, Father, you know, you have to have a bit of well, I know what had happened. I'll go back and tell you the rest of the story. They've been at reading meeting that night and.
His father, amongst other brethren, had been laying it on pretty heavily that every form of pride was wrong and ought to be condemned. And the young man came home and he said to his father, you know, Dad, I don't know whether I see that clearly or not. Because if I didn't have a bit of pride, I wouldn't dress nicely when I go out to work in the morning. If I didn't have a bit of pride in my work, I wouldn't do a good job at my work. If I didn't have a bit of pride in myself, I wouldn't conduct myself in a proper way.
Father said to him, Son, if you remember that whenever you step out the door or whenever you do your work or whatever you do down here, you represent the one who called you and died for you, and that everything you do.
You are doing as a representative and as an ambassador for Christ, he said. It'll take care of all of those things, but without lifting you up in front. That's true, isn't it? The young man was Albert Habel, by the way, who asked that question many years ago. He told me that personally.
That's true that's true. It takes care of the self esteem. I don't need self esteem. I need to esteem what I am in Christ because I have everything in him. But if I have everything in him. I realize the truth of those words that one thou without it's not received and when it's a real sense of grace in my own soul. Oh then what a difference it makes in my reaction towards others because you know on the one hand, if I.
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Haven't a real sense of grace in my own soul.
That I tend to react to others in an ungracious way and how easy it is I speak to my own heart to put myself under law and then to try and put others under law too. Well, I don't mean that for a moment we should compromise. Not a bit of it. But I can remember talking recently to our dear brother Clarence Lindeen, and we were talking about.
Well, we talked about a lot of things, but we talked about the conditions of things in the world today and the conditions of things amongst the people of God, and I never forget a comment he made, he said. I dread looseness amongst the people of God, but I dread legality as a remedy for it just as much.
I dread looseness amongst the people of God, but I dread legality as a remedy for it just as much.
Because it's just as easy to get out of the ditch of looseness and fall into the ditch of legality on the other side. What is the answer to that all? A sense of grace. A sense of grace. Supposing I have a fall in my Christian life, a sense of grace will enable me to repent to all my failure and to go on. But oh, how often, sad to say, if we don't have a sense of grace in our souls and we have a call, oh, we say, what's the use? I can remember talking to a sister back home.
She said to me something like this concerning her own younger sister, I mean a sister in the flesh, her younger sister had had a fall and had, sad to say, to be put away from the Lords Table and she was drifting into the world again. And her sister made this comment to me. She said she's had a follow up, but she said if she falls again, I doubt if she'll get up. I doubt if she'll get up again. Meaning that if she has a fall again, she'll go right into the world head over heels and just throw everything over for her.
What's the remedy for that all? A sense of great sense of grace. We have no excuse involved. But when we do fall, do we realize that there is no such thing as a fall from which there isn't recovery? Now I want to make myself clear. These things leave scars. The government of God may remain, and so let's not equate grace with government. We can be fully restored in our souls, but the effects of the fall may remain. We can be fully restored into communion with the Lord.
But I may have to bear some of the fruits of my sinfulness and own will for the rest of my life. Grace and government 2 parallel truths. They're not the same, but nevertheless, that doesn't touch on the fact that there is grace to meet that need. But on the other hand, as I say, suppose there's a tendency to be puffed out. Oh, then grace makes me realize that it's all of Christ. And so we need that sense of grace in our souls. Well, we're not going to dwell too much on the rest of the chapter.
I would trust that the truth of it is familiar to us, except to make this comment.
It's the second chapter of Second Timothy that tells us what to do in the midst of the ruin. Many years ago, when brethren were first gathered to the Lord's name, they saw the upward ruling of the church. They saw the absence of anything that answered to the mind of God is revealed in His word. What did they do? Oh, they had to come and say, if the word of God.
Is here to give us everything we need. Then surely the instruction is here as to how to act in that situation. And they found it in Second Timothy two. They found that they were in the great house. They said that's exactly what we see around us. Well, what do we do in the great house? Can we go back to the day of Pentecost and try and restore things the the way they were back in that day? No, that was an intelligence in the mind of God. On the other hand, do we just give it all up and say, well, you just have to muddle along as best you can.
Because there's so much ruin come into the church. No, they saw that wasn't right either, but there was a pathway for the faithful one. If a man therefore purge himself from these that is vessel to dishonor, he shall be a vessel to honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. That's verse 21.
And that's what we need to have holes up in our souls. Verse 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, that is vessel to dishonor, he shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
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I just make a comment on that verse. It's a narrow path. It's a narrow path, but on the other hand, it's a path in which there is more fullness of opportunity than in any other path. And let's never forget that. You know, there is a tendency, and I've heard it even from those gathered to the Lord's name who have said, well, you know, if you want to hold on to the truth, if you want to stand for the truth, you're going to have to give up.
A lot of us, a lot of opportunities that you might otherwise have, and that's just the way it is.
And I've heard some say yes. And if you want to have any gospel effort or want to go out and leave souls, if you want to have blessing, well, you can't walk in that narrow path. You can't do it that way.
Nonsense. Both are wrong. Both are wrong. The one who, according to the mind of God, purchased himself from vessels to dishonor has more opportunities than any other. Why? Because he's a vessel Under Armour. He's set apart from the evil.
And he's prepared unto every good work. You know, I think the children here could understand this if you've got a pile of dirty dishes on the counter.
They can be used for something. I've sometimes gone in our home to a pile of dirty dishes on the counter and I wanted a jug to get some water, maybe to water the plants with or something like that. I didn't bother washing it up nice and clean. I just went and kind of switched it out and then got it full of water and went and watered plants because it was fine for that. But that jug wasn't good for everything that that jug could be used for. You wouldn't like it if you came to my home and I were going to put a jug of cream on the table for the coffee or a jug of milk for you to drink from. And I just went to The Dirty counter and kind of squished it under the tap and then poured the milk in and sat down the table.
You probably wouldn't. You'd say no thank you, I don't have any milk today. Yes, that's what you do, wouldn't you? I wouldn't blame you. You'd say that, that that's not very good. But milk on the table and that kind of object, What if I watered the plants with it? You too. That's all right. Plants don't know the difference. And so that's the way it is with believers. We can be used of the Lord even if we haven't separated, but we can't be used for every good word.
Are there opportunities today? I suggest to your heart and mind that there are opportunities, perhaps as there never were before, as there never were before.
What our state must go along with what we hold.
Are we going to separate from vessels to dishonor then the Lord says your life better agree with that, your life better agree with that. No use having a clean vessel and yet not being able to use it because.
There's a difficulty or a problem involved. Supposing I have a nice piece of crystal in my house, Nice crystal stem glass. Well, that can be used for things, but you have to be awfully careful with it because it might break. And you know those crystal glasses? They're all right to set on the table when you're going to serve a fancy meal.
But you don't set a mode on the table if you're going to invite young children together, because.
Too easy to break or chip or something like that. I can remember when we went out to a nice home for dinner once and one of our children, I won't tell you which one, took one of these nice crystal glasses up to take a drink out of it. And.
Get the whole chunk right out of the glass. They weren't used to that fragile glass. Well, I, I felt sorry for the Hostess, you know, but in our home, we don't put that kind of thing out when we're having young children like that. And that's all right. Well, there's no use having those kind of things sometimes because you can't use them for everything. You can't always put them out there. And we have to be careful that we're not like that as Christians, that we're not crystal glasses that are so fragile that you can.
Only use them on state occasions.
Having President Bush to the House, we might have something like that on the table, but you have to. They're only used very limited, but the one who is purged can be used for everything. Well, that's what we need. And then going on in verse 25 or verse 24.
Here again, it's our spirit and the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men. Apartment to teach patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. And I'm going to read this wrong to emphasize a point if per adventure you're able presentation of the truth will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth doesn't say that desert If God for adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by enemy's will.
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It's just as much a work of the Spirit of God to gather souls for the Lord Jesus Christ as it is to save souls. We need to remember that if you and I are gathered here this afternoon to that precious name, let us never think that we're any better than those out there who perhaps may go somewhere where the whole truth of God is not all. It's only grace that is brought us here. We have nothing to boast of because it's only a work of grace in our souls that has made us to see.
That the Lord Jesus Christ is the gathering center, and if I have a sense of that in my soul, I won't strive without it. No, I'll be above that.
I don't need to strive if I have the real truth of God. There is no need to describe this there. If it's a reality in my soul, I don't need to strive. Why? It will speak pretty soft. It will speak for itself. And brethren, our lives should speak for themselves. We shouldn't have to strive about the truth.
Now I hasten to say that there is such a thing as standing up for the truth, and you get that in the book of Jude. We're told there that we might earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the Saints. That's with the sense that when someone's trying to take it away from me, I don't let it go. It's so practiced to me that I hold on to it. That's not the same as Scribe contending has the thought of holding on to something that I've got, and I'm not going to let it go.
Because it's so precious to me. But on the other hand, there's no need to strive. That's not the character of the serving of the Lord. If it's really the full truth of God, there's no need to strive for it. Suppose.
That I have a piece of property that is worth a lot of money and I know it's worth a lot of money. It's in a choice area. I know that anytime I want I can stick a sign up on it and sell it to top dollar.
Am I going to argue with someone who doesn't understand about how much it's worth?
I know a friend of mine in the city of Toronto who bought a home about five years ago and it has almost quadrupled in value in the last five years. Almost mind boggling, but it's almost quadrupled in value. And if somebody were to argue with him and say that house isn't worth that, it's not worth that, would he stand there for an hour and argue with him as to how much it was worth? No, he'd say, I know the worth of that house. If you don't see it, I can try and point it out for you. That's going to argue with you about it because I know the work of it. And if you don't recognize it.
I know plenty of others do. We don't need to argue about the work of the truth of God. We really need to live and stand for it, and it'll speak for itself if it's done right. And so the attitude is to be gentle unto all men. Apartment to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. Why meekness? All because I recognize that it's only grace that gave to me. Only grace when I recognize that it's only God that can give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
All the striving in the world on my part isn't going to make him see it.
I may be able to beat him into a corner and back them up so that he has no way out, but that doesn't persuade him. A man persuaded against his wills of the same opinion. Still, the old proverb goes, and that's true. It's only a work of the Spirit of God that brings souls to that point.
Well, so much for the remedy for the state of things, but again, I say my emphasis is more on the spirit of it. Now let's go on to the third chapter. Here we have a warning.
And here we have in this chapter, not so much the state of the church, but a warning because of the state of the work. In the first chapter, it's the state of things within the professing House of Christendom. In the third chapter, it's a warning more about the state of things in the world. And I'm going to read the first few verses. This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves. Covetous boasts, boasted proud blasphemers.
Disobedient to parents, unthankful, unforeseen, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce despisers of those that are good traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.
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Now here's the clincher having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away.
Why does the Spirit of God, in an epistle that's addressed to a Christian, an individual who wants to be faithful, detail this long list of all of the sins that are going on in the outside world? Why bother putting all that down? Oh, I just suggest that this is the point. There never was a time when the sins that were prevalent in the outside world didn't creep into the Church of God.
And let us not, so I say it humbly, let us not take refuge in the fact and say, well, isn't that awful the way the world's going today? Let's be careful that in spirit, in spirit, these attitudes don't characterize us too. And the end of the comment is having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof that has spoken to my own soul. No doubt it refers to unbelievers. No doubt it refers to those who perhaps have an outward form of Christianity. But there's no reality within.
But, you know, I believe that God gave it to Timothy, not only to warn him about that, but to warn him about that spirit of things in his own soul. Is it possible for a true believer to have a form of godliness but deny the power of it? I'm afraid it is. Is it possible to have truth up here that I don't walk in in my in my daily walk? Yes, it is. Is it possible to know something up here so, so clearly and yet not to carry it out in my everyday life?
Yes, it is. Yes it is. And Paul has pretty strong words there. He says for such turn away. Well, I believe the thought is for Timothy to turn away from that kind of inconsistency as it is in the world. But let us be careful that that doesn't characterize us too, because there's a danger there. And going down in the chapter, the apostle says in verse 10, and the emphasis is on the word thou. But thou you Timothy, you Timothy, you Timothy, thou has fully known.
My doctrine.
Of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, and so on.
Paul says, you've seen the example, Timothy, you've seen the way I walked. And here it's not a question of doctrine. It's a question of what doctrine is mentioned here first. No question teaching has to come first, but then all of the rest of it is the carrying out of that that he had learned from Paul. And that's a blessed thing because if we have Paul's ministry before us, it will keep us from the spirit of this world.
And what keeps us from the spirit of this world? Recognizing and walking in the truth of the heavenly calling of the church. We recognize that we don't belong down here, that we belong up there. And every time, I can honestly say in my own soul that I am tempted with a hard lesson to learn. But every time I'm tempted to join hands in things that have to do with this world, I simply ask myself, is this in keeping with the character of an ambassador?
Find here as an ambassador from another country. Is this in keeping with the character of an ambassador? And it settles the whole question. An ambassador never wavers in telling something straight, but he gives his own governments position. The ambassador from Canada to the United States does not take part in the affairs of the United States, although I happen to know that the Canadian Embassy in Washington has computers to track the process of bills that passed through Congress there.
In order to have every possible bit of information on any bill that it might affect US and Canadian relations. And I suppose that Canadian ambassador in Washington probably knows more about what goes on in the government and in the life of the United States than many Americans do. That's not the point. But when it comes down to taking part in those affairs, his only reason for being there is to look after Canada's interests and to represent Canada's interest to the United States.
Does the US government want to know Canada's position on a on a situation the Canadian ambassador is right there to give it to them, but that's the end of his commitment and I believe that's what we have here. Once we have Pauls doctrine in his manner of life clear before us. Oh, a simple path. It is essentially using.
And then going on in the chapter.
Another emphasis on another vow in verse 14.
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But continue, thou emphasis, in the things which thou hast learned, and has been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And then the last verse again emphasizing what we said before, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works.
Well, he's to continue in the things, which number one, he has learned.
And 2nd and assure you, what's the difference? Oh, I can learn something up here, but I can only be assured of it when I walk in it and then it gets a grip on my soul.
I can remember reading an article by our late brother John R Gill concerning the truth of being gathered to the Lord's name. And he says in that article how that he is a young man way back in the 1880s. How that he saw the presence of the Lord in the midst, the person of Christ, and how he thought in his own soul. How could one ever leave the place where the Lord was in the midst?
Really were there. He said I can remember when considerations like this fastened on my soul like a bus, and he said I trust that that hole is still there. Well, that's what it means to be assured of something. It means that that truth of God gets hold of me so that I walk in it. It becomes part of me. It's not merely something that I hold up here as a doctrine that I've read in the word of God or in a book, but it's something that fastens on his mind. It says knowing of whom thou has learned them. Where did Timothy get the truth that he had learned? He got it direct from the apostle Paul, who had in turn gotten it direct from a risen Christ in Lord and it had a power and authority over him.
Which kept him in the path. If you and I have that sense in our souls, then it will keep us in the pathway. And what will the result of it be? Oh, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works. You'll notice in the Word of God that whenever that expression the man of God appears, it's always in a time when there's a giving up, whether in the Old Testament or the New, The expression man of God does not appear when things are going on well.
But it was applied to Elijah. It was applied to Elijah in the Old Testament, but you don't find it applied to men like David, even though he was a man after God's own heart. It's applied to an individual who is faithful when things are being given up. And so in the New Testament we find it particularly in Second Timothy, Thou man of God, do this, do that, flee this, and so on, because there is an outstanding or a standing out of the individual when others are giving up a man of God.
And so here we find that the man of God may be perfect. That's the sense of mature and full grown, the sense of a full understanding of what God is doing. And then it says truly furnished. And there's the same expression unto all good works. That means the believer who follows these things, he's he can, he can be used of the Lord for anything.
Well then, the 4th chapter.
I say just to recap again, the 1St chapter, the state of things in the church, the 2nd chapter the remedy for it, the third chapter the warning about the state of things in the world, and then in fourth chapter perhaps the remedy for that. And so it says in verse one. I charge thee therefore.
Therefore, in scripture are important because they depend on what's gone on before.
And so you found at the beginning of the second chapter there was a Therefore because it.
Was therefore on account of what was in the first chapter. Now here's another therefore on account of the state of things in the third chapter. I charge thee, therefore before God and before the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom. Preach the word, be instant in season out of season, recruit, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.
That word exhort, I believe, could more accurately be translated in courage and I like that because that gives a a dimension to this verse that makes it more than simply hammering the truth home to somebody. It's encouraged. Encourage with all long-suffering and doctrine and then going down in verse five. But watch thou in all things endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of life.
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I believe that that expression preached the Word in the second verse is not limited to the gospel. It brings everything before us. Preach the Word, Timothy. Is there an open door for the gospel? Preach the Word. Is there an open door for the truth? Preach the Word. Be instant in season, out of season.
Sometimes when things are in ruins, you don't always have a nice setting to present things, so you have to do it in a different way. The time was when you could have opened up a hall like this for the gospel and had every seat filled and people standing in the aisles and flowing out the door.
It's not true today.
So what do we do? We have to be instant in season, out of season. We have to have the pack of tracks in our pocket ready to hand them out to people that we meet in business and on the street. We have to be ready to preach a word wherever we get the chance. Instant in season out of season. There was a time when you could have held meetings to preach the truth and people would have flocked in to hear the truth. Doesn't happen today. You have to be instant in season, out of season. You have to be ready to speak a word when someone says where do you go to church?
Ah, there's a chance to tell them about the truth of being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what happens in verse 5, endure reflections of persecutions. That's what what it really means. Well, it's not going to be an easy path. It's going to be reproach connected with it. And then aren't going to want to hear the gospel. They're going to make fun of it. They're going to turn away from it. They're going to say, don't preach religion to me. We're talking business. There are going to be those who say I've got my own church. I don't want you've got your church, I've got mine. Now let's not argue about it.
I've heard that so many times. So there would be persecution in connection with it. Do the work of an evangelist.
I'm not sure whether this means that Timothy had the gift of an evangelist, but there was a perhaps a danger of his not using it. I rather tend to think so. I don't think that God was particularly saying, Timothy, you don't have the gift of an evangelist, but I want you to do the work of one. But I like that application just the same. Whatever it might be. I think there was a danger than a day of ruin. There was a danger of giving up and telling out of the gospel. There was a danger of saying, oh, there's just so much ruin in the church and I'm so occupied with it that.
I, I just, I just don't seem to have the heart for the gospel. What is this, Timothy? As long as you're here, as long as the church is on earth, there are souls that are to be saved. We may not see the crowds we saw 100 years ago or 150 years ago or back in the days of Pentecost. There are still souls to be saved. And what if there are only two here, one there, just a soul here or there. All they're precious to Christ. And so he says, do the work of an evangelist.
Make full proof of thy ministry. The sense of that means, if I might put it in simple words, have a well-rounded ministry, a complete rounded ministry. Don't neglect any part of it. And that's what we need today. Don't neglect any part of it. There's no such thing as a conflict between the preaching of the gospel and the preaching of the truth. It may be a narrow path to walk, but there's no such thing as a conflict between them. The greatest servant the Lord ever had, I suppose, the apostle Paul.
Preach the gospel and preach the truth and there was number conflict in his mind between the two. He preached them both. What was the result of it all? They which were in Asia gave up and said Paul, the truth you preach is too narrow. We like the gospel but not the truth. Did Paul say well, too bad, I guess, guess I'll have to let go of some of that too. But he didn't tell somebody to give up the gospel. I need that's very precious. And then the seventh verse, our time is gone. But.
Just to mention this seventh verse.
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 to me, all me, but unto all them also that love disappeared.
I suppose that that seventh verse is the most that any Christian could ever say. There was only one who could say John chapter 17. There was only one who could say, I have finished the work which thou gained his need to do. Almost blessed. There was only one who could say, Lord, not Lord, but Father, I have finished the work which thou gates me to do. No Christian will ever be able to say that. I suppose this is the most that any could ever say.
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I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have finished the senses. I finished the race. I finished the race. I have kept the faith well. I can remember standing at the in the funeral parlor quite a few years ago now.
Sight of brethren, the Lord who had departed, and his son was standing there beside the casket, greeting those who came up. I knew his son well, but he wasn't walking in the truth. He'd left the truth. He'd left the ground of gathering, left the place where the Lord was in the midst, and he made no bones about her. He was quite open that he had left.
And he had a high regard for his father. He said, well, Daddy's work was finished and the Lord took him home. And I can remember quoting this verse to him, calling him by name because I knew him well. I said, well, Scripture says I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept my faith. I said, I think that your father could probably have said that honestly, although he probably wouldn't like to have said it about himself, but I think he could have said it. I said, May God give you and me grace.
To be able to say the same thing at the end of our course. Well, he didn't say very much. I think he knew all too well what I meant. He didn't say too much. But what's the result of it? Oh, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, ah, the righteous Gent shall give me it that day. Are you misunderstood? Down here? There's a righteous judge who will give a crown in that day. Not according to what this world thought of you. Not according to what Christendom at large thought of you.
The Lord, the righteous judge, shall give you at that. Isn't that worth striving for? Isn't that worth going after? I don't need to worry about what the world thinks. In one sense, they don't need to worry about what other Christians think. I should be sensitive to what others think, but I don't need to let that be the governing factor. No, this precious book and my blessed Savior are the things that are important and I misunderstood down here. There's a day coming when the Lord will make it right.
There's a day coming, Paul says, when everyone who loves his appearing will get that crown. Why does it say his appearing? It's not his coming forest that's in you here. It's not the rancher, he says. The appearing. Oh, the appearing brings before us responsibility. At the rapture every Christian will go up, no distinguishing between them. But at the appearing, when the Lord comes out to set up his Kingdom, between the rapture and the appearing will have taken place the judgment seat of Christ.
When the Lord will give His estimate of what we have done, and then in the appearing there will be the display of all of that.
Will be the display of all of that. Wouldn't you like to wear the crown of righteousness in that day? I would, I would. Well, we don't strive just for the crown. No, that's not the motive for our lives. The motive is Christ that the Lord as it were says ioffer you this as an encouragement in the pathway.
And so let's never make the horizon of our thoughts things down here. Let's make the horizon glory because that's the only future that Scripture speaks of for the Church of God. Well, our time has gone. Me, the Lord encourage our hearts with these remarks. I say again, they've been precious to my own soul. And as I say, what has been more on my heart is not so much the truth of what we have in Second Timothy, but you might say along with it all, there is a spirit in which it's to be carried out.
And I believe that's something at least from my own soul, I need to take heed in myself. Let's sing the last two verses of that hymn that we sang at the beginning, number 77, in the appendix.
Beautiful Kent and.
Oneness we have often enjoyed.
And, you know, it was very striking to me, kind of dates me a little bit. But I can remember many years ago, our late brother Harry Hagel telling us about his own father's Home Guard and how that was his father lay on his deathbed. That was a long time ago. I think he went home to be with the Lord maybe in 1913. But he said as a young man being there at his father's deathbed and his father on his deathbed was quoting these last two verses to them.
Just quietly, because his strength was going away and he said, you know, he said be sure and sing those last two verses at my funeral, which I understand they did. And so let's sing these last two verses of 77 in the appendix, beginning of verse 4.
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Wouldn't you like to wear the crown of righteousness in that day? I would, I would. Well, we don't strive just for the crown. No, that's not the motive for our lives. The motive is Christ, but the Lord, as it were, says Ioffer you this as an encouragement in the pathway. And so let's never make the horizon of our thoughts things down here. Let's make the horizon glory, because that's the only future that Scripture speaks of for the Church of God.
Well, our time has gone. May the Lord encourage our hearts with these remarks.
I say again, they've been precious to my own soul, and as I say, what has been more on my heart is not so much.