Address—C. Little
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The return, please to Second Timothy.
2nd Epistle to Timothy.
I have a few thoughts on my heart.
Concerning the care that we should have as to this precious book that we have before us and in our hands, as we've been reminded.
Just notice first.
Timothy.
Or a second, I'm sorry, Second Timothy is what I want to get Second Timothy.
Chapter One.
And beginning at verse 13.
Hold fast the form of sound words.
Just as we've been reminded, holding fast the form of sound words.
But we want to see in this epistle, which is Paul's last epistle, that this is not always so.
And all beloved, if there's anyone here.
That is, any thought of turning aside.
Or neglecting the word of God.
I appeal to you.
Don't do it.
It's only a downward course.
Two Timothy one verse 14, verse 13. Hold fast the form of sound words which thou has heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus.
Could we have anything more glorious than that, more blessed than that, this truth?
Hold fast the form of sound words, or the outline that God has given you and given me. What a responsibility we have. Then he says, That good thing which was committed unto thee. Keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in US.
Well, these are wonderful exhortations. Beautiful exhortations.
Hold it fast.
And keep it.
In the joy of the Lord.
But I want to call attention to the next.
Verse here, and we'll find there's three sets of two here.
Very interesting things because we see.
If one as we have in a book, it's Mother Micah. If 2.
Of agree shall on earth, if two of you shall agree. And we find that these are in in in sets of twos. So in in the second epistle of Timothy we find three sets of twos.
And I've been, I meditated on this much and I think it's a very, very important thing for us to see.
What happens here? I just want to read verse 15 now. He had just been enjoining them to keep that form of sound words and to hold it fast. But what happens?
This thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me.
And now he names two of them.
Does God know your name? Does he know what your desires are? Is there anyone in this audience that has ever even thought of departing or turning away from the truth of God? I appeal to you according to the word of God. You know it's only a downward course, and we want to see that.
Of whom is FAI jealous and homogeneous?
Now I know there are different.
Names that are put differently whether it's Greek or.
Or Roman or or Hebrew, whatever. But I just want to point this out.
Phi Jealous.
Is little fugitive. That's one meaning of it. Little fugitive.
Why? He turned away from the truth of God and became, as it were, a fugitive. You know, every child of God here. We're not fugitives.
Where pilgrims on our way home, we're not Wanderers.
But here was fie jealous who was.
A little fugitive.
But notice what happens. He finds company.
And dear young people, you know if you get away from the Lord, you may find company too. But remember, it will only be a downward course as we want to look at.
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So then he finds homogeny.
And I understand now this is 1 interpretation, 1 meaning of it means.
Lucky.
Lucky.
It's in connection is connected with Lucky.
Which has nothing to do with our pathway at all. Nothing.
But here was a Phi, jealous and homogeneous, and he joined company together.
But it says.
It says that they.
They turned away from the dear Apostle Paul. Now this doesn't mean they were lost, doesn't mean that I've mentioned this, the different ones. And he said, well, you mean where the law doesn't say that it says they turned away from the Apostle Paul.
Paul's ministry is that which has been given to us, the truth of the Church of God.
And if man turns away from that, then he's only on a course that leads downward.
So again, I'm not going to take a lot of time here, but I just wanted to point out these things that I've thought of myself and meditated upon. So we find here if I jealous and homogeneous and you know what this brings before us, our feet are going in the wrong direction.
Our feet.
And we have to be careful on that, don't we? Of course, as we look at these, we'll say, well, he brings in the thought of their feet going astray, but then drop over to verse to the next chapter.
And we verse 15.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
What a responsibility, it says. Study.
Study. That doesn't mean a cursory reading of the Bible. It means to sit down, meditate, study the word of God and you'll profit by it. There's a profit in it. But what happened here?
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed.
Rightly dividing the word of truth, but shunned profane and vain babblings.
For they will increase into more ungodliness.
So now we have two more.
Now we don't know whether they're connected or not, but they're connected in this way that it's a downward course that God is marking out here in this very last epistle that Paul wrote.
Solemn truth that he wrote here.
It's the last epistle he wrote, and so he's warning, sounding the warnings.
And yet, at this late date, there are those that will turn away and follow their own path.
Well, I believe here what we have is a very subtle thing.
Now I understand that harmonious is.
A wedding song.
And also.
Papalitis is.
Beloved, you know this is the most deceptive thing.
I know and you too. You have to talk to those that have been turned away from the truth of God.
And they go out and they go down, and they meet up with others.
And I meet them and I speak to them and say, well, how are you doing? Oh, we're so happy where we are.
Wonderful now.
Are they happy?
They turned away from the truth of God, as it says here.
Their their word, their word will eat as dothe canker.
Looks so loving and so care and so wonderful or so much love there.
Have you heard that? I've heard it many times.
But that's not true, because we see here these ones, as it says.
What was the thing that they turned away from? What was it that they were teaching in their love? They were teaching a truth that is the most precious, glorious truth in all the Word of God, as it says here. Who concerning the truth of verse 18 concerning the truth have earned, saying that the resurrection is passed already?
And overthrow the faith of some. Now, we're not going on to the rest of these verses, but just to point that out.
Here they were.
Concerning the truth.
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Have heard saying the resurrection is passed. You know, there's something about that.
The resurrection is the most attested truth in all the word of God. And here was this little.
Couple who were going on in a very loving spirit, but they were teaching.
False doctrine.
Turning people away from the resurrection.
And you know, if you and I are turned away from that, you know what the path is. We're going to do what we please now.
Because if there's no resurrection, we find that in the 15th of First Corinthians.
No resurrection might as well do what you like, do what you please. So we see the subtlety of this turning away and saying that it didn't say there was no resurrection, but they're saying that the resurrection that was passed, that's that's all gone. Well, that is not the truth either, because we're waiting for that very moment when the Lord Jesus is coming to take us home to glory. And that will be a part of the resurrection.
The dead are going to be raised 1St and we're going to be caught up together with them.
To meet the Lord in the air. And what a precious truth this is, and we enjoy it to the full.
But here they were teaching this kind of thing, so I believe here we see.
That their heads were wrong.
Their feet were wrong and turning away and now we see this couple brought before us and they're teaching something that's false or in error and their heads are wrong.
Is that not true, that when we leave the divine center, what we turn away, if our feet take us away, there's only one way and that's the downward path, downward path. So we have to be very careful on this. Then it says here again, as I say, I'm not giving an expose on Second Timothy, that's not it, but just these thoughts concerning the turning away, their feet turn away.
And now their heads are wrong, and their feet are wrong and their heads are wrong.
Then go over to the third chapter, we find again another set of two.
The third chapter.
Now we find something else, as it says here. I'll just go back a few verses.
Verse 5 having a form of godliness.
But denying the power thereof from such.
Turn away, for of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins.
LED away with divers lusts.
Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. You see what the path?
Of departure turns into.
Ever learning and never able to come until the knowledge of the truth. Oh, they're wondering. This is wonderful where we are. There's lots of love there.
Well, it's a downward path because they have left the divine center. And if there's anyone in this audience today does ever had that thought, dismiss it because it's only downward. It's not going to be an upward path, I assure you.
So here were those, it says, ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now, as Jannies and Jane Breeze, we have two more.
Three sets of two, and it's always downward. Always downward.
As it says here.
Jenny's.
Is.
Vexed or confused?
This is what it is. These are the prophets. These are the the ones in the book of Exodus that were tricking the people. Now they've got another, they've got something else going. Jenny's.
Beloved.
Or be set, be beaten. They were, they were beset. Or what's the word?
But anyway, they were they were confused.
And then the other one says the other one. The other name is Foamy.
For me, a for me healer, you know, now God is going to come in, they're going to do a great work, but what was the work that they did?
Imitation. What do we have around us? Imitations.
Imitation.
I don't want to talk about about those that left, but just to say this.
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That when we leave the teachings of the Word of God, if we leave the Apostle Paul's doctrine.
You're going to get into imitations, and that's exactly what Jenny's and Jamborees did.
Imitations.
So do these also resist the truth? Men of corrupt minds we find here, their hearts were wrong, their feet were wrong, their heads were wrong, their hearts were wrong. When we turn away, turn our back upon the word of God.
So we see that, as I say, it's not a an expose of Second Timothy, but it's just those thoughts of these sects that God has brought marked out for us that we might learn from this, that we might as we go on in the word of God, just as I think of any departure, these verses come to me. I think of these different, different ones. God wants me to go on in the path of truth and the doctrine, Paul's doctrine that he's brought before us.
All these years, but so here we find.
Feet wrong, hearts long, heads wrong. And just to drop over to verse.
To chapter four we find also.
Verse four And they shall turn away their ears from the truth. Ears are wrong now.
But you know, God has given us. I meditate upon this and I thought, why does he tell us the feet first?
Usually the ear is the picks up the sound and the heart it's lodges in the heart.
And then we go wrong.
But you know, I believe that God has given us a picture of what we can see. That is, we see the man leaving, we see his feet first. We don't know what's in his heart, but God does. So He's brought that out for us. And I think this is very, very precious. But in closing, I just want to turn over to the 4th chapter and drop down a little bit to show you two more.
And here we find dear, dear Apostle Paul.
Well, we could read a lot of verses here, but we're not going to do it.
Paul speaks about fourteenth verse. Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil.
The Lord reward him according to His works, Of whom be thou where also for He hath greatly withstood our words.
Alex that Alexander the coppersmith.
Notwithstanding no, and at my first answer, no man stood with me.
They had said, Paul has said they all forsook him in Flint, but there was one who stood with Paul.
Notice verse 11. Only Luke is with me. Isn't that lovely? So here again are two. But here's the dear Apostle Paul, and Luke stands with him. But then there's something else too. Notice.
It says at my first sixteen, at my first answer, no man stood with me, but all, all forsook me. And and I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. The apostle wasn't going to have the God lay any charge upon them at all. He's pray for them. And then it says, notwithstanding the Lord stood by me and strengthen me.
That by me the preaching might be fully known, that all the Gentiles might hear.
And I was delivered out of the mouth of a lion. Isn't that beautiful to me? I just thought of it. The digression here. Feet wrong. Heads wrong, Hearts wrong, ears wrong.
Why has God told us this? To exercise each one of us.
So we need to be reminded of this, we need to be exercised as we pick up this precious book. It's the light for our feet, for our pathway.
And it lightens our pathway too. So we need, as our brother **** has already said, we need to cleave to the Word of God with purpose of heart. But how lovely it is to see here was Paul who could say, only Luke is with me, dear Luke was with him.
But then, notwithstanding verse 17, the Lord stood with me. What a beautiful thing.
Is it your diary to go on for the Lord? If it's your desire, the Lord will stand with you.
Regardless of all the evil that's going on, regardless of all the MIS failures and the false steps.
And the downward trend that we see all around us.
Well, I just submit these thoughts.
In much feebleness, but just to think that here Paul marks this out in the end of this of his pistol. Their feet were wrong, their heads were wrong, their hearts were wrong, their ears were wrong, but God was still over, still cares for those who have a real desire to please God. May it be so with each one of us.