Open—Stan Allan
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.
I was wondering if we could look at Second Timothy chapter one. I know we often go there, but I have a burden, particularly for those who are younger, here this afternoon.
It has been a concern of mine for a little bit now that.
It's easy to give up the truth that we have been given.
And I was thinking of what the apostle Paul here says in Second Timothy. I just want to read a couple of verses.
Verse 13 of the first chapter it says, 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 onto the Keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in US.
And then down in the second chapter and verse 2, the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful man, who shall be able to teach others also.
And then in the third chapter.
In the 14th verse it says But continue thou.
In the things which thou hast learned, and been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them. Maybe we should mention or look at another verse two a little further up.
Verse 10. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, and so on.
So we find here that the apostle at the very end of his life, just before he was going to be.
Martyred by Nero. He writes this letter to Timothy and he was living in a day that was very difficult. You'll notice what he says there in verse 15 of the first chapter. This thou knowest that all day which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are fajitas and homogeneous.
And so there was a condition, you know, if you remember, that Asia was that area where Ephesus was, and Colossi and these two assemblies had received, I suppose you could say, the very highest truth that we find in the Word of God. And yet it says here.
That all they that are in Asia have turned away from me. And so it was a very sad time for the apostle Paul and he was encouraging Timothy.
As an individual to keep on, and I want to say that this afternoon that there's a lot of young families here. You're bringing up young children and I know you want them to continue on in the path of faith, but you're going to find that as they become teenagers, that's going to become much more difficult and it's going to be very easy perhaps to give up.
The truth that you have known, but you'll notice here the apostle makes it very plain, he says.
And to Timothy, hold fast the form of sound words. That's the beginning. You know, someone has said that you could actually translate that word possess possess the form of the sound words. You know, you can't keep something unless you possess it. And the way you possess it is to study it. And you know, I think that all of us need to make it our responsibility in these days to.
The Word of God to meditate on it and it's so important. And then of course he goes on and says in the next verse, though that which is committed under the keep by the Holy Ghost. And again that word keep, I think could be translated guard, guard.
By the Holy Ghost. In other words, it's only the Holy Ghost that can help us to guard.
What has been committed to us? And so it says, Guard by the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth in us, that which you have been given. And then, of course, as you go down into the second chapter, there's a word to those of us who are older, because it says the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses.
00:05:17
The same commit thou to faithful man. In other words, we have a responsibility what the Lord has given us.
To pass on to the next generation. And it's often been said here that in this second verse we really have.
4 generations that says, my son, be strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then it mentions what you've heard of me among many witness the same commit to faithful man. So there's another.
Generation, you might say and.
They will teach others also. So it's to be handed down from generation to generation. And so the word there is commit, commit.
Without a faithful man, which you have heard, and then finally.
In the 14th verse of the third chapter, we're told to continue. You know, we often read those verses in Acts chapter 2 where it says they continued steadfastly.
In the apostles, doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread and prayers. And I think it's such an important word for us in these last days to continue and not give up. And so we have those expressions given to us. The question is, what are we to commit? What are we to guard? What are we to continue in?
Well.
There's many ways we could look at this I suppose, but.
It's interesting to me that it says in the 13th verse about holding fast. It says the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me.
And then you'll notice when it comes to the next verse, oh, not so much the next verse, but well, yes, that good thing which was committed unto thee. Now what was committed unto Timothy, it was what Paul had given him. And then in the second chapter again it says the things which thou hast heard of me.
And then in the third chapter.
He says, but thou hast fully known my doctrine. My doctrine. That's verse 10. And then in the 14th verse, what he had learned from the apostle, he was to continue in. In other words, the apostle is saying, what you have heard Timothy from me. That's what I want you to continue in. And the question is, what's he referring to? Well, I believe he's referring to.
Paul's Doctrine, you know, there's a little booklet that I would suggest you might read. It's written by, I think it's FG Patterson. It's called Paul's Doctrine and.
I think this is what Paul is particularly talking about when he's talking to Timothy. He wants Timothy to remember what he had instructed him in. Well, what was it that Paul had been instructed in? Well, we could look very briefly.
And Ephesians chapter 3.
Because in in Ephesians chapter three, I think we have a little hint of what Paul's doctrine consists of.
It says there in verse three of chapter 3, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery. In other words, the mystery was committed to the apostle Paul.
And then he goes on and says in the fifth verse, which in other ages was not known unto the sons of man. So this was not known back in Old Old Testament times, but it was revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. So it seemed to me that God actually revealed this mystery of the church to the apostle Paul, and then he revealed that.
To the other apostles and prophets. It wasn't a private interpretation of the Apostle Paul himself. It was given to the apostles and prophets. And what was the mystery? Well, we have it there in the sixth verse, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.
00:10:11
Whereof I have been made a minister according to the gift of grace of God-given unto me. So here was what Paul.
Wanted Timothy to remember the truth of the Church, and of course we get that in the instructions for this in his epistles.
And we get it. And you notice when you.
Come to the First Timothy. There I just referred to it briefly, but in First Timothy it mentions in the third chapter. In the 15th verse it says that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself.
In the House of God. And so we find in first Timothy the house in order the way things should be carried out in the early days when the when the truth was first given. But then when you come to the second epistle, we all know what it says there in the 20th verse of the second chapter. It talks not about the house. It talks about the great house, the in the great house.
Vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. So there's a mix there of what is of God and that which is of man and what is honoring to God and what is not dishonouring to God. And that's the way things are today. We're living in the great house. It's the great House of profession and.
And so this is what has happened. People have the Christians have given up the truth of Paul's doctrine.
And, and Paul had to say of those in Asia, they had forsaken him and they turned away from him. Well, I believe he was talking about the apostle, the apostles doctrine. Well, you know, if we go back to the Old Testament and we read the story, at least the history of Ezra and Nehemiah.
You would find there that the Israel had been taken away captive for.
70 years. And the reason why they had been taking capital is because they gave up the truth that they had been given. They turned to idolatry and there they found themselves in Babylon for those 70 years. But you know, the wonderful thing is that God came in and brought restoration, and the result was that Ezra.
Went back to the land of Israel and so did Nehemiah. They both sent back large numbers.
To the land of Israel, I understand that there was about 42,000 that went back from.
42,000 That went back from Babylon to Israel, and that was really a fairly small number. I understand at one time there were a million Jews living in Alexandria, which was in Egypt. So out of all the Jews that had been scattered.
Only a reasonably small number had gone back to Israel, about 42,000. But you know what's interesting to see what characterized them if you went there to the 8th chapter of Nehemiah. We don't have time to go through it. Well, maybe we can just look at it for a moment. Nehemiah chapter 8.
Nehemiah, chapter 8.
It says there in the first verse.
All the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the Watergate, And they speak unto Ezra the scribe, to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And it says in the third verse, he read therein before the street that was before the Watergate.
From the morning until the midday before the men and women and those that could understand.
And the ears of all the people were attentive under the book of the Law. So we find that there was restoration and restoration concerning the word of God. They were very concerned what the book of Moses had to say, and they recognized that they would have to submit themselves to what the word of God had to say. And then we find 2. If we went to the third chapter of Nehemiah, that they.
00:15:07
Built the wall and you know the wall speaks of separation and the two things that I think that this would instruct us in the importance of the word of God and and acting according to the word of God and then the importance to of separation from that which is evil. And so this is what characterized Ezra Nehemiah and I just want to say that.
This is a little picture of what began to happen.
In the history of the world.
A little later on I I hope I can make it plain, but.
We know that during the dark ages, that would be a time maybe from 600 AD up to 1011 hundred AD, the world was at least the Christian world was in darkness. The Pope's ruled people who are not encouraged to read the word of God. In fact, they were actually told.
Not to read the word of God. And it was a time of great darkness. But you know, the wonderful thing is that God began to move and he brought in the reformers. And you all know that Martin Luther was raised up of God and he restored the truth of justification by faith. And that was a very important, very important step.
Not only that, but God also raised up a man.
To invent the printing press. And with that printing press, the book that he he printed was the Word of God. And for the first time in many, many hundreds of years, people had the word of God in their own language. They could read it for themselves. Before that, the church had discouraged people from not reading the word of God.
But now they had the word of God, and not only that, but they, they reformers, taught the people the importance of the authority of the word of God, not going by the what the Pope had to say, but what the word of God had to say. And so that was restored to them. And I think it was a very important step in the history of Christianity.
But you know.
That's as far as it went. Another great reformer at that time was John Calvin. John Calvin, and he understood what Luther had done and he certainly put a lot of emphasis on the on the gospel, and that's very, very important. But that's as far as they went.
Now you'll notice a verse in Revelation again.
If you just go to the Book of Revelation.
When you go to the third chapter and I I can't go into all the details with all the time, but in the third chapter and in the second verse, we have a description of the period following the rest of the following the the the.
My mind, my mind is going from here.
The Reformation, that's what I want to say. It says here, this follows the Reformation. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. For I have not found thy works perfect before God. I understand that that word perfect there really is complete. You can read it this way. I have not found thy works complete.
Before God, in other words, during the Reformation, they restored the truth of salvation by faith, justification by faith. They did. They restored the importance of the Word of God. They put it in the language of the people and they talked about the authority of the Word of God. All very important. But as I said before, they didn't go any further. Their works were not complete before God. Now you'll notice there's another verse.
In Colossians. Colossians chapter.
One Colossians. Chapter one.
And verse.
25 Paul says there I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. Now I understand that word fulfill is exactly the same word as in Revelation chapter 3 verse 2 where it says perfect so we can read it this way.
00:20:24
The dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to complete the word of God. Now that doesn't mean that Paul wrote the last book in the in the New Testament. We know that's not true. The last book in the New Testament was written by the apostle John. But the truth that God had for his people.
Was the was Paul's nostril, which would have been communicated to Paul and that truth completed.
God's revelation to man. And so it says there that it was given to Paul to complete the word of God. And yet when you come to the third chapter of Revelation in connection with Sardis, which is a picture of, of Protestantism, it says that their works were not complete before God. In other words, they did not teach.
Paul's doctrine. Paul's doctrine. And So what I wanted to say was this.
That in second Timothy when Paul says.
Hold fast the the form of sound words and keep that which has been committed unto you, Timothy, he says. It was Paul's doctrine that was so important, and it's very easy to give up Paul's doctrine. I'm very thankful we've been brought up.
Well, first of all, I didn't quite finish what I was going to say.
In 1830 or so, God raised up John Nelson Darby, and I'm not trying to make him anybody special, but I believe that God gave him the responsibility of revealing the truth or reviving the truth of Paul's doctrine and.
We can be very thankful for it and we have a lot of ministry that we had on the table there yesterday.
And many of us have in our libraries. It's really the truth of the post often that was revived by those dear brethren in the early 1800s. And it's what's being given up today. It's very easy for us to say, you know, we're, we're small in numbers. There's not many of us. Why don't we just quit and go to a church?
Well, you know, if you go to those churches, and I want to say this, that I love my dear brother and in these churches.
I know many of them.
And I can have limited fellowship with them, but they don't know Paul's doctrine. They, they, they're clear on the gospel. And in fact, in many ways they put us to shame because they really are are energetic and giving out the gospel. And that's very important. But, oh, Paul says.
Hold fast that what you have, that no man takes your crown.
And I want to say today how important it is to hold fast the truth that God has given us. You know, the Lord is coming very, very soon and.
We don't know just when it's going to be, but it's it's in the very near future. And the Lord just wants us to hold fast what he has given us like a treasure, something that we value. Do we really value the truth that was restored at the beginning of the 1800s?
Well, if we do, I think we need to get into the word and study it and learn it. And that's really what I have before me today. I would say to those who are younger here and have children, value the truth, go on in it, continue in it, committed to others.
And treated as a treasure that God has given, and he will keep us.
We cannot keep ourselves, we need to depend on the Lord. But my thought is how important it is to value the truth that God has restored to us and that we to a large extent is not taught in the churches around us. In fact, we were noticing just that the noon hour that a lot of Christians don't make a distinction between.
The the the earthly blessings of Israel.
00:25:02
And the heavenly blessings of the church, they put it all together. And it's very easy to fall into these traps, but may the Lord keep us going on for him till he comes.