The Charge to Uphold The Truth

Transcript

GRM 842
03/16/2003
The Charge to Uphold the Truth
2 Timothy 1:6-2:3
Gil Rugh

I want to direct your attention to the book of II Timothy, Paul’s last letter. I just want to highlight some things that he says about the Word as he challenges Timothy in these closing days of his earthly ministry. We live in days, continual days, where the Word of God is undermined, it is directly attacked. Perhaps we’re affected in the direct, head-on assaults against the Word of God are those subtle undermining of the foundations of Biblical truth. Often, they come from those who claim to be part of the believing group, part of what we would call evangelicals. Reading in a newsletter that is put out, they were noting that pluralism has become force neutrality, and the idea that we are not to express ideas that could offend anyone. What is really disturbing, there is one pastor who asked his worshippers not to bring Bibles to church so that they don’t offend people who come to visit. Now I never thought that having our Bibles would be offensive. We want to be sensitive; we realize that people come, they may not be familiar with the Bible, they may not be comfortable finding their way around the Bible. But this is a place where the Bible is believed, the Bible is taught, that’s what we are about, that’s what makes this church worth existing. We believe there is a revelation from God, we are to learn more of what He has said.

Some mission groups, and I’m talking about supposed evangelical mission groups, are testing a new approach where converts are allowed to hold onto old religious beliefs and practices so as to refrain from offending others within their culture. One mission group, I won’t give their name, is experimenting this idea with what they call Messianic Muslims. Now I can understand the title Messianic Jews, but I don’t know where you get Messianic Muslims. I say they are Muslims who have converted to Christ. Well maybe, but it’s a subtle way where you can bring pagan baggage with you and thus you don’t offend your family. Many of you have gone through this from Protestant backgrounds, that when you became truly born-again family and friends did not understand what happened. Why do you leave the old ways? Isn’t the family religion good enough for you? We come ways that we minimize and soften the impact of the truth. But in doing that we take the effectiveness away from the ministry.

One evangelical denomination has been undergoing a battle and they are starting, the liberals within this evangelical group, starting their own seminaries and publishing house where they don’t have to be held to believing the Bible is inerrant. Yet they want to function within an umbrella of evangelical. But if you don’t believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, what do you have as a foundation? You may claim to believe something but all of our beliefs as true evangelicals are founded upon what God has revealed, and if that revelation is not reliable then we are building on a foundation of sand. We arbitrarily decide this belief is okay and solid, this belief may be shaky, because obviously we have to sort through and decide what in the Word of God is true and what is not true.

Well, none of these things are new. The Apostle Paul has not yet passed from the scene and his concern for Timothy in this letter is that Timothy understands the seriousness of the matter, understand the importance of the Word of God and commit himself to that Word and a ministry of that Word. Paul is speaking directly to Timothy because he will not be here in the future to challenge Timothy and remind him and encourage him. So, as you are aware, in II Timothy chapter 1 he takes him all the way back to the days when he was taught the Word of God. He had that from his grandmother and his mother in verse 6, talks about the faith that they had. We know that Timothy was taught the scriptures from childhood, Paul referred to that. Then he became a believer under Paul’s ministry, shared the faith with his grandmother and his mother. “Now he says for this reason, knowing that you are a child of God I remind you,” in verse 6, “to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” He had been specially blessed through the ministry of Paul and to be specially gifted of God, but with the passing of time Paul’s concern that maybe Timothy has cooled a little bit in his zeal. So, kindle afresh, stir up that original fire, “for God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power, love and discipline.” Something we can always be sure, when I feel that sense of being a coward it doesn’t come from God. The Spirit of God is not moving upon me when I feel that sense of ashamedness, being ashamed to be identified with Christ, being ashamed to speak forth the gospel. All of a sudden timidity comes over me and a reluctance, that doesn’t come from God. You know we have different personalities; some are more outgoing; some are shyer and retiring. Timothy may be more of a shy, retiring person, maybe Paul was more of an outgoing person. But what Paul says is not a matter of personality types, so to speak. I’m talking about what the Spirit of God does in the life and Timothy you have the same spirit that I have; and the Spirit of God does not give us a spirit of timidity. I find that a blessing. It doesn’t matter what your personality is, well I’m just not like that. But we’re talking about what we are like when we live our life under the control of the Spirit of God, and He gives us a spirit of power and love and discipline.

Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God. The series of commands, Paul doesn’t write softly here recommending things, and I hope you’ll do this. He addresses him sharply and directly, here’s what you must do. One of the things you must do in verse 8, the command is to “join with me in suffering for the gospel.” Down in verse 3 of chapter 2 he’ll say the same thing, same words, same command. “Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” You know I want you to step up, stir up the fire, go forward with greater boldness, power, love, self-discipline. Be willing to suffer for the gospel. You know Paul didn’t know any other way to be effective as a bold testimony for Christ but to be committed to a life of suffering, a life of hardship and a life of trial. Timidity, cowardice comes from what? Fear, fear of people rejecting what we say, fear of people turning against us, fear of people causing trouble for us. You know Paul is not saying Timothy, don’t worry, people will like you; if you’re a good Christian and have a good testimony they will admire you for your testimony and respect you. No, he says suffer hardship with me Timothy, time to step up. He doesn’t try to paint a rosy picture. Here is a man in prison preparing to die and what’s he says to the young man who should be following in his footsteps? Join with me in suffering for the gospel. In this context he tells him don’t be ashamed, don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord and don’t be ashamed of Jesus Christ. The testimony concerning Him is suffering and death on the cross to pay the penalty for sin, His resurrection from the dead. Timothy don’t be ashamed of the message concerning Jesus Christ and don’t be ashamed of me his prisoner.

You know how it is, sometimes we can get uncomfortable, even being with a believer who is too identified as a believer. Paul, do you want to be identified with Paul? People have a lot of slanderous, malicious things to say about Paul. Paul is in prison; Paul is going to die for his testimony. Wouldn’t it be nice to start fresh without the baggage of Paul? Timothy, don’t get too tied to me, start afresh, don’t bring my baggage with you. No, none of that, don’t be ashamed of me, Timothy. Because Paul knew the two go together, because the only reason he is suffering is because he is a minister of the gospel, he’s proclaiming Jesus Christ. Where Paul went together, if you were ashamed of me, it means you’re ashamed of the message I preach. As he told the Corinthians, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. Paul had no problem with people following him, he’s telling Timothy, follow my footsteps, step up and be identified with me, don’t be ashamed of me, don’t be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Join me in suffering. Now I stop and think if I were living in that day would I have been bold and had confidence to step up and be identified with the message of Christ, be identified with Paul as a servant of Christ? Easy for me to sit generations removed and say oh I would have, can’t imagine Timothy wouldn’t count it his greatest privilege. But Timothy was living through it with Paul, and it wasn’t a matter of glorifying the history from a distance. This is the real life of paying the price, losing your friends, losing family members, perhaps losing your job and your income, losing respectability. Join with me in suffering for the gospel.

Do not be ashamed of me. Now you’ll note what Paul says down in verse 12, “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed.” I suffer these things for the gospel is what he has been saying. Christ has come and I preach the message of Jesus Christ and I suffer for these things, but I am not ashamed of them, not ashamed of Jesus Christ, I’m not ashamed of the message concerning Him, I know whom I have believed. My confidence is in Him, I’ve entrusted my very soul to Him. Paul confronts the reality of death, but he does it with assurance. I’m not ashamed. Timothy, I don’t want you to be ashamed. A glorious testimony down in verse 16, “The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, he often refreshed me, he was not ashamed of my chains.” Onesiphorus, we don’t know a lot about his life, but you know what? Here is a man who stood up, he stepped to the front, he wasn’t embarrassed to be identified with Paul, servant of Jesus Christ, prisoner for the cause of Christ. When others were abandoning Paul, others were turning away from him, Onesiphorus stood up. He wasn’t ashamed. Timothy, be like Onesiphorus. Don’t be ashamed of me as a servant of Jesus Christ and of the message of Christ.

You’ll note, you do this, you join with suffering, it’s not suck it up, be a man. You do this according to the power of God, according to the end of verse 8. “Join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.” It’s in accord with what he said in verse 7, “God has not given us a spirit of timidity.” So, what I’m really challenging, Timothy, is draw on the resources God has given you, His power enables you to be confident and stand boldly in the face of those things which are so intimidating, so fearful. Do it according to the power of God.

He tells him in verse 13 and gives him another command. “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me and the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus”. We’ve taken the title for our tape ministry Sound Words; we are to retain the standard of sound words. Given as a command. Timothy is to hold on to the truth, the message that has been committed to him by Paul. The standard of sound words which you heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Grasp onto this message, hold onto it. It is your most precious possession. Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said we have the treasure of the gospel in earthen vessels. Here we have Timothy, hold onto the gospel, retain it, don’t slacken your grip on the truth that has been entrusted to you. You know certain things you can hold loosely and lightly because if they get out of your grasp it doesn’t matter. Certain things are precious, and you have to hold on to those things. Retain the standard of sound words.

In I Timothy Paul had written in chapter 3 verse 9 in the context of requirements for deacons. They must be holding on to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. For men to have a grasp, a hold on the truth. Over in Titus chapter 1 verse 9 he says the same thing regarding elders and their qualifications. They are to be holding fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching, they’d be able to teach and exhort in sound doctrine and to refute. You see what it means to hold fast to the faithful word. That means you are able to exhort people with the Word of God, it means you are able to defend the Word of God against those who would corrupt it and alter it, people who have a grasp on the Word of God. I love Jeremiah chapter 15 verse 16 where Jeremiah says, “your Word was found and I did eat it, your Word was like food,” your Word was found, and I did eat it and “it became to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by your name oh Lord God of hosts.” The Word of God becomes part of his life which sustains him, which gives him joy. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, the Word of God is the joy and rejoicing of his heart.

Timothy, retain the standard of sound words, have a firm grasp on the truth. In chapter 2 verse 15 he’ll tell him “Be diligent to present yourself, approved to God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the Word of Truth.” What a tragedy it is, so much of the evangelical world today, people hold the Word of God so lightly. We don’t want to argue over this, I don’t want to disagree over that, you have your opinion and that’s all right. It’s as though it is something light. The evangelical church moves to make the Word of God more interesting, so we lighten it up, shorten it up and people’s grasp of the truth is so minimal. Are they able to exhort in the Word of God? Are they able to defend and refute those who would attack the Word of God? Timothy, you retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me. I take it that’s the truth we have in the Word of God, the Old Testament (Paul already had that), the New Testament (in the process of being written), the message that Timothy was getting from Paul in this letter. You retain that, you hold onto that.

Second responsibility is to guard the Word of God. You retain it and you guard it, you protect it. Another command. Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Paul doesn’t expect Timothy to do any of this in his own strength. We still hide behind this, oh I’m just not that kind of person, I’m not outgoing, I can’t talk to people. We’re not talking about what you can do, we’re talking about what the Spirit of God can do in you. In light of some of the comments made about Timothy we usually speculate that Timothy was somewhat of a timid person, at least compared to Paul he was timid, probably everybody is timid compared to Paul. But for Paul, he didn’t see it as a difference in our personalities. Timothy, verse 14, “Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.” You have the same Holy Spirit, Timothy, that I have. I’m talking about what you do in His strength and His power. You “guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us that treasure which has been entrusted to you,” the treasure which has been entrusted to you. Remarkable.

Back in verse 12 of chapter 1, middle of the verse, “I am convinced that he, God, is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” I take it that’s his very soul, Paul’s hope for eternity. He’s confident, it’s under the protection of God Himself. Now Timothy is to guard what has been entrusted to him, and you do it through the Holy Spirit. This is the work of the God who guards us, protects us. He uses us in the earthly scene to guard and protect His Word.

Look back in I Timothy chapter 6 verse 20, “Oh Timothy guard what has been entrusted to you. The burden of Paul’s life that Timothy would step up as a defender of truth. Guard what has been entrusted to you. Chapter 1 verse 14 he called it the treasure which has been entrusted to you. That means you avoid worldly and empty chatter, the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge. There always are people coming and what they are doing is undermining the Word of God, undermining confidence in the Word of God. They claim to have greater knowledge, greater insight, greater understanding, and some have professed this false knowledge and have gone astray from the faith. You know it’s not difficult, it’s not complicated. This is the truth of God; He gave it to us to understand it. You do not have to have a PhD or a ThD or any kind of degree. God in His grace saves those that believe in His Son Jesus Christ. They can be from the most uneducated in the world. When that person is saved by God’s grace the Spirit of God takes up residence within them and then that person has the potential to know and understand truth that the greatest intellects of the unregenerate people are in the dark concerning. Timothy don’t get sidetracked in intellectual speculations, worthless discussions and arguments. You guard the truth that has been entrusted to you.

In II Timothy chapter 4 verse 3 after telling Timothy the solemn charge to preach the Word, verse 2, “and that includes in season and out of season. You reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” We’ve looked at this many times and you remember he’s writing about what will take place in the church. Paul is well aware the pagan Roman world wasn’t interested in the truth of God; it wasn’t that they were going to cool. But Paul’s concern was among those professing to be believers, there would come a time when they won’t want to hear truth, they won’t want to hear healthy teaching, sound doctrine. They’ll want to have their ears tickled, and they’ll pile up teachers who can tickle their ears, say what they want to have said. They’ll turn away, verse 4, “their ears from the truth, turn aside to myths.” I mean once you turn away from the truth what is left? Whatever it is, is not truth. You abandon the Word of God, whatever else you have is foolishness, myths. The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine and they’ll pile up teachers. The danger of the church, again every week I get, I guess they pass around mailing lists, and I’m always getting these brochures and advertisements, and they’re done so well. There’s a lot of money there. Inviting me to pastor’s conferences, you’re going to learn 10 lessons to revolutionize your church, 6 steps to sure growth, and on and on it goes. I think maybe you’re starting a Burger King; I mean do we need the Spirit of God; do we need the Word of God? We can do it without it. I’ve shared with you years ago when I was in an evangelical school, they call it evangelical, but I had some concerns over that. Professor there whom I was talking with, I was talking about my theological concerns with the points he was making. He says Gil that’s the beautiful thing about these principles, they work whatever your theology. I keep telling you that, I remind you of that story, it rings in my mind—they work whatever your theology, they work whatever your theology. Which means what? You don’t need God to build a church with these principles, you don’t need the truth of God to build a church with these principles. And you know what? He was right. Churches all across the country and around the world are being built on those principles, those very principles today.

But we are to guard the Word of God, guard it. Paul told the Ephesian elders, remember in our study of Acts chapter 20, that that was their responsibility as those entrusted with the leadership of God’s people. Be on guard for yourselves and all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock. From among your own selves’ men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. From among your own selves. You know what? This is the church at Ephesus. You know where Timothy is? Paul writes to him in the church at Ephesus. Paul is burdened. I’m going to be gone, Paul says. You know what? From among the realm of professing believers false teachers are going to arise, they’re going to teach things that are going to confuse believers, that are going to sound good, and they’re going to wean people away from the truth of God. Like Israel in the Old Testament, the prophets prophesied a lie, the priest functioned falsely. The sad thing is God says my people love to have it so. Isn’t that amazing? My people love it that way. The same thing Paul said was going to happen to the church. They won’t put up with sound teaching, but they’ll heap to themselves teachers having itching ears that will teach them what they want to hear. Sad state of affairs.

Look in Jude, the book of Jude just before the book of Revelation, the little one-chapter book of Jude. Verse 3, “Beloved while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation (I was preparing to write you a letter just about the salvation that we share in common), I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you would content earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” You understand these early servants aren’t even off the scene and they’re saying you know what? Certain persons have crept in unnoticed who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turned the grace of our God into licentiousness, deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ, then infiltrated the church. He’s just not writing about pagan Romans out here or other pagans. These are people who have made their way, infiltrated among believers and are now having an impact. We think oh the day in which we live is a different day. No, this is the way the devil has always worked. It’s the way he worked in Israel in the Old Testament, wasn’t it? Infiltrate among the people of God, wean them away from the truth of God and soon you replace the worship of God with the worship of idols. All the devil needs is a generation or so to get it done. But my concern is great for the coming generation. That’s why I don’t want to cut back on the input for our children, young people, young adults. Why? If they are not thoroughly saturated with the Word, how will they have a firm grasp of it? How will they guard and protect it? Danger is parents who have learned the Word, they cool off, as Paul is concerned with Timothy, then they raise their children, they’re raising them in the cooled-off atmosphere, the one-hour, shorter is better than longer approach. How are these kids going to grow up? They’re going to grow up learning minimal about the Word because they get minimal input. How are they going to have a firm grasp and be able to guard the Word and that? As you can see the process goes on. If you’re basically ignorant of the Word in any serious way you are susceptible to being deluded about the Word. Besides it has already been modeled that it’s not that important that you get it all right because there is not a lot of difference in what we all believe. You know we all believe in Jesus; we’re all trusting Him and so how do we get it? That’s how we get the Protestants are comfortable with Catholics. We all want to believe in Christ, that’s what’s important. We have some details we disagree on, but they’re not important. Now we’ve decided that parts of the Word of God are not important, they can be discarded. The next generation comes up saying there’s not a lot of difference between Roman Catholics and Protestants, so it doesn’t really matter if you’re Catholic or Protestant. For a lot of Protestants that is true, they’re just as lost as a lot of Catholics. We need to be concerned about the coming generation; I get concerned for parents. That’s why I encourage you to be back on Sunday night, encourage you to be involved on Wednesday night. I realize there are adults here who would get up and teach these passages of the Word as well as I can, but it’s not only for us. We are modeling our commitment to our kids, we are bringing them to an environment, we have faithful teachers and workers who pour their lives into these young people. We ought to praise God for them and pray for them, support them. We ought to model to our kids, this is what is important. Timothy, you guard the Word.

The book of Revelation concludes, you remember, with a strong word from Christ of the promised condemnation that will come upon anyone who adds anything to the Word of God or takes anything away. We may not take this seriously, but God does; and He will. Those who corrupt the Word of God do so to their own destruction, what Jude has just written, what Peter wrote in II Peter 2. It’s what Christ says at the close of the book of Revelation. This is not something to be taken lightly. I find people playing fast and loose. One of the commentaries I’m using on the book of Acts in my study, I’ve come to conviction the man is not a believer in Jesus Christ. He is too loose with the scripture; he is comfortable discarding portions of it. This probably never happened, but Luke has written it here to fill in or flesh out the story. Anybody who can do that with the Word of God is a man who does not understand the seriousness of the truth of God, in spite of the fact that other times he has brilliant things to say. That’s what makes him so dangerous. We must guard the Word of God.

Come back to II Timothy, down in verse 2 as you are aware he gives the command to entrust the Word of God to others. II Timothy 2:2, “And these things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” We are to teach the Word of God, we’re involved with the possession of the Word of God, the protection of the Word of God, and the propagation of the Word of God. We want to put it in an alliterated form. We pass it on, we teach others who will teach others. Timothy has learned it form Paul; Timothy’s responsibility now is to teach other faithful men who will teach others. One of the great blessings in the ministry of our church has been the way that God has multiplied the men to teach the Word of God over the years. We have classes going on at a variety of times and faithful men are teaching the Word of God here in this building, in homes, and so on. Because the Word of God says that’s what God’s intention is. This treasure is passed on to others and aren’t you glad that almost 2000 years after Paul writes this there have been faithful people involved in that line. It has been passed down and by God’s grace it was shared with us, and we were privileged to believe it, be taught it, and are now involved in the sharing of it in entrusting others who will be able to teach others also. It’s a great blessing to me. You know the early years of the ministry I did a lot more of the teaching, I used to get invited to all the Bible studies, I answered all the questions. That’s relative, there were others. But proportionately I was at the center of everything. Now people tell me they learned it from their teacher. They already know somebody who knows more than me, they can ask them for help. Wonderful, isn’t it? Faithful men teaching the Word of God. You ought to pray for these men, appreciate them, encourage them in the ministry. That’s the ministry we have, I want to continue to have. We have people who have come to the Lord, who have been taught the Word of God, God has moved them out to other places. Praise the Lord for that. I trust they’ll take the truths as they’ve learned it and be involved in building it in other lives as well. That responsibility of passing on the truths.

You know if the church is the pillar and support of the truth, and it is as Paul wrote that in I Timothy 3:15, this is at the heart of what we are. We’ve talked before, we are a truth center, we are giving off the truth, we are teaching the truth and passing it on to people who can pass it on. Not a place where you come primarily to have a good time, not a place to come so you can relax and feel good when you leave. It’s a place to come to learn truth. I mean there are a lot of places you can go and have a good time, that’s not saying we can’t have fun and relax together and have a social time. Of course, we can, but we don’t want to lose sight of the fact of what the church is about. That’s why on Sunday night we do basically what we do on Sunday morning, which is what? Study truth. I mean that’s what we are about, that’s why we have Bible studies meeting in the homes, various places in the city. And what do they do? We have good fellowship together, we’re involved in one another’s lives, we help one another, and we study truth. I mean the church is about truth. That is what makes it unique throughout the world. The church is the pillar and support of truth, the truth of God that He has revealed and given to us.

Multitudes of references, one passage in Ezekiel 2. I quoted Jeremiah, “thy words were found, and I did eat them, and your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart for I am called by your name oh Lord God of hosts.” Similar experience for Ezekiel. Look at chapter 3 verse 1, “Son of man eat what you find, eat this scroll and go speak to the house of Israel.” Here is the picture of Ezekiel taking the Word of God and devouring it and it becomes part of his life and now he takes this which has been entrusted to him and goes and proclaims it. Verse 4, “then he said son of man go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them.” You know what God says? They won’t listen. What a church-growth philosophy this is. How would you like to go to Ezekiel’s school of church growth. I’ll teach you how to preach a message nobody wants to hear; I’ll teach you how to empty the place out in a relatively short time. What God says you go speak to them. They should listen but they won’t. Verse 7, “the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they’re not willing to listen to me.” I don’t want to be listened to by anyone who doesn’t want to listen to God, I don’t want to have anybody comfortable hearing me who is not comfortable hearing what God has to say. Ezekiel, they won’t listen to you because they won’t listen to me. There oughtn’t to be a difference. What goes forth as the message in our churches ought to be the Word of God. People who don’t want to hear what God has to say oughtn’t to be comfortable with what the teacher or preacher has to say.

Verse 8, what God does with His spokesman is give him a hard head. “I have made your face as hard as their faces, your forehead as hard as their forehead.” You know we talk about knocking heads. There you go. Here’s your ministry, Ezekiel, you go knock heads with them. Same ministry Timothy is going to get. Lot of your ministry is going to be with people who don’t want to hear it. But “Like emery harder than flint I’ve made your forehead.” You know what? I’ve got a harder head. We’re going to butt heads, but my head is harder than your head. Basically, what he tells them, another way of saying. Same thing Paul is telling Timothy. Don’t be ashamed, step up, suffer hardship with me, don’t be intimidated. God doesn’t give us a spirit of cowardice. You’re going to slam heads with them, that’s all right, I’ve given you a harder head, you preach my message. Back in chapter 2 verse 6 he tells him, Ezekiel 2:6, “And you son of man neither fear them nor their words. Don’t fear thistles or thorns. You sit on scorpions, don’t worry about it. Neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, but you shall speak my words to them whether they listen or not.” You see there’s no change. The prophets were entrusted with God’s message to Israel in the Old Testament, Paul and other apostles were entrusted with it in the New Testament. Now men like Timothy are being entrusted with it. The challenge is exactly the same, don’t be ashamed of God’s truth, don’t hold back from proclaiming God’s truth, don’t be intimidated. You have a firm grasp of that truth, you guard it and protect it, you propagate it, you teach it, you pass it on to others.

One more thing in II Timothy chapter 2 verse 1, another command. “You, therefore, my son you be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, you be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” We don’t do this in our own strength. Just like back at the end of verse 8 in chapter 1, “you join with me in suffering according to the power of God.” Same basic word translated power in chapter 1 verse 8 as is translated strong, be strong, be empowered. Another word, dynamic, dynamo, dynamite comes from this word. You be empowered in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. It’s passive, it is something done to you. You submit yourself to the power of God, Timothy. That power that comes to you in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, that’s how you do it. What else do I need? Is His power sufficient? Is His strength adequate? Of course, it is. I don’t have to take a test and say what kind of personality, what’s my personality type, will I be able to do this? God has called me to do it and to do it in His power, His strength. That’s what our ministry is to be, that’s what the ministry of this church is. I remind you of these truths again and again. Why? I never want them to slip from our grasp, I never want us to be anything else but a place where the truth is proclaimed. I want us to be concerned to be known about success, one thing I want everyone to know—you go there, they believe the Bible. You go there all they do is talk about God’s Word, you go there, and they’ll teach you the Bible until you’re sick to death. I’ve told you before I sometimes meet pastors, I had lunch with one a long time ago, I’ve shared it before. He was telling me about people who came to his church from here and were complaining about here and me. If they complain about someone as loveable as me that says something. But I asked this preacher, I said I want to ask you one thing, did any of them say they weren’t being taught the Word of God? He said that’s never been a criticism. I don’t say that for us to be proud, but it ought to be a concern. People can leave for a variety of reasons; I never want anyone to leave because they say they just were not being taught the truth.

God has empowered us by the gracious gift of His Spirit. May we take the exhortation to Timothy and step up, as Paul challenged Timothy, in these days as we anticipate the soon return of the Lord. To be bold with the gospel and join with Paul and others in our own day who are suffering for the cause of Christ. May we count that as an honor.

Let’s pray together. Lord, you are a great God, you are a great and gracious God and you have reached out to us in our lost, hopeless condition and brought us to yourself the salvation that is found in no one else but your Son who loved us and died for us. Lord, you have entrusted us with your truth. How blessed we are as a church. You have multiplied your blessings upon us, you’ve blessed us with faithful people who pour their lives into this ministry of service for Jesus Christ so that we might grow together. Lord, we give you all the praise for all that is done. Lord, we pray that your truth might be precious to us, that it might be a treasure to us, that we might hold it dearly, that we might guard it, that we might give it forth, that we might do this in the strength that you in grace have bestowed upon us. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.