Let me get my usual cough out
of the way here. Turn to 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy here, chapter 1. Glad to have Obi and his family
with us this morning. He's going to read for me for
us in the second service. Second Timothy, chapter one.
But Ben, lead us in prayer before we get into this. Second Timothy, chapter one. We're going to look at the first
seven verses this morning. The title of the lesson is Stir
Up the Gift. Paul told Timothy to stir up
the gift. Don't neglect the gift that's
been given to you, but stir it up. This letter, if you understand
the background in which Paul is writing this letter, Paul
is writing a farewell letter to Timothy. He's in prison in
Rome for the second time. This is pretty much about the
height of Nero's persecution of the church. You know, something
about the history of that, where he took believers, some, and
he'd wrap them up in animal skins and then turn wild animals loose
on them, and they would kill them. And then some of them he
set on fire to light his garden with. I mean, that's sad, but
this is the time, this is the period that Paul's writing this,
and Paul's in prison. And most believe this is Paul's
last letter written before he's executed by Nero. I mean, this
is a dark, dark time for them, for the church at that time.
But in writing this letter, we do not have even a hint You understand what's going on,
the torture that's going on, but there's not a hint of fear
in Paul writing this letter to Timothy. Not only is there not
a hint of fear, he's encouraging it. This is just amazing to me. He is in the heat of this thing,
and he's encouraging this young man to fight a good fight of
faith. He's encouraging him, right in
the very teeth of persecution, to be bold and not to back down. And he's showing it, not only
in his letter, but he's showing it in his conduct. He's showing
no fear. Paul's not afraid to die. Look
over in chapter four, in chapter four of this epistle. He says in verse five, but watch
thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist,
make full proof of thy ministry. This is basically what he's writing
this whole epistle to him about. For I am now ready to be offered. That's how he sees it. He doesn't
say I'm ready to be executed. I'm ready to be offered. If this
is the way I'm to die, I'm ready to be offered. And the time of
my departure, he didn't say death, does he? He said my departure. It's like his bags are packed
and this is how God is gonna bring me home. This is how he's
gonna take me out of this world. And this is how I'm going to
go home. My departure is like being at a train station. Departs at 540. And you say,
my departure is almost here. My departure is at hand. I have
fought a good fight. Don't you want to die like that? Don't you want to die when you
come up to the end of life? And we're about to take that
last breath to be able to have the confidence, by God's grace
now, by God's grace, that we have fought a good fight. We've
kept the faith. That's what he said. I have fought
a good fight. I have finished my course. I'm getting way ahead
of myself in this epistle, but he said, I have finished my course. This is what God's given me to
do. Every one of us have something to do, God's given to us to do
in the kingdom of God to serve the body of Christ. And he said,
I've done it. You know, he says when David
served his generation, you know, he died, the Lord took him. When
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
only, but to all men also, that love is appearing. There is no
hint of fear here, is there? My bags are packed, it's time
for me to go, and here are my last words to you, Timothy. That's
the setting for this epistle. These are my last words. And
Paul encourages and he urges Timothy to faithfully discharge
his duty as a minister of the gospel, as I just read to you.
And he urges Timothy to be courageous and suffer the afflictions that
come with preaching the gospel. There are afflictions that come
with preaching the gospel. Now, we have not suffered what
Paul suffered and Timothy and the apostles at that time. That's
not to say it won't happen. I mean, I can see how it can
easily happen now more than ever with what's going on in this
country. I can see it. This country is quickly turning
on God. It's quickly turning on God,
turning on the gospel. And Paul in this epistle warns
Timothy about false teachers that had already risen up among
them and there would be plenty more to follow, plenty more. Now he says here, Paul an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God. And Paul gives his credentials
not for Timothy, Timothy knew he was an apostle. He gives this,
his credentials, to show the authenticity of this epistle. It's written by an apostle. Because
he knew others would read this, not just Timothy. He's writing
it to Timothy, but he knew others would read this. And he lets
Timothy and us know that his apostleship is by the will of
God. It's by the will of God. Just
as I believe that my ministry here is by the will of God. This
is not a job. This is a calling. It's a calling
of God. It's by his will that I'm here. That's what makes me happy. I've
said this more than once here, and I've said it to others. I'm
happy. I'm happy as I could be. because I believe I'm doing the
will of God. And Paul's saying it's also that
he didn't put himself in the ministry. He didn't put himself
as he was accused of in the apostleship, as being an apostle. God did
that. God did that. And he did it according to the
promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus. Paul was called
not only to salvation, but he was called to preach the gospel,
which here is called the promise of life. which is in Christ Jesus. Eternal life is promised in the
gospel and is promised through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
eternal life. If you and I have eternal life,
it's because we have the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ in you,
the hope of glory. It says in John 17, three, our
Lord said this, and this is life eternal. Here it is. You know,
that young man said, Lord, what must I do to inherit eternal
life? Our Lord tells us, right here, here it is. This is life
eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God in Jesus
Christ whom thou hast seen. It's a relationship with God
in Christ, is what it is. Listen to 1 John 1, 1 and 2.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our
hands have handled of the word of life. For the life, the life was manifested. Life was manifested. And we have seen it. We have
seen life. I love this portion of scripture.
We have seen life. And by faith, we have seen life.
the Lord Jesus Christ and we bear witness and show unto you
that eternal life we're showing to you eternal life which was
with the Father and was manifested to us and we know that eternal
life is Jesus Christ and that's what Paul says that
he was called to preach the gospel that that gospel of eternal life
which is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Paul shows here in verse
2 his deep affection for Timothy. It was like that of a father
to his son. Oh how he And reading this over
and over this week, I just kept picturing in my mind, I kept
it in my mind, Paul in this dungeon. You see, his second imprisonment
in Rome was not like the first. Remember the first he got to
preach and people visited him? And I mean, it was, but now this
one is, oh, this was different. He's in that dungeon and he's
about ready to be executed and there's no favor shown to him
at all. And so in this dungeon, in this
prison, and he's about to be executed, Timothy's on his heart. He says, Timothy, my dearly beloved
son, his son in the faith, you know that, that's what he's talking
about. And he says, now, if you're writing your last letter to the
son of your love, someone you love dearly, you're gonna empty
your heart, aren't you? You're gonna empty it. And he
says, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ
Jesus our Lord. Paul proved his love, first of
all, to Timothy by praying the best for him. He prayed, he said,
I pray that God will give you grace, mercy, and peace. These
three graces are the best we can pray for our children. It's
the best. It's better than praying for
hell. It's better than praying for well. It's better than praying
for anything that you can pray for in this life materially,
or anything that has to do with this life. The best you can pray
and I can pray for our children, grandchildren, is that God would
have grace, mercy, and peace. Give them the peace that passes
all understanding through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the
best you can pray for your children. Pray that for your children.
You can't pray for any better blessing than this. And after
expressing his love to Timothy, he shows his gratitude by thanking
God. He doesn't thank Timothy. Well,
I thank you all for being here this morning. No, I don't. I
thank God for you this morning that he brought you here. I thank
God for you. I thank God whom I serve from
my forefathers with pure conscience. And without ceasing, I have remembrance
of thee in my prayers night and day." He said, I serve and worship
the Lord in the same spirit and faith of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. It's the same faith. And Paul,
listen, when he says here, I serve him with a pure conscience, he's
not saying that I have no sin or that I'm not conscious of
any sin, but I have no sin. I have no sin before God in Christ.
My sins have all been taken away. They're all gone. And if you
know something about sin and the guilt of sin, that's good
news. That's good news. Paul says this in Hebrews 10,
22, He said, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance
of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with pure water. But our hearts are sprinkled
by the blood of Christ. He said, I have a pure conscience.
I have a clear conscience that in Christ, my sins are gone. My sins are gone. Every child
of God knows that. Every child of God knows this.
You know you're sinful by nature. And as David said, my sin is
ever before me. Some sin or just sin is troubling
us all the time. But as we grow in faith and the
knowledge of Christ, we know that our sins have gone. They're
gone. They've been put away. Sin shall
not have dominion over you. Yes, that one too. That one too,
whatever one's bothered you, that will not have dominion over
you because you're not under the law of God, you're under
the grace of God. You're under his grace. And Paul
knowing that can say, I have a pure conscience. I have a pure
conscience. He also knew this, Paul knew
he was not, he had a pure conscience, a clear conscience about this,
that he was not in the ministry for gain as he was charged by
some. He was in the ministry by the
will of God, and he was in it for the glory of God and the
salvation of God's elect. He said, I endure all things
for the elect's sake. All things. He's in prison for
the elect's sake. He's in prison for preaching
the gospel. He's not in prison because he's a rebel. He's in
prison because of the gospel he preached. And Paul had a clear
conscience about that. And then he had a clear conscience
in the fact that he held back nothing. You know, there's some,
some men will tell you, I believe in election, but I can't, I'm
not, if I preach at where I'm pastor, I have to leave. They'll
fire me. Listen to what Paul says here
in Acts 20, 26, 27. He says, wherefore I take you
to record this day. And this is when he's leaving.
Remember, he's leaving Ephesus. And later on, he'll say here
that he's mindful of Timothy's tears. Well, this is what he's
telling Timothy back in Acts chapter 20 and those elders there.
He said, I take you to record this day that I am pure from
the blood of all men. I have a clear conscience and
I'm pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to
declare unto you all the counsel of God. When we come across the
scripture that says God chose a people, we don't hold back
on that. We don't hold back on that. We don't hold back on particular
redemption. Christ died for the elect. Christ died for the sheep. He died for the sheep. We don't
back up on that. And then Paul here, he gives
thanks to God For this, for this, he thanks God for this, that
he's ever mindful of Timothy in his prayers. I thank God he's
laid you on my heart. Now, if God has laid Timothy
on Paul's heart, there's a reason for it. God's gonna bless Timothy,
God's gonna use Timothy, and he lays Timothy on Paul's heart
to pray for him. Has God laid you on my heart
this week? Did God lay you on my heart to
pray for me as I prepare and study to preach as you come here
to listen? God will answer that prayer.
True prayers of God. True prayer is prayer that's
of God that's laid on the heart. Is someone on your heart? Pray
for them. God put them there. God put them on your heart. Pray
for them. And that ought to encourage us
if God has put them on our heart. It ought to encourage us that
God is going to do something. It really should. Because if
he laid it on my heart, he's got a purpose in it. He
has a purpose in it. You know, here's something that
Samuel said, and I think of this often in my study and as I come
over there every day. Read the scriptures, seek the
Lord, not only for me, but for you. Samuel said this in 1 Samuel
12, 23, moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin
against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. You know, it'd
be a sin against God for me to cease to pray for you, to pray
for your spiritual wellbeing. He said, but I will teach you
the good in the right way. And I pray that I do that every
week. Now he says in verse four and
five here in 2 Timothy, Paul said, he greatly desiring to
see Timothy. He was greatly yearning. Here he is in this dungeon. He's
about to be executed, and he knows not what day, but he's
about, he said, my departure's at hand. But he says, Timothy,
I greatly desire to see you before this happens. That's what he's
saying. Being mindful of thy tears that I may be filled with
joy. When I told you all I was leaving,
and I was gonna go to Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit said, bonds,
you know, afflictions await of me, and they all wept. And Timothy was among them. And
he said, Timothy, I'm mindful of your tears. I'm mindful of
it. But I want to see you that I
may be filled with joy. There's nothing that would brighten
my day, Paul is saying. There's nothing that would brighten
my day than to see you walk in. You know how it does brighten
my day when I see you walk in here on Sunday morning? I do.
I do. And it's, you know, of course,
when you're in a small crowd like this, it's easy to see when
someone's missing, you're not, it just, you hope they're not
sick. But it brightens, it brightens
my day. And for Timothy, or for Paul here, he's saying to Timothy,
it brightened my day for you to visit. And when I call to
remembrance, you see, this is, you see the, how his heart is
on Timothy. Here he is in that dungeon, and
he just wants to see him one last time. I'd like to see you
one last time." And he said, when I called for remembrance,
I started to title this Precious Memories. Precious Memories. What's that song, Precious Memories?
How They Linger? That's all I know. But there's a song that has that,
Precious Memories, How They Linger. And that's what's going on here.
I started the title, it's Precious Memories. You know, we have precious
memories of one another. I can't tell you how often I
sit around and I think of the years gone by, the time I sat
under Henry's ministry, and the people I fellowshiped with there
over the years, and now we're all getting old, and those are
precious memories. I have such precious memories
of those times. And Paul was saying here, when
I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that's in you, Timothy,
when I was with you, and how fervent you were, and your genuine
faith, you believed God. And here's something that's really
precious. He said, this unfeigned faith
that was in you, it dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois, and
thy mother, Eunice. And I'm persuaded that that same
faith is in you. There's nothing like family mercies. There is nothing like family
mercies. When three generations of believers in this family,
the grandmother, the mother, and Timothy, their son, that's
priceless. That's absolutely priceless,
that God would reach into a family and save that whole, I mean,
I know some families where the whole families are saved. And
they give good evidence of it. They give good evidence of it.
That's so precious. Paul says, I just, I'm sitting
here, Timothy, I remember your faith and your mother and your
grandmother. My, that's so. I wrote down here, family mercies
are the most humbling mercies. They are the most humbling mercies.
Who am I, David said in 2 Samuel 7, 18, who am I and what is my
house? Who am I and what is my house
that God should visit me and bless me in such a way? And then Paul encourages Timothy
to stir up and exercise the grace and gift of faith that's given
to him. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir
up the gift of God. Now that's more than just preaching.
That's more than the ability to preach. Faith is a gift of
God, stir it up. Exercise it. Love is a gift,
isn't it? Stir it up. Exercise it. These gifts that we are given
of God, he says, stir it up. That is, give great attention
to it. Do that which promotes it, which
promotes its growth. Do that, do that. Exercise your
gift. You know how you take a small
fire, you start a little fire, and you start to fan it, and
it gets bigger and bigger? That's what Paul's saying. That's
what he's saying, fan that gift. You know, just fan it till it's
burning, till it's burning. The gift is of God. And I tell
you this, the gift to preach the gospel, it's of God. And I tell you, it's given to
us to fan it. How do you do that? Prayer, study,
get into study, meditation. I told you, deep thinking. deep
thinking upon the word of God, man it. Go to the Lord and ask
him to increase my faith, increase my love, increase my understanding. I ask the Lord constantly to
open my understanding to his word. And I ask him to do the
same for you, I do. And then he says here, and I'm
gonna close on verse seven, for God, For God has not given us
the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind.
God's not given us a spirit of being a coward. We're not cowards. We're not to preach the gospel
in a cowardly manner or in a timid manner, but to speak boldly,
boldly. That's how we were to do it. We're not to carry out the ministry,
whether it's in the pulpit or whatever the Lord's given you
to do. We're not to do it with such cold and lifeless heart. Solomon said, whatever your hands
find to do, do it with all your might because God's given it
to you to do it. So do it with all your might. We're not to fear men. We're
not to fear persecution. And when you understand what's
going on at the time Paul's writing this, this great persecution
by Nero, he's saying, don't be afraid. You be bold. You stand firm in the face of
persecution. Don't you fear men? Don't you
fear Satan? Don't you fear affliction? Don't you fear those things?
You stand up and you preach, even if it costs you your life. Even if it costs you everything
you've got, you stand up and you be fearless. You be fearless. Because God's given to us the
power of his spirit. I'm not preaching here in the
power of the flesh. I pray I'm not. But in the power
of God's spirit. And he's given us, listen, he's
also given us a spirit of love for God and Christ and his church
and all men in general. And in that power and in that
love, we seek their best and we seek God's glory. We seek
God's glory this morning in this service. That's what we do. And listen, he says, God's given
us a sound mind. You remember that demonic when
the Lord cast out legion, that legion of devils? It says he
put him in his right mind. You know, the only people on
this earth, and I'm telling you the truth, the only people on
this earth that's in their right mind are those that believe God. Seriously, it's those that believe
God. To not believe God, is that not
crazy? To call God a liar, to call him
a liar, is that not insane? It's total insanity to not believe
God who cannot lie. It's insanity. The only people
in the right minds are those who believe God. Everyone else
is insane. And Paul says, we have a sound
mind. And really what he's saying here,
it's self-discipline and self-control. We have self-control. You were
out of control till God saved you. You know that? You were
out of control. You're running at a breakneck
speed to hell. That's out of control. It's like
a truck that's lost its brakes and it's going downhill and it's
out of control. That's what an unbeliever is. An unbeliever is one that's,
now it's not out of God's control, but he has no self-control. Does the alcoholic have self-control?
Does the drug addict have self-control? Does the self-righteous man have
self-control? No, he thinks he does, but he
doesn't. You only have a sound mind and
self-control when you're under the power of God's spirit. And so being of a sound mind
and sound conviction and sound principles, we're gonna stand
fast and bold and courageous in preaching the gospel of Christ.
That's how we're gonna do it, by God's grace. All right.