We turn then to this final chapter
in Paul's second epistle to Timothy and here in this chapter 2 Timothy
4 I'll read for our text a passage from verse 16 through 18 Paul
writes at my first answer no man stood with me but all men
forsook me I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me,
that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all
the Gentiles might hear. And I was delivered out of the
mouth of the lion, and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil
work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom
be glory for ever and ever. Amen. This is the very last of
all the Pauline epistles. So much of the New Testament
is made up of these letters that Paul addresses sometimes to churches
and then other occasions to individuals. And we have these three letters,
two to Timothy, one to Titus, that we often refer to as the
pastoral epistles, these young men who were associated with
him in the ministry of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
it is evident from the contents, and we read a good part of the
chapter from verse six through to the end, and it is evident
from what we read in those verses that this is the final letter
of the apostle We started reading there at verse 6, where he declares
how he is ready to be offered. The time of my departure is at
hand, he says. I fought a good fight. I finished
my course. I have kept the faith. And then
that assurance that he has in verse 8, henceforth there is
laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day. but as the Lord's faithful
servant he's not only mindful of himself but mindful of others
and so he speaks that it's not only for him but unto all them
also that love is appearing those that look for and long for that
day the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ when he comes at
the end of time But Paul is addressing Timothy, as I said, and he's
writing, obviously, from Rome. It's one of the, what we call,
prison epistles. We're told, aren't we, how when
the Jews were seeking to kill him there in the Acts of the
Apostles, as a Roman citizen, he appeals to Caesar in Acts
chapter 25. Verse 10. I stand at Caesar's
judgment seat, his paw. There I ought to be judged. To
the Jews I have done no wrong, as thou very well knowest. And so he was taken to Rome and
appears before Caesar to defend those wicked false charges that
the Jews were so ready to lay against him. Well, we're coming
to consider then this passage that I've just read from verse
16 through 17, but especially verse 18. He says there, And
the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve
me unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory for ever and
ever. Amen. But as we look at the three verses,
I want to say something about Paul and to consider him as one
who is deserted and yet delivered. Paul deserted and delivered. He was very much deserted by
men. He says in verse 16 at my first
answer, No man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be
laid to their charge. He speaks then of being deserted
when he really would have surely much appreciated the support
of other of his fellow believers. And they were believers of course
there at Rome. He addressed one of his epistles
to the church at Rome, but no one stood with him. They deserted
him. But he also speaks of others
who were forsaking him when he writes earlier in the epistle, in chapter 1, and there at verse 15. This thou knowest that all they
which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are Phagellus
and Hermogenes. He names various individuals
who had forsaken him. Here in this final chapter we
find him still naming various people makes mention of Demas
in verse 10, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved his present
world, and is departed unto Thessalonica. And then again he mentions another
opponent in verse 14, Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil.
The Lord reward him according to his works. and he tells Timothy
of whom be thou where also for he hath greatly withstood our
words or as the margin says our preachings there was much opposition
now it's important when we think or when we consider these various
individuals to remember that there is a distinction there
were those who were forsaking the apostle because they were
embracing false teaching they were falling into apostasy but
at this time there were others who were rather fearful they
were afraid they were frail, their faith failed them really
because of the persecutions that this man Paul had suffered he
suffered so much of course at the end of his life from the
Jews, and we see that in those closing chapters of the Acts
of the Apostles. This is why, as I've said, he's
now at Rome to defend himself. There were those then who were
apostates, and Paul is very clear that they must be disciplined. They must be disciplined as such. In the first epistle, and there
in in chapter 1 and verses 19 and 20 he says that
Timothy must be holding faith and a good conscience which some
having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck of whom is
Hymenaeus and Alexander who I have delivered unto Satan that they
may learn not to blaspheme They'd fallen into grievous error, not
only error, but heresy, these men. And Paul speaks, you see,
of delivering them even to Satan. What does that mean when they're
excluded now from the church? It's as if they've been cut off,
withdrawn from, and put back into the world. That's what he's saying concerning
those two. Remember what he says with regards
to the world, we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against
principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. And when he speaks in Matthew, or
rather the Lord Jesus speaks in Matthew 18 in Matthew 18 and
there at verse 17 following we have that passage where Christ
is speaking of His miracles how there were those who were charging
Him with casting out demons by the spirit of Beelzebub and the Lord reminds them as
he speaks in that passage Matthew 18 verse 17 following I've got the wrong passage no
it's the right passage but I've got the wrong account it's that
passage where the Lord uses the word church for the very first
time in the course of his ministry the first use of the word church
in the New Testament Scriptures. It's that passage I should have
said where the Lord is dealing with the brother who might trespass
against another brother and how the one offended is to go and
to make known to his brother the fault and if he refuses to
hear this brother then he is to take one or two more as witnesses
And if he won't hear the witnesses, if he neglects what they're saying,
it's to go to the church. And then he says, but if you
neglect to hear the church, let him be untruthy as an heathen
man and a publican, one who is delivered over then to the world,
delivered over to that place that is the realm of Satan. But it's interesting, that it's
in that context that the word church is first used here in
the New Testament Scriptures, and it reminds us of a very important
truth, that of the fact that the true church is a company
that is marked with a regard for proper discipline. Proper
discipline in the church is a mark of a healthy church. And those
who are withdrawn from, of course, who are delivered over, as it
were, to the realm of Satan are such as are denied all church
privileges. And Paul is very strong on this
as we see in the Corinthian epistles. You remember how there in 1 Corinthians
chapter 5 he's dealing with the incestuous person. and he speaks
very plainly with regards to what they are to do in that church
at Corinth. It was a very gifted church and
yet in many ways it was a very disorderly church and Paul has
to tell them quite plainly how they should deal with such a
matter. In the first epistle in chapter 5 and there at verse
11 And the following verses I have
written unto you, he says, Not to keep company, if any man that
is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater,
or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such an
one known not to eat. For what have I to do to judge
them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are
within. but them that are without God
judges. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked
person." It's not just a matter of rights and proper doctrine, orthodox
doctrine, it's also a matter of proper conduct. And here is one who has been
guilty of fornication, even such a sin as is not even named among
the Gentiles, he says. And so discipline is important. But it's interesting because
it seems that the church goes to extreme a point in the disciplining
of this individual and he has to write to them then in the
second epistle. And there in the second chapter
he's addressing the same issue. He's reminding them that the
discipline is something that is not negative really, it's
positive. It's for the good of the church.
And it's for the restoration of the offending brother. In that second chapter of 2nd
Corinthians, verse 6, sufficient as such a man is his punishment
which was inflicted on men. So the contrary wise you ought
rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one
should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you
that you would confirm your love toward him. He has evidenced
some real repentance and therefore they are to receive him back
into the church. But that's not always the case. There were those occasions clearly
where certain individuals were not restored. Paul's language
is very strong when he addresses those who are opposing the truth
of the gospel. Here in this chapter that we're
considering, this fourth chapter, this last chapter of the second
letter to Timothy, when he speaks of this man Alexander the coppersmith, he says in verse 14, "...the
Lord reward him according to his works." We have those psalms, don't we,
that are imprecatory psalms, where the psalmist prays very
much against those who are opposing God and His truth. Think of Psalm
55, which seems from the content to be dated at around about the
time of Absalom's rebellion against his father. And our David's great
friend and counselor Ahithophel was involved in that conspiracy. And David prays against them. There in the Psalms, Psalm 55,
let death seize upon them, he says, and let them go down quick,
or as the margin says, alive into hell. Those who are not
restored. They're under that awful judgment
and condemnation of God. So we have to recognize that
there are some whom Paul makes mention of in his epistles, and
they were guilty of gross sins, or they were sinking into grievous
heresies. Well, they had to be dealt with,
they had to be disciplined, with a view to restoration, hopefully,
but not always so. But then there were others. There
were others, I say, who were somewhat timorous and fearful. And surely here in verse 16 he's
speaking about such, when he's first called to appear before
the emperor, that my first answer, no man stood with me, but all
men forsook me. And what does Paul say of them?
I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Surely
these are a different set of individuals to those others that
we've just spoken of who needed to be dealt with in the way of
discipline. We remember of course that even
the Lord Jesus Christ himself was forsaken. When he comes to
the end of his life, they all forsook him and fled. He must of course suffer that
wrath of God against the sins of his people alone. No man stood
with him. And it was also the case, it
seems here, with regards to the apostle when he comes to the
end of his life. He's deserted. He's deserted
on every hand. He's very much alone. And yet
he's not alone. Men may forsake him, but God
was with him. And isn't that what he is saying
here in verse 17, notwithstanding? The Lord stood with me and strengthened
me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that
all the Gentiles might hear. And I was delivered out of the
mouth of the lion. Turning then to his deliverance,
and he speaks here of being saved from the mouth of the lion. Now,
some suggest that this is a reference to the emperor himself. It would
have been Nero, but it's more likely that he is really speaking
of the devil. Satan is a roaring lion, walketh
about seeking whom he may devour. And of course Satan is in these
things, but the apostle is delivered. He's delivered because there
is one greater than that strong man armed. Two things with regards
to his deliverance then. He is delivered because he knew
such a gracious visitation from God himself. The Lord God was with him. John
says greater is he that is with you than he that is in the world. And There's that passage in the Gospels
that I was mixing up previously. There's a passage in Luke 11,
that's where the Lord speaks about His miracles, casting out
demons, He says, by the finger of God. It's the Spirit of God
in Matthew's account. It's the finger of God in Luke's
account. But it's what the Lord goes on
to say there in Luke. It's in Luke chapter 11. verse 20, If I with the finger
of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon
you. And then the Lord adds, When
a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace.
But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him,
he taketh from him all his armour, wherein he trusted, and divideth
his spoils. So there is the strong man armed,
The keeper of his palace and his goods in pieces is the devil
himself, but there's one stronger who can overcome him and take
from all his armor. And this is the one that Paul
is looking to. It might seem that all have forsaken
him and he's alone, but there is one who is greater even than
that lion that he speaks of at the end of verse 17, the Lord,
the Lord shall deliver him. from every evil work and will
preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom, he says. Oh, he has
such a gracious visitation from God himself. And remember how
he had that assurance even as he was journeying through Rome. He had appealed to the Caesar
there at the end of the Acts and he makes that journey then
across the Mediterranean from Palestine towards Rome and the
vessel is caught in that great storm Euroclid and Paul is assured that there's
not going to be any loss although the ship is broken up He makes
it quite clear that the Lord has assured him. An angel, an
angel had come and spoken to him in Acts 27 and there at verse
23 and 24. There stood by me this night
the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, saying, Fear
not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar. And lo, God hath
given all of them that sail with them. So, God is with him, you
see. He knew that. He had that experience
as he made the journey. But previous to that, previous
to that, back in Acts 23, when Paul is called to appear before
the Jewish council, There at verse 11 we are told,
the night following the Lord stood by him and said, Be a good
cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem,
so must thou bear witness also at Rome. The Lord himself appeared
to him at that time when he was still in Jerusalem in the midst
of all those accusations that were being laid against him and
then he's traveling in the vessel and the vessel is being broken
up in the midst of a great storm, the Lord God sends an angel to
reassure him. Oh, he knew this man such a wondrous
visitation from God, and this is what he is speaking of. The
Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve
me unto his heavenly kingdom. Why, this man was immortal of
course until his time came, that time to die, a time to be born. the time to die, and he rested
there in God's sovereignty and the assurances that God had given
to him. God was his refuge, God was his
strength in every time of trouble. So there is that sense of the
Lord God and a wondrous visitation that was granted to him to reassure
him. but I said two things with regards
to his deliverance and the second thing is this here he is intimating
something of the vindication of his ministry and we see that
in the language that we have in the middle of verse 17 where he says the Lord stood
with me and strengthen me, that by me the preaching might be
fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Now, the
clause there that begins that by me, It's really a purposive
clause because the strength of the word that we have is in order
that. The Lord stood with me and strengthened
me in order that. There was a purpose here. In
order that by me the preaching might be fully known. The truths that he had been preaching
He was now having to prove in his own experience where he stood
charge before even the Roman authority. Remember what he says previously
here in chapter 2 and verse 6. The husbandman that laboureth
must be first partaker of the fruits. And he was one who was
very much then a partaker of the fruits. It can appeal, you see, when
he writes to these churches time and again that those truths that
he was declaring were not simply mere theories floating about
his brain, but they were truths that had been burnt into the
very depth of his soul. He writes to the Philippians. as he comes to the end of that
epistle those things which he had both learned and received
and heard and seen in me do it's not only what they had learned
from him or received from him as he was preaching they had
actually seen something as his truths had taken hold of his
very soul Was he not the same really with a man like John Bunyan? Bunyan could say that I preach
what I did feel, what I smartingly did feel. And Luther of course,
prayer, meditation and temptation, trials, troubles, make the minister. It's not just his praying over
the word, it's not just his meditation in that word that he's praying
over. but it's how the Lord deals with him and tries and tests
him in his own soul and the comment here on this 17th verse, the
comment of John Calvin he says Paul proved in practice that
his apostleship was from God notwithstanding the Lord stood
with me and strengthened me in order that the preaching might
be fully known And that all the Gentiles might hear, they were
to hear of these things. And Paul has his assurance then,
according to what Calvin says there, that his apostleship was
truly from God, and we know that that was the case, because he
mentions it quite specifically in the Galatian Epistle, from
whence his apostleship came. It was not of men. Galatians 1.11, I certify you
brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not after
man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught
it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. And then he speaks
of what he was, my conversation in time past, the manner of his
life when he lived the Jewish religion, he was a persecutor.
But oh, the Lord met with him, and so dealt with him, and the
truth of the gospel was burnt into his very soul. Oh, the whole world, the great might
of Rome, might now stand against him, and yet he was still preserved,
and he knew he would be preserved even there, and it was all that
the Gentiles might be confirmed in the authority of that man
who had been very much the apostle to the Gentiles notwithstanding the Lord stood
with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be
fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was
delivered out of the mouth of the lion and the Lord shall deliver
me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly
kingdom to whom be glory forever and ever Amen. He knew that he that wrote effectually
in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision and the apostleship
of the Jews, the same was mighty toward the Gentiles through the
ministry of Paul. and the assurance that he gives
to Timothy in that 18th verse concerning the Lord's ability
to deliver his people the Lord shall deliver me from every evil
work and preserve me and that's true is it not of
every child of God even when we might at times feel
to be forsaken The Lord never forsakes his people. The Lord
is that one who is able to deliver them. Again it's the sham apostle Paul
who writes to the Corinthians there in the opening chapter
of 2nd Corinthians. We have the sentence of death
in ourselves he says. That we might not trust in ourselves
but in God that raiseth the dead. Who delivered us from so great
a death and doth deliver. in whom we trust that He will
yet deliver us. There's deliverance in the past,
deliverance in the present, there's deliverance in the future. There's
death in self, the sentence of death in ourselves. And yet there
is always that life that is in the Lord Jesus Christ and this
was really the ministry of such a man as the Apostle Paul. We see it here as he comes even
to the conclusion of his ministry when he must stand before all
that might of Rome that was represented in the person of the Caesar and
he could give a good and a faithful account as he looked not to himself
but rested by faith in the Lord his God. May the Lord grant his
blessing upon his word and the Lord help us as we are going
to come to prayer, but before we pray we're going to sing our
second praise in the hymn 326. The tune is Silver Hill, 411. Let me but hear my Saviour say,
Strength shall be equal to thy day, then I rejoice in deep distress,
leaning on all sufficient grace. 326 to 411.