2 Timothy chapter 4, and look
at the footnote that is given after verse 22, if your Bible
has footnotes. It says the second epistle unto
Timotheus ordained the first bishop of the church of the Ephesians,
a bishop is a pastor, ordained the first pastor of the church
of the Ephesians, was written from Rome when Paul was brought
before Nero the second time. Nero was a very cruel Roman emperor
who had imprisoned Paul for preaching the truth concerning God. Paul was sitting in a prison
in Rome, not for being in religion. They had plenty of religion in
Rome. And it was not for him just being
a preacher, not just because he was a preacher, but because
he was a preacher of the truth concerning God. That's the reason
why. The truth concerning God's sovereignty
and God's holiness, the truth concerning God's right and God's
will and God's purpose, not man's will and not man's purpose. God's. That's an amazing thing to hear.
I've thought about this a lot. I've thought about this Bible
study a lot. Men and women are listening, sitting in buildings
right now, listening to men stand in pulpits, preaching man's will
and man's decision and man's purpose. And everybody's fine
with that. Nobody's persecuted for that. But you stand up and
you preach God's will, God's decision and God's purpose. And
persecution will come. God's work, not man's work, God's
work. Paul told the truth about God
Almighty being God Almighty. And they threw him in prison
for it. He was persecuted for it. And that's what our Lord
said would happen to every man that preaches the truth concerning
him. He said, you will be persecuted for it. Paul was. So he's sitting
in this prison in Rome. And he wrote this second letter
to Timothy, and we're picking up this morning with verse nine.
Second Timothy four. Verse nine. He said, do thy diligence to
come shortly unto me. For Demas hath forsaken me. Having loved this present world
and is departed unto Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto
Dalmatia, only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with
thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. Antiochus
have I sent to Ephesus. The cloak that I left at Troas
with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books,
but especially the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did
me much evil. The Lord reward him according
to his works. Of whom be thou ware also, for
he hath greatly withstood our words. 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 forever and ever. Amen. Now, there are two things that
I want to point out concerning this. Paul mentioned all of those
different men, and he mentioned some details about each one of
them, some good and some bad. And at first, I thought about
titling this Bible study, Believers and Unbelievers. But because of a picture of Christ
that we're gonna see in this, I've settled on the title of
The Lord Stood With Me. That's what we're gonna title
this. In both cases, here's the point of this Bible study. We
need to keep our eyes on Christ. We need to keep our eyes on Christ. We don't need to look to any
man. We don't need to look to any man. We need to look to Christ,
the judge of the earth knows them that are his. All right,
let that let that sink in. The judge of the earth knows
them that are his. We need to wait on him. We need
to trust him. We at face value cannot always
tell who belongs to the Lord. Sometimes we think we can. Sometimes we think we can. There
was a time in my life a long time ago when I thought in my
mind that I had it all figured out. You do this, and you act
like this, and you're a believer. And I know many of you can relate
to this. All right, you do this, if you act like this, okay, then
you're a believer. And then if you do that, and
you act like that, you're not a believer. Well, as time has gone on, I've
learned that's not necessarily so. All you have to do is read
about Peter and these different men, and you'll see that's not
necessarily so. Deciding who is a believer and an unbeliever
is best kept in the hands of the Lord. Time will tell. You know, there are some obvious
evidences. We're about to point out one
of them right now, okay? But when the evidences are not
so obvious, let's leave it in the hands of the Lord. Paul said at the end of verse
10, he said, this man Crescens has
gone to Galatia. And I would imagine, it doesn't
say, but I would imagine he went to preach the gospel. And then it says, Titus has gone
to Dalmatia. And I would imagine he went to
preach the gospel. Verse 11 says, only Luke is with
me. Luke was a beloved brother and
a close traveling friend to Paul. He was a faithful encouragement
and help to Paul. And as they traveled, he recorded
the details of their travels. When we went to Africa, I kept
a, I don't ever do a journal or a diary or whatever you want
to call it, but I journaled everything that happened and that's what
Luke did. He would travel with Paul and they did this and then
they went there and this man and they got on this ship and
this is what we did and then we went here and leaving there
we went here. That became known as the book
of Acts. Luke recorded that. He also penned the book of Luke. Verse 12. It says, and Tychicus
have I sent to Ephesus. Paul sent Tychicus to Ephesus
because he was asking Timothy to leave Ephesus to come to him.
Timothy was the pastor of Ephesus. So there was a congregation of
believers there. And the gospel was supplied while
Timothy was gone. Paul sent somebody to preach
to him while Timothy was gone. Verse 13. He asked Timothy to
stop in this city Troas on his way to pick up some things that
he left with this man Carpus, a cloak, some books, and some
parchments. Verse 14, he warned Timothy of
a man named Alexander. He said, now this man is an obvious
enemy to me, obvious. He's an enemy to me, he's an
enemy to the gospel of God because he stood against our words. My margin says our preaching. He stood against our preaching.
And the thing to realize about that is to stand against the
apostles' preaching was to stand against God's word. That's not
like standing against Gabe Stoniker's words. They were not just giving their
opinion on God's word. They were speaking God's actual
words. And any man or woman who opposes
or stands against God's words, that's an enemy of God. I mean,
there's no question about that. No guesswork. Anyone who stands
against God Almighty's word is an enemy of God, which is all
of us by nature. All right, every person in this
room falls into the enemy of God category by nature. All of
us were enmity against God. That's what Paul wrote to Timothy's
congregation, the Ephesians, at enmity against God. And we
stay that way until God conquers us and he breaks us and he brings
his enemies to his footstool. And they bow to him and they
sit at his feet at his footstool and they worship him. And they
believe his word. God has to cause his people to
do that. All right, now there are two
men left to mention, verse 10. Look back up at verse 10, it
says, For Demas hath forsaken me, having
loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica. Let me show you some other things
Paul said about Demas. Turn over to Colossians 4. Paul is mentioning different
men here, just like he was in 2 Timothy. Verse 12, he mentions
a man named Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ. He saluted you always, laboring
fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and
complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record that he
hath a great zeal for you and them that are in Laodicea and
them in Hierapolis. Verse 14, he said, Luke, the
beloved physician and Demas greet you. He said, Demas is with me. Luke and Demas, they're both
right here and they want me to pass along their love to you
and to all the brethren that are with you there in Colossae.
Now turn over to Philemon chapter 1, just before Hebrews. Philemon. Verse 23. Aleman 23, Paul said, there salute
Epaphras, the man that he just mentioned to the Colossians.
And in Colossians, he said, he's here with me and he sends his
greeting to you. Well, now Paul is sitting in
a prison and Epaphras is not with him. So Paul said, salute
Epaphras for me, my fellow prisoner in Jesus Christ and salute Marcus,
Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow laborers, my fellow preachers,
my fellow brethren, fellow means one with, in fellowship with,
one I can count on. It's so sad, but about three
years after he wrote this letter to Philemon, he said to Timothy,
Demas left me. Demas left me. Lord, keep us. I mean, this is the Apostle Paul. This is the Apostle Paul. Demas for so long appeared to
Paul. I mean, this was a man who had
some discernment from God. For so long Demas appeared to
Paul to be a believer, to be a brother. Time told otherwise. That's why
I say time will tell. Is he a brother? Oh yeah, he's a brother. Time
will tell. Time will tell. If God Almighty
does not keep us, we're not gonna be kept. And the first name that
applies to is Gabe Stoniker. I'm telling you. You hang around
a little while, you'll see men in pulpits who you have so much
confidence in. Where'd they go? Somewhere off
in Thessalonica, I don't know. If God doesn't keep us, we're
not going to be kept. The Apostle Paul himself said, my great fear
is that after I have preached the gospel to you, I find myself
to be a castaway. Lord, keep us. Lord, keep us. We need to look to Christ. We need to keep looking to Christ,
acknowledging that if we do keep looking to Christ, it's only
because we're being kept by the power of God to look to Christ.
That's the only reason. So let's not assume on God. That's the first thing I have
to say to every person here, okay? Let's not assume on God
concerning ourselves. We don't need to start assessing
each other. Let's start right here. Paul thought Demas was right
there with him. He wasn't. Lord, if you don't
keep any of us and all of us, it doesn't matter who we are,
we're not gonna be kept. All right, now with that warning
against assuming, here's a warning against presuming. Presumption, that means thinking
you already know the answer without consulting God on the matter.
Thinking you already know without looking to God and waiting on
His evidence, His direction, His will. Turn over to Acts 15. Acts 15 verse 35, Paul also in Barnabas continued
in Antioch teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many
others also. And some days after, Paul said
unto Barnabas, let us go again and visit our brethren in every
city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how
they do. And Barnabas determined to take
with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not
good to take him with them. Now I assume, okay, I just warned
you against assuming, but I assume that Paul didn't think Mark was
ready to preach and he didn't want to lay hands on him suddenly.
That's my assumption. But here's the fact of the matter.
It doesn't say that Barnabas wanted him to preach. All it
says is Barnabas wanted him to go with them. That's all it says. And for whatever reason, the
Spirit of God knows. Only the Spirit of God knows,
but for whatever reason, Paul did not want him going. Mark
and Barnabas, Mark was Barnabas' nephew. It was nephew and uncle.
And it could be that Paul thought he was a hindrance to the ministry.
It doesn't tell us the reason. It does not tell us the exact
reason. But Paul felt so strongly about it, Verse 38 says, Paul
thought not good to take him with them, who departed from
them from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work. He
felt so strongly about it. He didn't go. Paul was the one
who said, let's, let's go see everyone. And then he ended up
not going. Verse 39 and the contention was so sharp between them. that they departed asunder one
from another. And so Barnabas took Mark and
sailed unto Cyprus and Paul chose Silas and departed being recommended
by the brethren unto the grace of God. And he went through Syria
and Cilicia confirming the churches. For some reason, that's how God
allowed things to go between Paul and Mark. I know that Paul
and Barnabas were the two who separated, but it was because
of Paul and Mark. Here's the silver lining in this.
The Lord used it for good. He always does. The gospel was
spread far and wide because of it. The churches were confirmed. And this is what I want us to
see in it, okay? It was proven to Paul in the
end that Mark truly was a brother. He was a brother to him and not
just a brother, but a profitable brother. The Lord used Mark to
pen the book of Mark. He was a writer of God's word. In the end, Paul said to Timothy,
when you come, bring Mark with you. You bring Mark with you
because he's profitable to me for the ministry. All right,
now go back to 2 Timothy 4. I told you there were two things
I wanted to show you from this. The first one is let's not assume
or presume on the Lord, let's just keep looking to Christ.
All right, that's the first thing. Let's just keep our eyes on Christ.
The second thing I want to show you is this. In what Paul said
here, we can see a picture of Christ. We can hear the voice
of our Savior from the cross in this. What we just saw, that's
a good lesson to learn, but every word in this book has been written
for a gospel purpose. Every word. When we say we need
to look to Christ, we do that by way of the cross. We look
to the cross of Christ. If we don't see the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ, we have not seen the gospel message in
any portion of scripture. Even one as interesting as this. All right, I'm gonna close. I'm
done, I'm gonna close by showing us the cross here. Listen to
the words of Christ. Speaking to the Father, verse
nine. Second Timothy four, verse nine. Do thy diligence to come
shortly unto me. Can we hear his cry from the
garden? His cry from the cross. Father, help me. Come to me. Deliver me. Verse 10. For Demas hath forsaken
me, my own familiar friend in whom I trusted. Which did eat
of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. That's what
the scripture said concerning Judas. My own familiar friend
forsook me. Verse 11, only Luke is with me. Only, all I have. Luke means
light giving, the giver of light. And that's God. The father forsook
Christ in his darkness, in the darkness of his cross, but the
father was the one who did not leave Christ's soul in hell and
did not suffer his body to see corruption. On the third day, the father
was the one who brought the light of life back to Christ and raised
him from the darkness of death. Verse 13. He said, the cloak
that I left at Troas, a cloak is a robe, it's a covering. That's the righteousness of Christ.
The righteousness that he had to lay aside in order to wear
and bear the sin of his people. From his agony, he cried, Father,
bring that righteous covering back to me. Bring that righteousness
back to me. I'm drowning in sin. Verse 13, the cloak that I left
at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee and the
books, the books that were opened, the books that hold the record
of all of his righteous deeds, the books that he gave to his
people. because he took their books.
You know, Revelation 20 says on the day of judgment, all the
books are going to be opened. And what that means is everything
you've ever done, everything you've ever thought, everything
you've ever felt, everything you've ever said is being, has
been recorded in a book and it's going to be opened concerning
you. All right, this is on this date
at this time, this is what he thought, what he said, this is
what he did. And every single thing that Christ
did, thought, felt, and said was recorded in a book. And in
judgment, all the books are going to be open. But if everything that Christ
did, thought, felt, and said was written in a book, The world
could not contain them. There's not enough space in the
world to hold all the book. And he took. One book. And gave it to his. His own and he took their book.
And all of his books were doled out to his people and all of
their books were given to him. And those books were opened for
his people on the cross of Calvary. And on that last day in the judgment,
some, all those outside of Christ are still holding their own book.
But every soul in Christ is right now holding his book. And on
that day, the books are going to be opened. God Almighty is going to read
every word into all of God's people. He's going to say, well
done. Well done. Oh, he's sitting there holding
all of our books. Father, bring the books back. The books of
my righteousness. Don't leave me here, bring this
back to me. Verse 13, the cloak that I left
at Troas with Karpis, when thou comest bring with thee and the
books, but especially the parchments, your word. Your word, the message. Of the gospel, the message of
good news, bring that back to me. Verse 14, he said, Alexander,
the coppersmith did me much evil. That's me. That's you. All of our evil. Was brought
to him. I'm Alexander, the coppersmith.
You want to know who that is? That's me. Thank God all of our
evil was dealt with in him. Verse 16, at my first answer,
no man stood with me. He said, I endured this alone.
I did this alone. 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. Father, forgive them. They know
not what they do. 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. And the Lord shall
deliver me from every evil work, all the evil works of my people
that have been laid on me. And the Lord shall preserve me
unto his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Victory in resurrection. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel of that passage. The message of the cross. We got to see that we got to
see one before we can see anything else. Thank God. I pray the Lord will give us
faith to see Christ, faith to keep our eyes on Christ, and
I pray he will keep us brethren in Christ. Amen.