Turn with me to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy, two years ago, this
month, we started going through the book of 1 Timothy. And it took us a year and three
months to go through that book. You may or may not remember,
because honestly, if I did not look back, I wouldn't remember.
So I don't expect you to remember. But we were in the book of 1
Timothy most all of last year. Does everybody remember that?
Isn't it amazing how our minds are so forgetful? But I was searching for a Bible
study this week, and 2 Timothy came to my mind. There are times
that we go through books and times when we don't go through
books, and I always enjoy going through a book. It's just up to the Lord to lead
us through it. That's the key to it. Second
Timothy came to my mind, and I read it. I was very blessed
by it. I believe the Lord has given
me something from it for us this morning. And if the Lord is willing,
I would like to try to go through Second Timothy. We'll just see
how the Lord leads us. But look with me here at Second
Timothy 1, verse 1. It says, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ. That's where we're gonna start
this morning. All right, that's what we're gonna focus on. We're
gonna look at this opening declaration, but for an intro to the book,
verse one says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will
of God, according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus,
to Timothy, my dearly beloved son. To Timothy, my dearly beloved
son. Paul wrote this letter to Timothy.
while he was sitting in a prison cell in Rome. And that causes
me to thank God Paul was sitting in a prison cell in Rome. Isn't
that a strange thing to say? Thank God he put Paul in a prison
cell in Rome. Oh, that God would give us a
view of his good and sovereign providence in all things. All
things work together for good to them that love God. They threw
our brother in jail and gave him a pen and paper, and he wrote
this letter to Timothy, and Timothy had been made to be the pastor
of Ephesus, the Ephesians. Timothy was their pastor, and
Paul had some things that he wanted to say to Timothy, so
he wrote a letter to Timothy, my dearly beloved son. Timothy was not Paul's actual
son, but Paul loved Timothy in the gospel and he loved Timothy
in Christ so much he considered him to be a son. And we can enter into that. We
can honestly enter into that. God's people are made to be family
in Christ, aren't we? You're my family. You literally
are. My family. God's people are made
to be family in Christ and we love each other as family. Paul wrote this letter to Timothy
about a year or two or three, somewhere just before he died. And that means he had been a
converted believer for 30 something years by this point. It's believed
that Paul was converted somewhere between the years of 33 AD and
35 AD. It's also believed that he was
born about the same time as our Lord. So they were, you know,
humanly, earthly speaking, roughly the same age. And he died about
the year 68. And he wrote this letter to Timothy
just before he died. And the Spirit of God had given
him by this point some wisdom and laid it on his heart to say
some things to Timothy. He's saying these things also
to all of God's people. Even though this letter is addressed
to Timothy, this is written to all of God's people. And I know
that that ought to be an obvious statement to make, but just in
case anyone really doesn't know that and really has not thought
about that, people read these writings and say, well, Paul
is writing to Timothy here and Paul is talking to Timothy here.
And you know, this is, well, This is written to all of God's
people. This is literally written to you and to me. All of God's
people. Even though it's addressed to
Timothy, this is to all of God's people. And this begins by saying,
in verse one, Paul, an apostle. An apostle. An apostle of Jesus
Christ. That is the authority of what
is written in this letter. That is a critical line. That's
a very critical line. That is what tells us that this
is not Paul's word, but God's word. That's what tells that
to us right there. This is not Paul's word, but
God's word. That's normally a line that we
just skip over. Most of these epistles start
in this way. Paul and Apostle, you know, Peter
and Apostle, James and Apostle. And we read that and we think,
well, that's their title, that's their office, you know, and we
just kind of move on. But we're not going to move on
from it this morning. We're going to see if the Lord will teach
us something about this and teach us a little bit about what this
means. The name Apostle means ambassador. That's what he is saying. an
ambassador. An ambassador is, whenever a
country sends an ambassador, you know, I've always heard of
ambassadors in other, I didn't know what an ambassador even
was. I Googled it. But an ambassador for a country. When a country sends an ambassador
to another country, to a foreign country, that ambassador is the
official representative of the country that is sending him or
her. That is the chosen, hand-selected
representative. That ambassador stands in the
place of the country. That ambassador speaks on the
behalf of the country, as that country. To hear from that ambassador
is to hear from that country. Well, that's what God's apostles
were. That's what He ordained His apostles to be. Look with
me at 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 18. It says, and all things are of
God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath
given to us the ministry of reconciliation. That's our ministry. That's our
message. That's what we promote. That's what we declare. Reconciliation
with God through the work and the offering and the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled. That's our message. Verse 19
says, to wit or to know that God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. Thank God we don't have to reconcile
ourselves to him. He reconciled us to him. To know that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, because they were imputed to Christ, and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. Verse 20, Paul says, Now then,
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you
by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God, for he hath made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God. Paul said, we've been sent as ambassadors for God, ambassadors
from God. He said, we apostles have been
sent with God's word to hear from us, the apostles, is to
hear from God. And that was so, that is so. Paul wrote a letter to Timothy,
but it was actually God's word to all of God's people. Look
with me at 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1 verse 20, it says, Knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scripture is of any private interpretation. I hear men say
all the time, well, Paul wrote this because this is what he
thought and this is what he's feeling. But then over here,
he changed his mind and he wrote this, you know, as contradiction.
That's not so. No prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man. It didn't come by the heart or
the mind or the wisdom of man. But holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So this is God's word. That's the point we're making
here. This is God's word. And he gave apostles to establish
the Word of His New Testament as being His own Word. And He confirmed the authority
of His apostles with signs and wonders. Turn with me over to
Mark 16. Mark 16, verse 14, it says, afterward, he appeared unto the
11. After our Lord was risen from
the dead, he appeared to the 11 apostles. Verse 15, and he
said unto them, verse 19, so then after the Lord had spoken
to them, He was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand
of God. He sat in the seat of God's honor.
Verse 20, and they went forth and preached everywhere. the
Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. He gave them the ability to perform
these great miracles, miracles that men cannot perform anymore. You know, people claim to be
miracle workers and there's no such thing anymore. There are
no more apostles, even though men today call themselves apostles. I met one, probably about Fifteen
years ago, a man introduced himself as the apostle, I forget his
name, and I said, excuse me? And he said, I'm an apostle. I said, how? He said, I was apostolized
in Russia for my work with their orphanages, my humanitarian work,
they apostolized me. So men still claim to be apostles.
There are no more apostles. The reason there were apostles
was because God was confirming his word. They raised people
from the dead. And. Men knew that's of God,
the things that these apostles did. They knew this is of God
and God's word is finished. I also took a college class one
time and the professor of that class said that this book was
compiled by men who just had a bunch of old scrolls and writings
and they were like, well, yeah, let's stick that one in there.
Let's leave that one out. And that's not so. This is God's
perfectly compiled word and it's finished. Nothing left out. We need nothing else to be confirmed.
That's why we don't need any more miracles. We have God's
word. But God proved the word with
signs and wonders. And even though Paul was not
among those 11 at that time, he was eventually called by God
into the same office. All right, turn with me to 1
Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 1 says,
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you, which also you have received and wherein you stand,
by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
He said, this is the gospel. He said, I'm declaring the gospel
to you. It's how, how Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures. And that he was buried and that
he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. and that he
was seen of Cephas, that's Peter, then of the 12. After that, he
was seen of above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater
part remain unto this present, but some are falling asleep.
After that, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And
last of all, he was seen of me also. as of one born out of due
time. For I am the least of the apostles
that am not meet to be called an apostle because I persecuted
the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed
upon me, was not in vain. but I labored more abundantly
than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with
me. Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach and so
you believe." He said, last of all, the Lord Jesus Christ was
seen of me. An apostle was one who literally
saw the Lord, physically saw the Lord Jesus Christ. and was
taught the gospel directly from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was one of the requirements
of being an apostle. And Paul said, that was me. That
happened to me. He said, it's though I was born
out of due time. I came after everyone else. I
came after all the other apostles. But he said, the Lord gave the
same experience he gave to me. You know, those disciples were
with the Lord for three years, three and a half years. And Paul
said, he gave me the same experience he gave them. Go to 2 Corinthians
12 with me. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 1, Paul said, It is not expedient for me, doubtless
to glory, I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
He said, what he's saying is I don't want to do this, but
I'm going to, because it, I need to say this to you. I knew a
man in Christ about 14 years ago, speaking of himself. Whether
in the body, I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot
tell, God knoweth. Such in one caught up to the
third heaven. You got the heaven of birds and
air and everything on this earth. And then you got the heaven of
stars and planets and such on. Well, then there's the third
heaven. He said, such in one caught up
to the third heaven, verse three, and I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, how
that he was caught up into paradise. and heard unspeakable words,
which it is not lawful or possible for a man's mouth to utter."
Our jawbones just don't move that way. Verse 5, "'Of such
an one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities.'"
Verse 11, he said, "'I'm become a fool in glorying, You've compelled
me, for I ought to have been commended of you. For in nothing
am I behind the very chief apostle, though I be nothing. Truly the
signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience and
signs and wonders. in mighty deeds. He's saying
you don't need for me to tell you this or to defend my apostleship
to you. You've seen the miracles that
God has given to prove it. He taught me and He called me
directly by His own mouth as an apostle. Turn the page over
to Galatians 1 verse 11. He said, but 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. For you've heard of my conversation
in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God and wasted it. and profited in the Jews'
religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more
exceeding zealous of the tradition of my fathers. But when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among
the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood any
flesh and blood, no flesh and blood, no man, no mortal man. That's what he said. Verse 17,
neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before
me, but I went in and I went into Arabia. You know what's
in Arabia? Mount Sinai. where God met with
Moses. You know, that mountain exploded
with fire. God came down and gave Moses
the law, the tables of stone. I believe in my heart that the
Lord took Paul to the exact same place he took Moses. And right
there, the Lord Jesus Christ taught Paul the truth concerning
law and grace. That's why Paul is so firm in
all of his writings. God gave the law to Moses to
confirm and to expose our sin to us. But grace came by Jesus Christ. By the grace of God, through
the sacrifice of Christ, in the redeeming blood of his mercy,
he saved us. He saved us. The law couldn't
save us. Paul said, that has been clearly
revealed to me. He saved us without any works
on our part. He said, Jesus Christ himself
taught me that. Verse 12, I neither received
it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ. And even though Paul is speaking in the flesh,
physically in the flesh, all of God's people can say that
with him in spirit. We were taught of God. We were
taught by God, by the hearing of his word. It is the word of
God that teaches his people. The word that he gave to us through
his apostles and his prophets in the Old Testament. We hear
the Word of God in this. And as we hear the Word of God
through the apostles of God, it all points us to the Apostle. The, capital T, capital H, capital
E, capital A, Apostle. The Apostle. Turn with me to
Hebrews 3. I'm almost finished here. Go
to Hebrews 3. Verse 1 says, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider The Apostle, capital A, and High
Priest, capital H, capital P, of our profession, Christ Jesus,
The Apostle, Christ Jesus. You talk about the representative
of God. You talk about the one carrying
the Word of God. He is the Word of God. He is God. He, Christ Jesus the Lord, is
the bodily representative of the fullness of the Godhead.
He stands there as God because He is God. To hear from Him is
to hear from God Almighty. He is the Word. His name is the
Word. He's the object of the Word.
He is the message of the Word. He is what God's apostles were
speaking of. And He is what we speak of as
we just repeat the declaration that He's given. What the apostles
said, that's all we say. It wasn't their word. It's not
our word. It's all God's word. If we're
repeating this word, Throughout time, the scripture
says God gave some apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors,
and teachers. And if we're called of God in
truth, we're all saying the same thing. We're all saying the exact
same thing. We are all repeating the same
word, God's word. So every time we see one of these
men say their name, then an apostle. In humility, Paul never said,
I'm the apostle Paul. He didn't do that. How you doing?
The apostle Paul. He didn't do that. He said, Paul,
By the grace of God, I am what I am, I'm an apostle. But every
time we see these men mention their name, and then an apostle,
let's realize, let's really realize and acknowledge in our hearts,
they are speaking God's word to us. What they're saying is
God Almighty's word. Let's hear it that way, let's
receive it that way, let's believe it that way, because that's what
it is. Paul wrote this letter to Timothy,
And he opened the letter by saying, Timothy, this is God's word. God's unchangeable. It doesn't change. Undeniable. Man can try to deny it all he
wants to, but it's not going to be denied. It's undeniable. Unfailing. Not one word is ever
going to fail. Unerring. There's no wrong in
this. God's Word. God's Word. That's what it means when we
read Paul and Apostle. Those three words. That's what
it means. And I pray that God will give us a more urgent listening
ear as we read what he has to say to us. I hope we can go through
this book. I'll be excited if we can. All
right, you're dismissed.