2 Timothy chapter 4. Lord willing, we will finish
up this chapter this morning, starting in verse 9. The title
of this lesson, Paul's final words to Timothy. Paul has given
Timothy, and first Timothy, and second Timothy, wise instructions. The wisest instruction that can
be given. And the reason I say that is
because Paul, though he is writing from the heart, writing from
experience, he is writing under the power and influence and direction
of the Holy Spirit to Timothy. And here we now come to the final
words of Paul to Timothy. And he says in verse nine, make
every effort, every effort, Timothy, to come to me soon. There's a
couple reasons why Paul desired Timothy to come to him as soon
as possible. Number one, his companionship.
I can't put enough emphasis on what companionship is, to have
a true friend. And Paul counted Timothy his
son in the faith. And Paul had already said, I'm
ready to depart. I fought a good fight. I'm coming
up to the end of my life here. My journey and my purpose on
earth is about to end. And Timothy, I want to see you
one more time. He just desired to see Timothy
as a son in the faith and as a friend. You cannot put a value
on what true friendship and companionship is. And then Paul, as I stated,
knew that the time of his departing, and that's the way he calls it,
my departure is at hand. He knew it was near, and he wanted
to instruct Timothy some more. As much as he could with what
time he had left, he wanted to instruct his son into faith.
He wanted to talk to him and give him further instructions.
And even though he knew that the trip that Timothy would have
to make to come to him would put him in some hardships. It
was not easy travel back then. You didn't get a plane ticket
or get in an air-conditioned car and drive. The travel was difficult. But
I tell you this, whatever effort that we take in sitting under
the gospel, being instructed by, and especially being instructed
by someone that's been around a while, It's been seasoned in
the ministry. It's worth it. It's worth every
effort you and I take to sit and be instructed one more time
by God's preacher. And it's, it's wise to sit and
listen to someone that's has learned by experience what he's
preaching, what he's preaching. I like to talk to someone who
has experienced what they're talking about. You know, I still,
to this day, look, I look at Henry as my pastor, but I look
at him as my mentor. You know, when I listen to Henry
preaching, and someone put up a couple videos here of him back
in 1985 preaching at 13th Street, I listened to it this morning.
And when I listen to him, I probably listen to him a little differently
than you do. You listen to him as a preacher
of the gospel. I listen to him as a mentor.
I listen to him as one sitting at his feet and listening and
being instructed, even to this day. When I listen to him on
sermon audio, I listen to him as my mentor, someone who's been
around a long time. And this is, you know, Timothy,
it'll be worth your time and your effort to come and sit and
listen. And let me give you some more
instructions. Time spent learning of Christ
is time well spent. It's time well spent. But he
says here, he follows this up with a sad note. Verse nine,
do thy diligence to come shortly to me, shortly, quickly, quickly. I don't know what day I'm gonna
die or depart, so I want you to come quickly as possible.
For Demas, Demas, who was with him for a little while, hath
forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed
unto Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, and Titus unto Dalmatia. But Demas, and listen, Demas
is a warning to us all. A warning to all of us. Demas
hath forsaken me. He has left me. Demas was a close
companion of Paul at one time. You can see this and read it
in Colossians 4.14 and Philippians 1.24 where he recommends Demas. But now Demas, and this is, oh
man, this is such a warning. Demas, who followed Paul and
listened to Paul and was an aid to Paul, forsook Paul. Forsook him, left him. And here's the reason why. Having
loved this present world, I thought of this in my study this morning.
One of the ways that God separates the sheep from the goats, the
tares from the wheat, is he brings before them what they love most. And whatever a person loves most,
that is what they'll go after. It's what they love most. Demas
was no doubt, you know, he's faced here with Paul and Paul's
in danger and he's faced with the danger of it and he forsakes
Paul, but Paul says he's forsaken me Not out of fear for his life. You could understand that the
disciples forsook the Lord for a while But he's forsaken me
having loved this present world Now some think that he came back
later. He may have, I don't know. But
we do have Paul's statement on this. He has forsaken me, having
loved this present world. That's a danger. That's a danger. Because we live in this world.
We have a strong attachment to this world. There's a part of
us, we still have a nature in us that's attached to this world.
I have a body that's made from this dust. All the minerals that
are in the dust and the ground are in me. Iron, zinc, magnesium,
all those minerals that's in the dirt is in this dirt. It's
in this body. We have a strong attachment. The earth and this world is like
a magnet to that old nature. It still draws us. And Demas was faced with what
he loved the most, and it was the world. Sometimes it takes
a long time to find that out. Sometimes a person can be around
a long time, and then just God will bring before them what they
love the most. It might be a job. It might be,
you know, a job, a promotion, and all of a sudden they're gone.
They're gone. Not all promotions are promotions.
Sometimes it's just a trial. Demas has forsaken me, having
loved this present world, but Crescens and Titus, you know,
they've gone away for good reasons. They were sent away by Paul to
be a help and a minister to the churches. That's why he sent
them. And he says here in verse 11,
but Luke is with me. Luke hasn't forsaken me. He's,
he's, uh, he's still with me. Only Luke is with me. You know,
Luke wrote the book of acts and, uh, he was a, he was a constant
companion of Paul. Even when he was suffering, he
never left Paul. He was a faithful minister of
the gospel you know he was he was a faithful minister of the
gospel and a faithful companion to Paul and but Paul says something
here that's that's something we need to give attention to
he says in verse 11 only Luke is with me take Mark and bring
him with thee where he's profitable to me for the ministry you know
that Mark left the ministry because he did not like to serve. That's
why he left the ministry. And Paul and Barnabas had a falling
out over Mark. They had such a falling out,
they separated, and we don't hear them again being together.
But they separated over Mark, and Paul was so angry over Mark
leaving, he wouldn't take him anymore. But now, Paul gives
us an example here. in this statement. Let's not
look over and just let this go by. There's something here. Paul
said, Mark is useful to me now in the ministry. Let's not be
so quick to write everyone off. When I read some of the writers
who said that Demas had forsaken Paul, but he may not have forsaken
Christ, because out of fear he forsook him, but came back later.
Now, whether he did that or not, I don't know. I just know what
Paul said about him. Having loved this present world, he's left
me. And that's dangerous. That's a dangerous statement
against a demonist, that he's forsaken Paul. But Mark, listen,
Mark, Mark forsook him for a while, but he never forsook Christ. If you're one of the lords, he's
going to keep you. He's going to bring you down. He's going
to bring you down. I have no doubt that between
the time that Mark left because he did not like to serve. There
was a period of time there, we don't know the Lord's dealings
with Mark, but I can guarantee you this, God dealt with him.
God brought him around. And now he's useful for the ministry.
And Paul says, you bring him, you bring him. Paul was reconciled
to Mark. You know, this is, This is an area where we, like
I said, we have to be careful not to just write somebody off
because, you know, Paul tells us over in Galatians that if
a brother be overtaken in a fault, you, which are spiritual, restore
such a one in the faith, lest you also be tempted. You know,
remember that one that was, uh, committed incest and Paul said,
you, you cast him out, but later on in second Corinthians, he
said, you receive him with open arms. When he came back, he came
back. He said, don't, don't shut the
door, open the door and you receive him with open arms. If one leaves
and he comes back, receive him with open arms. It could be us
that left. It could be us. Aren't you glad
that you're not the one that left the Lord kept you. And that's
the spirit and attitude in which we are to deal with fallen brethren,
brothers and sisters. And he says in verse 12, Tychicus
here, he says, and Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus. And the reason
he sent Tychicus to Ephesus was to take the place of Timothy
while Timothy was gone to visit Paul and Rome. And when I was
reading this and I realized why he sent Titchicus there was to
supply the pulpit while Timothy was gone, I thought of how many
pulpits I supplied for years, years. many, many, many weeks
in a row I'd be gone preaching in this pulpit, that pulpit,
while those pastors were gone preaching in different churches
and, you know, conferences and different places like that. I
filled the pulpits in a lot, a lot of places for many years. And this is why he sent Chichicus
to Ephesus, was not leave that church alone you see he didn't
he didn't say timothy you come to me shortly and then like he
didn't have any concern for that church he wanted to see timothy
he wanted to instruct timothy but paul's heart was also on
that church at emphasis so he made sure that when that when
timothy was gone that there was someone standing in that pulpit
there was a watchman standing in that pulpit watching over
the lord's sheep He wasn't careless with the Lord's
people. He thought about them. He thought
about them. And he says this in verse 13. And here we get
to see, you know, in the latter part of the writings here, we
get to just see Paul talking to Timothy. And he says, Timothy,
bring the cloak. And most believe that With winter
coming on, he's saying, Timothy, bring the cloaks so I can be
warm. They didn't have forced air heating.
They didn't have air conditioning or heat where he was. He was
in prison. And he says, bring my cloak so
that I can be warm during the wintertime. If I live to see
wintertime, you know, I want to be prepared for it. You know,
we prepare for things tomorrow, but we may not be here tomorrow.
But we do prepare. And so he tells Timothy to do
that. But he also says to him here, the cloak that I left at
Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and
the books, but especially the parchment. Here's something that's
interesting. Paul is an old man now. He's ready to depart. Here he
is in prison. He's ready to depart. My time
of departure is at hand. But until I depart, bring me
the Word of God. Bring me the parchments. Paul
was always a student of the Word of God right up to the last minute. He didn't just close the book
and say, well, you know, I'm going to wait and I'm just going
to sit here. You know, my life's over. I don't
have, no, he, Paul continually read the word of God and searched
the scriptures right up to the day he departed. That's interesting
to me. It's not only interesting to
me, it's encouraged to me, encouraging to me, because I'm not a young
man anymore. And when I read things like that, it encourages
me, even if whenever I have to step down, if I don't just die
first, whenever I have to step down, it's not if, it's just
a matter of when. I want to still get up and read
the word of God in the mornings. I want to still search the scriptures
that I might know Christ. I don't want to search the scriptures
less because I'm not preaching anymore. I'm not able to preach
anymore. But I want to search the scriptures
that I may grow in grace and knowledge of Christ until I depart.
The Lord takes me home. There's so much light in these
simple instructions, isn't there? There's so much light. He said,
bring the word of God to me. But I will give you a warning,
Timothy, in verse 14 there, Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according
to his works, of whom be thou aware also, because he hasn't
changed. For he hath greatly withstood
our words over in a margin, it says, our preaching. He greatly
withstood our preaching. You know, he's that same person
mentioned over in Acts 19. Alexander despised the gospel.
And he despised Paul, the servant of the Lord, the preacher of
the gospel. And he says, Timothy, he did me much evil. You beware
of him. You beware of him. He's under
the power of Satan. And if he did me much evil, he's
going to do you much evil. And evidently Alexander had gone
to Ephesus. And I have no doubt that he went
there to be an adversary to the gospel. Satan, I tell you what, Satan
never stops. Satan never rests. He will, he's
like a, he's like a, he's like those mosquitoes in the deer
stand. They just constantly, that was in, I was in the stand
the other day and I had to get out. and then come back to the
house. Mosquitoes eating me up, just
buzzing around my head. And it's like, man, Alexander, Alexander the coppersmith,
Hymenaeus, Phyllidas, they're just buzzing around my head.
You know, they just watch out for them. They're gonna bite
you. They'll bite you and it'll itch for a while. But they're
always there. They're always there, wherever
the gospel is preached. If God raises a church up somewhere
where the gospel has never been preached, there are going to
be adversaries to it. There's going to be Alexander
the coppersmith somewhere. Satan has his minister somewhere.
Wherever the gospel is, that's where he has his ministers of
self-righteousness to oppose the gospel. So Timothy, you shun. Don't take him on. Don't go out
there looking for him. You know, I've learned this false,
false religion will stay false all the way to the end. You're
not going to change it. I am not going to change false religion.
Now God has some sheep that's in false religion. He's going
to bring them out of it. But now false religion is going
to be false all the way to the end. So don't you go fight in
false religion. You just keep preaching the gospel
and the sheep will come out. but just don't get caught up
fighting the false religion. And then he says in verse 16,
at my first answer, my first defense, remember when he's in
Rome and his first defense of himself before the Roman government
there, he said, at my first defense, no man stood with me. Nobody
came and, and, uh, and I took up my part. Nobody did. It's not that there was nobody
there to help, to do it. They just didn't show up. And
here's why they were afraid. You know, Paul said in Acts,
I count not my life dear to me that I may finish my course.
If you and I count our life on this earth dear, we'll compromise
the gospel. We will compromise the gospel
and we'll shut up when we should speak up. At my first answer,
no man stood with me, but all men forsook me." And I thought
of this when I read that. I thought, you know, God's pastors,
evangelists, you know, preachers of the gospel, the Lord, in a
measure, makes them experience something of what He experienced.
All His disciples forsook Him. All of them. And here, Paul has
an experience somewhat like our Lord had. Not to the extreme
that our Lord had when he was being put to death. But all forsook
him. The believers now, he's not talking
about unbelievers here, he's talking about those who believed.
They forsook him because they feared for their life. They feared
for their life. At his first trial in Rome, all
his friends in Judea and Asia forsook him. None stood with
him. But listen to what Paul says here. But I pray God that
it may not be laid to their charge. I pray that God won't punish
them for it. I pray God will forgive them. Isn't that the
kind of attitude we ought to have? I pray that the Lord forgive
them, not lay this to their charge, not punish them, chasten them
for it, that he forgive them. Because Paul knew what it was
to be forgiven as he stood there and held the coach of those who
stoned Stephen, and the Lord forgave him. And with that spirit
and attitude, he says, I pray the Lord forgive them. I pray
not to lay it to their charge. But I'll tell you this, in verse
17, Paul says, notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me. Listen,
if everybody's going to forsake me, that's all right, as long
as the Lord doesn't. as long as he doesn't forsake
me, as long as he stands with me. He said, the Lord stood with
me and strengthened me. He enabled me to be bold in preaching
the gospel and standing for the gospel and not compromising.
He enabled me to be bold. I'm not, Paul's not boasting.
He's not saying they all forsook me, but I, you know, I'm, I didn't
do it. I didn't forsake the Lord, I
stood there. No, he said the Lord strengthened
me, or I would have ran too. I would have been right there
with him running down the road, but the Lord strengthened me. He strengthened me that by me
the preaching might be fully known, that my calling to be
an apostle to the Gentiles, to preach the gospel to the Gentiles,
that it might be fulfilled. And the gospel might be fully
known, and then all the Gentiles, that is all the nations, might
hear. You know, we hear the gospel
right now because Paul, an apostle to the Gentiles, he went and
preached to the Gentiles, and then that message kept going,
and it kept going, and here it is in Spring Lake. We are the
seed of that ministry. We are the seed. You know, when
I pastored Hurricane Road, about eight years, I wrote Henry a
letter and I said, I understand and I want you to know that I
have inherited the fruit of your ministry. This is not mine. This is the fruit of yours. And
for a number of years, the Lord made me the minister and recipient
of the fruit of his ministry. And it's still there. The fruit
of his ministry is still there. And right now, what we have here
in Spring Lake, Kingsport, Rocky Mount, Lexington, and I can go
on and name other places. They are the seed of the ministry
of Paul preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. And for this reason, he says,
I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. The Lord delivered
me out of the mouth of Satan, right there in the seat of Rome.
You, someone said this, someone said that we are immortal until
God takes us home. You know, nobody can take my
life. We are, you know, I know a lot
of people and I don't, I don't, I'm trying to say this carefully
because I don't want to be misunderstood, but a lot of people freaked out
over COVID. If God was going to take you
home by COVID, you can wear 15 masks. You can take all the shots. You're going to die of COVID.
That's the truth. I'm not saying we need to be
careless and just act like, well, nothing can happen to me, but
I tell you what, the honest truth is nothing can happen to me until
God is purposed to take me home. And listen, the time of our departure
is of God and the means by which he's going to take us is of God. I remember Henry making this
statement in a message one time. He said, they may be making the
automobile in Detroit right now that God's going to use to take
your life, to take you out of this world. Isn't that comforting? You're going to say, well, tell
me what that car is. And I won't go out on the road.
No, no. I don't want to know what the
make of the car is. I don't want to know what the disease is.
I don't want to know what it is. I just know that God has
ordained it. It's under his control. And I
cannot die until it's time. Our times are in his hands. And
knowing that is comforting. Comforting. I've lived long enough
now. I've seen people die in youth. I've seen them die as young men
and women. I've seen them die at middle
age. I've seen them die old age. But when they died, they died
according to God's purpose and time. And that's comforting. And he says in verse 18, and
the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work. He'll deliver
me. That's all right. I'm not, well,
you don't hear an ounce of fear in him, do you? You know why? He feared the Lord. If you and
I have a right fear of God, we don't have to fear anything else.
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will
preserve me. He'll preserve me. He will keep
me. unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. Now he says, salute Priscilla
and Aquila. Say hello to them. Here he is
ready to depart. And he's saying, Timothy, tell
Priscilla and Aquila I said hello. And the household of Onesiphorus,
some believe that Onesiphorus had passed on. And Paul was saying,
you tell his family I said hi. I send my love to them. Erastus
abode at Corinth, because the Lord had made him an official
in the church there. And Trophimus have I left in
Miletus, sick. He was sick, and I left him there
till he gets well. And do thy diligence to come
before winter, when the travel is so hard and difficult. Come
before winter. Here he is thinking of Timothy
and his travel. And Eubulus, he greets Timothy,
and Putins, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren say hello.
How many times do you go to a conference and they say, tell the brethren
hello? Send my love to them. That's the other part of the
family. The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit, be with you
in counsel and give you understanding, be with you in growth in grace
and in knowledge of him, be with you in the ministry, the Lord
be with you. And I pray the Lord be with us this morning. Grace be with you. Amen. A lot of good instructions in
this haven't first Timothy, second Timothy. I pray that I learn
at least one or two of them. All right.