Matt just gave us a particular
blessing to me. In verse 9, he said, Thou art
my servant. And something that I really liked
that wasn't there is the word if. Thou art my servant if. And he said, I have chosen thee. But I don't find anything about
if. Not cast thee away. He said,
fear not, for I am with thee. But he doesn't say if. If you
do this or if you do that. He just says, fear not, I am
with thee. Be not dismayed. In verse 13. For I, the Lord thy God, will
hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear not, I will help thee.
Not I will help you if you do something, This is a promise.
I will help thee. Verse 14, Fear not, thou worm
Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee. Not if you
do this or that. It's a promise. I will help thee. Saith thy Redeemer, the Holy
One of Israel. That was a blessing. Would you
turn back to 2 Timothy chapter 1. While you're turning there,
Jeff and Rachel Sullivan had a child yesterday, or day before
yesterday, I can't remember which, but he's having some, was it
yesterday? Monday, I'm sorry, Monday. But the child is having
some trouble right now. I'm not real sure what it is.
And Charles is his name and he's in intensive care at Central
Baptist Hospital. So remember that family. Second Timothy chapter one, I've
entitled this message Onesiphorus. Onesiphorus. Now, God, the Holy
Spirit was pleased to inspire Paul to make mention of Onesiphorus
in this letter to Timothy. Let's read those verses again.
Paul says, the Lord give mercy under the house of Onesiphorus,
for he oft refresh me and was not ashamed of my chain. But
when he was in Rome, and Rome was a very big place, they didn't
have cell phones, they didn't have anything like that. There's
a lot of cells in Rome, but he went all over the place to find
his cell, find out where he was staying. When he was in Rome,
he sought me out very diligently and found me. The Lord grant
unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. And
how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest
very well." What a special man. Now Paul was a man the Lord had
blessed in an unusual way. He was used by God to expound
the Gospel more than any other man. And this brought him to
great trouble because of his preaching of the Gospel. Look
in verse 11 of this chapter. He says, Whereunto I am appointed,
a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, for
the which cause I also suffer these things." I'm in prison
right now because of my preaching of the gospel. I'm suffering
these things. Now, Paul says in verse 13 to
Timothy, Timothy hold fast the form of sound words." Now evidently
Timothy had a tendency to not hold fast the form of sound words. Timothy was a timid type of person
because Paul said, be thou not ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord. Timothy had a tendency to be ashamed so Paul is confronting
him about this, encouraging him about this. Don't be ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord. You hold fast the form of sound
words, which thou hast heard of me in faith and love, which
is in Christ Jesus. And he tells us what that form
of sound words is. Look back up at verse eight.
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me, his prisoner. but you be a partaker of the
afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God." Now, here's
the testimony of the Lord. There's not a more important
passage of Scripture in the Word of God than right here. Here it is.
He saved us. That's our thing we believe,
isn't it? He saved us. and called us with an holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began, but now is made manifest by the appearing of our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death. and have brought life
and immortality to life through the gospel, whereunto I'm appointed
a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, for
the which cause I also suffer these things. This is why I'm
in prison. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed, for I know whom
I believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I've committed to him against that day. Now, you hold fast
the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith
and love, which is in Christ Jesus. And then he says in verse
14, that good thing, which was committed unto thee, keep by
the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. Now, I say to every believer,
saying this to myself, that good thing that was committed to thee.
What's that? The gospel. What a sacred trust
that the Lord would commit to you that which is most precious
to him. That's a humbling thought, isn't
it? That good thing that was committed to thee, if you're
a believer, God committed that which is most precious to you.
What a sacred trust to commit this to you. Now that good thing
which was committed to thee, keep. watch over, guard over,
and the only way you can do it is by the Holy Ghost, by the
Holy Spirit. You know you can't keep. If the
Lord doesn't enable me to keep that good thing, I certainly
won't do it. Oh, that good thing keep by the Holy Ghost which
dwelleth in us. Verse 15, This thou knowest,
that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me. Of whom
are I jealous? and hermogenies. Now he says,
you know what happened in Asia? Now these were people who professed
to believe. They professed to believe the gospel. They professed
to love the Lord Jesus Christ, but they've left. And how this
must have hurt Paul, I guarantee it crushed him to see these people
leave. He says, all those that were in Asia, they've left me. If I had, if I was put on trial
for preaching the gospel, And you wouldn't want to be identified
with me. It'd hurt me. I'd want you to identify with
me. Now these people wouldn't do that with Paul. Look over
in 1 Timothy 4, verse 10. He says, Demas hath forsaken
me, having loved this present world. Look in verse 14, Alexander
the coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according
to his works, of whom be thou where also, for he hath greatly
withstood our words. Now look at this. At my first
answer, when I had to stand up for what I believed, at my first
answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it might not
be late to their charges. Pretty much sounds like what
Paul said to the Philippians. Turn over to Philippians chapter
two. Now Paul had a lot of heartache with people. Philippians chapter
two. A lot of disappointments. Philippians 2, verse 19. But I trust in the Lord Jesus
to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good
comfort when I know your state. For, listen to this, I have no
man like-minded who will naturally
care for your state. For all seek their own and not
the things which are Jesus Christ's." Isn't that a sad verse of scripture?
Paul said, I don't have anybody I can trust but Timothy. All
seek their own and not the things which are Christ Jesus. Now,
my sister was up here this week. And I was visiting with her,
and she made this statement. She said, you know, truly, the
generation we're living in is the me generation. I thought,
yeah, it is. But you know, it's always been
that way. All seek their own back and pause days. and not
the things which are Christ Jesus. And you can be sure that these
things hurt Paul deeply. All they that in Asia be turned
away from me. They didn't want to be identified
with me. They were ashamed of me. And when I was thinking that,
I thought if Paul, if he thought about me, I wonder what things
would come to his mind. You know, I wonder if I'd be
one of these people. I just thought, what pain that
brought on him. I mean, everything wasn't rosy,
obviously. Now, back to our text, 2 Timothy chapter 1. He talks
about all those that be turned away from him, of whom are five
jealous and homogenies. He names a couple of them. Now
he mentions this man, Onesiphorus. The Lord give mercy. under the house of Onesiphorus." Now, his name means a bearer
of profit, or a bringer of profit, or a bringer of benefit. Now,
we don't know what this man did for a living. It's not likely
that he was a preacher, but he had a family because Paul prayed
for his house. But what a blessing this man
was to Paul. Now, look what Paul prays for
in verse 16. He says, the Lord give mercy unto the house of
Onesiphorus. He doesn't say, may the Lord
pay back this man for the kindnesses he showed me. He doesn't say,
may the Lord reward him the way he's treated me. He doesn't say
anything like that. He said, the Lord grant mercy
unto the house of Onesiphorus. Now there are two words that
have a very similar meaning. But I am always aware of my need
of these two things, mercy and grace. Mercy and grace. Oh, how I need mercy and grace. Grace is God's unmerited favor. Now, the reason for grace, I
told this to the class today, the reason for grace is God. It's not found in you. God doesn't
give you grace because you need it. He gives you grace because
He's gracious. That's His nature. Oh, He delights
in grace. And I need the Lord to give me
grace. I need Him to give me unmerited
favor. I need Him to give me grace to
believe, grace to repent, grace to abide in Christ, grace to
know Christ. I am needy of grace and I need
mercy. Mercy doesn't so much have to
do with grace. God gives you grace because he's
gracious. And mercy has something to do
with the misery of the one who needs it. Lord, I need mercy. Have mercy, have pity, have compassion
upon me. Mercy and grace. Now, Onesiphorus, like you and
me, needed mercy. and needed grace. And how I need
the mercy and grace of God, I'm so sinful, I'm so powerless before
my sin and so miserable because of that. I need mercy and I need
grace. Now what greater thing could
Paul ask for on behalf of Onesiphorus? I mean that's the greatest thing
he could ask for. He didn't say paying back according to how
well he's treated me. That's what we would think, Lord,
look how they treated me. Now you reward them accordingly,
but that's not what Paul asked for for this man. He asked for
the greatest thing he could ask for him for, mercy. You know
what I'd rather you pray for me about more than anything else?
Mercy. Well, don't you want us to pray
that you're enabled to preach? Yeah, but I want this more. Mercy.
Don't you want us to pray that you'll be enabled to walk? Mercy. mercy. Pray that the Lord would
have mercy on me. And I pray that the Lord will
have mercy on you. That's the great need. Mercy. Now he goes on to talk about
this man, this bearer of benefits. Look what he says. The Lord give
mercy under the house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me. It's a good thing to be refreshed. encouraged rather than disappointed and
discouraged. How many times have people disappointed
you? Plenty. How many times have you
disappointed yourself? I'm more disappointed in myself
than I am in you. But what an encouragement it is when someone
refreshes you. He oft refreshed me. It doesn't
tell us what it was, but He oft refreshed him. Let me show you
a couple of Scriptures that use this word. Turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 16. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. Verse
15. I beseech you, brethren, you
know, the house of Stephanus, that is the first fruits of the
Kiai, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of
the saints. Well, that's a good addiction,
isn't it? They've addicted themselves to
the ministry of the saints, that you submit yourselves unto such
and to everyone that helpeth with us and laboreth. And I'm
glad of the coming of Stephanus and Fortunatus and Caius for
that which was lacking on your support. they supplied, for they
have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore, acknowledge
ye then that are such." What they refreshed him and encouraged
him in so many different ways. Now, I want to show you what,
turn to the book Philemon. I think this deals with refreshment
as much as anything else. Philemon. Now, Paul is writing on behalf
of this runaway slave, Philemon. And he says in verse eight, wherefore
though I might be much bold, Philemon verse eight, I might
be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,
yet for love's sake, I'd rather beseech thee being such in one
as Paul the aged, now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, I beseech thee
for my son Onesimus, whom I've begotten in my bonds. Now you're
familiar with the story. This man had run away. from Philemon. He was a slave and he ran away. And somehow in God's providence
he came into contact with the Apostle Paul. And God saved him
through that meeting. What a blessed thing. And now
Paul is sending him back to his master. And he's saying, now
his master had the right to kill him. A runaway slave, his master
had the right to do anything he wanted to him, but he's beseeching
him in behalf of this man. He says, Yet for love's sake,
verse 9, I beseech thee, being such a one as Paul the aged,
now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, I beseech thee for my
son Onesimus, whom I've begotten in my bonds, which in times past
was to be unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me,
whom I've sent again. that thou therefore receive him,
that is, mine own bows, whom I would have retained with me,
that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds
of the gospel, but without thy mind would I do nothing, that
thy benefit should be not as it were of necessity, but willingly.
For perhaps he therefore departed for a season that thou shouldst
receive him forever, not now as a servant, but above a servant,
a brother beloved specially to me, How much more to thee, both
in the flesh and in the Lord? If you count me therefore your
partner, receive him as myself. If he hath wronged thee, or oweth
thee aught, put that on mine account." And that's what a type
of the gospel right there. That's what the Lord said regarding
us. Anything they owe, you put it on my account. Paul says,
I, Paul, have written it with my own hand. I will repay it
now. Albeit, I don't say to thee how thou ow'st unto me thine
own self. Besides, I love the way he says this. You owe me
your life. You better do it. That's pretty
much what he's saying. But then he says, yea, brother, let me have joy
of thee in the Lord. Refresh my bowels in the Lord. What a refreshing thing for Onesimus
to forgive him, or Philemon to forgive him and to receive him.
You know, giving a cold cup of water for Christ's sake is refreshment. What all he did to refresh Paul,
we're not told, but he certainly refreshed him often with acts
of kindness and encouragement. Wouldn't you like to be a man
just like this? Wouldn't you like this to characterize you?
Onesiphorus. Back to 2 Timothy chapter 1. The Lord give mercy unto the
house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me, and he was
not ashamed of my chain. Now remember, Paul was chained
and imprisoned for preaching the gospel. And we see what it
was he was preaching. He preached God saved us. And
he called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace which were given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Sovereign grace. That's
what he was preaching. And he said, I'm in chains because
of this. And he says, don't be ashamed of my chains. Now, evidently,
Timothy had a tendency to be ashamed. That's why he said,
be not thou therefore ashamed of the Lord, nor of me, his prisoner.
Don't be ashamed of the gospel. Well, Onesiphorus wasn't. Now,
when I was thinking about this, don't be ashamed of the gospel,
what is there to be ashamed of? You know, I'll be honest with
you, I'm being honest, I hope I am, by the grace of God, I
hope I'm telling the truth. By His grace, I'm proud of the
gospel. The gospel we believe is a gospel
worthy of God. Now, I'm ashamed of all the stuff
that goes on under the name of religion. I'm ashamed of that,
but I'm not ashamed of the Gospel. I'm proud of the Gospel. This
Gospel glorifies God. It exalts the Lord Jesus Christ.
It saves me. I'm proud of this Gospel. I'm
proud of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I really am. I'm
proud to be identified with it. I'm not talking about being proud
of myself. I'm not proud of myself, but
I sure am proud of the Gospel, I believe. It glorifies God.
Don't be ashamed of the Gospel. Paul said in Romans 1.16, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. Now don't be ashamed of the gospel. If somebody's being hurt. If somebody's being, it's
costing them to preach the gospel, I want to get right in there
with them by the grace of God. I want to be identified with them. If somebody's
suffering for Christ's sake, I want to get right there with
them. That's what he's telling. Don't you be ashamed of the testimony
of the Lord. Now, Onesiphorus, he was not
ashamed of my chain. Verse 17, but when he was in
Rome, and that was a big city, he sought me out very diligently. and found me, he was persistent in his refreshing
of Paul. It'd be easy to be in Rome and
give it a couple of days and look as much as you can and just
give up. I mean, this is a big city. How am I ever going to
find him? But he was persistent. He kept searching till he found
him. I want to be persistently a refreshment. in that sense. He sought me out
diligently till he found me. And then down into that latter
part of the 18th verse, he says, and how many things he ministered
unto me at Ephesus thou knowest very well. And hear his prayer
for him once again in verse 18. The Lord grant graciously bestow
unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. Now he's speaking of the day
of judgment. The same day he was speaking
of in verse 12 of chapter one when he said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I've committed to him against that day. Now that day of judgment,
what do you want on the day of judgment? What do you want when
the Lord returns? I was listening to a man preach. And he made this statement. It's
almost kind of funny to me because he said, when the Lord returns,
I sure want him to find me preaching. And I thought, I mean, my flesh thinks that,
yeah, it would be kind of nice for the Lord to come find me
preaching or witnessing or reading the Bible or praying or something
like that. But what do you want of the Lord on judgment day?
that I might find mercy of the Lord in that great day. Paul did not say regarding Onesiphorus
on the day of judgment, I want him to be rewarded for all the
good that he's done, but oh, that he might be granted mercy. I repeat, is there anybody that
needs mercy more than me? I hope I got some people that
would fight me over that and say I do. That's the way every single
one of us ought to feel. No one needs mercy more than
me. Sovereign mercy. I need the kind
of mercy that saves me. That doesn't say I'll
save you if. I'll have mercy on you if you
do this or you do that or if you straighten this up. I need
mercy that just flat out saves me. Pure, free, sheer mercy. I need mercy grace. That's a
good word. Those two words go together.
I need mercy grace. I need grace mercy. I need grace
mercy and I need mercy grace. That's the kind of grace I need.
That's the kind of mercy I need. And that's what he's asking for.
He says, oh, that he might find mercy on that great day. This is a thought that occurred
to me. about my personal need of mercy and grace, my need of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Because when you say you need
mercy, when you say you need grace, what you're saying is
you need Christ. I need the Lord Jesus Christ.
I need Him as a prophet. Because I can't know the mind
of God. I can't know that he'll have mercy on me. I need him
to bring a word to me. I'm so ignorant, I need him to
speak to me because I can't figure out the mind of God. I don't
know what's right. I need the word of God. I need him as a
prophet. I need Him as a priest to represent
me. I can't come to God on my own
because of my sinfulness, because of my present sinfulness. I can't
just come waltzing into God's presence. I need Him to come
for me as my priest. Oh, how I need Him as a priest
to represent me before this holy God. I need Him. I need him as
a king. You know, this is something that
just, I feel like I've, I've just kind of got ahold of this
in the last couple of weeks. When I thought of the kingship
of Christ and the fact that he reigns, I think of his sovereign
rule over everything. And indeed he does rule everything.
But here's why I really need him as a king. I need him to
rule over me. I need him to rule over my spirit.
I need him to cause me by irresistible grace to do his will. Not asking me if I'll let him
or saying he'll do it if I do this. I need him as a king to
rule and reign over me and cause me to do His will. I love that
scripture in Psalm 65, verse 4, Blesses the man whom Thou
choosest and causes to approach unto Thee. That's what I need
Him to do for me. I need Him to cause me to approach
unto Him. Now, as fine a man as Onesiphorus
was. This is driving me crazy. I keep
saying his name. That's a lot of syllables for
a name. But as fine a man as he was,
what was it that Paul asked for him? Mercy. Mercy. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. Now, let me show you one other
scripture about mercy. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2.
This is on my mind again because we looked at this in the class
today with the young people. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in times past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, that spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, you were controlled by the devil,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in
the lusts of our flesh. fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind. And we were by nature the children
of wrath even as others. We were just like everybody else
but God. There's a best definition of
grace you're ever going to find. But God who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were
dead in sins. Hath. quickened us together with
Christ. By grace, you are saved, and
hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, He might
show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus, For by grace are you saved." Can
you say in your heart to that, amen? You know that so, don't
you? For by grace are you saved. I know that. Through faith, and
that's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship. created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. And that's the mercy that Paul
is asking for Onesiphorus. That's what he asked for, mercy.
Now here's two sides of Onesiphorus, and I want to have both of these
sides. First, a man who desperately needed mercy. I never want to
leave there, do you? May God keep me there. And second,
a man who refreshed. A man who is not ashamed of Paul's
chain. One who is a persistent helper,
a true servant. Now, if you want to find somebody
to imitate, here is a man to imitate. Onesiphorus. May God make us a bunch of Onesiphoruses. Let's pray together.