This second Timothy, chapter 1. Now Paul was in prison
when he wrote this epistle to young Timothy. His days were
numbered. In fact, in the fourth chapter
of this second epistle, Paul talked about his days being numbered. He was in prison there in Rome
where he stayed for over two years. I'll show you that in
a moment. But he knew his time of departure was at hand. He
wrote in verse 6, chapter 4, I am now ready to be offered
as a drink offering upon the sacrifice. The time of my departure
is at hand. Right at hand. I fought a good
fight. I finished my course. I finished my ministry, and I
kept the faith. Henceforth it is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only by any
means, but unto all them, every believer, every sheep, every
elect, and to all them that love his appearing. Paul, verse 1, is the author. He's in Rome in prison. He's
writing, verse 2, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son. Timothy was not Paul's child. Paul was not married. Timothy
was Paul's son in the ministry, and he couldn't have loved him
more if he'd have been a blood son. He loved him as his own
son, he was his son in the ministry. He says, Grace, mercy and peace
from God the Father and from Jesus Christ our Lord. And then
in verse 3, knowing that true faith, and he talks about Timothy
having an unfamed faith, without dissimulation, without pretense
or hypocrisy. But Paul knows that kind of faith
is the gift of God. So he doesn't praise Timothy,
he praises God. He says in verse 3, I thank God,
I thank God, whom I serve for my forefathers with an honest
conscience. He doesn't claim to have a pure
conscience, only our Lord Jesus Christ is pure, but the word
is used there, an honest conscience. I serve God with integrity and
honesty and faithfulness. I thank God that without ceasing
I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day. I thank
God for you. I thank God for your faith. I
thank God for your love. I thank God for the gifts God's
given you. I thank God without ceasing.
Without God you wouldn't have these things. Look back at 2
Thessalonians. Paul always ascribes all the
glory to God. Every time he mentions Mercy
and grace, he ascribes it to God. Grace and mercy from God,
from our Lord Jesus Christ. He says here in 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 13, I'm bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord. I thank God for you. And I thank
God because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation.
You didn't choose God, he chose you. The faith in you is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, it's the
goodness of God that leads us to repentance. So I thank God
for you, because he chose you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, and he called you, verse
14, he called you by our gospel to the obtaining, to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. I didn't earn mercy,
I obtained it. We didn't earn forgiveness, we
obtained it as the gift of God. So that's what he's saying to
Timothy here, I thank God for you. I thank God for your gifts,
I thank God for your faith, I thank God for your love for Christ.
And verse 4 he says, I greatly desire to see you. I greatly
desire to see you. Now he tells him in 2 Timothy
4, turn over there, he urges Timothy to come see him. In 2
Timothy 4 verse 9, do thou dilligence to come shortly unto me, come
see me. And in verse 21, before he closes
this last epistle, he says in verse 21, do thou dilligence
to come before winter, come see me, and come before winter. That
is Pilate in jail. Ask Timothy, he's going to go
see him. Paul was in an unusual jail, an unusual prison. Turn
to Acts, the last chapter of the book of Acts, the very last
chapter, chapter 28, verses 30 and 31. This describes the prison. Paul was in prison in a hired
house, in a rented house. He had a guard. He had chains. He was kept in prison, but he
was allowed to have visitors. He was allowed to preach for
two years. Our God's providence is marvelous
and strange and mysterious. But look at verse 30, and Paul
dwelt two whole years in his own hired house and received
all that came into him. He was under house arrest. Preaching
the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the
Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him. That's
the reason when I was reading a while ago, you noticed in verse
16 of 2 Timothy 1, look at verse 16, 2 Timothy 1. The Lord give
mercy to the house of old Nesiphorus. He often refreshed me, he wasn't
ashamed of my chain, my prison, my guards. When he was in Rome,
he sought me out very diligently and found me. That's the reason
Paul said, Timothy, come see me. Do thou all diligence to
come see me and come before winter. Onesiphorus sought me out. Then
in verse 5 of our text, 2 Timothy 1 verse 5, I call to remembrance
the unfeigned faith, genuine faith. That word unfaithful means
without dissimulation, without pretense, without hypocrisy. And that faith dwelt first in
your grandmother, your grandmother Lois, who taught your mother. And that faith dwelt in your
mother, Eunice. And I'm persuaded in you also. Genuine faith in our Lord. This deep regard and affection
which Paul had for this man, Timothy, did not prevent Paul
in the following verses from warning him, warning Timothy,
warning him, and exhorting him and reminding Timothy to continue
in the faith. That's where he says in verse
6, Wherefore, all of these things being true, I love you, Thank
God for you. Praise God for your faith. Without
hypocrisy and pretense, genuine faith. The faith which dwelt
in your grandmother and in your mother and in you. But Timothy,
I'm going to remind you of some things. I'm going to warn you. I'm going
to give you a timely warning to continue in the faith because
I've seen lots of people leave the faith. I want to show you
a couple of examples. 2 Timothy 1, I read it a moment
ago, verse 15. 2 Timothy 1, verse 15. This know,
this thou knowest, you know this, Timothy, that all they which
are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom the leaders are jealous
and homogenous. These were former friends that
were turned away from Paul and away from the gospel. In 2 Timothy
chapter 4, let's look at this, verse 10. 2 Timothy 4, verse
10. 2 Timothy 4, verse 10. Demas. Now
back in another scripture, Paul wrote about Demas and he said,
Luke and Demas are with me. They send their greetings. Demas
here was no longer with him. Verse 10, why? Demas hath forsaken
me. He loved this present world.
And he's departed. Having loved the world, his love
for the world proved to be greater than his love for Christ. And
he left. Look at verse 14, same chapter
24. Alexander the coppersmith is
another farmer. contender for the faith. He did
me much evil. How could a man do a prophet
of God much evil who believes something? Well, a man who believes
something won't. But he just claimed to believe it. And Paul
says the Lord rewarded him according to his works. Verse 16 of this same chapter.
At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all of them forsook
me. I pray God he'll not be laid to the charge, notwithstanding
the Lord stood with me and he strengthened me. But these friends
deserted me. So Paul embraces in his heart
this son in the ministry, in the faith, and tells him how
much he loves him and thanks God for him and prays for him,
desires to see him, and calls to mind his faith and the faith
in his mother and grandmother. But he said in verse 6, I want
to warn you, I want to put you in remembrance of several things. Here are four things that he
speaks about to young Timothy. Verse 6, let's look at these
four things. And I'll give them to you ahead
of time. Number one, stir up the gift that God put in you.
Stir it up. When I was a kid, we used to
bank the fires. We had open grates and we'd burn
coal, and we'd put ashes on the fire at night and go to bed. Wake up the next morning, stir
it up, get the ashes out and stir up the coals and put some
more on it. It would lie dormant through the night, and the ashes
would sort of subdue the fire. He said, you stir it up. Then
next he talks about him not being ashamed of the gospel. Make you ashamed of the gospel.
Don't be ashamed of the gospel. Then thirdly, he warns him to
be willing and be ready to suffer for this gospel, because everybody
does who believes it. That's the reason Demas and Thagelus
and Homogenes and Alexander and some of these others left it
mainly, because they couldn't stand the pressure, couldn't
stand the persecution, they couldn't stand the heat. And they went
to the frailness of the world. And the fourth thing he warns
them about, and I'll talk about tonight, holding fast, sound
words. All right, let's talk about stirring
up the gift. See what Paul says here. Wherefore
I put thee in remembrance, don't forget this, stirring up the
gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
The God-given gift to understand the gospel. to teach the gospel,
to preach the gospel. It's not natural. It's not acquired by education.
It's a God-given gift. He says it's a gift which is
in thee. The gift of God which is in thee. The supernatural gift of God.
He said, Timothy, the understanding and wisdom and knowledge you
have of Christ and the gospel, the ability to teach it, preach
it to others. You didn't come by that by nature,
by human talent, by the ability to speak, by education. That
gift was put in you, put in you by the power of God. It's the
gift of God. Now watch this, by the putting
on of my hands, Turn to 1 Timothy 4, verse 14. Let's read this
in connection. 1 Timothy 4, verse 14. Neglect
not the guilt that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy
with the laying on of the hands of the Presbyterian. Let me tell
you something. In the New Testament, it was
only through the laying on of the hands of the apostles, the
apostles, that the Holy Spirit was given, only by the apostles. There is not any record of any
laying on of hands by anybody receiving the Holy Ghost but
the apostles. Christ breathed on them and they
received the Holy Ghost. Then they laid their hands on
certain people who received the gift of the Spirit of God. Now
let me show you an example of that. Turn to Acts chapter 8.
Now let's look at this. You see people today laying hands
on folks and bestowing the power of the Holy Spirit, and bestowing
the Holy Spirit, and bestowing healing by laying on of hands.
No such thing. It's the apostles that laid hands
on people, they received the Holy Ghost. Now, Philip was down
here in Samaria. Acts chapter 8, verse 5. Then Philip went down to the
city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the people
with one accord gave heed to those things which Philip spake,
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did." And verse 8 says,
"...great joy in that city." Now look at verse 12. But when
they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom
of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both
men and women. Then Simon Magus himself believed. When he was baptized, he continued
with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which
were done. Now, verse 14, when the apostles, which were at Jerusalem,
heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto
them Peter and John, who, when these apostles were come down,
prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. He was
fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name
of the Lord Jesus. Then the apostles laid their
hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Verse 18, and
when Simon saw it through the laying on of the hands of the
apostles, Philip didn't lay hands on these people. He was down
there preaching to them. They heard him preach, believe
what he preached. He didn't lay hands on them.
He sent for the apostles, and they came down there. laid hands
on them, they received the Holy Ghost. See that? I have no objection
to a symbolic act of laying on of hands. I participated in this
back in years past, ordaining preachers and ordaining deacons
and ordaining others. But I'll tell you this, that
we're mistaken when we think by the laying of our hands on
someone, we can bestow upon them any power of God or the Holy
Ghost. are the gifts of God. Now forget
that. It may be symbolic. It may be
used as that sort of thing. But the power of God and the gift
of God that Paul talks about here that was given to young
Timothy to preach the gospel, to understand and teach the gospel,
God gave it. God gave it. And God gave it
through the laying on of the hands of his apostles. Now I'm
not an apostle. We don't have any apostles today.
The word of God is complete. The gift of God is complete.
The gospel of God is complete. All we do as a voice is preach
that gospel. The gift comes from Him. The
power comes from Him. The saving comes from Him. The
faith comes from Him. Now you stir it up. You stir
it up. Stir up this gift. Stir it up
with prayer. Stir it up with meditation. Stir it up with study. Stir it
up with commitment. Stir it up! Don't become indifferent,
careless. Too many enemies, too many distractions,
especially in this world. Especially. I hate to name things because
I'd leave too many things out, but there's so many distractions.
I mean, like, take, I guess I keep stirring it up. Keep the fire
burning. And then he says, because God
hasn't given us, verse 7, the spirit of fear, cowardliness,
timidity to perform our office, we don't perform this office
of preaching, witnessing, teaching in a cold, lifeless manner. I
like what Benjamin Franklin said about George Whitefield. George
Whitefield was over here preaching, came over from England. George
Whitfield preached in the colonies, back before the Revolutionary
War. He had an orphanage down in Georgia, preached down in
Savannah, Georgia, all up and down that country, in the colonies. And one day, Benjamin Franklin,
one Sunday morning, was on his way somewhere, and a friend met
him and said, where are you going? English, went southbound, went
southbound, good friend, anyway. He said, I'm going to hear a
preacher. And that was strange for Franklin to go hear a preacher.
And this friend said, you're going to hear what preacher?
He said, Whitfield. He said, you don't believe what he preaches?
Franklin said, no, but he does. He does. That stirred it up. I hope when I preach I give the
impression, without a shadow of a doubt, I believe this gospel. Live as if we believe it. Preach
as if we believe it. Witness as if we believe it.
I don't believe it, but he does. A lifeless, professional, indifferent
manner is not becoming to God's service. I don't mean to scream
and act like a fool. in an unfeigned, without hypocrisy
or pretense manner preach the gospel. God hasn't given us a
spirit of fear. We don't fear people. Somebody said one time, the preacher
who preaches the gospel does not fear people. He does not
fear persecution. He doesn't fear failure. He doesn't
fear even demons. He just fears God. He just fears God. And God has
not given us the spirit of fear. He's given us the spirit of power.
By my spirit, saith the Lord. Not by might, not by strength
of men, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. He's given us the spirit
of love. Love for God and love for our
heroes. You know, when our Lord Jesus
Christ, I understand this to a certain extent. The rich young
ruler came to him and asked, what good things should I do
to inherit life? And Christ said, well, keep the commandments.
If you want to earn life by good things, keep the commandments.
He said, I've kept them from my youth up. Christ said, well,
go sell what you have and give it to the poor. You haven't kept
the commandments. You don't love others as you
love yourself. Share it with them and prove that you love
them. And he turned and walked away.
And it said, Scripture says the Lord looked on him and loved
him. And I'll tell you, when we preach and people don't believe
or turn away from our gospel or turn to an alluring life or
world, I understand. I do. Do you understand that? I do. If it weren't for His grace,
we would too. So you can look on them and love
them. Isn't that right? Look on them and love them. That's
right. I love my children. Not all of
them are believers, but I love them. That's right. I've got a friend, I met a pastor
the other night and I'm sure that if facts were known, he's heard
me preach on television and commented how much he enjoyed it, how he
loved the message. I love the man. He may not believe
everything like I do, but still, his warmth, his interest, made
me love him. We have a spirit, not of fear,
but of power, love, and of a sound mind. Wisdom. God's taught us
the gospel. I've tarried too long on that
point, but I'll get to the next one here. He says to him, now
you stir up this gift. Stir it up. by meditation and
prayer and dedication and commitment and faithfulness. Now, verse
8, and don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. What's
the testimony of our Lord? It's the record concerning Christ's
person and work. Turn to Revelation. I'll show
you a scripture that tells you what the testimony of our Lord
is. Revelation 1. Here's the testimony of our Lord. Revelation 1, 1 and 2. The revelation
of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants
things which must shortly come to pass, and he sent and signified
it by his angel unto his servant John, who bear record of the
word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and the things
which he saw. That which we've seen declare
we unto you. That which we have heard, declare
we unto you. That which our hands have handled,
declare we unto you. The testimony and record of God
concerning Jesus Christ. Don't be ashamed of it. Don't
be ashamed of his incarnation. God became a man. How? I don't know. But God became
a man. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in human flesh. The Word was made fresh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as it were only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Can't explain it,
just know it's so. Not ashamed of it. God became
a man. The carpenter, the son of Mary, Jesus of Nazareth. His poverty, he had no place
to lay his head. Son of man had no place to lay
his head. He became poor. that we through
his poverty might be rich. Born in a stable, surrounded
by animals. His friends were people of no
influence or power or education. His crucifixion, he died despised
and hated by all men, even by God. He walked the winepress
of wrath alone, absolutely alone. Suffered and died an ignominious,
wretched death on a cross as my substitute and my savior.
By his stripes I wear healed. I'm not ashamed of that. They
buried him and he lay in the tomb three days and he arose
from the grave. Glorified, perfect. He sent it to the Father. sat
down at the right hand of God where he intercedes for his people.
And his way is the only way, and his truth is the only truth,
and his life is the only life. He's the way, the truth, and
the life. And no man, no woman, Catholic, Protestant, or Jew,
Baptist, Presbyterian, or Methodist, or Nazarene, no man comes to
the Father to defy him. By his righteousness, his perfect
life, which imputes to us a holiness God will accept, and by his death
on that cross, which redeems us from our sins, without which
no man will be saved. I'm not ashamed of that. And
old Paul said in Acts 24, he said, what they call heresy,
what they call fanaticism, that's the way I worship the God of
my fathers. What the outside religious world
calls fanaticism and heresy, that's the way I worship God.
In Christ, by Christ, through Christ only. That's right. Don't be ashamed
of it. Don't even think for a moment to compromise it. We don't want
to be brutal, we don't want to be harsh, we just want to be
truthful. And regardless to whom we're speaking or with whom we're
conversing, That's the only way men are saved. And whether it
be our dear wife, or husband, or girlfriend, or boyfriend,
or neighbor, or family, who objects to Christ and his cross, and
Christ and his blood, and Christ and his elective grace, and Christ
and his sovereign mercy, and Christ by his particular atonement,
let them be offended. And if they go away, let them
go away. But I will not be ashamed of the gospel of God's grace.
I'll tell you why. I'll give two reasons. Turn to
Romans 1. Romans 1. Paul says this, and here's the
two reasons why I will not, cannot, must not be ashamed of the gospel.
The gospel. Not a gospel. Paul didn't say
I'm not ashamed of a gospel. Look at Romans 1.16. I'm not
ashamed of the gospel. That's a definite article. There
is but one gospel. There are a lot of churches,
a lot of churches, a lot of denominations, but there's one gospel. One Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father who is above all and
in you all. One body. I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation
to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The gospel, the reason
I'm not ashamed, is it's the only power of God. God is the
power of God. It's the wisdom of God. It's
the power that enables God to be God and save us. God, just God and Savior. It's the only way a just judge
can pardon a criminal. It's by substitution. It's the
power of God. The gospel is the power of God. Any other gospel is not the power
of God, it's the power of man. To get converts, or to get members,
or to get followers, or to fool people, or deceive them, it's
man's power over the minds of his friends to convert them to
his way of thinking. This gospel is the power of God!
to turn a man to God, turn him to Christ, change his
life, mind, heart, soul, direction, family, everything. God does it by his gospel. Now watch this, the second thing.
Buried in that gospel, the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed
only in a perfect second Adam. from heaven, the Lord from heaven.
Can you see, conceive, understand the righteousness of God? Only
in him. Because you and I don't have any. Nobody else does. But
he does. He's the righteousness of God.
It's seen in him. And only in his cross, God sent
him forth to declare his righteousness for the redemption, for the remission
of sins of the past. by the forgiveness of sins. God
sent him forth to declare his righteousness. Let me tell you,
without God's righteousness, we can't be saved. And you can't
have it without Christ. You can't sin anywhere but in
Christ. You can't preach anywhere but
in Christ, because that's where it is. God sent him forth to
declare to the whole world his righteousness, that he might
be just and the justifier of them that believe in Christ. That's the reason I'm not ashamed
of the gospel, it's the power of God to conversion, to salvation,
to life, to enlightenment, to illumination, to salvation, to
heaven. And therein, in that gospel of
Christ, is the only place that the holiness of God is manifested. And then the next thing he said
to him here in verse 8 is don't be ashamed of me, his prisoner,
but be a partaker, be willing to be a partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God. Let me paraphrase.
Timothy, don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord and
don't be ashamed of his people, his preachers, his apostles. I'm a prisoner for his sake.
I'm a prisoner for the gospel's sake. You be willing also to
be a prisoner. You be willing to take rebuke
from whomever, suffering from whomever, ridicule from whomever. You be willing to suffer affliction
to which the preaching of the gospel of grace will always expose
a man. Always. Always. This world is not the friend
of God. He had twelve apostles. Six of them were crucified. Peter,
Andrew, Nephilim, Simon, Jude was crucified, and Philip. James
was stoned to death. Thomas was killed with a spear.
Matthew was slain with a whole bread, James was beheaded, John
was exiled to the Isle of Patmos, said he'd never see a human being
again, and Paul the Apostle was killed at Rome. And let me show you this scripture.
Turn with me to Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7. Stephen is preaching. I know people talk about the
world's different today. The world's different in that
it's more religious. The world's different in that
there are laws against killing people. But the world theologically,
mentally, is the same. I still hate the true gospel.
In Acts chapter 7, verse 52. Which of the prophets, Stephen
says, name one. Back in verse 51, he said, Ye
stiff-necked, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always
resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do ye. Which
of the apostles, which of the prophets have not your fathers
persecuted? Can you name one? And they have
slain them which serve before the coming of the just one, Christ.
and of whom now you are the betrayers and the murderers." A kill crash? The very embodiment of God killed
every one of his apostles. Stephen is looking back through
the Old Testament and says, name one prophet that your fathers
didn't kill. Isn't that something? Name one
that escaped the soldiers. I knew the gospel of our Lord
is the gospel of peace. Peace with God, peace in our
hearts. My peace I give unto you, Christ
said, he purchased peace by his blood. Peace among men, we have
peace in this church. I've never been associated with
a group of people where there's more peace and rest and joy and
love. But because of the pride I've
shown in this world, in the churches, in social circles, political
circles. Because of the pride and depravity
and self-righteousness, perversion, evil, the men of this world hate
the gospel of God's grace. And when you preach it, it brings
division, it brings trouble, it brings persecution. And you
can look at the way that Folks treated the prophets. And what
was their message? The just one. That's what he
said in Acts. The just one who's coming. And
they destroyed the apostles. What was their message? Christ
and him crucified. The sovereignty of God. The purpose
and providence of God. The apostle Paul wrote 13 of
the New Testament epistles. Put him in prison and then killed
him. Why? They hated the gospel. And the gospel of works and human
merit and deeds is not despised, it's loved by the world. But
this gospel. And then in closing, I'm going
to push tonight on this now. Down here in verse 13. Hold fast
the pattern of sound words. which thou hast heard of me,
and faith and love which is in Christ." Hold them where? In
your head? They have to start there, I know. In your books? We've got our
confession of faith. You want to see it? It won't
help you too much. Hold them in your heart. My son,
give me your heart. Keep thy heart out of any of
the issues of life. As a man thinketh in his heart,
so is he. You hold these sound words. and
hold them fast in your heart.