Let us turn this morning to 2
Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 9. We're looking today at Paul's
closing words. Verse 9 begins a new paragraph. 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. And Tychius
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 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. Salute Presca and Aquila and
the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus abode at Corinth, but
Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. Do thy diligence to come
before winter. Eubulus greeteth thee, and Putins,
and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren. The Lord Jesus
Christ be with us, spirit, grace be with thee. Amen. The apostle Paul began this letter
referring to Timothy as his dearly beloved son. And now he's closing
the letter. As far as we know, the apostle
Paul was not blessed of the Lord to have any natural sons. But he was greatly blessed of
the Lord and used of God in preaching the gospel and having many spiritual
sons. And Timothy was one of them,
one he calls his dearly beloved son. You see in these closing
verses in verse nine, he tells Timothy to do that diligence
to come shortly unto me. And then in verse 21, do thy
diligence to come before winter. Twice, he tells Timothy to be
diligent, to do his diligence, to come unto him. First, to come
shortly, and then to come before winter. Timothy was in Ephesus,
and for Timothy to come to Rome would mean a voyage by sea, and
traveling in the wintertime was dangerous. And so we see Paul's
concern for Timothy come before winter. In looking at these last
few verses, there are so many topics and subjects that are,
that are suggested and are part of this, this last paragraph,
but I've chosen three things this morning to call our attention
to. First, the first seven people
named in these verses. I believe there are 16 that are
named in total, but we want to look at the first seven that
are named. The others were with Paul sending
greetings to Timothy, or they were with Timothy to whom they
were sending greetings. But he named seven individuals
in verses 10 through 14. And as we look at these seven,
first, Paul has negative things to say about the first one and
the last one. He has negative things to say
about the first one and the last one. Demas is named first, and
he is named as forsaking Paul, having loved this present world. What a lesson, what a lesson
for each one of us. It's sad to think that this is
the last time that Demas is mentioned in the Word of God. He's mentioned
in other places. In the letter of Philemon, the
Apostle Paul speaks of Demas as a fellow laborer. What honor, what honor to a man
to be a fellow laborer with the Apostle Paul. And he's also named
in Colossians as sending greetings along with Paul. But now in this
last letter, this last inspired letter of the Apostle Paul, we
see that Paul says, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this
present world. Now this statement does not necessarily
mean that Demas had forsook Christ and had forsaken the gospel. It may mean that. It may mean
that. But it also may simply mean that
Demas, out of fear, out of fear of the persecution that would
come his way by being associated with Paul, being associated there
with Paul in Rome, just being his friend, that out of fear,
Demas went to Thessalonica. We don't know about that, but
that is possible. And we might ask this question,
is it possible, is it possible that an associate fellow laborer
at one time with the Apostle Paul, is it possible that an
associate of the Apostle might be thus overcome with temptation? And the answer, of course, is
yes. The answer is yes. A believer might be overcome
with temptation out of fear. and desert this apostle. If you look with me in 1 John
chapter 2, just a moment, I want to point something out, something
we know but we need to be reminded of in 1 John chapter 2 and verse
14. You know, John, in the second
chapter of this epistle, he addresses believers as little children,
as young men, and as fathers. And that just reminds us, or
it should at least, that we grow. We are intended to grow. When
we are born of the Spirit of God, we are babes in Christ,
and we are to grow. But I want you to notice what
he says here in verse 14 about the young men. I've written unto
you, this is the middle part of verse 14, I've written unto
you, young men, Because you are strong. You are strong. And the word of God abideth in
you, and you have overcome the wicked one. And I call our attention
here basically to point this out. that when John speaks of
these young men as being strong, the one thing he mentions about
them is that the word of God abideth in them. How is it that
we are to grow? Well, we are to desire the sincere
milk of the word, as babes, that we may grow thereby. God has
given us his word, his written word, And this is our food, this
is what feeds us or the food that he's provided for us that
we may grow spiritually. And is it possible that an associate
of an apostle might be overcome with fear that he might give
in to this temptation? Yes, absolutely. And the same
thing could happen to any of us, to any child of God. And I want you to look at this
example, if you will, back in Psalm, in the Psalms, chapter
30. You know, the scripture says,
take heed, lest thinking you stand, you fall. In Psalm 30 and verse six, the
psalmist tells us his experience. He said, In my prosperity, I
said, I shall never be moved. What kind of prosperity? Well,
it might be material prosperity, but it might also be spiritual
prosperity. In my spiritual prosperity, experiencing
the grace of God, the presence of God in your heart and life
and in your prosperity, walking with the Lord, fellowshipping
with the Lord. He said, I said, I shall never
be moved. In other words, this is going
to continue on throughout the rest of my pilgrimage. I shall
never be moved. Lord, notice verse seven, Lord,
by thy favor, thou hast made my mountain to stand strong.
It was only by the grace of God. That's what favor is. God's unmerited
favor was only by the grace of God. God had made his mountain
to stand strong. God had caused him to walk in
prosperity. But notice next, thou didst hide
thy face, and I was troubled. All God has to do is just hide
his face. Thou hast hidden thy face, and
I was troubled. Well, we go on and see what David
did. He said, I cried to thee, O Lord,
and unto the Lord I made supplication. And that's what we should do
when we stumble and fall. We cry unto the Lord and make
our supplication unto him. What shall it profit, or what
profit is there in my blood when I shall go down to the pit? Shall
the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth? Hear,
O Lord, and have mercy upon me. Lord, be thou my helper. Be thou my helper. One thing that we know this morning
about Demas is that if he was a child of God, If he was one
that God had loved with an everlasting love, in spite of his weakness
that we may read about here, we know this, that he was not
separated from the love of God. Because nothing is able to separate
one of God's children from his love. So that's the first of
these seven that the apostle mentions, Demas. The last one
is a man by the name of Alexander. the coppersmith. He's the last
one. And Paul says in verse 14, that
he did me much evil. And Paul warns Timothy about
him. In verse 15, he said, of whom
be thou ware also. He did me much evil. And Timothy,
you beware of him rather. He hath greatly, notice For he
hath greatly withstood our words. Now Paul's words, and he says
our words, Timothy's words, the gospel, the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the gospel that Paul preached and Timothy preached,
this man, Alexander, had greatly withstood their words. And this may have reference to
the resurrection of of the dead, because we know that in 1st Timothy,
this man Alexander was associated with Hymenaeus. And Hymenaeus
was one who taught that the resurrection is past already. Now, when Paul
says that he greatly, greatly withstood our words, that means
the man did not have any sound arguments, the only way he could
He could withstand Paul, was with railings and blasphemous
words and things like that. But Timothy, you beware of Alexander. Now, here's some that he speaks
positive things about, and there are five of them. The first one
is Crescens, Titus, and Tychius. And they had all left Paul. These
three men had all left Paul, but not like Demas. Demas left
Paul, having loved this present world. But these three men, Crescens,
Titus, and Tychius, had left Paul to go and preach the gospel. One went to Galatia, one to Dalmatia,
and Tychius he sends to Ephesus. That's where Timothy was. And
Timothy, do thy diligence to come unto me. So Tychius is going
to take his place there in Ephesus. But all of these men went forth
to preach the gospel. What a blessing it is when God
calls men out of a congregation to preach the gospel. God blesses
a church when he calls one of the membership to preach the
gospel. That's our Lord's command, isn't
it? To go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. Whosoever believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Whosoever believeth not shall
be damned. When this life is over, and it
will soon be over for all of us, The one important thing is
our relationship to Jesus Christ. Our relationship to God and that's
only good, a good relationship to God through the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's no other way to know
God and to come to God other than through Jesus Christ our
Lord. What a blessing it is. for men
to go forth preaching the gospel. And that's what these three men,
they left Paul to preach the gospel. It's always a blessing.
You know, as a pastor, we hate to see anyone leave our congregation,
but when someone goes out preaching the gospel, we rejoice in that. When they leave to go somewhere
else to pastor or to be a missionary, God would use them and direct
them. What a blessing that is for a
local church. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
commanded us, you and I, to pray, to pray the Lord of the harvest.
It's His harvest. It's the Lord's harvest, and
He's the Lord of the harvest, but we are to pray Him that He
would thrust out laborers into the harvest. There's fields that
are white under harvest with no laborers. And so we are commanded
to pray the Lord of the harvest. And these men all went out preaching
the gospel. Now the next man that's mentioned
is Luke. Luke the physician. He was with
Paul. And this is the same Luke who
wrote, inspired of God, the gospel. that goes by that name and also
the book of Acts. When you think of our Bible without
the gospel of Luke, if we just had the three gospels, Matthew,
Mark, and John, we'd have everything that we need, but without the
gospel of Luke, we would miss so much. Much about the birth
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we learn from the gospel of Luke.
As I thought about this this past week, about Luke, the beloved
physician, that there's a verse in Luke
chapter 2. On the night the Lord Jesus Christ
was born, remember the angels appeared to those shepherds and
they said, under you a savior is born. And you'll find him
wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And they go
and they see this marvelous thing. What a marvel, right? That the
God-man was born into this world. But you know, there's a verse
there that says this about Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus. It says, Mary kept all these
things and pondered them in her heart. She kept these things
in her heart. Now, is it possible? It is possible
that Luke, he actually spoke with Mary. He actually spoke
with the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. And those things that
she had kept in her heart and pondered that she revealed to
Luke, much about the birth of John the Baptist, about the angels
that appeared, all of that in Luke chapter 1 and chapter 2,
she would have known. Was it possible she kept that
in her heart? And after the Lord Jesus Christ
was even crucified and Luke heard the gospel, that he came and
spoke with her and she revealed that which was in her heart.
And it was inspired of God. There's no question about that.
Everything that he wrote was inspired of God. We know that
he was a close associate with the apostle Paul. For his books,
Luke and Acts, those that he was used of God to write, for
them to be included in the canon of scripture, he had to have
been a close associate of an apostle. And about halfway through
the book of Acts, Luke begins to write, we, we, because he
was a companion of Paul. And we see here in the very,
end of Paul's life, or very near the end of his life, that Luke,
the physician, was with him. And then the last man who's named
here is Mark. And I'm thankful for this. I'm
thankful for this mentioning of John Mark. The apostle tells
Timothy, take Mark and bring him with thee. for he is profitable
to me for the ministry. Why does that excite me? Why does that encourage me? Because
I know from the word of God that what Paul writes here about John
Mark had not always been true. There was a time when Barnabas
and Paul would go on a second missionary journey And Barnabas
said, let's take John Mark with us. And Paul said, no, he's not
going with us. And the reason he said that is
because on the first missionary trip, he had departed from them. He would not go with them, the
scripture says, to the work. And the work, of course, was
preaching the gospel. He had deserted Barnabas and
Paul. And so on that second trip, Paul
said, no, we're not going to take him. And the dissension
was so great between these two men of God that Paul took Silas
and sailed in one direction and Barnabas took John Mark and went
in another direction. But now that's all forgiven and
all forgotten. Aren't you glad that God is merciful
and gracious to forgive? There's such a thing as a new
beginning, and I like a new beginning every day. Every morning, I like
a new beginning. The failures of yesterday, I
can't do anything about that. But this is a new day, and I'm
responsible for this day. You take Mark, Timothy, and you
bring him with you because he is profitable to me for the ministry. Well, the second thing I want
to call our attention to is what Paul told Timothy to bring with
him in verse 13. The cloak that I left at Troas
with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books,
but especially the parchment. He asked, first of all, for a
warmer cloak. A warmer cloak. Then he asked
for his books and the parchments. But you notice he says, especially
the parchments. And what was special about the
parchments? Well, the parchments evidently
refer to the books of the Old Testament because that's the
material upon which they would have been written. And what we
see here, what I see here is at the very end, or very close
to the end of Paul's life, he still was a reader. He still
studied the Word of God. You never outgrow God's Word. I don't care who you are. I don't
care how long you live. You never outgrow God's Word,
the need for God's Word. God has blessed his word. I'm
talking about his written word. Surely the word of God, the living
word of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. But in the written word
of God, we read about the living word of God. Paul told Timothy, be strong. in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. As believers, we have no strength
in ourselves. The grace is in Christ. Be strong,
Paul says, in the grace. But where is that grace? That
grace is in Christ. Full of grace and truth, John
tells us in the first chapter of his gospel. The Word became
flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as the only
begotten Son of God, full of grace and glory. We need grace
every day. We need strength every day. Where
is that going to be found? Are we going to look within ourselves
and that inner strength that man talks about today and brags
about today? Oh no, not if we are God's children. We're going to keep our eyes
on Christ, looking unto Him who is the author and the finisher
of our faith. That's where our strength comes
from. Paul says, you bring the cloak, you bring the books, and
you bring especially the parchments. Now it's interesting, let me
share this with you, it's interesting that the man that I believe God
used more than any other man to get the scriptures into our
language, into the English language, was William Tyndall. And William
Tyndall, at the end of his life, made a very similar request. 1535 was the year. He was shut
up in a castle prison in Belgium. And this is what he wrote. I
entreat your lordship, and that by the Lord Jesus, that if I
must remain here for the winter, you would beg the commissary
to be so kind as to send me, from the things of mine which
he has, a warmer cap. He needed a warmer cap. I feel
the cold painfully in my head. A warmer cloak, for the cloak
I have is very thin. He has a woolen shirt of mine,
if he will send it, but most of all, he asked for the cap
and the shirt, the cloak, but most of all, my Hebrew Bible,
my Hebrew Bible, grammar and vocabulary. that I may spend
my time in that pursuit. And we know in the next year
he was executed, he was martyred. How much do we owe to William
Tyndall that we have the Bible in English today? Many people
don't even know who he was and don't care. It's a shame, isn't
it? It's a shame. Well, here's the
third thing I want to point out, the faithfulness of the Lord
Jesus Christ in verses 16 through 18. Paul tells here of what I'll
call his first court appearance. He may have stood before Nero,
that may be who he refers to as the lion, but it could have
been some lesser judge. But the fact is there was no
believer There was no believer with him then at Rome brave enough
to stand with him. There was no one to go to be
a character witness for him or to support him in confessing
the truth of the gospel. But he doesn't condemn them.
He prays that this not be laid to their charge. Notice in 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. You know, in the letter of Romans,
he wrote this to believers, be not overcome of evil, recompense
no man evil for evil. And so we see he practices here. He doesn't condemn the fact that
no one stood with him. No other believer would stand
with him. He prays that it would not be
laid to their charge. But here's the point. He experienced
the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus has promised,
I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. That promise is given in
the Old Testament, I believe, on five different occasions to
five different believers. The first time to Joshua. But that promise is a promise
to all of God's children. He will never leave us nor forsake
us. The Lord Jesus told his disciples,
when they deliver you up, and that's what happened to Paul,
he was delivered up. He said, take no thought how
or what you shall speak, for it shall be given you in that
same hour what you shall say. The Lord stood with Paul. And
as we see here, as I mentioned just a little while ago, we have
no strength in ourself. He said, notwithstanding, the
Lord stood with me and strengthened me. He gave me the strength. He is my strength. That's what
the psalmist said. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Of whom shall I fear? The Lord
is the strength of my life. Not that he gives us strength.
He is the strength of our life. And then, again, I want you to
look at Paul's faith concerning his future in verse 18. 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. This is something that
every child of God may know with assurance today. He's not going
to leave us, He's not going to forsake us, He's going to preserve
us unto His heavenly kingdom. We're in His kingdom now, if
we've been born again. If we've been born of the Spirit
of God, we've entered into His kingdom. But it's not a kingdom
of this world, is it? It's a spiritual kingdom. And
Paul said, He's going to preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom
when He comes again. And his kingdom is manifest,
his heavenly kingdom. Every child of God, every believer
may have assurance and strong consolation that he's going to
preserve us and keep us. Faithful is he that calleth you
who will also do it. Have you been called as God called
you? using the gospel, called you
to faith in Jesus Christ. Faithful is he who hath called
you, who will also do it. He'll finish the work. And then
2 Thessalonians, he said, but the Lord is faithful, who shall
establish you and keep you from evil. Now this doesn't mean that
he would never experience any physical evil in this world,
but There would be no evil that would destroy him from every
evil work. There would be no evil work that
would destroy his faith and his relationship with the Lord Jesus. And notice how he closes his
letter with prayer for his dearly beloved son, the Lord Jesus Christ
be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Grace. is a word that every child of
God loves to hear. Grace is a truth that cheers
the hearts of God's people. For by grace are you saved. Think of that. For by grace are
you saved. That means without any merit
whatsoever. ever. On your part, the church's
part, the saints' part in heaven? No, no. For by grace and grace
alone are you saved. That is one of the most wonderful
truths and one of the most difficult things for us to believe and
to rest in. Most people always have something
they're looking back that they did or they're planning on doing. No, no. Get that all out of your
mind if you can. For by grace are you saved. It's God's grace. He saves sinners
on purpose and he saves us because he will save us. Believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Amen. We're going to sing this
hymn, Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe.