If you will turn in your Bibles
today to 2 Timothy chapter 1. Lord willing, next few Sunday
mornings I trust to bring messages to us from this second letter
of Timothy. Today we'll be looking at verses
1 through 7. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, according to the promise of life which
is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace,
mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve for
my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance
of thee in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see
thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy.
When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee,
which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, And
I'm persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance
that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the
putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us a spirit
of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. The history, the inspired history
of the early church is given to us in the book of Acts. And
it ends with the Apostle Paul as a prisoner in Rome. The last
two verses in Acts chapter 28 read, And Paul dwelt two whole
years in his own hired house, and received all that came in
unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things
which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no
man forbidding him. So that inspired history. There's
many histories of the church, and I encourage you to read a
good church history book, but we only have one that's inspired
by God the Holy Spirit. And it ends with the Apostle
Paul as a prisoner, and yet he was living in his own hired or
rented house, and he received men and women into his house
and preached the gospel to them. But many believe that Paul was
released from that imprisonment and that he was once again allowed
to travel. Some believe he was able to go
as far west as into Spain, even preaching the gospel, and then
brought again as a prisoner to Rome. We know this, that this
letter, 2 Timothy, was the last of his inspired letters, and
it was written from prison, and it was written near the end of
his life in this world. If you look in chapter 4 and
verse 16, he makes the statement here, or verses 4 and 6, the time of
my departure is at hand. He knew that his life in this
world was almost ended. You know, letter writing has
changed over the years, and we see one change immediately, and
that is, when we write a letter, we usually attach our name to
the end of the letter. sincerely yours, and then we
sign our name. But letters, as they were written
at this time, the letter writer, he placed his name first. And
so this letter begins, Paul. Paul. When he wrote to Philemon,
his letter to Philemon, which was written earlier than this
letter, in it he spoke of himself as being Paul the Aged. In other words, Paul, the older
person. And he writes this letter from
prison as an older man, and he calls Timothy his dearly beloved
son. Timothy, we know, was not his
son naturally. He was his son in the faith,
that he was converted under the ministry of the apostle Paul. And I'm just mentioning some
things to us before I come to my outline. But this is the last
time that Paul ever referred to himself, at least in writing,
as an apostle. You know, it begins Paul, an
apostle. If you keep your places here,
but turn back with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter
15. Beginning in verse 3, I want
to read a few verses here. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures. He didn't die as an example.
He died as a sacrifice. As a sacrifice, as a propitiation,
as an atonement. And he died as a sacrifice for
our sins, that is, the sins of his people. And that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
All of this, these three things, his death, his burial, his resurrection,
had all been foretold. It all took place according to
the scriptures, that is, according to the Old Testament Word of
God. And then in verse five, in that
he was seen of Cephas, that's Peter, after his resurrection,
he was seen of Peter, then of the 12. After that, he was seen
of above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain
under this present, but some are fallen asleep. Now, if there's
any doubt, the apostle Paul is saying, any doubt, any question
as to the truthfulness of his resurrection, there are men alive
As he writes to these Corinthians, there are men alive today still
you could speak to, who will testify, who will witness, because
they saw the risen Lord. Now notice, after that he was
seen of James, then of all the apostles, and last of all. Now
this is one of the requirements for a person to be an apostle. He had to be an eyewitness. He had to have seen the resurrected
Christ. We've never seen the resurrected
Christ except by faith. This is one of the reasons that
we know today there are apostles no longer, because this is one
of the requirements for an apostle. And there are no apostles today
as those 12 apostles. The word apostle means messenger. Christ is called an apostle in
Hebrews 3 and verse 1. Consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession. Yes, there are men who are messengers
who are sent of God. But there's only those men who
saw the Lord and were commissioned by the Lord, saw the resurrected
Christ and were commissioned by the Lord to preach the gospel,
who were qualified as apostles. And all of the New Testament,
let me just say this, all of the New Testament, for any of
these letters to be considered and to be added into the canon
of the scriptures, They had to be written by an apostle or someone
affiliated with an apostle to qualify, to go into the canon
so that we may feel confident today, you and I, that we have
the inspired Word of God. I know you know that. I know
you've heard that. But let that just sink in. Think about that. In your hands
this morning you are holding the Word of the Living God, the
Word which He has intended for us. We believe that all of the
Word of God and the original manuscripts were inspired by
God the Holy Spirit. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. Now, we know we do not have any
of the original manuscripts, but what we do have, we're confident,
were copied from those manuscripts. What a blessing to think of the
God of heaven, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ giving
us his word. If you had a personal letter
from the president, any man who's ever been president of the United
States of America, you would cherish that letter, wouldn't
you? Because of the historical value
and because of the office that man held. How much more? Those of us today who have the
word of God, His word, His holy word. But notice what Paul says. He
said, For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to
be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am
what I am, and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not
in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but
the grace of God which was with me. You notice in verse 8 when
he said, And last of all, he was seen of me also as of one
born out of due time. Those words, one born out of
due times, they actually literally mean an abortion, an abortive
birth. Now we hear the word abortion
quite a bit in our day, and who would have ever thought Who would
have ever thought there would be men and women running for
the office of President of the United States who would be running,
bragging about the fact that they are all for abortions? Who would have ever thought that?
I sure wouldn't have, growing up. I would have never dreamt
that there would be a man or woman who would stand up in public
and say, I'm for abortion even if it means the selection of
the sex. My wife, if a woman gets pregnant
and I'm having a girl, they tell me it's going to be a girl and
I want a boy, then I'm for eliminating, aborting the child. Who would
have ever thought that? We live in degenerate times,
my friends. We really do. And that's what
our Lord said, wasn't it? As it was in the days of Noah,
so shall it be in the days when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come
again. Why would Paul use that term
in reference to himself? Well, there's several ideas that
are given to us, but I believe we have to understand it in the
light of the next verse, where he said, for I am the least of
the apostles, the least of the apostles, as one born before
its time. Today, we might refer to this
as a preemie. I believe that's the word they
use, a preemie, born before the full term. so that the baby is
not fully formed, fully developed as it would be if it was carried
to full term. Now Paul uses that to show his
humility when he says, for I am the least of the apostles, the
very least of the apostles. And I just remind us that's what
the amazing grace of God does for a person. Taking a man like
the Apostle Paul, who Saul of Tarsus was a self-righteous Pharisee. He saw himself as obeying the
law of God, standing before God, but now after the grace of God
has come to him and apprehended him and saved him, the least
of the apostles, the very least of the apostles. He's now turned
into an humble servant of Christ. Now, if you will, turn back to
2 Timothy, and I want to call our attention to four things
in these seven verses. First of all, the person of Christ
Jesus the Lord, verses 1 and 2. Paul, an apostle of Jesus
Christ, by the will of God according to the promise of life which
is in Christ Jesus to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace,
mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Do you get the idea in reading
those two verses that for the Apostle Paul, the Lord Jesus
Christ was the most important person to him? He wasn't a person who was very
important. Now, there's men and women across
the country, and there may be some of you here today. And you
might respond, well, he's very important to me. But is he all
important? Is he all important? He was to
Paul. He was all important to him.
When you look at these two verses, And as they are translated in
our Bibles today, there are 41 words in those two verses, and
yet the Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned three times. Three
times. It goes without saying that the
person of Jesus Christ, that he is the subject of all the
scriptures. Of all the scriptures. No matter
if you begin in Genesis and come all the way through the Old Testament,
and go through the New Testament, search the scriptures, he told
the Jews. Search the scriptures. And that
word search is to go into them like a person that is in a mine,
mining for gold or silver. It doesn't mean just casually
read the word of God. Search the scriptures, for in
them you think you have eternal life, but they are they which
testify of me. All the scripture they had was
the Old Testament. They are they which testify of
me, and you will not come to me that you might have life. The Word of God, all the Word
of God, is a revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, the Lord revealed
Himself to Saul of Tarsus many years before this. He conquered
him. And I like that word that Paul
uses in his letter to the Philippians when he says, he apprehended
me, for whom I was apprehended. Just like the long, they call
it the long arm of the law. You can run, but you can't hide. We're going to find you. And
I tell you, Paul saw himself as one of God's lost sheep, one
of God's chosen, who was running, who was hiding, who was doing
everything he could against Christ, against his church, and to touch
one of his members, one of his believers is to touch him. Remember
he said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? He was in heaven, but
he was persecuting his members, members of his body. Why persecutest
thou me? But the Lord apprehended him.
The Lord found him. The Lord knew where he was. You
know, when the Lord called to Adam that day in the garden,
Adam, where art thou? He wasn't asking for information,
was he? He knew. And God has followed
his people all through their lives. But there comes a time
when he reveals himself, he calls them by his sovereign spirit,
by the grace of God. Paul refers to this in Galatians
when he said, but when it pleased God. When is a person saved? When it pleases God. When it
pleases God. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb, he was chosen in eternity,
separated me from my mother's womb, And call me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the
heathen. Grace always begins with God. It doesn't begin with man. It
always begins with God. It's His grace. God's grace found
out Saul, apprehended him. And from that moment on, when
he was apprehended by Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ became
to him all important. All important. Not just very
important. Not, I can just take it or leave
it or anything like that. No, Christ is all to me. That's what he's saying here.
The second thing that I call our attention to is this. the
promise of life which is in Christ Jesus. Notice that in verse one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God, according to the promise of life which
is in Christ Jesus. Now what do we know about this
promise? This promise of life? We'll turn
over just a few more pages into the letter of Titus, the next
book in the New Testament, Titus chapter 1. And we see a couple
of things here that we know about this promise. In Titus chapter 1 and verse
2, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised
before the world began. Now we see two things here about
this promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus. We know that
this promise is God's promise. God's promise. And the apostle
points this out to us about God. He cannot lie. He cannot change. In other words, God's purpose,
God's promise is going to be accomplished. That's just so. He cannot lie. He cannot change. You and I, we may tell someone
something and we have every intention of fulfilling our word and we
should. We should when we say something.
But things may change, things may happen that will hinder us
and keep us from fulfilling our word. That never will happen
with God. Never will. God who can't, this promise of
life in Christ Jesus is God's promise and God Cannot lie. And the second thing we see here,
this promise is made before the foundation of the world. It was
made before the world began. Well, you say, well, I was not
around. I was not around. No, but he
was. Christ was. Now, he had not become
incarnate until a little over 2000 years ago when he was born
into this world, my friends, but in the purpose of God, He
was set up first. First. He is God's first elect. And then others were chosen in
Him. And He promised, the Father promised
in that eternal covenant, the covenant of peace, He promised
life in Christ and Christ promised that He would come as the surety
for His people. He would come as the surety for
His people, so then God looked to Him. God looked to the surety,
to Christ. He's the surety of the better
covenant, we read in Hebrews, the new covenant. God looked
to Him. to do everything that is necessary,
that is required for the salvation of His people. He's the surety
of better covenant. This promise of eternal life
is in Christ. Turn over to 1 John chapter 5
just a moment. Almost at the very end of this
letter, 1 John chapter 5 and verse 20, And I love the way
the Apostle John writes in this letter when he says so many times,
and we know, and we know. This is not doubtful, this is
not up for debate. And we know, notice verse 20. And we know that the Son of God
has come and hath given us an understanding If He had not come,
we would never have had any understanding. We would never have had any understanding
of the truth about God, that we may know Him. He's giving
us an understanding that we may know Him, that is true. And we
are in Him, that is true. Even in His Son, Jesus Christ,
this This is the true God and eternal life. The promise of
eternal life in Christ. And God has given us this understanding
that we might know Him that is true. And we are in Him that
is true. Even in His Son, Jesus Christ,
this is the true God and eternal life. He that hath the Son hath
life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Notice in our text it says, or
in this passage in Titus, in hope of eternal life. Do you have this morning, do
you have hope of eternal life? Do you? Do you have hope of eternal
life? You know, the Bible speaks about
a good hope. That tells me there's some people
who have a bad hope. A good hope through grace, the
apostle said. If your hope of eternal life
is based on anything that you have done, that you are doing,
or that you trust before you die, you shall do, you have a
bad hope. You have a bad hope. My hope, as the songwriter said,
my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. All other ground is sinking sand. A good hope through grace. And
that good hope is found in the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now here's a third thing I want
to point out to us in these verses. The unfeigned faith Paul was
persuaded that was in Timothy. In verses three through five, we read, I thank God whom I serve from my
forefathers with pure conscience and without ceasing. I have remembrance
of thee in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see
thee, being mindful of thy tears. Evidently, when they had parted
the last time, Timothy had shed many tears." Sometimes it's sad
saying goodbye, isn't it? It's sad. Here's two men who
loved the Lord, loved each other, loved the worship of God, the
service of God, and they had to part. And so there were tears
shed. Paul said, being mindful of thy
tears, that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance
the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy
grandmother, Lois, and thy mother, Eunice. And I'm persuaded that
in thee also. The word feign means to give
a false impression, to pretend. Timothy, his mother, and grandmother
confessed faith in Jesus Christ, and Paul was persuaded that their
faith was not feigned. It was real. It was unfeigned
faith. Now, some people believe that
his grandmother and his mother may have been in Jerusalem on
the day of Pentecost, that they may have been part of the 3,000
who were saved on that day. We really don't know. We do know
there were people from this area where they lived who were in
Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, and there were people saved out
of many areas, we're told there. But Paul was persuaded that their
faith was unfeigned. Now, this persuasion that Paul
had, how could he have that persuasion? that their faith was unfeigned,
that there are people who have feigned faith, but their faith
was unfeigned. It was real. He had to have that
by observation. By observation, he had observed
their life, their way of living. They witnessed their faith. It
wasn't something they just put on on Sunday morning when they
went to church. It was their life. Their faith
was witnessed in their way of living, their lifestyle. If you look with me in Philippians
chapter two, And look at what he writes here about Timothy. No wonder he was persuaded that
his faith was not feigned. It was unfeigned faith. Here
in second chapter of Philippians, verse 19. He said, but I trust in the Lord
Jesus to send Timotheus or Timothy shortly unto you, that I also
may be of good comfort when I know your state. Now notice, for I
have no man like minded. I have no man, no man like Timothy,
like minded who will naturally care for your state. for all
seek their own." That is the people he had with him at that
particular time. He said, I've got one man, and
that's Timothy, who is like-minded, and he will naturally care for
your state. He's not there to receive from
you. He's there to give to you. Witness and preach and teach
the truth about Christ for your welfare, for your good. He's
not there to see how much he can get from you. But notice the next verse. But you know the proof of him
that as a son with the father, he has served with me in the
gospel. Him, therefore, I hope to send
presently so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But
I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. Paul was persuaded that his faith,
like his mother's and like his grandmother's, was unfeigned
faith. And I say he was persuaded of
that by his testimony, by his witness, by his life. As James
said, you show me your faith without your works and I'll show
you my faith by my works. You know, grace doesn't run in
the blood, does it? In the bloodline. Grace doesn't
run father to son, grandmother to mother to son. It doesn't
run in the bloodline. But it's also true that God has
placed many of his chosen in families of his people. And many of those who are saved
are saved from families where the Father and the mother were
saved, but not everyone, that's for sure. And not every parent,
not every mother, not every father necessarily has a child that
God is going to save. We all want our children to be
saved. We all do, I know that. Only
be natural. Not only our children, but others. That's God. That's his work,
isn't it? Not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Well, I'm
going to stop here, but the fourth thing is the need. He tells Timothy,
now you stir up the gift that is in you. That shows responsibility,
doesn't it? You stir that gift up. And there
are several thoughts as to what gift the apostle is speaking
of, but the important point is every one of us here today who
are saved, we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. He lives
in us. Our bodies are his temples. We
have the responsibility to stir up that gift. How do you do that? Prayer, reading the word of God,
meditating upon the word of God, worshiping like we are here today,
and by use, by use, by practicing and using the gift that the Lord
has given unto us. I trust the Lord will bless these
thoughts and words that I brought to us here this morning. And
the Lord willing, as we are able in the next few weeks to go through
the second letter of Timothy. Now let's end our service today
singing number 296.