All right, we are going to be in an exposition of Second Timothy. We're continuing that exposition, and last time I was with you, we went through the introduction. And now we've started to move through the book, and we're going to get to our first seven verses tonight. But before we do, let's do a recap of our introduction to Second Timothy. The letter of Second Timothy was written by the apostle Paul to Timothy. He was writing to encourage Timothy to be a faithful servant of God amid opposition and not to shy away from the consequences of a faithful life to Christ. Paul was writing from prison and he knew that he was going to be executed. The traditional date of Paul's death, his martyrdom, was around 67 AD, so this letter was written around when Paul's life and ministry was coming to an end. Paul had discipled Timothy and wanted him to continue to preach the gospel, witness to the loss, and shepherd God's people. Paul also wanted Timothy to defend the gospel and God's people against false teaching. So Timothy was passing the church in Ephesus, and Ephesus was a prominent and wealthy city. Its economy was very strong and had a population of about 100,000 people. Ephesus was also known for the Temple of Artemis, which was one of the seven wonders of the world. And the cult and Temple of Artemis was the center of civic life. and religious life in Ephesus. Artemis was a Greek goddess who supposedly brought blessing to the city of Ephesus and championed chastity and cared for animals and helped people with childbirth. Emperor worship was also a practice common in Ephesus as well. So Paul wrote first Timothy to straighten out all the doctrinal errors in the church. He informed Timothy that he would be coming soon. However, as we know, Paul never made it to Timothy. A fire breaks out in Rome, and the Emperor Nero is blamed for the fire because Nero liked to build, so people were suspecting Nero who started the fire because he wanted to build new buildings, and Nero blamed the Christians, and this started a wide open persecution of Christians, and it is in this persecution that Paul is arrested, and he is going to be executed. There is no way he's making it out of this imprisonment. Not only that, the church in Ephesus was overwhelmed with false teachers at this time. So Paul writes to encourage Timothy to not back down and to have courage in the face of heavy persecution from Nero, the city's rejection of the true God and his gospel, and to stand against the false teachers that are in the church. So Timothy, In this position, he was surrounded by enemies inside of the church and outside of the church. And we see this in Second Timothy, chapter one, verses seven through eight. It reads, For God gave us a spirit, not a fear, but of power and love and self-control. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. So Paul also encourages Timothy that faithfulness is costly, and that he must embrace the cause for being faithful to God. And the reward for faithfulness is God himself, who is worth it all. So the whole point of the letter of 2 Timothy is this, what happens when you lose? So with that said, let's stand and pray and we'll read our scripture. Father, we come to you in a posture of thanksgiving and joy for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Because of your mercy and grace, we are not to love the world or the things in the world. For if anyone loves the world, we know that your love, Father, is not in them. For all that is in the world is the desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not from you, but from the world. Help us tonight to remember that the world is passing away, but those who do your will will abide forever. Father, keep us in remembrance what your love through Christ has bestowed upon us, that we are to be called the children of God. As your children, I pray that all of us would follow our Lord Christ Jesus in pursuing and practicing righteousness. Also, keep us alert to the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is soon to return, and may we live in anticipation each day when the heavens shall thunder with the roar of his return. May that anticipation, may that hope purify us as Christ is pure. And Father, may the faith that each one of us profess be sincere, real, and be sincere and real all to the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If anyone here does have a sincere faith, does not have a sincere faith, we pray that you will bestow your salvation upon them to the glory of Christ, amen. All right, so here's our text, 2 Timothy chapter one, verses one through seven. We have a lot of ground to cover, so I'm gonna be talking fast tonight. And it reads this, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, my beloved child, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve as did my ancestors with a clear conscience as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now I'm sure dwells in you as well. For this reason, I remind you to fan and to flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. Brothers and sisters, this is the word of God. Amen. Please be seated. D.L. Moody was preaching in Philadelphia one night and he noticed a young lady who was just locked on him while he was preaching. And so after the sermon, he went to talk to her because he noticed her undivided attention on him. And so he comes up to her and he asked her, are you a Christian? And she answered, no, I wish I was. I've been seeking Jesus for three years. Moody said, there must be some mistake. He says, she said, why, don't you believe me? Moody said, it doesn't take an anxious sinner three years to meet a willing savior. She replied, then what am I to do? Moody said, the matter is, you're trying to do something. You just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The woman said, oh, I am sick and tired of the word believe, believe, believe. Moody said, well, change the word from belief to trust. And she said, okay, if I say I'll trust him, will he save me? And Moody said, no, but if you will trust him, then he will save you. The woman replied, I do trust him, but I don't feel any better. Moody says, ah, I've got it now. You've been looking for feelings for three years, not for Jesus Christ. And beloved, this is a conversation about what is a sincere faith. And unfortunately today, if you ask many people, they would say that they're a Christian, even though, unfortunately in our day, ask anybody if they're a Christian, they'll say yes, because, because they acknowledge that God exists or because they had a feeling at one point in time, but such thinking is unbiblical and damnable to the soul. So the question is, what is a sincere, authentic, real faith? And Paul opens his letter to Timothy by answering that question because Timothy needed to be reminded and assured that his faith was real for the battle that's ahead of him. So this brings us to our first point, a sincere faith is born out of the will of God. Paul, an apostle of Christ, we're in 2 Timothy chapter one, verse one, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus. The letter of 2 Timothy, as we stated, was written to Timothy, but it is a personal letter, as we will see, but it is also a letter that will be read out loud to the Ephesian church. And the rationale for this is that because Timothy knows Paul, and he knows that Paul is already an apostle, so it would be an overstatement to say to Timothy that Paul is an apostle. However, Paul is establishing his authority as an apostle of Jesus Christ, so that means that the gospel that Paul preaches must be received. To reject Paul's apostleship is to reject his gospel, and to reject the message that Paul preaches is to reject his apostleship. We can see in 2 Timothy 4 verse 22, the very last word in the letter is plural in the Greek. It reads, the Lord be with your spirit, grace be with you. So we know this letter is gonna be read to the church in Ephesus, but it was very personal in nature directed to Timothy. So here in the first verse, Paul says that he was made an apostle by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus. As Paul is nearing the end of his life, there are things that are coming back to his remembrance. In verses three through five, Paul is remembering or being reminded of certain events that would encourage Timothy. And Paul is reminded of his own conversion and commission to the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Remember in Acts chapter nine, it reads, but Saul, still breathing out threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and enter the city and you will be told what you are to do. So beloved, this was not your common convergent story that you hear on Wednesday night service or on Sunday evening service, was it? There was no repentance of sin, there was no sorrow. Paul was on his way to lock up other Christians. He wasn't thinking of Jesus Christ at all, and the thoughts that he had about Christ was that Christ was his enemy. His salvation and commission were all of God and none of him. Paul prided himself as a covenant keeper, but Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus to reveal that, in fact, he is a covenant breaker. Christ had to break his pride. Paul was on his way going to persecute Christians, but Christ changed his direction. Paul was serving himself in the nation of Israel thinking that he was serving God, but Christ commissioned Paul to serve himself. Paul was telling Timothy that a sincere faith, a real faith, is always born out of the will of God. It is not from man or by man that someone has authentic faith. It is only from God. John Calvin says this, we always like to think of ourselves as resourceful, as having something of worth which should put God in our debt. Paul, on the other hand, in calling himself an apostle, does not beat his chest and boasts that he did it all by himself. He attributes everything to God's goodwill and pleasure. He is not concerned to ask whether he was better or fitter than others. He will have none of the credit which people normally take for themselves. He insists that he is not an apostle because he is deserved to be one, but because it was God's will. He thus denies us the right to boast about anything, which accords with what he says in each of his letters. He wants God alone to be visible always and everywhere, end quote. So God's conquest of grace upon his people follows this pattern. Our pride must be broken, our direction must be changed, and we are made to serve and to worship him. After the conquest of grace takes place in an individual, a new purpose is born in them, which is to serve and worship God alone. The Triune God becomes their all, and they are no longer the center of history. the truly converted comes to know the truth that all redemptive history centers upon Jesus Christ. So if your pride has not been broken, if your pride has not been broken, pride will always manifest itself as a focus on self, whether thinking too highly or too low of oneself. If your direction has not been changed, meaning you're not moving towards holiness, or you are on the same road of practicing sin as always, and if you have any other purpose for what you do at the center other than the glory of God, no matter how noble it may be, you may not have a sincere faith. And Paul was reminding Timothy that true faith is born out of the will of God. And this was important because Timothy is faced with opposition in the church and opposition outside the church. And perhaps Timothy would have started to wonder if he was doing something wrong. Maybe he needed to change his technique. Paul says, no, a sincere faith comes from God's will, not any technique that man comes up with. Don't resort to the false teacher's methods and ways to get results. Those results are not gonna produce a sincere, genuine, authentic faith in no one. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verses 17 and 19, Paul says, among them are Haminaeus and Philetus who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal, listen, the Lord knows those who are his. And let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. He's saying, Timothy, don't change your technique. Stay firm on the word of God. Paul says that his apostleship was according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus. And Paul tells Timothy that a sincere faith cannot come from anything or anyone other than in Christ because everything outside of Christ is dead. A sincere faith is born out of the will of God through the life that's in Jesus Christ. Paul wrote to Timothy in the first letter, in 1 Timothy chapter five verse six, she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives. Paul is referring, when he talks about the life in Christ, he's referring to his union with Christ. And no one receives union with Christ because they will it so. We receive union with Christ because God wills it so. We see this in Ephesians chapter two, verse one to two and verses eight to nine, and it reads, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air and the spirit that is at work in the sons of disobedience. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this, is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. For those who are not saved don't think God is waiting on you. He is not. You're waiting on him. And my exhortation is if you're not saved, I don't know who may be listening to this, cry out to God for your salvation. Paul goes on to encourage Timothy by telling him, further by telling him what a sincere faith is. The second thing, a sincere faith is a spiritual heritage from God. Second Timothy, chapter one, verses two through five, it reads, to Timothy, my beloved child, Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve as did my ancestors with a clear conscience as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you as well. Beloved, it is common in our day to say that you have a personal relationship with God, and if it is meant that you have an intimate relationship, that's fine, but intimate does not equal individual. A sincere faith has a spiritual heritage from God. We are placed in the household of God as one family. Paul's faith was not disconnected from the spiritual heritage of Israel. Paul understood that Christ was not starting a whole new faith. The sincere faith that Paul received is the fulfillment of all the promises to the covenant people of God, Israel. There is and always has been one people of God. In Acts chapter 26, verses 22 to 23, Paul says, to this day, I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass, that the Christ must suffer, and that by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles. In Galatians chapter 3, Paul writes, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And listen to this, and if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. Paul's clear conscience came from him not being a hypocrite and him being faithful to God through serving and loving his son, Christ Jesus. If any person's devotion to Christ swerves or begins to wane, their conscience will not be clear. They will be disturbed and troubled. And since Paul saw the blessed continuity between the old and new covenant people of God, he encourages Timothy by telling him that Timothy's sincere faith is connected to the covenant family, connected to the covenant people of God. And it is for this reason that Paul calls Timothy his beloved child. CRPC, we are not on an island alone. The New Testament faith that we enjoy, the new covenant, is connected to the old, and we have been engrafted into the people of God, into the Israel of God. And Paul understood that, that Christianity is not a new thing. Timothy, Paul saw Timothy as his beloved child because Timothy is part of God's covenant family. Timothy lived in Lystra prior to becoming a disciple of Christ and Paul's student. And Timothy's father was a Greek and his mother was a Jewish woman who was a believer. And when Paul heard about Timothy, Paul circumcised him and took Timothy with him to be trained for ministry. You can read this in Acts 16 1-3. Timothy was bold to proclaim the gospel. Perhaps Timothy heard Paul preaching and saw when Paul was stoned near to death during Paul's first visit in Lystra there. However, Paul still preached the gospel boldly and afterwards he strengthened a lot of the believers in Derby and Lystra. And so this might have had an impact on Timothy, and that is one of the reasons why Timothy was so bold. He saw Paul being stoned to death and still stood for the gospel. And you can read that in Acts chapter 14, verses 19 to 22. So Timothy's mother and grandmother were meeting in the letter of 2 Timothy. And Paul reminds Timothy that his sincere faith is shared with and passed down from his mother and grandmother. But it is interesting to notice his father was not mentioned by name. And it was not because his father was absent. It is that his father was not mentioned by name because he is not part of God's household. Paul was Timothy's spiritual father, and thankfully his mother and grandmother were connected to Timothy, not because of their biological ties, but for their sincere faith. Timothy, his mother, and grandmother shared a sincere faith, and that is why Lois and Eunice are named in the letter to Second Timothy. Paul, like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, understood that the true family are those in God's household. And we read this from our account of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Matthew 12, verses 46 to 50, when Christ said, it reads this. While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brother stood outside asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, who is my mother? And who are my brothers? And sent toward his disciples, he said, here are my mother and my brothers, for whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. In Galatians chapter six, Paul writes, and let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone. and especially to those who are of the household of faith. The spiritual heritage from a sincere faith is not just patriarchal either, beloved. It flows from the women as well. Paul mentions Eunice and Lois as examples of God rewarding their obedience to raise a godly seed. Godly mothers have an important, sacred, and redemptive job. They're used by God to reverse the curse upon mankind by raising a godly seed, as we see here with Timothy. And that promise was given to Eve after the fall. Do you remember that? When God promised the seed that would come crush the head of the serpent, it was the seed individual that is Christ who was gonna crush the head of the serpent, but there is a sense where there is a collective seed, that we are the victors in Christ. And ever since that day, there has been the seed of the woman against the seed of the serpent fighting one another. A sincere faith is born from the will of God and provides a spiritual heritage from God. For some Christians, their families are saved and there is a spiritual heritage within their biological family. And if that's you, beloved, then praise God. If your mother is saved, if your brothers or sisters or uncles are saved, you need to rejoice in Christ. However, for others, when they were brought to faith in Christ, they were separated from their families. Typically, it costs Christians to be in Christ. They lose their family, friends, jobs, you name it. Unfortunately, the church today is so consumed with embracing the world, they have forgotten to embrace those who are in Christ. When you do not value the household of God highly, when you treat the saints any kind of way while entertaining and siding with the world, that is a sign that you do not have a sincere faith. You want to examine whether you have a sincere faith? Look at how you treat the church. Look at how you treat God's people. And that is why Paul said this to Timothy, as I remember your tears, I long to see you that I may be filled with joy. Beloved, are you filled with joy when you come into the household of God and you see other saints? Or are you just waiting to run out of here and get to your worldly friends? That is a sure test of a sincere faith. How do you feel about the people of God? Are they your family? And that takes us to our final point. A sincere faith changes us to glorify God. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Paul says since you have a sincere faith that connected you to the household of God and that is born out of the will of God, then you must use the gift of God that accompanied the faith. You must act out the faith that you have been given or you will become unprofitable to the glory of God. Beloved, if you have faith in Christ, you have a spiritual gift that needs to be exercised. Don't sit on the sidelines. Get into the fight. Use the spiritual gift that God has for you to his glory. If you are a believer, you have a spiritual gift that you need to be exercising. So Paul then points Timothy to his ordination, reminding Timothy that a sincere faith comes with a charge to serve the Lord with the gift given with that faith. Paul says, do not abandon posts. You were approved, charged, and ordained for the work of ministry. And beloved, if you are saved, I said you have a spiritual gift, you too are charged to serve and worship God. First Timothy. First Timothy, Paul writes this, this charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with prophecy previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. Listen to this, by rejecting this, by rejecting the charge that Christ has on your life, he says, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hamanaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. Don't reject the work God has for you to do. Timothy needs to understand that if he abandons his post or if he swerves from the truths of Paul, Lois, and Eunice and the rest of the covenant people, he will be throwing away his spiritual heritage, fighting the will of God in faith. A sincere faith is one that has been approved and is in the long line of godly men and women that has gone before us. We are not just connected to Israel, the covenant people of God, but we are connected to the church triumphant with the people that has gone before us in heaven, listen, who shed their blood that we may sit here and learn the word of God. Beloved, we have a rich heritage. The Reformed faith has a rich heritage. It takes you back to the Puritans, to the Reformers, to the Apostolic Fathers, to the Apostles, to Christ, to Moses, to Abraham. Guess what? Right back to the garden. Let me take it a little bit further. It takes us back to the promise God made to Christ in eternity past. Don't let anybody make fun of the heritage you have. It's very rich. Beloved, our stream doesn't start in the 1940s. It doesn't start on Azusa Street. It goes all the way back to eternity past. That's the reform faith. Don't throw it away. Don't make a shipwreck of the faith. So Paul tells Timothy that a sincere faith changes us so that we don't get shipwrecked. It is the spirit of God that changes us so that we can glorify God, not to abandon him. He gives us a spirit of power, love, and self-control. We're about to tie up, beloved, hang in there. A sincere faith produces a power in us to live unto godliness. That's the power Paul was talking about. In 2 Timothy chapter three, verses one through five, he says, but understand this, that in the last days, there will come times of difficulty. And beloved, we are in the last days. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. We're here. This is where we live. having their appearance of godliness, but denying its power. And Paul says, avoid such people. He's not talking about the world, he's talking about the people in the church. A sincere faith produces a love towards God. God produces a love towards God and a love towards his people. 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5, the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. And we just read 2 Timothy 3, for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. But in Romans 12, Paul tells us what this love looks like. He says, let love be genuine. This is what true love looks like. He says, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal and be fervent in spirit. Beloved, if you don't have any zeal, that is a sure sign you don't have a sincere faith. Serve the Lord, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer, contribute to the needs of the saints, and seek to show hospitality. And finally, brothers and sisters, a sincere faith produces self-control. Now this word in the Greek means making to understand, making wise, and an admonition to do better. So in other words, Paul is saying grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and get this, help others to do the same. Don't leave your brothers and sisters where they are. 1 Timothy 4, verse 16, keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. 2 Timothy 2, verses 15 to 17, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. but avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. A sincere faith, beloved, is born out of the will of God. It provides a spiritual heritage, and it changes us that we may glorify God. So you say, that's great, man. What use is this for me in my life today? Well, I'm gonna close with John Calvin and let him have the last word. Calvin says this, hypocrisy is a vile corruption of God's service. It's a sacrilege. We should be all the more careful, therefore, to make sincerity and integrity our aim. Let each of us come, when we come to God, look within, forgetting the world of men and finally confessing it is God who must acknowledge me as his. Though all the world should applaud me and find no fault in me, if God, my heavenly judge, rejects me, what have I gained? When in the end we decide that our reputation counts for little unless our conscience is clear and we yearn to grow in godliness, when I say that is our aim and our purpose, our every service to God will be acceptable to him. Without it, all is smoke. We put on a superlative display in the eyes of men, but in God's eyes, it is filth and rottenness. That is what it means to have a clear conscience. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this evening. Thank you for your word. Thank you for Jesus Christ. Thank you for the faith that you have blessed us with through the death and resurrection of Christ. Father, help us to do all things to the glory of Christ. Help us to rest upon his work. Help us to have zeal and to be fervent, Father, to serve him and not to abandon our posts. Help us all here to have a sincere faith. Help it to be authentic and real. And Father, I pray that we'll have love for one another, love for you, Father, and for the Holy Spirit that dwell within us, and for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And Father, help us to live a life of worship this whole week. And we pray this all in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.