Let me invite you, if you have your Bible with you, to turn with me to the New Testament. And I'd like us to read in the second letter of Paul to Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 1. I didn't know that Pastor Smith would be leading into the next section of his studies in the adult class concerning the importance of the preaching of the Word of God, but in a sense he's laid the foundation for what I want to consider with you this morning. So let's read this first chapter of 2 Timothy. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, a beloved son. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears that I may be filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason, I also suffer these things, Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day. Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. This you know that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that day. And you know very well in how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus." Well, let us pray together before we turn to this passage. Our gracious God and our loving Heavenly Father, how we thank you that you are a God of grace and of mercy. We have been reminded of that grace and mercy extended to the patriarch Abraham and to John Newton and to countless numbers of others. And we are here this morning because of your grace and mercy. It is our desire not only to worship you, but to wait before you and to seek to hear your voice speaking to us. We thank you for this infallible word. We ask that the one who inspired the writers to write it will come to us now and grant unto us help as we read it, as we study it. And we pray that you will give us an understanding mind and a willing heart and an obedient will to do all that you call us to. We ask these things in our Savior's worthy and hallowed name. Amen. I think most of you are aware that the two letters to Timothy and the letter to Titus are generally known as the Pastoral Epistles because they're written by the Apostle Paul to young men who are just starting out on their pastoral ministry. I suppose most of us are more familiar with this second epistle to Timothy than we are with the other two. And many of you will know that there is a difference between 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy. There is a difference in dates. Something like five years have gone by since Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy, which was written around 6162 AD. This second letter is written probably around 68 AD, so the dates are different. The circumstances in which Paul is writing are different. When he writes the first letter to Timothy, it's with a great measure of freedom and liberty in his personal life. But when you read 2 Timothy, along with Philippians and Colossians and Ephesians, which in the strictest sense are known as the prison epistles because Paul is writing it, writing them, not even in the house arrest situation that you see him in at the end of the book of Acts. He's writing his letter as somebody who is imprisoned in Rome and he is conscious that he hasn't got much longer to live. William Hendrickson in his commentary says we must think of him in a dark, damp, dank dungeon with a hole in the roof to give him light and air. And you will notice, if you have your Bible in front of you, that Paul mentions to Timothy in chapter 1 and verse 16 that he is in chains. The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus. He often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. In chapter 2 and verse 9, he says, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains. So he's imprisoned. And many people regard this as his last letter just prior to his death. So he's coming to the end of his earthly ministry. He tells Timothy that he has finished the race that God has given him to run. He has fought the good fight. And now he is saying, the time of my departure has come. In other words, he is saying, my active ministry is almost over. He's gone through all the pressures, all the hardships, all the spiritual, mental, physical, emotional exhaustion that that kind of ministry entails. And yet, you will notice that he retains this tremendous concern for the gospel. that the purity of the gospel might be preserved. And the main purpose of the letter is to encourage Timothy in the ongoing work of this gospel. He wants to urge him. to keep on going on with this work and so he's going to lay down a number of guiding principles which will help him. Now all I want to do this morning is to look at some of the exhortations that he gives to Timothy to encourage him and then very briefly look at some of the reasons or the motives for those exhortations. Now, before we look at the exhortations, bear in mind the importance of considering a letter like this in the day and age in which we live. In the first place, when you look at a letter like this, it will remind you that Paul and Timothy were men of like passions, such as we are. These people that you read about in scripture, as Rob was pointing out with Abraham, these people didn't live in a vacuum. They didn't live in some kind of other world than our own. I sometimes think that as we read about them that we read as if they were kind of unreal characters. But one thing is true of all scriptural characters is that they are not fictitious. They are real people. So here is the apostle, an elderly Christian man. He's about to face more suffering and death. So the way he looks at these things, the way he faces them, and when you read how he does that, that can be a tremendous help to each and every one of us, whether you are young or old. Here is the apostle, he had his great disappointments. You see the kind of things that he went through as he refers to them in this letter. If you look at verse 15 of chapter 1, he says, This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me. All those who profess faith, many of whom owed their Christian life to the preaching of this man and to his sacrificial service, all those in Asia have turned away from me." You imagine the disappointment that must have been to him. In chapter 2 and verse 9, he says, I suffer trouble as an evildoer. In chapter 4 and verse 10, he says, Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world. In chapter 4 at verse 14, he says, Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. Now they are sobering statements. And they are reminding us of the kind of things that this man who is writing this letter went through in his own life and experience. Do you remember what he said to the Corinthian church? He says, of the Jews, five times I received 40 stripes, save one. Five times, he says. he received 39 stripes, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep, in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which comes upon me daily, the care of all the churches." We wouldn't have known half of those things had Paul not written and told the Corinthians about them. Yet here is the same man who is also able to say, in all these things, We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. So this is the man that's writing the letter. The recipient is Timothy. And Timothy is in the midst of opposition and persecution. He seems to be a naturally timid person with certain fears and anxieties about the future. Remember what Rob was saying to us earlier on in the reading. Here is Timothy, timid. He is experiencing personal, pastoral, painful opposition in the work of the gospel. So what is Paul saying to him to encourage him? Well, we're going to look at what he says. But what he says is a tremendous encouragement to any Christian who is seeking to live for God in the world in which we live. Paul says to Timothy, God has not given unto us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Timothy, don't be afraid. God has not given us a spirit of fear. So there is great help in remembering the basic humanity of these men of God. Another reason why we need to look at a letter like this is that there are distinct and striking parallels. between the days in which Paul and Timothy were living and the days in which we are living. The problems they face are very much the problems that we face. And you will notice in chapter 2 at verse 14 that he is showing us that in his day there was the repudiation of sound doctrine. Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. but shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their message will spread like a cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort. They have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past, and they have overthrown the faith of some." Now, that statement reminds us that there is nothing new under the sun. It was happening then, it's happening now. In chapter 3 and verse 8 he says, as Janus and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also, resist the truth, men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith. In chapter 4 and verse 3, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap to themselves teachers, and they will turn away their ears from the truth and be turned aside to fables. Now there have been parallels of those kind of things in almost every age of the Christian church, but none perhaps more so than the day in which we live. And those of you that know anything of the writings of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, you will remember that Spurgeon saw these things clearly well over a hundred years ago. He valiantly took his stand against the repudiation of sound doctrine. And there are many who say that that probably led to Spurgeon's early death at the age of 57. Because Spurgeon knew that there were ministers in the Baptist denomination in England, and they were denying the deity of Christ. They were renouncing the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. They denied the final judgment of those who die outside of Christ. And so what was happening is within the Baptist Union, men were setting aside the Bible. They were using their own reason to construct their own theology, and that theology had no moral absolutes. So Spurgeon published an article by a man named Robert Schindler. And Schindler said that these men were on a slippery slope or a downgrade away from essential evangelical doctrines. And so the whole controversy became known as the downgrade movement because they were described as being on this downgrade, this slippery slope away from true evangelical doctrine. Now Spurgeon said concerning that debate, I am willing, he said, to be eaten of dogs for the next 50 years, but the more distant future shall vindicate me. And so it did, and so it has. And we are living in days where we see the fruit and the consequences of those denials of the fundamentals of the word of God. And we have lived, some of us in our lifetime, where we've seen the doctrine of the humanity of Christ, the deity of Christ, the virgin birth of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the atonement of Christ. We have seen the doctrine of the Holy Spirit being abused. The doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture has been discarded. The doctrine of hell has been denigrated. We have lived to see the doctrine of preaching being regarded as out of date and irrelevant, the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone, some professing evangelicals now abandoning that and embracing the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification by works. And as sad as these things are, It's all the sadder because they are happening within the so-called professing evangelical church. And it is for this reason that Paul's letter is extremely helpful. How did the Apostle Paul deal with that kind of situation in his day? And he is the paradigm, the model, if you like, for us to follow. So there was the repudiation of sound doctrine, there was the general declension in the lives of professing Christians. I've already mentioned in chapter 1 and verse 15, he says, all those who are in Asia have turned away from me. In chapter 3, at the beginning of the chapter, as the church is becoming more established and advancing in the world, there were those who having made a profession of faith were not continuing. Either like Demas, they loved this present world too much, or they couldn't stand the persecution that came with the gospel, or they had not been fully grounded in the faith, and consequently, they were an easy target for the enemy. Now, these kind of things were happening then. They are happening now. People who make a profession of faith, then they turn back or they turn aside, and they become unfaithful, and you can see them fizzling out and becoming nothing, and it can break the heart of the Lord's people. It causes a great deal of sadness and distress. Now, the way in which this letter is a help is to be found in the one answer that Paul gives to Timothy for each and every situation like that. And the answer is in two words. It is sound doctrine. In chapter 1 and verse 3, he says, hold on to sound doctrine. Hold fast the pattern of sound words. In chapter 2 and verse 2, teach sound doctrine. The things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. In chapter 3 and verse 14, abide in sound doctrine. You must continue in the things that you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you've learned them. And then in chapter 4, preach sound doctrine, preach the word. Be ready in season, out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. Here is the picture. Here is the aged apostle. He is about to go to glory. Here is the young pastor Timothy. These are the circumstances in which he is living. These are the situations that he will have to face. So what is Paul saying to him? It's almost, you can almost imagine, or I can anyway, you can imagine a great steamship a transatlantic liner, and here is the aged apostle, and he's at the side of the deck, he's watching over the wreck. There are all the people saying farewell. And as this great ship is coming away from the dockside, from the quay, here is Paul shouting to Timothy, exhorting Timothy, Timothy, whatever else you do, guard the gospel. Guard the gospel. Lay hold of the gospel. Now that is the keynote of the letter. He conjures up, does he not, in the letter the picture of the Greek Olympic Games and he's saying to Timothy, Timothy, I am handing over the torch to you in this race and you must take it and you must carry it and you must take the torch forward. And then in chapter 2 he says, the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit those to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. So you begin to see the tremendous sense of history that the Apostle has. He's not living for the present day. He's living his life with these eternal dimensions in view. He has this great sense of history. Notice what he's saying to Timothy. Timothy, I have received this gospel. Says the same kind of thing to the Corinthians and to the Galatians. I have received from the Lord. This is not my gospel. This is not something that I have devised. This is something that came from the Lord Jesus himself. And so he's now concerned that this gospel, which was entrusted to him, should be held in trust by Timothy. And that Timothy should entrust it to faithful men, who in turn will entrust it to other faithful men. So Paul is saying, I heard it from Christ. And Timothy, you heard it from me. Now, Timothy, you must entrust it to reliable men who, in turn, will entrust it to others. So here is Paul's great sense of history, this great burden for the future of the gospel, that the undistorted Word of God, in all its breadth and fullness, it should be applied to every situation, every circumstance that future generations find themselves in. Now I would suggest to you that that is foundational and it is fundamental in the Christian life. Is there going to be opposition in the work of God from the cults and from atheism and from secular materialism and from Islam and from ecumenism and from rampant godliness? How are you going to deal with that kind of opposition? Paul is saying you must garrison your heart, Timothy, with the great doctrines of grace, the absolute sovereignty of God in creation, in providence, and in salvation. that He is the God of the impossible. He is the God of revival. Do you have to face personal problems? Do you have personal anxiety within your own life and the life of your family? Do you have distress? Do you have bereavement that you have to face? Do you have to suffer tragedy? And which of us doesn't have that kind of thing? Well, then he's saying to Timothy, Timothy, lay hold of the sound doctrines of the eternal security of the believer, the glorious hope of the gospel, the resurrection of the dead, the life everlasting, all of these things you must lay hold of in your times of personal anxiety. Are you looking forward to serving Christ in an ungodly world? And you're thinking that you would like to witness for Him, you would like to evangelize for Him, and yet you feel overwhelmed by all the odds that are against you. Well, what does Paul say? Paul says, lay hold of the sound doctrine of the person and of the work of the Holy Spirit. You need His presence, you need His provision, you need His power. The Holy Spirit is there. So do you begin to see what Paul is saying? And I really do trust that you see how crucial all of this is. Whatever the situation or circumstances, he is saying you must learn to meet them, not in your own strength, not with your own wisdom and your own ideas. But you must lay hold of the weapon of the sound doctrine of the Word of God. And the key verse in this whole letter is chapter 3 and verse 16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable, and that word and is not just a connective word. It is more than that. What Paul is saying, he's laying a stress. And he is saying, basically, the more a man is convinced of the inspiration of Scripture, then the more he will recognize its profitability for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness, and so on. When you read these kind of things, you can't help but sense the note of urgency in what Paul is saying. And it's a great reminder to us, you know, that time is of the essence. If we want to see churches being built up, if we want to see new churches being established, if we are going to try and stem the surging tides of heresy and of lawlessness and anarchy in the day in which we live, then what do we need? There is a crying need for pastors and preachers to recover a greater faith in the divine word that they have been commissioned to preach. As we were reminded earlier, preaching is the weapon above all others which has been given by God. It is mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. So the preaching of the word has to be the priority, and that's the message of 2 Timothy. So that as Christians and as pastors, we must never forget that this is the greatest need of every generation. That is why we are exhorted to earnestly contend for the faith. And the Word of God, says Timothy, is all scripture. Now, how important that is for the days in which we live. Last Wednesday evening we read in 1 Samuel 3 that in those days the Word of God was scarce. In Proverbs 29 and verse 18 it says that where there is no vision, the people perish. And in that context in Proverbs, the vision refers to the prophetic word of God. It refers to divine instruction. Now we are living in days where there is no vision, there is no living word being preached. Throughout the vast United States of America and in Europe and in many other countries, there are millions of people who have hardly any ministry of the Word of God at all. Either there is this oppressive darkness of Islam or Romanism, and sometimes that's a darkness that is palpable, you can feel it if you visit those countries, or there is the deadening influence of secularism and materialism which has no place for a god of any kind. So in vast areas of the United States, God is being robbed of his glory because there is no vision. There is no living ministry of the word of God. So that you and I are being called upon to live and to worship and to serve God in a day when millions of people are living in total isolation from true worship. Now remember that this country, the United Kingdom, and other countries in Europe, they are some of the most enlightened and privileged countries in the world. And there is no vision. And the people perish. The NIV translates it, the people cast off restraint. And that is what you see happening in the Western world. Each man does that which is right in his own eyes, and there is no concern for moral absolutes. No recognition of authority. A famine of the Word of God. And in many churches, anything and everything but the Word of God is being brought before the people. And week after week after week, the hungry sheep look up and they're not being fed. They're being entertained. They're having their ears tickled with things of no spiritual value or benefit to them. That is why this letter is so important. Because the church situation in our day is desperate. And the overall purpose that Paul has in writing this letter is born out of his concern to see the Gospel being proclaimed. Now that ought to be the concern of every Christian. It ought to be the concern of every minister of the Word of God. What are we doing? We are laying a foundation for those who will follow. Teach these to faithful men, who in turn will be able to teach others also. and if you are going to teach them an adulterated gospel. What in heaven's name will they teach their children, and what will they teach their children, and what will the end result be? So here is Paul saying to Timothy, hold on to all scripture. He's in Rome, he's awaiting trial, he knows that the outcome of that trial is going to be that he will be put to death. So he gives himself unreservedly to Timothy. He says, Timothy, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, it's coming to the end of the earthly race. Christianity in Rome was a threat. It was illegal to associate with Christians. Rome has been burned and Nero has blamed the Christians. Peter has been crucified. The church is about to experience one of the bitterest periods of persecution in their history. The blood of many Christians would be spilt, including that of the apostle. So the letter is not written in isolation from what is happening in the real world. He's writing to a situation where believers are living among those who are hostile to everything that they believe in and to everything that they stood for. And Paul is saying, Timothy, you will discover in your experience what I have found in mine, that to be engaged in the work of the gospel can be one of the loneliest things in the world. And many of the loneliest people in the world are those people who stand steadfastly for the truth of the word of God. If you want to read about loneliness, read the life of Spurgeon, read the life of Dr. Lloyd-Jones. You will see that these men were the loneliest men in their day. And to be involved in the work of the gospel can produce the most bitter and hellish reactions from both men and devils. And if Timothy is going to continue, he says, you will have the reproach of the world. You will have to go outside the camp like the Lord Jesus in order to bear that reproach. So it's not going to be easy, Timothy. But the work of the gospel must go on. It must continue. Now, with that overall context, look at the exhortations. First of all, in verse 6, he reminds Timothy of his gifts and his calling. Therefore, he says, I remind you. to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands." Now, the gift of God referred to here seems to be a reference to the divine endowment which came at Timothy's ordination. And that's what Paul is recalling. You find mention of it in 1 Timothy chapter 1. This charge I commit to you, my son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage a good warfare. And in 1 Timothy 4, don't neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. In other words, he's saying, Timothy, remember that men of God, at your ordination, they spoke the word of God. probably laying before this young man all that was involved in the work of the ministry before they laid hands on him. And Paul is saying, Timothy, I want you to remember that day. Remember the things that were spoken. Remember how you felt when you first started out as a pastor in the work of God. Well, let's go back to the memory with the children. Do you remember when you were first converted? Do you remember how you felt when you had the assurance that your sins were forgiven? Do you remember how you felt about Christ, how you felt about the Bible? Do you remember how you felt about serving Christ, that you wanted to do something for the Lord? Do you remember the excitement? Do you remember the zeal that you had? Well, with the passing of the years, it's easy to forget those feelings. The most dangerous place, says Great Heart, is forgetful green. And because of forgetfulness, we can lose our zeal, and we can forget the promises that we made, and we can forget the hopes that we cherished as we were being launched into the work of God. And sometimes there are seasons of discouragement, and the flame dies down. And what Paul is saying to Timothy, Timothy, the gift remains. The flame may die down, but the gift is there. It is within you. And so he urges him, stir up that gift. Literally, he's saying, fan it into a flame. Keep it at white heat. I think the Greek literally means rekindle it. Kind of word that you use to describe the action of breaking up a fire that has been banked up and the air vent is closed. And the first thing that you do when you come into the room, you stir it up. And in no time, the flames are leaping into the air, the fire is giving light and warmth. Now the fire wasn't out, but it wasn't getting air and it wasn't giving heat. And it had to be disturbed in order to make it fulfill its true function. And so Paul is saying to Timothy and to us, in your spiritual life, there will be times when your zeal will die down, but the fire can never go out. But it does die down, and you need to stir it into a flame. Well, how is he to do that? In 1 Timothy 4 and verse 15, he says to Timothy, meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. In other words, think, Timothy, of everything that you have in Christ. Think of all that you are in Christ. And when that reminder of all that God is and all that He has done to you, when that takes hold of your soul again, you'll be stirred up by the wonder of it all. Isn't that what the psalmist says? While I was musing, while I was thinking, he says, the fire burned as I thought about these things. Psalm 45, my heart is indicting a good matter. He's touching the things concerning the king. And as he's thinking about those things, his heart is welling up within him. So Timothy Paul is saying, your whole attitude to your calling, to your commission as a Christian, to your commission as a preacher, it must be such that you have an enthusiasm about it. Be enthused about who you are and what you are doing. Not the kind of manufactured enthusiasm which doesn't really ring true. but the kind of vibrancy we were thinking of in the adult classes, that enthusiasm which flows from a burning heart. And Paul knew that the message was true and it was valid. Even if nobody else believed it, he believed it. So he says, you have that same conviction. The second exhortation in verse eight, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. We've already touched on this. Rob touched on it. I've touched on it. Reminding us that the work of the gospel is costly. The temptation comes to us all at some time to take lower ground. in your place of work, in your home, in your dealings with your family, and so on. The temptation will come to you to take lower ground. Don't stick by your principles. Avoid the difficulties. Escape the consequences of being strong on this. The devil will come to you and tell you to spare yourself. And if you spare yourself, you will avoid the trouble, you will avoid the heartache. Isn't that what Abraham was doing with Abimelech? And one of the biggest problems in the Christian ministry is that you can be tempted to take a lower ground. Or you can be tempted to be discouraged. And so when you're discouraged as a Christian, your thinking becomes confused. And what happens when your thinking becomes confused, then you are beginning to govern your life, not by your theology, which is your grasp of the truth, but you're governing your life by your feelings. And Satan will come to you and he will see to it that you feel that you are a failure. And he will try to make you ashamed because of the apparent lack of any fruit in your life or the apparent lack of any conversions that are going on in your witness and your service. And at such times we have to remember that Christ has said, I will build my church and the powers of hell will not prevail against it. And through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord said, I am watching over my own word in order to perform it. And if you lay hold of those truths, it will help you not to be ashamed. There will be isolation and loneliness. Not many were standing in Timothy's day and not many are standing in ours. And some of you go home and you're in families where you're the only Christian. And many of you go to work tomorrow and you're the only Christian. And one of the great problems in that kind of a situation is that you can feel intimidated. and you are regarded by the world. Because of your views and because of your convictions, they regard you as being mentally unbalanced, or they will say that you're very narrow, you're very rigid, you're very puritanical, and so on. If that doesn't happen, then very often what can happen is that you just feel that you are irrelevant. What relevance are you in the world in which they live? What relevance do Reformed Baptists have in America? Very relevant. And there are those people who will patronize us. Of course, these fundamentalists who believe that the Bible is the word of God. Well, none of us like to be patronized, but that's what happens. So what is the answer? Paul says to Timothy, Timothy, do not be ashamed. Do not be ashamed. Whoever confesses me before men says, Our Lord, I will confess before my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I also will deny before my Father in heaven. And Paul writes to the church in Rome and he says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. And he's writing here to Timothy, God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. In other words, Timothy, you have to learn to take a stand boldly for the truth. You must earnestly contend for the faith. And it's easy to be overwhelmed into silence, by all the critics and the modernists and those people who would debunk the gospel. Don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed. And then the third exhortation in verse 13, hold fast the form of sound words. There is a body of truth which has been once delivered to the saints. Jude refers to it as the faith. In other words, there is a form, there is a pattern, there is a ground plan. It has pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that perish. There is a body of truth that we are called upon to uphold and we are not to neglect it as many people are in the churches today. How many services for worship are convened today and the word of God is not even read? We are not to adulterate the Word of God. We are not to dilute the Word of God, as is being done today. We are called upon to proclaim and to declare the whole counsel of God. This book is the sound Word of God, and we are to have faith in this Word, and we are to have faith in the God of this Word. And I believe that Spurgeon's greatest legacy was his own firm belief and confidence in the entire word of God. You can't help but get that when you read Spurgeon's sermons. Listen to what James Denny in a sermon on the temptation of our Lord speaks of. When he speaks of our Lord's refusal to use methods which appeal to the senses, he says this, How little Jesus had of all the churches are tempted to trust in now. How little there is in the Gospels about methods and apparatus. We may well believe that he would look with more than amazement upon the importance which many of his disciples now attach to such things. He spoke the word unto them, that was all. The trust of the church in other things is really a distrust of the truth and unwillingness to believe that its power lies in itself. a desire to have something more irresistible than truth, to plead truth's cause, and all of these are modes of atheism. It is not only a mistake, but a sin to trust attractions for the ear and the eye, and to draw people to the church by the same methods by which they are drawn to a place of entertainment. What the evangelist calls the word, the spiritual truth, the message of the father and his kingdom, spoken in the spirit, enforced by the spirit, told by faith and heard by faith, is our only real resource. And we must not be ashamed of its simplicity. And Denny says that the church is doing this. They want something more irresistible than truth to plead truth's cause. So we'll get a converted baseball player. And if they won't listen to the preaching, they'll listen to this man. Or we'll get this particular band. And if they won't listen to the preaching, then they'll listen to something more irresistible than truth to plead the cause of truth. And that is a great problem in the churches today. And Paul is saying to Timothy, don't give way to anything else than the preaching of the Word of God. In an age and in a generation that is swept up its feet by drama and music and dance and mime, where mature, so-called mature people are behaving like overgrown school children in the worship of God. What we must never forget, it is the law of the Lord that converts the soul. Thy word is the lamp unto my feet and the lamp unto my path. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. Now we have to ask ourselves, even in this church, do we believe in the word of God to that extent? Are we content to let the word of God do its own work? Look at what Paul says in verse 9. God has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began. There is what the gospel is all about, says Paul. These are the saving truths. The eternal sovereignty of God. the eternal decrees of God, the electing grace of God, the Spirit's callings, the preserving, the persevering, the keeping power of the Holy Spirit. Here are the great doctrines of God. And Paul is saying, these are the things that you are to earnestly contend for and hold fast. So our concern, surely, as a church, is to establish people, young and old, firmly in the sound words of Scripture. And this is what pastors are called upon to preach. When we come into this pulpit, we are not called upon to preach what is pleasant to our hearers. We are called upon to preach what is true to Almighty God, because it is the truth of God that sets men free. It is this Word of God that shakes the gates of hell. It was this Word of God that brought life and light from the dark ages. It is the Word of God that the Reformers and the Puritans and the Covenanters in Scotland stood for and they preached. And if you were to go to some of the places in Scotland where they went and stood, they didn't go out into the moors in the cold and the sleet and the wind and the rain and stand for hours to listen to some milk and water preaching. They went there to hear the exposition of the Word of God. They didn't want some kind of diluted, soulless homily. They wanted the Word of God. And the great need, surely, of our day and generation is a return to and a recovery of the whole message of Scripture. And men like the Reformers and Spurgeon maintained, and this is basic and it is fundamental, that Christ and the Scriptures are inseparable. They are inseparable. So much so that it is only in and through the Scriptures that Christ can be known. Therefore, if we are going to communicate a whole Christ And if we are going to mediate a whole salvation, then a whole Bible is necessary. Why? Because Christ is to be found in all the scriptures. In all the scriptures and in all its parts, our master's voice is to be heard. And Jesus said, search these scriptures. In them you think that you have eternal life. These are they which testify of me. That is why Paul urges Timothy, hold fast. to the form of sound words. And then his last exhortation in verse 14, that good thing which was committed to you, keep. So our responsibility as a church is not only to preach the gospel, but to safeguard the gospel. We each have a responsibility to see that the gospel is preserved from one generation to another. Keep it. And that word keep is a particular word that is used in scripture for shepherds. There were shepherds in the field keeping their sheep. It's the same word that you find in Acts 12 where Peter was in prison and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And so Paul is saying to Timothy, keep the word of God, guard it, safeguard it. Why is he exhorting him to do this? Because of those people who would rob him of it. Those humanists who say that man is the center of things. Man is the monarch of everything that he sees and to his right there is no one who can dispute. And so you have the humanistic philosophies of the 70s and 80s and the coming home with a vengeance, coming home to rust with a vengeance in the day in which we live. You have those people who are rationalists, who would explain away all the miraculous elements of the gospel. You've got false teachers who would add to the gospel. They would say that it is a gospel of good works. And the Reformers and the Puritans stood against these things, many of them to the cost of their lives. We have to deal with the cults. We have to deal with the isms. They're all on the march, they're all dominant, they're all strident. We have to deal in so-called evangelicalism with an easy believism. We are surrounded by entertainment evangelism. There are men who go off as Christian clowns. One of our young men, a few years ago, went to preach in a church further north from here, and the song leader was an Elvis impersonator, dressed as Elvis Presley, every Sunday, leading the worship. That's the kind of climate in which we are living. And then you have misguided believers who are taken on with the gifts of utterance and prophecy, that if you accept what they are saying, then you deny the sufficiency of scripture. And so they want to put aside doctrine. They say, well, our great interest, our great concern is evangelism, and it is ecumenism. We must all come together as churches. Well, love and fellowship can never be entered into at the expense of truth. And the enemy is all around us, more now than ever before. There is this concerted effort on the part of the powers of darkness to rob Christians of the glorious gospel altogether. That is why Paul is saying to Timothy, as the ship leaves the landing stage, Timothy, guard it! Guard the gospel! Keep it! And if that word was necessary then, how much more necessary today? So these are the exhortations. Stir up the gift of God, don't be ashamed, hold fast the form of sound words, keep that good thing which was committed to you. Now briefly look at the reasons. In verse five he says, remember your heritage. I remember your mother and I remember your grandmother. And Timothy, I am reminding you of your mother and your grandmother. Remember your upbringing. Remember those people who have gone before. Timothy was converted during Paul's first missionary journey, less than 20 years after our Lord's death. It is probable that his grandmother was one of those believers who were looking for the coming of Christ. She was a pre-Pentecostal believer. Maybe she was distressed to see her daughter marry an unbeliever. But there she is in the background, and she's continuing to pray. And eventually, praying for her daughter and for her grandson, Eunice and Timothy are converted. And Paul is saying, Timothy, I want you to remember that. And there are some of you, you were converted, and you thought you came from a non-Christian home. And then when you're converted, somebody says to you, oh yeah, I remember your grandmother used to believe what you believe. Or your grandfather used to believe those things. And you begin to discover that way back, somebody had been praying. Isn't it Pastor Smith who was bringing to us the list of Jonathan Edwards' descendants who had come to faith in Christ? I had two very good friends in the Christian, one was in the Christian ministry, one was a deacon in Northern Ireland. They were one of six sons. Their father was a pastor. Their father said to a friend of mine when he was dying on his deathbed, I would die happy, he said, if I knew that one of my sons was following Christ. And after he died, the six of them came to faith in Christ. And one of them was the pastor of the largest congregation in the United Kingdom. Never give up hope for your children, but remember your forebears. Remember the lives of those who have gone before. Remember those who have suffered and bled and died in order that you might have this gospel. Even when it meant ridicule and ostracism, remember them. And then he says, remember the things that cannot change. Look at what he says in verse 9 to verse 11. about the glorious truths of the gospel. These are the unchanging truths of the gospel. He has saved us, called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, according to his own purpose and grace, given to us before time began, now revealed by the appearing of our Savior, whose abolished death brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. These are the glorious truths that never change. I've been 45, I think 45 years in the Christian ministry, and the changes that I have seen in worship, in evangelism, in missionary outreach, in churches, in seminaries, and so on. Changes in evangelicalism, where men now are denying the very things that they once stood for, and how quickly the changes come about. And very often you're forced to say with the Chimray to change and decay in all around I see. But Paul is saying to Timothy, Timothy remember the things that never change. Remember that the basic needs of men and women never change. Never forget that. Doesn't matter how sophisticated they may be, doesn't matter how well educated they may be, it doesn't matter all the advances in technology and in living standards, despite all the wonders of this modern world, despite all the achievements of this modern world, men and women and boys and girls are still sinners. That never changes. And the grace of God in salvation never changes. The unmerited favor of God. Christ is still the only Redeemer of God's elect. That never changes. Justification is by faith alone, in Christ alone, through grace alone. That never changes. It is a constant abiding truth. So from eternity to eternity, hear the glorious dimensions of this glorious gospel. Now, Timothy, always remember that. When you are discouraged, when you are downhearted, remember the things that never change. Ultimately, they can never overcome you. Under the shadow of thy throne, thy saints have dwelt secure. Sufficient is thine arm alone, and our defense is always sure. God never changes. His compassions are new every morning. Our message to this world is just the same. Look at verse 10. This is the message to the modern American. Christ has abolished death. What is the thing they don't want to speak about most of all? They don't want to speak about death. Don't be morbid. Don't be gloomy. Don't want to talk about death during our coffee break. And don't speak about my death. You can speak about the death of your life, but don't speak about my death. Well, here is a glorious message by people who are terrified of death. Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light for all who will believe. It is a glorious message of life and immortality and hope, and that is what we are to proclaim, says Paul. Earnestly contend for this faith. Be a herald of God. Your pastors come into this pulpit and we are not barristers. We are not defending God's reputation. And I trust we are not barrow boys either. We're not selling something at cut price. We're the heralds of God, proclaiming the whole counsel of God. Who wouldn't be a Christian? Who wouldn't be a Christian? And then finally he says, this is his third motive in verse 12, remember he says, that day, that day. There is a day of accountability, there is a day of reckoning, there is a day of judgment, there is a day of reward, and there is a day of loss. Every man's work shall be made manifest. Why? The day will declare it. It is required of stewards that they be found faithful against that day. You must build upon the foundation that you have received, remembering that you must give an account. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one of us may receive the things done in the body according to that which we have done, whether it is good or bad. And that day will reveal everything in its true light, It will also reveal everything in its fullest glory. He will be seen. He will be vindicated. Every knee, Richard Dawkins including, every knee will bow to him on that day. And the glory, the unbearable and we shall enter in to be with him. No more heartache, no more sorrow, no more sin, no more fear, no more intimidation. We should be like him, and we should be with him. forever and forever. Well, may God help us to stir up this gift and be true in our day as Paul and Timothy were in theirs. Let's bow together in prayer. Oh Lord, we bow before the solemnity and yet the challenge of your word. We do thank you for this church, for these people. We thank you for this pulpit, We thank you for your word, and we ask that it might please you to visit us by the power of your Holy Spirit, that we may see something that Edwards and Flavel and McChain saw of the times of refreshing from the hand of the Lord, where there may be many who are saved through the preaching of this word. and where we may all be built up in our most holy faith to be a strong church, a vibrant church, a church that will be able to make inroads into the kingdom of darkness. Hear our prayers. Bless us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.