BE PERSISTENT TO THE END

MAY 5, 2013

• These instructions to Timothy are just as pertinent today as at the time they were given by Paul.
• This is what God is saying to us right now.

1. KEEP PROCLAIMING (2 TIMOTHY 4:1-4)

1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. NASB

Verse 1:

• Paul viewed the future heresy as the outgrowth of error already in the church in his time.
• The coming apostasy is a further stage in the deviation from the truth - the Word of God.
• Therefore he said to Timothy…. “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead,”

Verse 2:

• Timothy must not preach anything but the Word of God.
• Timothy was to proclaim the Word, to give it out, to earnestly proclaim the news initiated by Go before the public as a matter of great importance.
• It is not the abstract speculation of man.
• It is the true message of redemption in Christ,as it stands against false teaching.
• We should be ready to give out the Word of God at any time whether or not we are welcome or not.

The liberal has done more to do destroy the Christian faith than all other men who have attacked Christianity through all of the centuries. The liberal is the man who looks upon the Word of God as being filled with myths, and legends, and fables. The liberal is the man who looks upon Christ as being just one among many other teachers and philosophers and heroes and martyrs. The liberal is the man who looks upon God has being some indefinable first cause and who is dead.
     Why is it that the liberal has done more to destroy the Christian faith then all other men of all time?  Because if you were to meet a blaspheming infidel and he were to say, "God is dead," he wouldn't be surprised. If you were to meet a filthy bum, getting off of a freight train in a railroad yard and he were to say to you, "God is dead," you wouldn't be upset. If you were to meet, on Skid Row, a drunkard down in the gutter and he were to say, "God is dead," you wouldn't be disturbed. If you run into a dirty, bearded, Communist revolutionary and he were to say, "God is dead," you wouldn't be upset or disturbed. But when you see a learned seminary professor teaching in a divinity school and representing the Lord God of his faith, and he says, "God does not exist," You are amazed. You are overwhelmed, and most so because you stand in awe of his pseudo-scholasticism.
W. A. Criswell

Verse 3-4:

“Therefore improve the present time, when they will endure it. Be busy now, for it is seedtime; when the fields are white unto the harvest, put in the sickle, for the present gale of opportunity will be soon over. They will not endure sound doctrine. There will be those who will heap to themselves corrupt teachers, and will turn away their ears from the truth; and therefore secure as many as thou canst, that, when these storms and tempests do arise, they may be well fixed, and their apostasy may be prevented.”
Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible

2. KEEP THE FAITH (2 TIMOTHY 4:5-8)

5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. NASB

Verse 5:

• Timothy must be perfectly willing to bear ill-treatment whenever it is his lot to suffer, even rejoicing that he is counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ.

Verse 6:

• According to the law (Num 15:1-10), the drink offing was gradually poured out and was the final act of the entire sacrificial ceremony.
• This pictured the gradual ebbing away of Paul's life, the fact that he was presenting his life to God as an offering - his final sacrificial act.

Verse 7:


Act 20:24    "But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. NASB

"It had been in a fight against Satan; against the principalities and powers, the world-rulers of this darkness in the heavenlies; against Jewish and pagan vice and violence; against Judaism among the Galatians; against fanaticism among the Thessalonians; against contention, fornication, and litigation among the Corinthians; against incipient Gnosticism among the Ephesians and Colossians; against fightings without and fears within; and last but not least, against the law of sin and death operating within his own heart."
William Hendriksen’s Commentary on 2 Timothy

Verse 8:

James 1:12    Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. NASB

1 Peter 5:4    And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. NASB

Revelation 2:10c    Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. NASB

• Verses 6-7 expresses Paul’s faith (6) the present, (7) the past, and (8) the future.

3. KEEP HELPING (2 TIMOTHY 4:9-15)

9 Make every effort to come to me soon; 10 for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. 12 But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. 13 When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments. 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15 Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching.
NASB

Verse 9-10:

• Demas had been Paul's assistant in the Gospel-ministry (Philemon 24). Twice Paul had mentioned him along with Luke (Colossians 4:14; Philemon 25).
• Demas couldn't stand the heat, so he left Paul and went to Thessalonica, which was quite a distance.
• The original implies that Demas had abandoned and forsaken Paul because he had fallen in love with this present world.
• In contrast with Demas, we must believe that both Crescens and Titus had gone where duty called them.

Verse 11:

• Humanly speaking, Luke stood by Paul until the end. Spiritually speaking, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit was with Paul also.
• Paul needed a doctor and a friend, and Luke was both.

Verse 12:

• Paul sent Tychicus back to Ephesus because he was the pastor of the church there.
• During the first Roman imprisonment, Tychicus had been with Paul.
• He had been commissioned by Paul to carry the epistle to the Ephesians, the one to the Colossians, and probably also the one to Philemon.
• During the second Roman imprisonment, Paul finds that Tychicus is the logical person to send to Ephesus this second letter - 2 Timothy.
• In addition, Tychicus is also the right man to serve for a while as director of affairs in the churches of Asia Minor, as a substitute for Timothy during the latter's absence.

Verse 13:

• We see Paul making a request for his physical needs and perhaps gives us an insight into the conditions in the Roman prison.
• The cloak was a kind of blanket of coarse wool that was used as an outer garment to protect against the cold and rain. In had a hole in the middle for the head to pass through. There were no sleeves.
• Paul needed something to read, something for his mind.

Verse 14:

• Like Paul, when people do us wrong, we should not try to get even.
• We should leave it to the Lord to deal with them, that He will repay every slight done to His elect.

Verse 15:

• Paul warns Timothy to be on his guard - so that he will know what to do and to say if and when he should be confronted with Alexander.

4. KEEP TRUSTING (2 TIMOTHY 4:16-18)

16 At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. 17 But the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me, in order that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the lion's mouth. 18 The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. NASB

Verse 16:

• Although not a single person had presented himself as a witness for Paul's defense, Paul knew how to forgive!

Verse17:

• Paul was spared execution at that time. Paul had been enabled to declare the name of the Lord far and wide.

Verse18:

• The bible teaches that when we leave this body, we go straight to br with the Lord.