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Tabernacle Tidbit - 2 Timothy 4:16 · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  This is a Tabernacle tidbit, a bite sized Tabernacle talk of 5
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  minutes or less to help you get through your day when you only
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  have a little bit of time. We hope this helps you to know
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  Christ, groan His Word, and show His love to others.
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  Let's get started. Welcome back to Tabernacle
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  Tidbits. Today we are in Second Timothy
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  chapter 4 and verse #16 we're going through the apostle Paul's
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  last letter, if you will, kind of his last will and testament
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  that he writes to his son in the faith, Timothy.
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  It's the last letter we have of his before he dies.
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  And he tells Timothy this in Second Timothy 4 and verse 16.
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  Here at the end of the letter, he says, at my first defense, no
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  one stood by me, but everyone deserted me.
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  May it not be counted against them?
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  Going to read that one more time.
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  At my first offense no one stood by me, but everyone deserted me.
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  May it not be counted against them Here as Timothy is recall
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  or sorry, not Timothy. As Paul is recalling to Timothy,
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  he says this when I was here on trial before Nero in Rome, I'm
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  giving a defense of why I have appealed to Caesar, why I am
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  imprisoned here in Rome. And when I gave the answer for
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  why I was there, he says there were there were no other
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  Christians that were with me at that point.
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  He says no one stood by me, but everyone deserted me.
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  They all left. They they separated connection
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  with me, if you will. They they abandoned me.
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  For many of us, that might be where we end the verse when we
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  have times where maybe we needed a friend, we needed someone who
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  would be that moral support for us.
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  We needed that encouragement and people were just gone.
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  And so we would say with Paul, when I needed people, no one
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  stood with me, but everyone deserted me and that would be
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  where we would end. But then I love what Paul says
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  at the end of the verse. He says may it not be counted
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  against them. He says I don't want other
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  people here for counted against them.
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  This is like determined by mathematical process to to
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  reckon, to calculate, to estimate or to give careful
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  thought to a matter that there wouldn't be that anyone would
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  think a certain way of someone or be of the opinion about
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  someone. He says I don't, even though I
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  was abandoned by people, I don't want that to be what defines
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  them. He says all of us have tough
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  days, all of us have times where we should be stepping up and we
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  shy away. But Paul says, I don't want you,
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  Timothy, and I don't even want the Lord to hold it against
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  these people for having, if you will, an off day for having a
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  time of failure. Now, this is a different Paul
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  than we interacted with in the book of Acts when John Mark
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  abandoned Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey,
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  that then on the second missionary journey, Barnabas
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  wants to bring John Mark again with him.
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  And Paul says no, he abandoned this once, he'll do it again.
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  And so he even separates from Barnabas, not just John Mark,
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  and he goes with Silas on the second missionary journey.
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  And I think it is amazing now that Paul has reached a point of
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  maturity in his life where he doesn't have to have vengeance
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  for every act of sin and failure and betrayal that people have
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  against him. That is a spirit of God.
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  Change inside of a person for your eye.
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  We might not be there yet, but I want you to know that looking at
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  Paul's life, this wasn't always who Paul was.
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  And so that can give us hope that God can change you and I,
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  that we don't have to be angry, vindictive, vengeful people who
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  always have to get even with someone else, but God can spark
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  forgiveness in us. That just like Jesus on the
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  cross said, Father, forgive them because they don't know what
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  they're doing. Just like Stephen being stoned
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  at the feet of Paul as the religious leaders of the day
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  were killing Stephen for what he said about Jesus and Stephen
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  looking up and seeing Jesus, Enthrone said, forgive them
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  because they don't know what they're doing here.
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  Paul says, these people that wronged me, they should have
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  stood by me. They should have not abandoned
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  me, he says. But I don't want it to be
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  counted against them. I don't want people's opinions
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  of these people. I don't want people's opinions
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  of these individuals to be any less because of what they've
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  done, he says. I have loved and I've forgiven
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  them. And if you will, I'm not going
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  to stand on the witness stand of other people's life and say,
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  yes, look at these people, they failed, they messed up.
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  And so, you know, throw the book at him.
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  He says I'm not going to do that for you and I today.
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  Will We choose to walk in forgiveness that we're not going
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  to hold a grudge against someone else, but we are going to
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  operate with the love and forgiveness that Jesus has for
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  us. Hoe that would be an
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  encouragement to you today. See you next time.