Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Shackled, Deserted, but Still Undaunted Msg 2222

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Shackled, Deserted, but Still Undaunted Msg 2222 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: It was the prophet Isaiah who said, as the rains
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Speaker 1: come down in the snow from heaven, and return not
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Speaker 1: but water the earth, and make it bring forth in
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Speaker 1: bud that it may give seed to the sore and
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Speaker 1: bread to the eater. So shall my word be, which
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Speaker 1: goes forth out of my mouth. It shall never never
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Speaker 1: return void, that is empty a purpose, but it shall
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Speaker 1: accomplish that for which I have scent it. It's a
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Speaker 1: great promise every time we open the word of God,
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Speaker 1: to know that it will never return empty, it will
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Speaker 1: accomplish the purpose for which it was given. Please turn,
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Speaker 1: if you will, to several sections of Second Timothy Second Timothy,
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Speaker 1: as we conclude our study in the life and times
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Speaker 1: of Paul, which has been quite a searching study. Say
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Speaker 1: the least we come to the very moving final words
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Speaker 1: that he wrote, and we'll learn about where he wrote
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Speaker 1: them in a few moments, and something of what he
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Speaker 1: said to his friend Timothy. Let me read several sections
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Speaker 1: of Tewod Timothy, beginning in chapter one, verse one, Paul
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Speaker 1: an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God
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Speaker 1: according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus to Timothy,
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Speaker 1: my beloved son, grace, mercy and peace from God the
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Speaker 1: Father and Christ Jesus, our Lord. I thank God, whom
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Speaker 1: I served with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did,
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Speaker 1: as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day,
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Speaker 1: longing to see you, even as I recall your tears,
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Speaker 1: so that I may be filled with joy Verse fifteen,
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Speaker 1: same chapter. You are aware of the fact that all
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Speaker 1: who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom
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Speaker 1: are Fijellous and Homogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the
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Speaker 1: house of Onocipharus, for he often refreshed me and was
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Speaker 1: not ashamed of my chains. But when he was in Rome,
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Speaker 1: he eagerly searched for me and found me. The Lord
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Speaker 1: grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on
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Speaker 1: that day, and you know very well what services he
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Speaker 1: rendered at Ephesus. You, therefore, my son, be strong in
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Speaker 1: the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which
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Speaker 1: you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses.
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Speaker 1: Entrust these to faithful men who will be able to
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Speaker 1: teach others also suffer hardship with me as a good
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Speaker 1: soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service, entangles
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Speaker 1: himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he
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Speaker 1: may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
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Speaker 1: Chapter three, verse one. But realize this that in the
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Speaker 1: last days, difficult times will come, for men will be
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Speaker 1: lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient
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Speaker 1: to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious, gossips without self control,
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Speaker 1: brutal haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure,
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Speaker 1: rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of
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Speaker 1: godliness although they have denied its power. Avoid such men
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Speaker 1: as these. And finally, the first five verses of chapter four,
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Speaker 1: I solemnly charge you, in the presence of God and
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Speaker 1: of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and
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Speaker 1: the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach
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Speaker 1: the word. Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke,
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Speaker 1: exhort with great patience and instruction, For the time will
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Speaker 1: come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting
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Speaker 1: to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves
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Speaker 1: teachers and accordance to their own desires, and will turn
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Speaker 1: away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside
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Speaker 1: to myths. But you be sober in all things, endure hardship,
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Speaker 1: do the work of an evangelist, fulfilled your ministry. What
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Speaker 1: a privilege it is, our father, to have this Bible
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Speaker 1: open in our lap, written in our own language, carefully
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Speaker 1: and professionally bound in a book that we can carry
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Speaker 1: with us. How easy to forget that there are blood
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Speaker 1: stains across time from those who gave their lives for
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Speaker 1: its truths, martyrs in every generation, all the way back
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Speaker 1: and beyond the first generation. What a pleasure it has
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Speaker 1: been to study the life of one of them. How
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Speaker 1: easy it is for us, in a comfortable place like this,
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Speaker 1: with plenty of food, and our refrigerators food left over,
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Speaker 1: and restaurants where we eat plenty of our needs met,
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Speaker 1: in fact most of them, to imagine life as it
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Speaker 1: must have been lived in a dungeon, as this man
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Speaker 1: took up his final stylus to write words to his
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Speaker 1: friend Timothy. It's good for us, our father, to be
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Speaker 1: exposed to such truth. It's good for us to move
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Speaker 1: to a period not our own, in a place where
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Speaker 1: most of us will never be, to imagine life as
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Speaker 1: it was, and to glean the application of these things
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Speaker 1: written to one man, but meant for the whole world.
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Speaker 1: Help us this day, our father, on the heels of
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Speaker 1: a wonderful holiday, to listen unusually well to the proclamation
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Speaker 1: of the truth. Guide my lips guard me from exaggeration
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Speaker 1: or inaccuracy, so that truth might be spoken and truth
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Speaker 1: might be applied. Some come today with very heavy hearts,
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Speaker 1: dragging with them the anchors of a life marked by compromise, failure,
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Speaker 1: sin habits that still go on. Thank you for your
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Speaker 1: compassion that is new every morning, for your love and
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Speaker 1: your mercy, And most of all, with that in mind,
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Speaker 1: thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for the hope
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Speaker 1: there is in the thought that it is never too
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Speaker 1: late to start doing what is right. Help those who
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Speaker 1: come today doing wrong, to leave with clear consciences forgiven
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Speaker 1: hearts that they might do right. Thank you for power
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Speaker 1: that's beside our own, power that's outside our own strength
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Speaker 1: to endure conflict and hardship, not the least of which
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Speaker 1: is standing as we should in a world that's lost
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Speaker 1: its way. Without being freaks, without becoming extremists, without losing
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Speaker 1: control on balance, kindness, grace. May we live our father
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Speaker 1: according to another drumbeat. Lest the world around us squeeze
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Speaker 1: us into its mold. Help us to have a good
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Speaker 1: filtering system so that we are able to discern truth
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Speaker 1: from error without being witch hunters. May we discern where
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Speaker 1: there is in fact evil present, and maybe do battle
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Speaker 1: against it through the power of your spirit. There are
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Speaker 1: some attending schools where it is difficult to live for Christ.
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Speaker 1: I pray for them today. I pray that you would
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Speaker 1: help them students and faculty alike, that their lives may
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Speaker 1: reflect your standard, that their lives may be modeling your truths.
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Speaker 1: I pray for homemakers today who are about the home,
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Speaker 1: doing the work that is so vital in this world.
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Speaker 1: I pray that you would lift that you would elevate
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Speaker 1: their sense of dignity and significance. You would remind them
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Speaker 1: of their investment and the importance of their lives. Thank You.
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Speaker 1: For those who earn living in difficulty, where the demands
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Speaker 1: are heavy the requirements severe, I pray that you would
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Speaker 1: help them to do well in the pressure, that you
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Speaker 1: would sustain them carefully. I pray for those men and
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Speaker 1: women who serve in the military today, and for the
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Speaker 1: families of such, I pray that you would give a
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Speaker 1: special amount of comfort and encouragement. Thank you for the
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Speaker 1: news we hear that this phase of the war seems
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Speaker 1: to have been accomplished. Now give us patience, give us strength,
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Speaker 1: give us discernment as we proceed in areas where it
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Speaker 1: must be dealt with. We pray as well for those
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Speaker 1: who command these troops, for those in the Joint chiefs
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Speaker 1: of staff, where decisions are made causing ships to move
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Speaker 1: into areas and troops to maneuver in areas of harm's way.
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Speaker 1: I pray for those who serve alongside the President and
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Speaker 1: in the shadows and the wings of the Oval office,
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Speaker 1: that you would give them discernment, care, guidance, wisdom, that
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Speaker 1: they might give the right words to those who are
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Speaker 1: in the place of making the best decisions. Thank you
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Speaker 1: for our church, for these core values that have become
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Speaker 1: increasingly more important to us as our history is turning
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Speaker 1: now from months into years. I pray that we will
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Speaker 1: be careful to model these things that we have written.
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Speaker 1: Thank you today for the holiday we have recently enjoyed,
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Speaker 1: for the giving of thanks or many blessings. Now, our Father,
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Speaker 1: we thank you for or the privilege the honor of
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Speaker 1: giving to your work. I pray that you will be
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Speaker 1: pleased in the motive behind the gift, as well as
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Speaker 1: the gift itself, that you would sustain this work for
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Speaker 1: your greater glory because of the devotion of these who
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Speaker 1: give joyfully and generously. And may this final visit in
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Speaker 1: the life of Paul touch us deeply so that we
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Speaker 1: do not remain the same. Change our hearts, Oh God,
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Speaker 1: make us ever new, mold us into ones like Christ,
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Speaker 1: even as Paul lived his life. Now this time of
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Speaker 1: worship Lord is yours, and we quietly sit before you
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Speaker 1: as we ponder our lives and prepare our elves for
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Speaker 1: the proclamation of the Word in Jesus' blessed name. We pray,
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Speaker 1: and everyone said amen. Most who travel to Rome missed
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Speaker 1: the most important site. Certainly those who are Christians who
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Speaker 1: don't know where to find it will be disappointed when
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Speaker 1: they have left and hadn't visited it. But you have
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Speaker 1: to understand the place is not in any of the
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Speaker 1: tourist brochures. There are no original works of art that
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Speaker 1: hang in a gallery in the place. No sculptured statues
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Speaker 1: that are there to make it beautiful. In fact, it
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Speaker 1: isn't beautiful at all. It's not only unattractive. There's a
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Speaker 1: stench down there. It smells of time and sweat and blood.
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Speaker 1: The stones are black with age, and not many can
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Speaker 1: get in there. It's too small, but it's there, nevertheless,
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Speaker 1: that rock walled dungeon, where Paul spent his last hours
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Speaker 1: and in which he wrote the letter that today we
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Speaker 1: know is two. Timothy Hans Fencil, in his fine book
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Speaker 1: Empowered Leaders, writes of the dungeon in the Mamertine Prison.
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Speaker 1: In these words, any visitor to Rome learns immediately that
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Speaker 1: Saint Peter's Church is at the center of the city's attraction.
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Speaker 1: Like magnets, the Vatican, Saint Peter's Basilica and the beautiful
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Speaker 1: museums that surround it draw millions to the ancient city
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Speaker 1: each year. Fenzil says, I've visited Vatican Square towards Saint
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Speaker 1: Peter's Cathedral and spent half a day in the Vatican Museum.
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Speaker 1: I was especially impressed with the works of Michelangelo in
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Speaker 1: the Sistine Chapel. However, what inspired me most about my
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Speaker 1: visit to Rome. Happened after I left those great buildings
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Speaker 1: and that rich history. As impressive as they are, there
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Speaker 1: was something more special in store. On an obscure side street,
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Speaker 1: a few kilometers from the Vatican, there was a small
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Speaker 1: building thought to house the prison cell where Paul spent
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Speaker 1: his final days. Whether it is actually his prison cell
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Speaker 1: or not is of course debatable. We climbed down into
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Speaker 1: this cramped hole beneath the ground and spent about half
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Speaker 1: hour in the dark cell hold, damp and musty. A
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Speaker 1: small grate in the ceiling allowed a little daylight to
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Speaker 1: shine through. Historians agree that Paul probably lost his life
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Speaker 1: around eighty sixty seven, when Nero ruled. As I sat
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Speaker 1: on that cold stone floor, I imagined what it must
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Speaker 1: have been like for Paul in those last days. If
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Speaker 1: this wasn't the exact room, it had to be just
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Speaker 1: one just like it. What a way to spend your
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Speaker 1: final weeks. As we stood in the cell and talked,
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Speaker 1: drinking in the story that the stones could tell if
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Speaker 1: they spoke, we noticed that only a few visitors climbed
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Speaker 1: down into the cell with us. This was in stark
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Speaker 1: contrast to the thousands who wanted who waited in line
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Speaker 1: to enter the Vatican Museum not far away. The streets
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Speaker 1: above were filled with tourists who were flocking to Saint
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Speaker 1: Peter's Cathedral, but only occasionally did someone stop long enough
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Speaker 1: even to peer through the grate down into the cell.
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Speaker 1: I thought to myself, here is where the man who
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Speaker 1: wrote the greatest portion of the New Testament spent his
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Speaker 1: last days, greatest missionary and church planter of the first
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Speaker 1: century died here. Wouldn't more people want to feel what
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Speaker 1: it was like for him? Obviously, the answer is no.
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Speaker 1: Most people visiting Rome today do not list Paul's cell
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Speaker 1: as one of their top ten tourist sites, but for
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Speaker 1: me it ranked as the number one spot in Rome.
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Speaker 1: To give the tourists the benefit of the doubt, they
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Speaker 1: probably don't even know it's there. There are no big signs,
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Speaker 1: no concession stands, no neon flashing notices that let you know,
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Speaker 1: with arrows pointing where you would find the dungeon of
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Speaker 1: the old Mamartine prison. But it's there. Nevertheless, Paul could
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Speaker 1: have set for a portrait of Isaac Watts's words pinned
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Speaker 1: not quite seventeen centuries later. Must I be carried to
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Speaker 1: the skies? On flowery beds of ease, while others fought
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Speaker 1: to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas. Sure
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Speaker 1: I must fight. If I would rain, increase my courage. Lord,
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Speaker 1: I'll bear the toil and endure the pain, supported by
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Speaker 1: thy word. It was in that stone Paul spent his
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Speaker 1: final days. It was there. We're not sure whether he
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Speaker 1: was put there after the trial before Niro or during
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Speaker 1: the trial before Niro, but we do know this that
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Speaker 1: as a result of the trial, in one of the
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Speaker 1: Roman barracks, if you listen closely, you could hear the
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Speaker 1: grinding on an axe that would be carried by the executioner,
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Speaker 1: who would, in a swift moment, only hours after the
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Speaker 1: decision made by the Emperor, would be swung and remove
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Speaker 1: his head from his shoulders. Paul, the greatest missionary who
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Speaker 1: ever lived. That would be how he would die every
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Speaker 1: time I opened the letter we know today is two Timothy.
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Speaker 1: I often think to myself, much of this is dungeon talk.
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Speaker 1: This is dungeon talk. And when I remembered that, it
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Speaker 1: helps me understand why there is such passion and at
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Speaker 1: the same time such tenderness. The dungeon is dark, and
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Speaker 1: it is damp, and it is cold, and he is shackled,
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Speaker 1: and he has been deserted. But remember from our last study,
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Speaker 1: Paul lived above his circumstances. There is not one hint
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Speaker 1: of self pity, no blame, no bitterness. No, if I
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Speaker 1: had it all to do over again, I wouldn't have.
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Speaker 1: There's none of the regret. He writes straightforward to a
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Speaker 1: man who will carry the torch beyond his years on
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Speaker 1: this earth. And he writes with the kind of wisdom
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Speaker 1: and discernment that your father may have used with you
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Speaker 1: before he died, or your mentor or a close friend.
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Speaker 1: I like it too that the apostle is not living
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Speaker 1: in denial. I took the time last night, as recently
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Speaker 1: as last night, to read the letter again, and I've
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Speaker 1: found no less than five specific references to his suffering
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Speaker 1: in the prison. He's not denying that the suffering was
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Speaker 1: going on. He's simply living above it. Charles Erdmann, in
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Speaker 1: a little volume on the Pastorals, writes, possibly no other
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Speaker 1: of the New Testament letters makes so tender and so
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Speaker 1: pathetic and appeal. Every paragraph is suffused with emotion. Every
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Speaker 1: sentence throbs with the pulse beats of a human heart. Paul,
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Speaker 1: the dauntless missionary hero, the founder of the church in
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Speaker 1: Asia Minor and in Europe, is now an aged prisoner
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Speaker 1: in Rome, suffering, deserted, despised, condemned, and soon to be
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Speaker 1: led forth to a cruel death. Since you will probably
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Speaker 1: never visit the Mamartine prison, just imagine in your mind
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Speaker 1: an old man, crippled from the tortures of the past,
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Speaker 1: scarred from the beatings and the stonings and the shipwrecks,
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Speaker 1: hair and beard white as bone, sitting sort of curled
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Speaker 1: up under the light from the great working over one
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Speaker 1: final piece that he would later fold quickly and press
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Speaker 1: into the hands of doctor Luke, who would see that
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Speaker 1: it would find its way to Ephesus. If Timothy never
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Speaker 1: made it to Paul's side, as he had hoped, he
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Speaker 1: would relive in your mind what life must have been
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Speaker 1: like those final hours. And the letter will mean more
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Speaker 1: to you for sure. According to chapter four and verse six,
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Speaker 1: to which I'd like to have you turn, the end
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Speaker 1: has come. There is no dodging or escaping it. Chapter
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Speaker 1: four of two Timothy, Verse six states I am already
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Speaker 1: being poured out as a drink offering, and the time
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Speaker 1: of my departure has come, Charles Rowley writes in the
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Speaker 1: Notes of his Bible. Paul knew that this time he
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Speaker 1: would not be read, and that is true. There will
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Speaker 1: be no trip to Spain, there will not be another
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Speaker 1: voyage across the Mediterranean. There would not be another visit
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Speaker 1: to a church that's been founded, or to a place
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Speaker 1: where they've never heard the gospel. Not by Paul. His
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Speaker 1: life is being poured out as a drink offering, and
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Speaker 1: the time of his departure has come. Imagine that. Imagine
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Speaker 1: what it would have been like knowing that you will
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Speaker 1: be beheaded by an uncaring Roman soldier who will do
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Speaker 1: the same to another prisoner tomorrow as he did yesterday.
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Speaker 1: Imagine what it is like knowing that the tick of
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Speaker 1: the clock just brings you one moment closer to your
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Speaker 1: last breath on this earth. And then try to imagine
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Speaker 1: what you would write, especially if your conditions where you
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Speaker 1: will be are as miserable as where he was. He's lonely.
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Speaker 1: Look at verse nine of this fourth chapter. Make every
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Speaker 1: effort to come to me soon. If you've spent your
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Speaker 1: life over sixty years of it, and if you have
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Speaker 1: built a relationship with someone else that has been close
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Speaker 1: and endearing. When you come to your last hours, you
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Speaker 1: long for that person. In fact, so longing was he
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Speaker 1: for Timothy. He says in verse twenty one, not only
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Speaker 1: make every effort, but make every effort to come before winter.
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Speaker 1: Isn't there emotion in those words? The leaves of fall
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Speaker 1: are blowing across the streets of Rome, the trees are
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Speaker 1: becoming bare. The icy winds of the north are blowing
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Speaker 1: down across Italy. And before long snow will cover the
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Speaker 1: flat carts on the street and over the cobblestones. I
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Speaker 1: will hear the horses as they slip a bit on
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Speaker 1: the ice. Come before winter, Timothy, Come before winter. We
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Speaker 1: don't know if Timothy made it before winter. We know
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Speaker 1: that Paul was virtually alone except for Luke, who was
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Speaker 1: with him. Verse ten tells us that Demos had forsaken him.
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Speaker 1: Having loved this present world, he deserted Paul. The details
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Speaker 1: of that are left for preacher's imaginations. We'll not go there.
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Speaker 1: The point is he doesn't have Demus, whom he once had.
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Speaker 1: Creston's has gone to Galatian, Titus has left for Dalmatia.
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Speaker 1: Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring
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Speaker 1: him with you. Timothy. When you come, bring along John
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Speaker 1: Mark and Tikeacus Verse twelve. I have sent to Ephesus.
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Speaker 1: When you come, bring the cloak I left at Troaz.
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Speaker 1: Probably he was captured in Troaz for this last arrest,
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Speaker 1: and he was taken so quickly he didn't even have
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Speaker 1: time to reach back and get his cloak, the one
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Speaker 1: that bore the smell of the brine from the Mediterranean,
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Speaker 1: the one that still had the bloodstains from the stoning
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Speaker 1: at Listra, the cloak something to keep warm. Bring the cloak,
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Speaker 1: and while you're bringing things, bring the books. Sounds like
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Speaker 1: in our family when someone gets up to get something
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Speaker 1: at a meal, we always say, oh, while you're up,
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Speaker 1: While you're up, would you bring While I'm making the
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Speaker 1: list here, Timothy, would you not only bring the cloak,
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Speaker 1: would you also bring the books. And this guy's getting
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Speaker 1: ready to die, he still wants to study. That's what
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Speaker 1: I call a faithful student. He still wants to read.
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Speaker 1: I think he's a little book. If you will, there
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Speaker 1: are still things to learn. Years later, Tendall made a
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Speaker 1: similar request when he was dying in a cell. Perhaps
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Speaker 1: took his words from temp Paul's words to Timothy as
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Speaker 1: he requested a cloak in books to study, especially the
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Speaker 1: Hebrew and the Greek texts, asked Timoth, ask Tyndall when
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Speaker 1: he was in that cell. Oh, but he said, especially
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Speaker 1: bring the parchments. These would be Paul's own scrolls of
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Speaker 1: the Old Testament. Don't miss that. I need to spend
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Speaker 1: time in the Word of God, especially since I know
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Speaker 1: that the end is coming. You know, I take the
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Speaker 1: time here in this fourth chapter not only because we
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Speaker 1: all need the reminder, but I think it helps set
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Speaker 1: the stage for the whole letter. He's deserted, he shackled,
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Speaker 1: but he is undone. Here's a man who was strong
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Speaker 1: to the very end. But he doesn't write without feelings,
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Speaker 1: deep deep feelings. Allow me to do just a little survey,
29:17
Speaker 1: sort of a safari through the letter, if I may
29:20
Speaker 1: do that. Beginning in chapter one, let me unfold for
29:24
Speaker 1: you how this scroll must have originally unrolled as Timothy
29:29
Speaker 1: read it, and through it Paul writes him as his
29:35
Speaker 1: beloved son. Verse two. That's how close they were. Remember,
29:40
Speaker 1: Timothy came during that second journey where they met, and
29:44
Speaker 1: Timothy had had a heart for God, and Paul noticed
29:48
Speaker 1: it and asked if he would travel with him, and Timothy,
29:51
Speaker 1: though a very young man at the time, probably in
29:53
Speaker 1: his late teenage years, certainly not more than early twenties,
29:58
Speaker 1: joined the band and went with Luke along with Paul,
30:01
Speaker 1: and traveled and became for Paul a soul brother, one
30:06
Speaker 1: whose heart was so like his own, a kindred spirit.
30:10
Speaker 1: Was Timothy to Paul, so he calls him my beloved son,
30:14
Speaker 1: and he offers the same a greeting that is commonly
30:18
Speaker 1: offered in first century writing among Christians, mercy and grace
30:22
Speaker 1: and mercy and peace from God, the Father in Christ, Jesus,
30:26
Speaker 1: our Lord. Why am I here? No, he doesn't start
30:30
Speaker 1: like that. He says, I thank God, whom I served
30:36
Speaker 1: with a clear conscience, the way my forefathers did, as
30:38
Speaker 1: I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day.
30:42
Speaker 1: Is that great? There is none of the bitterness that
30:46
Speaker 1: you might expect from a man who's getting what he
30:48
Speaker 1: doesn't deserve. He says, I'm thinking God, I'm thanking God
30:54
Speaker 1: that our relationship is so close that you come to
31:00
Speaker 1: mind day and night, and I pray for you, longing
31:03
Speaker 1: to see you as I recall your tears, so that
31:06
Speaker 1: I may be filled with joy. Paul adds, I am
31:10
Speaker 1: mindful of the sincere faith within you, Timothy, which first
31:17
Speaker 1: dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and
31:21
Speaker 1: I am sure that it is in you as well.
31:25
Speaker 1: The benefits of godly roots. The older I get, the
31:29
Speaker 1: more I appreciate them. Paul looks back over time and
31:33
Speaker 1: remembers not only Timothy as a younger man, but he
31:36
Speaker 1: remembered his mother, and he remembered his grandmother. John Calvin adds,
31:43
Speaker 1: a wonderful word, Timothy was reared in his infancy in
31:46
Speaker 1: such a way that he could suck in Godliness along
31:50
Speaker 1: with his mother's milk. As she held him to her breast,
31:55
Speaker 1: as she rocked him in the chair, as she sung
31:59
Speaker 1: him to sleep in the crib, as she reared him
32:02
Speaker 1: in his earliest years. Eunice poured the truth into the
32:09
Speaker 1: ears of her son Timothy. His blood, to use Spurgeon's words,
32:17
Speaker 1: was Biblean. The truth of Scripture was coursing through his
32:24
Speaker 1: veins long before he met Paul, and it was that
32:28
Speaker 1: that attracted Paul to him and said, you travel with me.
32:32
Speaker 1: Here's a kindred spirit. Now they've come full cycle Paul
32:38
Speaker 1: is unwebbing the last few hours of his life, and
32:42
Speaker 1: he's reflecting back to those earlier days. And he said,
32:47
Speaker 1: for this reason, I'll remind you verse six, kindle afresh
32:51
Speaker 1: the gift of God which is in you. Verse seven.
32:55
Speaker 1: For God has not given us a spirit of timidity,
32:58
Speaker 1: but of power and of love and of discipline. Here
33:00
Speaker 1: he is already exhorting a son, your dad's do that.
33:05
Speaker 1: As soon as you have a chance, you just lay
33:07
Speaker 1: another truth on them, and you hope they don't forget that.
33:10
Speaker 1: So you repeat that, and you say it again until
33:12
Speaker 1: the kids roll their eyes. Heard this before, Here we go,
33:17
Speaker 1: Here we go again. I'm sure Timothy has heard Paul
33:20
Speaker 1: say this, but now he reads it with new eyes,
33:23
Speaker 1: because it's coming from the hands of a man shaking
33:27
Speaker 1: in sickness, soon to be cold in death. So he
33:33
Speaker 1: in bonishes him to not to be timid. Don't be
33:38
Speaker 1: fearful Verse eight. Don't be ashamed of the testimony of
33:42
Speaker 1: our Lord or of me his prisoner. This is the
33:45
Speaker 1: first of the five references to his being a prisoner.
33:50
Speaker 1: Join me in suffering for the Gospel according to the
33:52
Speaker 1: power of God. Verse thirteen. Don't be careless with the
33:58
Speaker 1: truth that's been invested in you life, Timothy, retain the
34:02
Speaker 1: standard of sound words verse fourteen. Guard the treasure. Guard
34:08
Speaker 1: the treasure that has been entrusted to you. See the
34:11
Speaker 1: word entrusted. It's the word as a banking term for
34:14
Speaker 1: making a deposit the treasure that I have spent years
34:18
Speaker 1: depositing in you, Oh Timothy, guard it. Retain the standard,
34:24
Speaker 1: and guard the treasure. Retain the standard. Guard the treasure
34:28
Speaker 1: must have been in Timothy's mind till the day of
34:31
Speaker 1: his death, as it comes from his mentor in such
34:35
Speaker 1: straightforward way. This seems to set Paul off into a
34:39
Speaker 1: series of exhortations, and I can count six of them
34:43
Speaker 1: in the second chapter. The first one is in verse one.
34:47
Speaker 1: Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, Timothy,
34:53
Speaker 1: preach grace, Live grace. Be strong in grace. Second, be
34:59
Speaker 1: faithful to deposit the truth in others. That's verse two.
35:04
Speaker 1: The things which you have heard from me in the
35:06
Speaker 1: presence of many witnesses, and trust these to faithful men
35:10
Speaker 1: who will be able to teach others. Also, I call
35:12
Speaker 1: this the relay of truth. Paul got it from the
35:15
Speaker 1: baton of another Paul took the baton and gave it
35:19
Speaker 1: to Timothy. Timothy takes the baton and hands it off
35:22
Speaker 1: to others. Timothy, don't drop the baton. Don't stop the relay.
35:28
Speaker 1: I've gotten it from others, and it passes through me
35:30
Speaker 1: to you, and it passes through you to others. This
35:33
Speaker 1: has been called the ministry of multiplication. From you to others.
35:39
Speaker 1: I've given it to many others as well. Timothy, you're
35:42
Speaker 1: one of them. And Timothy, when each one of you
35:44
Speaker 1: give it to others, it will just multiply, it will grow.
35:47
Speaker 1: Don't drop the baton. Don't fail in the responsibility of
35:54
Speaker 1: your life. Pass it on. Be faithful to make the deposit.
35:59
Speaker 1: The third is to be brave as a soldier. That's
36:02
Speaker 1: in verses three and four. Suffer hardship as a good
36:05
Speaker 1: soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles
36:10
Speaker 1: himself in the affairs of everyday life so that he
36:13
Speaker 1: may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
36:16
Speaker 1: Be brave like a soldier. Then he turns to the
36:19
Speaker 1: picture of an athlete, and he says, be disciplined as
36:22
Speaker 1: an athlete is disciplined if anyone competes as an athlete.
36:26
Speaker 1: He does not win the prize unless he competes according
36:29
Speaker 1: to the rule he's training. And then he goes into
36:32
Speaker 1: the race or whatever may be the responsibility of his
36:35
Speaker 1: role in athleticism, and he carries it out. Takes discipline
36:40
Speaker 1: to do it all, Timothy, be disciplined as an athlete.
36:44
Speaker 1: Verse fifteen is the fifth exhortation. Be diligent to present
36:48
Speaker 1: yourself approved to God as a workman who does not
36:52
Speaker 1: need to be ashamed in accurately handling the word of truth.
36:57
Speaker 1: Be diligent as a workman. And finally, be gentle like
37:00
Speaker 1: a servant. That's verses twenty four to twenty six. With
37:05
Speaker 1: gentleness verse twenty five, correcting those who are in opposition,
37:08
Speaker 1: talk about a checklist for living faithfully. That'll do it.
37:13
Speaker 1: Be strong in grace, be faithful to deposit, be brave
37:18
Speaker 1: like a soldier, discipline like an athlete, diligent like a workman,
37:22
Speaker 1: and gentle like a servant. All of that provides the
37:29
Speaker 1: impetus for him to move into the warnings. And the
37:33
Speaker 1: warnings in this letter appear in the first part of
37:35
Speaker 1: chapter three, where he becomes realistic when he says, realize this,
37:47
Speaker 1: and I think It was here that he must have
37:49
Speaker 1: paused and looked up through the grate and began to
37:52
Speaker 1: imagine what life would be like when it moves on.
37:55
Speaker 1: Without him knowing humanity is Paul note knew it, understanding
38:02
Speaker 1: depravity as he had written of it in the Roman Letter.
38:06
Speaker 1: The Letter to the Romans, he says to Timothy, realize
38:12
Speaker 1: that things will go from bad to worse. Difficult times
38:19
Speaker 1: will come. One of my mentors used to render this
38:24
Speaker 1: savage times. That's not too far off. Without adding to
38:30
Speaker 1: the scripture, but making them helping you understand how relevant
38:35
Speaker 1: they are. Let me just use the words difficult times
38:39
Speaker 1: have come. It was future to Paul, but it's present
38:43
Speaker 1: to us. The world now is much worse than it
38:48
Speaker 1: was in the days of the Apostle, and the Apostle
38:50
Speaker 1: is warning Timothy that there will be an erosion of
38:54
Speaker 1: the standard. There will be a departing from the truth.
38:58
Speaker 1: There will be a living in compromise. There will be
39:02
Speaker 1: hypocrisy and duplicity and lies and deception. It'll only get
39:08
Speaker 1: worse see verse ten. You followed my teaching conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,
39:14
Speaker 1: persecutions and sufferings such as happened to me in these
39:17
Speaker 1: places now verse thirteen, evil men and impostors will proceed
39:22
Speaker 1: from bad to worse. Has that happened? Why they even
39:27
Speaker 1: board airplanes with bombs connected to them. Why they will
39:34
Speaker 1: stand before you and say one thing and mean something
39:36
Speaker 1: altogether different. They will take your money when you're not watching.
39:43
Speaker 1: They will come into your home, and they will steal
39:46
Speaker 1: your valuables, even though you try to protect yourself from them.
39:53
Speaker 1: But to make it worse, there will be religious hypocrisy
39:57
Speaker 1: and impostors who will try to convince you that this
40:03
Speaker 1: is truth, when in fact it is a lie. Timothy,
40:10
Speaker 1: be alert now when he gets to verse fourteen, there
40:15
Speaker 1: is a strong contrast. But you, Timothy, I yell it
40:19
Speaker 1: out because it's contrast in the way it's written here
40:22
Speaker 1: that the pronoun is at the very beginning of the sentence.
40:25
Speaker 1: And thankfully our translators have done that in this you however, you, however,
40:30
Speaker 1: the world will do this. People will do that. You'll
40:33
Speaker 1: find the times we'll move in there. But you it's
40:36
Speaker 1: like he turns Timothy around and shakes him by the shoulders.
40:40
Speaker 1: But you listen to me, now, Timothy. Two things are
40:46
Speaker 1: to guard your steps. First, continue in the things you
40:51
Speaker 1: have learned, and become convinced of knowing from whom you
40:54
Speaker 1: have learned them. From childhood, you have known the sacred writing.
41:00
Speaker 1: He starts with the wisdom that comes from other people.
41:05
Speaker 1: Continue in the things you have learned from those who
41:07
Speaker 1: have been older and wiser than you, and continue in
41:12
Speaker 1: the things that you find written on the sacred manuscripts.
41:17
Speaker 1: Both provide you with the kind of strength and wisdom
41:20
Speaker 1: you need to survive in a world that's lost its way.
41:25
Speaker 1: Both this is a good moment for me to pause
41:29
Speaker 1: and help you do a little self analysis. It's a
41:32
Speaker 1: preacher's way of saying, I'm going to start meddling. Many
41:36
Speaker 1: of us are living fast moving lives. We have moved
41:42
Speaker 1: ahead in our speed and our efficiency, but it may
41:46
Speaker 1: be that we have outrun the wisdom and training that
41:50
Speaker 1: we were first given by those older than we. Can
41:54
Speaker 1: you remember the teaching that was passed along to you
41:57
Speaker 1: by a godly mother or a wise father, or a mentor,
42:03
Speaker 1: or a teacher, or a coach, or a friend or
42:06
Speaker 1: a pastor in your younger years. I can remember, as
42:11
Speaker 1: if it were yesterday, some things passed along to be
42:15
Speaker 1: to me, especially by my father who didn't talk nearly
42:20
Speaker 1: as much as my mother, but he somehow connected with me.
42:27
Speaker 1: He really connected me with me. On my thirteenth birthday,
42:30
Speaker 1: I was laying on the bed in my room and
42:34
Speaker 1: my birthday and he was out there weeding the little
42:37
Speaker 1: flower garden and said, Charles, you need to come out
42:40
Speaker 1: here and help me finish this. And I said, no,
42:42
Speaker 1: not today, I'm thirteen. That's the last thing I remember saying.
42:50
Speaker 1: Until about dark that evening he was in the house
42:54
Speaker 1: like a flash, and he whipped me all the way
42:56
Speaker 1: out the door, and all the way across the backyard
42:59
Speaker 1: and all the way the flower bed until I was
43:01
Speaker 1: convinced I will get every possible weed that is in
43:05
Speaker 1: existence out of this flower bed. Toward the end of
43:09
Speaker 1: the day, before sundown, he came out and said, come on,
43:12
Speaker 1: get cleaned up. We're going to go to dinner celebrate
43:14
Speaker 1: your birthday. And while at dinner he passed along something
43:17
Speaker 1: to me about obedience that I remember to this day.
43:22
Speaker 1: Helps when they beat it into you. By the way, no,
43:27
Speaker 1: I never suffered a beating, so don't feel sorry for me.
43:30
Speaker 1: But I had a father who cared enough about me
43:33
Speaker 1: not to worry that I had turned thirteen. If I
43:35
Speaker 1: needed a spanking, I was going to get one. As
43:37
Speaker 1: I recall, it was the last one, since I was
43:41
Speaker 1: able to outrun him. After that, I learned and became
43:51
Speaker 1: convinced of something that has helped me all the way
43:54
Speaker 1: through the rest of my life. When someone in authority
43:58
Speaker 1: over you has your good at heart, you do exactly
44:01
Speaker 1: what they say. You don't even ask why. Good counsel
44:13
Speaker 1: Doctor John Wolverd for many years the president at Dallas Seminary,
44:17
Speaker 1: in fact thirty four years, said at one of the
44:20
Speaker 1: graduating classes, I forget which one that he had a
44:22
Speaker 1: concern about our graduates. He made the comment, I fear
44:26
Speaker 1: that we may be graduating people with too many leafs
44:29
Speaker 1: and not enough convictions. Paul mentions, both continue in the
44:36
Speaker 1: things you have learned, those are your beliefs, but continue
44:41
Speaker 1: in the things you've become convinced of. Things that you
44:45
Speaker 1: believe are many in number, But things you're convinced of
44:48
Speaker 1: are things you'll die for. They become convictions. They become
44:53
Speaker 1: the very pillars of your life, and you would not
44:57
Speaker 1: bend if you had to face a firing squad. You
45:00
Speaker 1: die for that truth. How are your convictions coming along.
45:08
Speaker 1: You pick up beliefs from a message like this, but
45:10
Speaker 1: you don't pick up convictions until you digest them and
45:15
Speaker 1: make them your own. And Verse fifteen tells us he
45:20
Speaker 1: had another source of truth, and it was from the
45:22
Speaker 1: Word of God from childhood. Wouldn't that have been a
45:25
Speaker 1: blessing some of you were thinking, since you were not
45:28
Speaker 1: raised in a Christian home from childhood, Timothy, you have
45:32
Speaker 1: known the sacred writings which were able to give you
45:34
Speaker 1: the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is
45:37
Speaker 1: in Christ. Jesus again, if I may dig a little deeper,
45:44
Speaker 1: are you feeding yourself on the word of God? What
45:50
Speaker 1: you feed yourself is far more important than what you
45:53
Speaker 1: hear from me. It's what you dig out and prepare
45:58
Speaker 1: in your time with the Lord. That's what will stay
46:01
Speaker 1: with you. You'll soon forget what I share, but you
46:06
Speaker 1: won't forget what you study and dig out on your own.
46:11
Speaker 1: You see, one of the signs of maturity as we
46:13
Speaker 1: grow up is that we learn to fix our own meals.
46:17
Speaker 1: We learn to feed ourselves, and we're not dependent on
46:21
Speaker 1: someone to make the meals for us. You have known
46:26
Speaker 1: the sacred writings which we're able to give you the
46:29
Speaker 1: wisdom that leads to salvation, Oh Timothy, as the last
46:32
Speaker 1: days come, all the more reason for you to stay
46:36
Speaker 1: in the scriptures. Let me pause an ad Trust me
46:41
Speaker 1: on this one. No person condemned to die spending his
46:45
Speaker 1: final hours in a dark dungeon is going to pass
46:49
Speaker 1: along information that isn't reliable or exhortations that really didn't matter.
46:58
Speaker 1: When you're where Paul was, you've gotten rid of all
47:03
Speaker 1: the silly playthings of life, and you're coming down to
47:06
Speaker 1: the nabbes. You're addressing things that are matters of life
47:12
Speaker 1: and death. There are no time wasting pastimes here. The
47:18
Speaker 1: blade of the acts being sharpened can be heard through
47:21
Speaker 1: the window of one of the bearings. The time of
47:24
Speaker 1: his departure is at hand. Pay attention With that exhortation
47:37
Speaker 1: in mind. Paul leaves the greatest statement on the inspiration
47:41
Speaker 1: of scripture found anywhere in the Word of God. All
47:46
Speaker 1: scripture is God breathed. All scripture is profitable for Look
47:52
Speaker 1: at the list teaching, reproof, correction, training, and righteousness. All
47:58
Speaker 1: scripture will cause you to be the man of God,
48:02
Speaker 1: adequate and equipped for every good work. Believe it now, Timothy,
48:08
Speaker 1: Believe it when I'm gone, believe it when you're dying.
48:12
Speaker 1: Pass it on to the next generation. All scripture is profitable.
48:18
Speaker 1: It will teach, it will reprove, it will correct, it
48:20
Speaker 1: will train in righteousness. Dig into it, Timothy, Feed your
48:25
Speaker 1: souls on it. Feed your soul on it. It will
48:31
Speaker 1: equip you for every good work. And with that he
48:37
Speaker 1: comes to his final eighteen sentences. Eighteen sentences, some of
48:43
Speaker 1: them rather brief, and he states them at the beginning
48:49
Speaker 1: in a way that grabs your attention. Listen, I solemnly
48:53
Speaker 1: charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,
48:56
Speaker 1: who is to judge the living and the dead, and
48:59
Speaker 1: by his hearing and his kingdom. Would that get your attention?
49:03
Speaker 1: I think so, Timothy. I solemnly charge you. This isn't
49:11
Speaker 1: a series of helpful options that you can pick and choose.
49:14
Speaker 1: These are charges that come from my pen, my heart
49:18
Speaker 1: to your soul. Listen to me, Timothy, what is it
49:22
Speaker 1: he used to listen to? What is it he's to do?
49:26
Speaker 1: He begins with the first of several staccato commands. Kerouk
49:30
Speaker 1: sun tun logon. He writes herald the word, proclaim the truth.
49:40
Speaker 1: Don't try to reinvent the theological wheel. Don't attempt to
49:43
Speaker 1: be so creative and cute that folks miss the truth.
49:46
Speaker 1: No need for meaningless and silly substitutes that entertain, but
49:51
Speaker 1: do not convict and convert. Preach the truth. Preach it, Timothy,
49:56
Speaker 1: Preach it for the rest of your years, for as
49:59
Speaker 1: long as you're on this earth. Preach the truth. Preach
50:02
Speaker 1: the word. Press it home on all occasions, convenient or inconvenient.
50:08
Speaker 1: Never lose your sense of urgency, writes the New English Bible,
50:13
Speaker 1: Love the way that reads, never lose your sense of urgency.
50:16
Speaker 1: Where does that come from? Verse two? Reprove, rebuke, exhort
50:21
Speaker 1: with great patience and instruction. But earlier, he says, preach
50:25
Speaker 1: the word, be ready, be steady, stay at it in season,
50:33
Speaker 1: out of season. This sounds like he's giving us the
50:37
Speaker 1: okay to jam it down anybody's throat, whether they're ready
50:41
Speaker 1: to hear it or not. If you want to hear it, great,
50:44
Speaker 1: If you don't want to hear it, great. I'm jamming
50:46
Speaker 1: it down today. And you're on the bus and you
50:48
Speaker 1: jam it down the person sitting next to you, and
50:50
Speaker 1: you get on the plane and you ram it there. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, bitte.
50:53
Speaker 1: This is not for the hearer. This is for the speaker,
50:56
Speaker 1: the one who is to do this, and to be
50:58
Speaker 1: ready to do it in season out of season, a speaker.
51:01
Speaker 1: I think John Stott clarifies this. This injunction, he writes,
51:05
Speaker 1: is not to be taken as an excuse for the
51:08
Speaker 1: insensitive brashness which has sometimes characterized our evangelism and brought
51:12
Speaker 1: it into disrepute. We have no liberty to barge unceremoniously
51:17
Speaker 1: into others people's privacy or tread clumsily on the corns. No,
51:23
Speaker 1: the occasion which Paul has in mind are probably welcome
51:26
Speaker 1: or unwelcome, not for the hearers as much as for
51:29
Speaker 1: the speaker, beyond duty at all times, convenient or inconvenient.
51:33
Speaker 1: It seems then that what we are given here is
51:36
Speaker 1: not a biblical warrant for rudeness, but a biblical appeal
51:39
Speaker 1: against laziness. Don't be lazy, Timothy, do your homework. Don't
51:48
Speaker 1: stand up and start with an apology that you didn't
51:51
Speaker 1: quite have enough time that week to prepare. It doesn't work, Timothy.
51:57
Speaker 1: I often remember the story that stand too Saint he
52:01
Speaker 1: worked alongside a man he called Rolf was German. Stan
52:06
Speaker 1: was the song leader and Rolf was the preacher. Don't
52:08
Speaker 1: know where it happened, probably Hinkley, Minnesota, and he said,
52:13
Speaker 1: He said, Rolf would often turn to him and say,
52:15
Speaker 1: sing more. God hasn't given me his word lately, hasn't
52:18
Speaker 1: given me his word yet. So he'd sing another song,
52:21
Speaker 1: and he'd say, sing another song, Stan, that God hasn't
52:24
Speaker 1: yet revealed what I should say today, and sing another.
52:27
Speaker 1: He said. One day, in a moment of unusual honesty,
52:30
Speaker 1: the old preacher said, you know, Stan, the Lord has
52:33
Speaker 1: now spoken to me and he has said, Ralf, you're lazy.
52:40
Speaker 1: If I am not prepared to preach when Sunday morning comes,
52:43
Speaker 1: it is my fault. It is my responsibility to be ready,
52:52
Speaker 1: in season or out of season, hot or cold, headache
52:56
Speaker 1: or feeling great, up or down, discouraged are on top.
53:02
Speaker 1: My job is to proclaim the truth, and to do
53:08
Speaker 1: it in a way that it sticks and stabs you
53:12
Speaker 1: awake and won't let you sleep through your sin, and
53:18
Speaker 1: holds you accountable to God. Not to me, but to God.
53:24
Speaker 1: Because his truth is what reproves and rebukes and exhorts.
53:28
Speaker 1: I am to do it with great patience and instruction.
53:32
Speaker 1: Then his spirit rolls up his sleeves if you will,
53:35
Speaker 1: and keeps you awake. Won't let you turn it off,
53:44
Speaker 1: for the time will come when they will not endure
53:46
Speaker 1: sound doctrine. May I change it again to this thought.
53:50
Speaker 1: The time has come when they do not endure sound doctrine.
53:57
Speaker 1: Wanting to have their ears tickled, they accumulate for themselves
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Speaker 1: teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will in
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Speaker 1: fact turn away their ears from the truth, and will
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Speaker 1: turn aside to myths. I ask you, have we come
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Speaker 1: to that time? Have we come to an hour in
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Speaker 1: our history when that kind of thing is occurring? Churches
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Speaker 1: have become entertainment centers. People are being told what they
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Speaker 1: want to hear, with the idea that's the only way
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Speaker 1: you can get the growth to happen. We water it
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Speaker 1: down and we make it palatable so that they will
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Speaker 1: like what they hear. And I can't find a place
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Speaker 1: in the scriptures where I'm to tell you what you
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Speaker 1: are to like that you like what you hear. I
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Speaker 1: can't find it. I'm to tell you what you need
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Speaker 1: to hear, and what I need to hear. The problem
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Speaker 1: has come to a little pathological aile called itching ears,
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Speaker 1: and as a result, we work very creatively to keep
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Speaker 1: you coming back. Nonsense. You're coming back is your responsibility
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Speaker 1: before God. My job is to tell you the truth,
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Speaker 1: and you can count on this till the last day
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Speaker 1: of my life. That's what you're going to hear. Wolt
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Speaker 1: Kaiser writes this nicer than I would, so let me
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Speaker 1: read his words here. Regardless of what new distinctives and
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Speaker 1: emphases are periodically offered, that which is needed above everything
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Speaker 1: else to make the church viable, authentic, and effective is
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Speaker 1: the declaration of the scriptures with a new purpose, passion,
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Speaker 1: and power. Too often the Bible is little more than
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Speaker 1: a book of epigrammatic sayings or springboards that give us
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Speaker 1: a rallying point around which to base our editorials. Where
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Speaker 1: did we get the audacious idea that God would bless
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Speaker 1: our opinions or judgments. Who wants to hear another point
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Speaker 1: of view as an excuse for a Bible study or
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Speaker 1: a message from the Word of God? Who said God
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Speaker 1: would bless our studies, our programs for the church, or
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Speaker 1: our ramblings on the general area announced by the text.
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Speaker 1: Surely this is a major reason why the famine of
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Speaker 1: the word continues in mastive proportions in most places in
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Speaker 1: North America. Surely this is why the hunger for the
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Speaker 1: teaching and the proclamation of God's Word continues to grow
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Speaker 1: year after year. Men and women cannot live by ideas alone,
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Speaker 1: no matter how eloquently they are stated or argued, but
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Speaker 1: solely by a patient reading and explanation of all scripture,
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Speaker 1: line uponline, paragraph on paragraph, chapter after chapter, book after book.
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Speaker 1: Where are such interpreters to be found? And where are
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Speaker 1: their teachers? Paul, my friend, the time has come. You
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Speaker 1: were exactly right. But you, Timothy, be sober, endure hardship,
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Speaker 1: do the work, fulfill your ministry. And with that he
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Speaker 1: becomes very personal. It's a touching closing. I'm already being
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Speaker 1: poured out. Maybe he heard the latch at the gate.
57:35
Speaker 1: Maybe he heard him rustling with the grate above him.
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Speaker 1: Maybe he heard the soldier's boots on the cobblestones of
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Speaker 1: the street. The time of my departure has come. The
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Speaker 1: good fight I have fought, the course, I have finished,
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Speaker 1: the faith I have kept. And look at where his
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Speaker 1: thoughts are In the future. There is laid up for
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Speaker 1: me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteousnes
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Speaker 1: Judge will award me on that day, and not only
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Speaker 1: to me, but to also also to all who have
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Speaker 1: loved his appearing. Make every effort to come soon verse
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Speaker 1: twenty one, come before winter, verse twenty two. The Lord
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Speaker 1: be with your spirit. Grace be with you. He folds
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Speaker 1: up the letter. He pushes it through the bars to
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Speaker 1: give it to Luke, and Luke takes it ultimately to Ephesus.
58:31
Speaker 1: For Timothy is to unroll the scroll and listen closely
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Speaker 1: to the voice. He has learned a love, knowing that
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Speaker 1: the ending of his life was too emotional a thing
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Speaker 1: for me to simply try to tell. I've written the
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Speaker 1: details in several paragraphs alone, and without fear. Paul stared
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Speaker 1: directly into the eyes of the execution squad. Several held
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Speaker 1: rods with which they would beat him. One held the
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Speaker 1: axe with which he would sever his head from his shoulders.
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Speaker 1: They marched him through the heavy gate and beyond the
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Speaker 1: stone wall that surrounded Rome, past the Pyramid of Cestius,
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Speaker 1: which still stands on to the Austrian Way toward the sea.
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Speaker 1: Crowds journeying to Rome would know by the rods and
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Speaker 1: the axe that an execution would soon transpire. They would
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Speaker 1: pass it with a shrug. It happened yesterday, it will
59:36
Speaker 1: happen tomorrow. The manical prisoner, walking stiffly, ragged and filthy
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Speaker 1: from the dungeon, was not ashamed or degraded. The squad
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Speaker 1: of grim faced soldiers never noticed as they frowned and
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Speaker 1: stared ahead, But there was a faint smile on their
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Speaker 1: prisoner's face. He was en route to a triumph, the
1:00:02
Speaker 1: crowning day of his reward. For, as he had written
1:00:05
Speaker 1: to him, living was Christ and to die is gain.
1:00:11
Speaker 1: No axe across the back of his neck would rob
1:00:13
Speaker 1: him of his triumphant destiny. In fact, it would initiate it.
1:00:19
Speaker 1: They marched Paul to the third milestone on the Austrian Way,
1:00:22
Speaker 1: to a little pine wood in a glade the place
1:00:26
Speaker 1: of the tombs, known now as the Treefontaine, where there
1:00:30
Speaker 1: stands an abbey in Paul's honor. He is believed to
1:00:36
Speaker 1: have been placed overnight in a tiny cell near the
1:00:39
Speaker 1: place of his execution. At first light the next dawn,
1:00:44
Speaker 1: the soldiers took Paul to a stomp. The executioners stood ready,
1:00:50
Speaker 1: stark naked in Roman fashion, acts in his hand. The
1:00:56
Speaker 1: men stripped Paul, tied him kneeling up right to the
1:01:00
Speaker 1: low pillar, which exposed his neck. The victors beat him
1:01:06
Speaker 1: with rods for the last time. He groaned and bled
1:01:08
Speaker 1: from his nose and his mouth. Then, without a hint
1:01:13
Speaker 1: of hesitation, the executioner frowned as the blade gleamed in
1:01:18
Speaker 1: the morning sun and fell swiftly, hitting with a dull thud,
1:01:26
Speaker 1: and the head of Paul rolled.
1:01:29
Speaker 2: Down in dust. In that brutal moment, the soul of
1:01:38
Speaker 2: the Great Apostle was immediately set free. As his spirit
1:01:45
Speaker 2: soared into the heavens, absent from the body, he was
1:01:53
Speaker 2: at last at.
1:01:54
Speaker 1: Home the Lord. Thank you, Father, for giving us a
1:02:06
Speaker 1: life like this one who helps us think deeper, stand
1:02:16
Speaker 1: more confidently alone, live better, grow taller. Thank you for
1:02:30
Speaker 1: his courage to the end, his submission to your plan
1:02:36
Speaker 1: brutal though it seems to many. Thank You for his
1:02:40
Speaker 1: quiet resolve. We look forward to meeting this man and
1:02:49
Speaker 1: talking with him face to face. In the meantime, Father,
1:02:57
Speaker 1: find us faithful. May we praise you with our lives.
1:03:07
Speaker 1: May we live for you the rest of our days
1:03:15
Speaker 1: in the strong name of Christ, our Lord. And everyone
1:03:22
Speaker 1: said amen.
1:03:27
Speaker 3: The preceding message, Shackled, Deserted but Still Undaunted, was copyrighted
1:03:32
Speaker 3: in two thousand and one, two thousand and three, and
1:03:34
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
1:03:37
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four.
1:03:39
Speaker 1: By Charles R.
1:03:40
Speaker 3: Swindall Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted
1:03:45
Speaker 3: material for commercial use is strictly prohibited