{"id":18214,"date":"2016-03-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/2-timothy-024-follow-me-part-1\/"},"modified":"2016-03-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-03-13T06:00:00","slug":"2-timothy-024-follow-me-part-1","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/2-timothy-024-follow-me-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Timothy 024 – Follow Me – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[100],"series_event":[454],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18214","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-2-timothy","series_event-2-timothy","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"2 Timothy 024 - Follow Me - Part 1","sermon_date":"20160313","sermon_month":"3","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3455,"sermon_slides":3456,"sermon_mp3":3457,"sermon_id":"31316954294","series_or_event":454,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":100,"chapter_and_verse":"3:10","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\nFollow Me\n3-13-16 2 Timothy 3:10 Lesson 24\n\nGood morning everybody, did you all remember to set your clocks ahead; we didn\u2019t, that\u2019s why we were about twenty minutes late to Sunday School. By the way, let me just get this off my chest, I wish they took all that daylight savings time stuff and set it on Monday, because when you think about it the only people it hurts is church people. Does it hurt anybody else? So let\u2019s start a revolution right now.\n\nIf we could take our Bibles and open them to 2 Timothy 3, verse 10, maybe looking today at verses 10-13, I don\u2019t know. And the title of our message this morning is Follow Me. And as you\u2019re turning there I just want to alert you to\u2026 well, first of all I want to thank Gabe who filled in last week, I appreciate his ministry and I trust you enjoyed it as well. And as Ed mentioned this Wednesday we\u2019re not having our normal Bible study but something else is going to be going on in this area, called the Chafer Theological Seminary Conference. And it\u2019s going to be held at West Houston Bible Church, which is only about twenty minutes from here, and it goes Wednesday, I think around noonish all the way through Friday evening and featuring Dr. Steven Austin, Steve Austin is not the bionic man but he\u2019s a creation scientist so he\u2019s going to be the evening speaker and there\u2019s going to be some phenomenal speakers there.\n\nDr. Thomas Ice is going to be giving a presentation on Christ at the Checkpoint, if you know anything about that. It\u2019s a movement within evangelical-ism to write Israel out of the Bible which to me is like trying to explain away the Atlantic Ocean. But there\u2019s a concerted effort in that regard to minimize Israel\u2019s role in the end times. He\u2019s going to be reporting on that. Dr. Charlie Clough is going to be speaking, missionaries are going to be speaking, I\u2019m going to be speaking on Hebrews 5:4-6, if those verses have ever troubled you, I\u2019ll try to be dealing with that subject. And West Houston Bible Church is really up to snuff in terms of archiving and streaming so if you can\u2019t make it in person I\u2019d invite you to take advantage of those opportunities.\n\nAnd then last week I was at the Steeling the Mind Conference in Spokane, Washington and one of the neat things about my involvement with those conferences is I have access to a lot of very good public speakers in Christianity that are bringing cutting edge stuff to the body of Christ. That\u2019s how I was able to get Shahram Hadian to come here late last year.\n\nAnd Curtis Bowers was there, if you know anything about Curtis, Ed read a little bio on him, but he basically put his whole life savings into a video called The Agenda, which exposes the way Marxists take over societies. And we have a tendency to think that it happens with one or two elections but really it doesn\u2019t, it\u2019s part of a concerted effort to infiltrate the key areas of thought which would be media, entertainment, academia and even the church world, to shift the vocabulary to gradually move us away from our limited government founding documents into more of a collective mindset. This is the kind of thing that\u2019s being taught in schools, it\u2019s the kind of thing you see on the news constantly. It doesn\u2019t go under the name Marxism any more, it has kinder, gentler names, like Green Jobs, Social Justice, Sustainability, but it\u2019s the same old stuff. And actually who\u2019s behind it is the devil and you\u2019ll see that it\u2019s worked very well to shift country after country after country into more of what I would call a Marxist frame of mind. And it\u2019s the very thing that\u2019s happening today. It\u2019s been happening, not in the last couple of elections but it\u2019s a transgenerational strategy.\n\nAnd Curtis really stepped out on faith to make this movie and God has honored his faith; this movie has gone all over the world. It\u2019s become an award winner and he\u2019s actually going to be here live, he\u2019s not going to be showing a movie but he\u2019s going to be here live giving us the exact presentation that I heard last week at the Steeling the Mind Conference. And so I\u2019m not sure if an opportunity like this will present itself again to this church so this is a unique opportunity this evening. So I\u2019d invite you to come, it starts at 6:00 and if you have Christian friends that need somewhere to go on a Sunday night, maybe they\u2019re from other churches that don\u2019t have a Sunday night service, invite them to come.\n\nAnd Curtis reminds me of a very young Fred Schwartz. I don\u2019t know if you know the name Fred Schwartz. Fred Schwartz started a ministry in the 1950\u2019s called the Christian Crusade Against Communism, and he left his medical practice, immigrated to America to basically expose this Marxist paradigm which was already taking place at our universities. And he would go out and publically challenge Marxist professors to debate and things of that nature. And it\u2019s almost like God has raised up Curtis to take the place of the late Fred Schwartz. Fred Schwartz heavily influenced Dr. Norman Geisler, if you know that name, a big name within evangelicalism.\n\nAnd so I think God has His hand on Curtis and he\u2019s going to be bringing his family, I\u2019m not sure what we\u2019re going to do, they might actually sing for us, it\u2019s all kind of ambiguous at this point but I think you should show up and listen to the man and it\u2019s very eye-opening, the things that he unfolds. He\u2019s a committed Christian and he brings a much needed Christian perspective on our country, which most of us recognize is not going the right direction. And he\u2019ll answer the \u201cwhy question.\u201d Anyway, all of that to say take advantage of tonight.\n\nHere we are in the book of 2 Timothy. Paul is writing this book to a very young pastor, named Timothy, in Ephesus, encouraging him to complete the race, or to complete the course. Paul wrote this from Rome, this is Paul\u2019s last epistle. And Timothy is thinking of quitting, throwing in the towel, we\u2019ve explained why Timothy is thinking of quitting. And should Timothy quit and should you quit, by the way, truth cannot move trans generationally from one generation to the next; Christianity dies, in other words. The weakest link in Christianity is the transfer of truth from one generation to the next. Christianity is always one generation away from extinction and if you don\u2019t believe me just visit Europe some time and you\u2019ll see beautiful cathedrals and architecture. But probably about 1% of the population in Europe today even goes to church.\n\nSo Paul is worried about this happening and so he writes this letter to encourage them. Chapter 1 is basically a generic call to endurance. Then in chapter 2 he gives 10 word pictures explaining what endurance looks like, ten metaphors which we\u2019ve walked through slowly. Then beginning in chapter 3, verse 1 through about chapter 4 verse 8, which is the section we find ourselves in, Paul begins to describe why it\u2019s going to be difficult to endure as a faithful man or woman of God, because of something that would come into the life of the church particularly as the church age is winding to its conclusion, called the apostasy.\n\nWe have defined the apostasy as a departure from known truth. It\u2019s not speaking of the world system, rather it is speaking of the church that would have a tendency to gradually move away from known truth as the end of the age approaches. And that makes life difficult for the person that wants to stand for the truth. They\u2019ll find themselves in opposition to their own churches many times. And this is why Paul explains this, because it\u2019s pivotal in enduring in the last days in our calling. You cannot endure in your calling in these last days unless you understand something fundamental about the apostasy of the church, what to do in the midst of the apostasy.\n\nSo Paul, in verses 1-9 of chapter 3, has described the apostasy, the evil that\u2019s coming, what people would become like without God. And then he gives some examples of some apostates, Jannes and Jambres, who were the magicians that opposed Moses in Egypt. And you get, in verses 1-9, a tremendous description, or an explanation of the apostasy. And now that we have a description of what the apostasy is, that\u2019s one of the things I like about Paul is he doesn\u2019t just give us the problem, he gives us the solution. He never says here\u2019s how to deactivate the apostasy\u2014do steps A, B and C. He never does that.\n\nWhat he says is the apostasy is in evitable, it\u2019s unavoidable, but for you to stand firm in the midst of the apostasy and to become all that God has called you to become in the last days. You need to have a strategy. And his strategy is two-fold; number 1, Paul says follow my example, and then the second strategy, which we won\u2019t be getting to today, beginning at chapter 3, verse 14 through about midway through chapter 4, the second strategy is to focus on the Word of God. As the apostasy becomes ever more present more and more attention, Paul says, must be given to the Word of God.\n\nBut prior to him talking about the Word of God he talks about strategy A, which is to follow Paul\u2019s example. 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul says this: \u201cBe imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.\u201d Paul says follow me as I follow Christ. It\u2019s interesting Paul never says follow me, period; he says follow of me to the extent that I am following Christ. 1 Corinthians 4:16 says, \u201cTherefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.\u201d And see, Timothy had a role model, a mentor, or a discipler in Paul whose lifestyle and characteristics Timothy could imitate.\n\nAnd so in verses 10-13 Paul points to himself. I mean, would you do that? I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d want to do that with somebody\u2014\u201cfollow me\u201d and list all my good qualities; I\u2019m afraid too many bad things would come out. But you see, Paul was so committed to Christ he could confidently say to young Timothy, \u201cfollow me\u201d because I am following Christ. And this is an important principle for us to understand; we only have influence over other people to the extent that we are following Jesus in our daily lives.\n\nA lot of people say I want a bigger sphere of influence, I want to influence more people. My question for you is are you following Christ, because if you are following Christ in your daily life the sphere of influence that God has for you will automatically take care of itself. But if you\u2019re not following Christ, if there\u2019s massive compromise in certain areas of our lives, that\u2019s the reason our ministry influence is not what it could be. So Paul says to Timothy follow me as I follow Christ. And he gives Timothy, in verses 10-11 at least, a total of nine characteristics.\n\nNow take a look there at chapter 3, verse 10, \u201cNow you follow my teaching, my conduct, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my perseverance, [11] persecutions and sufferings.\u201d You\u2019ll see nine things there that Paul calls Timothy\u2019s attention to in Paul himself.\n\nIt\u2019s interesting in the Greek language that each of these nine characteristics has the definite article in front of it. So it should read as follows, and I\u2019ll translate it as such as we move into this passage: \u201cFollow the teaching, the conduct, the purpose, the faith, the patience, the love, the perseverance, the persecutions, and the sufferings.\u201d\n\nAnd what\u2019s interesting is the possessive \u201cmy\u201d is placed in front of the first one there, it\u2019s very clear in the Greek, it doesn\u2019t show up too clear in the NASB, but he says, \u201cNow you follow\u2026\u201d actually it does show up in the NASB, \u201cfollow my teaching,\u201d so he uses \u201cmy\u201d one time and then he has a definite article in front of each of the characteristics that Timothy is to imitate. And what that simply means is Paul is claiming ownership over all nine characteristics. All nine characteristics, Timothy, you see in me, and as you imitate these nine characteristics you will have the backbone and the strength and the fortitude to keep yourself out of the tug of war that\u2019s going to be going on in the life of the church, called the great apostasy of the church.\n\nNow verse 10, when he says, \u201cNow you,\u201d that\u2019s a contrast, isn\u2019t it? Paul is contrasting himself from what is discussed in verses 8 and 9, which is the false teachers of Jannes and Jambres; Jannes and Jambres, those magicians that opposed Moses in Egypt, they are the negative example. By contrast, Paul says Timothy, you follow me, the positive example. In other words, here\u2019s what not to do\u2026 and this is what I love about the Bible, it gives negative and positive examples. Here\u2019s what not to do, negative example, here\u2019s what to do, positive example.\n\nIn verse 10 it\u2019s very interesting he says, \u201cNow you follow my,\u201d now this word \u201cfollow\u201d is better translated \u201cfaithfully follow.\u201d It\u2019s the Greek verb parakolouthe\u00f3, and what that means is to make an extensive effort to learn the details about something. Timothy, I want you to make an extensive effort to learn about the details of my life and to put them into practice, thereby keeping yourself out of the apostasy.\n\nInteresting, it\u2019s the identical verb used in Luke 1:3. Luke 1:3 is considered the prologue of Luke\u2019s Gospel, and this is what Luke says in Luke 1:3, \u201cit seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated\u201d there\u2019s the same verb, \u201ceverything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus.\u201d Luke was a physician, he was not an eyewitness to the ministry of Christ directly, as the apostles were. What Luke had access to is eyewitnesses. And he carefully investigated the claims of Christ and he put them together in a presentation that we call The Gospel of Luke. And you think of the amount of detail and history that Luke gives us. Luke, of course, had a great mind for details because he was a what? He was a physician. If your doctor is not interested in details you might want to consider getting another doctor because doctors are all about details; that\u2019s why Luke is throwing details at us that most of us wouldn\u2019t really be interested in.\n\nFor example, Luke, in the book of Acts tell us that when Judas hung himself his body fell off a cliff and on the way down the rocks ripped open his corpse and his intestines gushed out. And I look at that and I say that\u2019s probably a little more information than what I\u2019m interested in. But you see, Luke is interested in intestines and things like that because he\u2019s a physician. And of course, it\u2019s Luke that tells us more about the prenatal\u2026 we have several women in this church on the precipice of giving birth, hopefully not today but down the road, Luke talks about the prenatal activities of Jesus and John the Baptist more than any other writer of the Bible. Why would he even broach that subject? Because he\u2019s a physician. So Luke had this tremendous mind for details and he weaved everything together, in what we call the Gospel of Luke.\n\nAnd Paul, who knew Luke well, uses this identical word to explain to Timothy what he is to do. You are to make a careful investigation and examination of my life. I\u2019m going to give you nine characteristics, I want you to study these very carefully because as you know these and learn these you will be kept out of the apostasy.\n\nTimothy had a rare privilege. This was his rare privilege: he had known Paul for almost twenty years. Paul and Timothy had first come into contact with each other, probably around A.D. 49 in Paul\u2019s first missionary journey. The year now would be about A.D. 67, almost two decades have passed and Paul is basically telling Timothy you have seen me in every circumstance over these last twenty years and there are nine things that I want to stand out in your mind that I want you to imitate, which will keep you out of the apostasy.\n\nSo Timothy had a tremendous mentor; probably the only people on planet earth that were more privileged in terms of an actual mentor were the apostles themselves, the disciples, who were with Jesus, the incarnate Son of God for a little over three years. Other than them Timothy had the best mentor you could have, a handpicked apostle of the Lord, someone that he was with and saw in almost every circumstance over the prior couple of decades.\n\nSo Paul is going to surface nine characteristics total, some of them will come from his ministry, verse 10, some of them will come from his character, verse 10, and some of them are actually going to come from Paul\u2019s difficulties, verses 11-13. That, to me, is astonishing; if you were mentoring someone would you let them in on your difficulties and your problems? I probably wouldn\u2019t do that. I\u2019d talk about my victories and my successes, and Paul had lots of those to talk about but he doesn\u2019t talk about those here, he talks about his adversities, because Timothy, adversity is coming to your doorstep, whether you want to acknowledge it or not. And we need to know how to react as Christians in the midst of adversity.\n\nSo take a look, first of all, at verse 10, Paul\u2019s ministry; he surfaces here in verse 10 three things. Now you followed my teaching, my conduct, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my perseverance.\u201d The first thing that Paul calls to Timothy\u2019s attention that Timothy had been following and should continue to follow is the Apostle Paul\u2019s teaching. Teaching is number 1. What teaching are we talking about? We\u2019re talking about the things that Timothy had learned from Paul. Did not Paul say back in 2 Timothy 2:2, \u201cThe things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.\u201d\n\nSo Timothy had heard teachings from Paul. By this time the Apostle Paul had penned 13 books. They are the book of Galatians, the books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, the books of 1 and 2 Corinthians and Romans, the books of Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon and Philippians, the book of 1 Timothy, the book of Titus and now Paul is on number 13, the book of 2 Timothy. This is what we call the Pauline corpus of material; \u201ccorpus\u201d you recognize that word as in body, Corpus Christi, which actually means body of Christ, I think the ACLU needs to be reminded of that when they\u2019re trying to purge Christianity from the public square. The whole town of Corpus Christi means the body of Christ. So are we going to change the name of the city? Come on! We\u2019re just getting ridiculous with this militant secularism that we\u2019re into today.\n\nSo corpus means body of material. Timothy had from Paul a body of material and this body of material is so significant that we would know almost nothing about the age of the church were it not for those 13 books. This mystery realm that we are in today that has been going on for the last 2,000 years called the church age; it\u2019s hardly even hinted at in the Gospels. But remember what Jesus said in the Upper Room? He said, see if I can remember the exact quote, \u201cI have many things to tell you but you are not able to bear them now. [13] But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth,\u201d John 16:12-13.\n\nYou don\u2019t get a lot of material about the age of the church from Jesus. There\u2019s a lot of people that have a \u201cJesus only\u201d mentality, and they do that because Jesus letters are in red, right, so those are the most important. But Jesus Himself said I\u2019m not giving you the whole picture, that\u2019s going to come with the Apostle Paul. It\u2019s the Apostle Paul that God raised up to disclose this unique period of time that we\u2019re in now called the church age.\n\nAnd so when Paul calls Timothy\u2019s attention to His teaching he\u2019s calling his attention to this mystery truth, this body of Christ\u2019s truth, which began with the day of Pentecost and will end with the rapture. If you were to tear Paul\u2019s 13 books out of the New Testament we would have virtually no knowledge of the time period that we\u2019re in now and what God is doing. So Timothy, number 1, I want you to pay attention to My teaching.\n\nThe second thing he brings up related to what Timothy is to do is Timothy, number 2, is to pay attention to Paul\u2019s conduct. Teaching maybe is the easy part; living it is an entirely different matter, isn\u2019t it? Timothy, don\u2019t just pay attention to what I say, and what I say is very important, it\u2019s Spirit inspired truth, but pay attention to what I do. One of the phrases that we like to use around here is that orthodoxy is designed to lead to orthopraxy; \u201cortho\u201d as in going to the orthodontist and having your jaw or mouth corrected, simply means correct; \u201cdoxy\u201d means belief, \u201corthodoxy\u201d means correct belief. Orthodoxy should lead, in the life of the child of God, to orthopraxy which simply means correct practice.\n\nIn other words, doctrine and Bible knowledge, as wonderful as it is, and we would be lost without it, was never meant by God or was never designed by God to be an end in itself. Knowledge is an important step but it is only a first step. Knowledge at some point must become wisdom, which is knowledge applied. And I need to emphasize this because in Bible church circles, and we\u2019re part of a Bible church movement, there is a tremendous tendency to focus just on the cerebral, the intellectual, what we can hear, what we can listen to, what we understand. We don\u2019t demean that at all. We are simply saying that all of this knowledge that we acquire, as wonderful as it is, was never meant to be the end game in terms of spiritual maturity.\n\nThere are many people out there that can rattle off all kinds of accurate doctrinal truths, all kinds of Bible verses, but to move into the area of conduct one\u2019s life must change according to what they are learning. It\u2019s interesting that Paul in the first letter, 1 Timothy 1:5, says this: \u201cBut the goal of our instruction is\u201d what, can anybody fill in the blank? \u201clove.\u201d You notice he didn\u2019t say the goal of our instruction is passing an exam, the goal of our instruction is filling our brains with so much knowledge that we have to fill and flush, like I used to do for tests, fill and flush, cram. The goal of our instruction is love; orthodoxy is first and it\u2019s critical but it must be followed by orthopraxy.\n\nThis is how Paul sets up almost every book he wrote. Ephesians 1-3, you go through that section, chapters 1-3 and what you\u2019ll discover is there\u2019s no commands for application; it\u2019s all about orthodoxy. And then in chapter 4:1 he uses the word \u201cTherefore,\u201d and when Paul uses the word \u201ctherefore\u201d we have to ask ourselves, what is the word \u201ctherefore\u201d there for? And it is to transition us from doctrine to practice; you move into chapters 4-6 of Ephesians and \u201cKaty bar the door,\u201d you\u2019ve got thirty-five, at least, commands that I\u2019m aware of. Do you see the pattern? Orthodoxy first, Paul never tells us what to do until we have orthodoxy but orthodoxy is not the end game, it is to move into orthopraxy.\n\nThe whole book of Romans is set up the exact same way. Romans 1-11, orthodoxy; then chapter 12:1, the word \u201ctherefore,\u201d which shifts us into orthopraxy. The book of Galatians is set up the exact same way. Galatians 1-4, wonderful truth about orthodoxy; then in Galatians 5:1 you see the word \u201ctherefore\u201d and Paul moves his audience away from just knowledge into practice.\n\nOne of the things that I so appreciate about the Apostle Paul is he didn\u2019t simply didactically teach truth to Timothy but he role modeled it. For example, in Acts 20:33-35, as Paul is speaking to the Ephesian elders, he says this: \u201cI have coveted no one\u2019s silver, gold or clothes. [34] You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me. [35] In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, \u2018It is more blessed to give than to receive.\u2019\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s one thing to know that Jesus said \u201cit\u2019s more blessed to give than to receive,\u201d it\u2019s an entirely different matter to labor amongst people without drawing a salary from them, with such intensity that you would have something to give away to them. Paul had a self-funding ministry. Is it wrong for pastors to receive a salary? No, of course not, but you see, Paul wouldn\u2019t receive it because he wanted to role model to the people what his true priorities were. It was neve money with the Apostle Paul. It was always ministry. And Paul says I role modeled that before you.\n\n1 Thessalonians 2:9-12, Paul says the same thing to the Thessalonians. \u201cFor you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. [10] You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; [11] just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children,[12] so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.\u201d\n\nPaul says you Thessalonians, you heard me teach and you saw me live, pointing to his conduct. And let me just tell you something; the world system is sick and tired, and frankly I\u2019m sick and tired of Christians that say one thing in public and act a totally different way when the spotlight is off. The world system calls that, correctly, hypocrisy. And if we have massive pockets of hypocrisy in our lives we are written off lightning speed by the world. They will not listen to a word you say, even though our doctrine may be perfect. Do you remember what Nathan said to David when David had committed, first of all adultery, second murder, third, lying. Remember what Nathan, the prophet, said to David? 2 Samuel 12, around verse 14, Nathan says to David, \u201cHowever, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme\u2026.\u201d David, Ted Koppel and Brian Williams and every other liberal journalist you can come up with is now on television making a mockery out of Christianity because your doctrine says one thing and your lifestyle says something totally different. And how we give ground, constantly, to the accusations of Satan when we wander into sin; we give him an occasion to blaspheme.\n\nPaul said the same thing to the Jews in Romans 2:24, \u201cFor \u2018THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,\u2019\u201d and think of all of the people that could be won to Christ and yet stay away from Christ because of legitimate hypocrisy and inconsistency they see in spiritual leaders and in many of God\u2019s people.\n\nYou see, for Paul the issue was not just doctrine; that\u2019s critical but it was also conduct. I want you to imitate, Timothy, my teaching and I want you to imitate my conduct which you have seen before you presented for the last, almost two decades.\n\nNumber three, there\u2019s a third thing I want you to imitate Timothy, in my ministry, and that\u2019s my purpose. You also see that in verse 10. If Paul understood anything he understood what his purpose was. Do you understand your purpose? Do you understand why God has you alive at this particular time in history? [Romans 9:10, \u201cNow you follow my teaching, my conduct, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my perseverance,\u201d] As long as there is still breath in your lungs, there is some sort of purpose that God seeks to execute through your life. Paul knew his purpose.\n\nYou know, we have youth today that have no purpose at all, kind of just wandering aimlessly from one activity or experience to the next. And why should they not think that way when we teach them in the public schools that they are biological accidents through evolution; they are nothing but a product of random chance. Well, if that\u2019s what you believe then you belief your life is a complete biological accident and if you believe your life is a complete biological accident then you really have no concerted purpose.\n\nBut how different it is for the child of God who understands that they are a special creation of God, both created by Him and redeemed by Him, that God wants to use to expand His purposes upon the earth. Paul knew his purpose; I believe his purpose is stated in Philippians 1:21, \u201cFor to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.\u201d Paul, what\u2019s your purpose? To live for Jesus Christ, not even to live for Him but if you understand Paul\u2019s theology correctly it\u2019s to allow Jesus who is already inside of me, through the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit, to express Himself through my life. That\u2019s your purpose; that\u2019s my purpose. That\u2019s why we exist.\n\nAnd as we understand our purpose God begins to tell us in the direction of service. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:16, \u201cFor if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.\u201d There was something inside of Paul that was just dying to get out and express itself. And that was Christ living through Paul and proclaiming the gospel. I believe Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:16 is referring, at least by allusion to the prophet Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 20:8-9, do you know Jeremiah had a bad day in Jeremiah 20, I mean a BAD day, thrown into a well, beaten by a priest named Pashhur and Jeremiah began to feel sorry for himself. You know, I\u2019m not going to speak up any more for the Lord because every time I speak up for the Lord people get mad at me and abuse me. Have you ever felt that way. That\u2019s what\u2019s going on in Jeremiah\u2019s mind. [Jeremiah 20:2, \u201cThen Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in .... ill treatment of a prophet, a prophet of the Lord, and one that was a priest too,\u201d]\n\nAnd in Jeremiah 20:8-9 Jeremiah says this: \u201cFor each time I speak, I cry aloud; I proclaim violence and destruction, Because for me the word of the LORD has resulted In reproach and derision all day long.\u201d Lord, people are making fun of me all day long so I\u2019m just going to shut my mouth and say nothing more of truth. And then Jeremiah says this, [9] \u201cBut if I say, \u2018I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name,\u2019 Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, indeed I cannot endure it.\u201d\n\nYeah, I want to quit, I want to throw in the towel but you know, every time I mentally go that direction, Jeremiah says, it\u2019s harder for me to quit because there is something deep inside of me that is compelling me to do what I am doing. That is what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 9:16 when he says, \u201cWoe unto me if I do not preach the gospel.\u201d [1 Corinthians 9:16, \u201cFor if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.\u201d]\n\nJeremiah and Paul were not perfect people but they understood a divine purpose and calling on their lives and they understood that diverting from that purpose and calling would be more painful than the natural persecution you receive in pursuing that calling. Paul says you watched this in me, Timothy, for the last twenty years, and I want you, as the apostasy comes, I want you to follow not just my teaching but also my conduct. And beyond that I want you to understand my purpose.\n\nAnd then he shifts right in the middle of verse 10 and he begins to surface characteristics and attributes that relate to Paul\u2019s character. These are things that are based on not so much what Paul did or does but what Paul was in terms of his character. He surfaces here at least four things: faith, patience, love and perseverance. Let\u2019s take these one by one.\n\nAs you look at 2 Timothy 3:10, right in the middle of the verse, he begins to talk about faith, patience, love and perseverance. Notice he mentions \u201cfaith\u201d here; why is faith such a big deal? Faith is such a big deal because you have no access to God without it. Hebrews 11:6, you know the verse, it says, \u201cAnd without faith it is\u201d what? \u201cimpossible to please Him,\u201d it doesn\u2019t even say it\u2019s difficult, or hard, you can\u2019t please God without faith. [Hebrews 11:16, \u201cAnd without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.\u201d\n\nFaith simply means trust; trust, of course, would relate to what is necessary for a lost sinner to be justified before God but you know, you run into a lot of people, they say yeah, I trusted Christ back in 1973 or whatever. Did you know the Christian life is not just about a one-time trust in Christ to be saved. To be clear, one time faith in Christ saves the soul eternally, but you know what? As you move away from that mountain top experience of salvation you\u2019re going to run into problems in your life. And you know what God wants you to do in the midst of those problems? To keep trusting Him. The faith which we initially express in Jesus Christ God then begins to send you through valleys and He begins to kick away from the life of the child of God all of the false securities and props that we have a tendency to rely upon because He is trying to develop within us trust in Him, not just to be saved, which is obviously very important, but in terms of a walk with Him, trusting God through the exigencies and the emergencies of life. And Timothy had seen that in Paul because Paul went through, as you study the book of Acts and other books, his share of trials.\n\nNow who role modeled this for us, continuing to trust in God in the midst of problems? Do you know the ultimate role model of it? Jesus Christ Can\u2019t get a man more abused than Jesus Christ and how did He endure it? 1 Peter 2:23 tells us. It says, \u201cand while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats,\u201d watch this \u201cbut kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.\u201d\n\nHow did Jesus tolerate all of the abuse that he experienced related to the ordeals of the cross? He kept entrusting Himself, despite His circumstances, over and over and over again to God the Father, knowing that one day God the Father would judge righteously.\n\n1 Peter 4:19 applies that to us, it says: \u201cTherefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall\u201d what? \u201centrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.\u201d Does that describe you as you go through trials and tribulations in life? Are you continually entrusting your circumstances to God, or are you trying to navigate all of those problems in the power of the flesh? Paul says I went through so many problems and trials I could not have navigated my way through these circumstances had I not kept entrusting my circumstances over and over again to God. Paul says to Timothy you\u2019ve seen me do this and now Timothy I want you to do the same thing.\n\nFaith can also be translated faithfulness. That\u2019s how it\u2019s translated in the book of Galatians, verses you no doubt know, \u201cBut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,\u201d what\u2019s the next word, \u201cfaithfulness\u201d that\u2019s our magic word, \u201cgentleness, self-control, against such things there is no law.\u201d What is an attribute that God is seeking to develop in the life of his children? It is trusting Him in problems but it is also being faithful in life\u2019s circumstances. What does that mean to be faithful? It means to be consistent. It means to be trustworthy. It means to be the type of person that can be counted on.\n\nAnd how we need to understand this attribute in the modern church world today, where Christians act so flaky. Today I\u2019ll do a ministry but if it\u2019s inconvenient and my emotions are telling me something different I\u2019ll drop out. Today I\u2019ll attend this church and this week I\u2019ll attend this church but once they do something I don\u2019t like, once the pastor parts his hair on the wrong side of the head then I\u2019m out the door and I\u2019m going to go down to church B down the street where they will cater to my desires. And you have people just rotating around from church to church to church, ministry to ministry to ministry, starting something, never completing it. And God is looking at all of this and says to His children, you know what I want to see out of you? I want to see a little bit of consistency. I want to see some steadfastness. I want to see some faithfulness. I want to see some people that are going to stick with the task in the midst of adversity. That\u2019s what I want. And that\u2019s why Paul brings up this attribute that Timothy is to imitate.\n\nNow this next one is going to hurt, patience. Have you ever prayed this prayer? Lord, give me patience and give it to me right now. Patience, we know what that means; that also is one of the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, \u201cBut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.\u201d You know, it is so hard in American society to be patient for anything. We have instant travel, we don\u2019t even have to look up things in books any more, we just press a button on the computer and we get instant information. We don\u2019t even have to wait for meals any more since we have microwave ovens and fast food. And we have all of these creature comforts where any desire we have almost impulsively we can have gratified instantaneously. But with one click options. You don\u2019t even have to go to a store or through the normal selling and buying process; push a button and it\u2019s mine. And this is what the market place demands, instant gratification.\n\nAnd in the midst of all of this God is trying to teach His children patience. He is trying to teach us delayed gratification. And so He puts us in circumstances where our immediate needs are not met and we cry out to the Lord, and we say Lord, You\u2019ve forgotten me. And the Lord says I don\u2019t function with you the way America and its economy functions; I\u2019m trying to develop something in you called patience. And that\u2019s why I will not gratify every single need you have instantaneously.\n\nAnd the prosperity gospel gets around this by turning God into a cosmic genie. God operates according to my schedule. That\u2019s what the prosperity gospel says. Anything I want, if I command it God is obligated to give it to me. If that were true, first of all, your life would be a total disaster because there\u2019s a lot of things God won\u2019t give you. My daughter, Sarah, at nine years old, wants to drive the car, and she pleads and begs and if we, as parents said well, we want to gratify your immediate desire, go ahead and take the car keys, take it out for a little spin, we know how that story will end up.\n\nIt\u2019s the same way with God. He doesn\u2019t give us immediately everything our hearts desire because many times we\u2019re not ready to handle it. So He withholds things until a proper time of maturity so our lives are not destroyed. He withholds things, many times, to develop within us this very important attribute of patience.\n\nPaul points out something else here, Timothy, I want you to imitate something else in my character, which is love. And you already know the Greek word for love, which is ag\u00e1p\u0113. In Greek there are four different words for love, \u00e9r\u014ds, romantic love, phile\u014d, brotherly love, storgus, family love, and then there\u2019s finally ag\u00e1p\u0113 love.\n\nLove which simply loves, without demanding or expecting anything in return, that\u2019s what Paul had, and it wasn\u2019t Paul that conjured that up through some kind of self-help program. That was Jesus expressing Himself through Paul\u2019s life. It\u2019s a love which is of the most unselfish variety. You see, lust can\u2019t wait to get; love, on the other hand, can\u2019t wait to give. Look at your life? How would you describe it? Is it more of a life of lust or is it more a life of love towards others that many times misunderstand you and mistreat you?\n\nOf course Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13 tells us all we need to know about love, doesn\u2019t he? 1 Corinthians 13:1] \u201cIf I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. [2] If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. [3] And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.\u201d\n\nWell, Paul, what is love? We throw this word \u201clove\u201d around so much most of us don\u2019t even know what we\u2019re talking about. Paul tells us what love is, [1 Corinthians 13:3] \u201cLove is patient, love is kind and is not jealous,\u201d someone else gets promoted and not you, are you the type of person that is actually happy for the person promoted or do these lingering feelings of jealousy reside in your heart. \u201c\u2026love does not brag, it is not arrogant,\u201d [5] it \u201cdoes not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, it is not provoked, it does not take into account a wrong suffered,\u201d do you have a list, a blacklist in your mind of all of the people that have mistreated you? That\u2019s not love. Love, we\u2019re told here, keeps no record of wrong. It [6] \u201cdoes not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.\u201d [7] Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.\u201d And then at the end of the chapter, as you know, Paul says, \u201c\u2026faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.\u201d\n\nYou know the day is going to come where faith won\u2019t even be needed because you will see Jesus face to face. Did you know the day is going to come where hope is no longer needed because you will see Jesus face to face. But you see, faith and hope may dissipate but love will continue on and on and on throughout the ages and the eons of time. Paul says Timothy, I want you to imitate the ag\u00e1p\u0113 love that you have seen over these last 20 years of Jesus expressing Himself through me.\n\nAs you know, love is also a manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit. In fact, love, as I have it underlined there, is first on the list. How can we not be people of love as God\u2019s people when 1 John 4:8 tells us \u201cGod is\u201d what? \u201clove.\u201d 1 John 4:8 doesn\u2019t even say God is loving, he says \u201cGod is love.\u201d God\u2019s character is love. And if a person is rightly related to the Lord Jesus Christ and walking moment by moment in fellowship with Him, how in the world can we claim this connection to Jesus Christ and not be loving towards people? It\u2019s an impossibility.\n\n1 John 4;20 says, \u201cIf someone says \u2018I love God,\u2019 and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not loves his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.\u201d As you look at people do you feel a sense of love? I\u2019m not talking about the people that are nice to you. You know, even the mob, the mobsters are nice to the people that are nice to them. I\u2019m talking about the people that are rude, crude, lewd and obnoxious. I\u2019m talking about the people that have wronged your or are wronging you. What is your basic attitude towards them and how you answer that question will determine your depth of spiritual character and fellowship with God. I want you to, Timothy, to imitate love.\n\nWe\u2019ll do this last one here, and with this we are finished. I want you, Timothy, to imitate My perseverance, also in verse 10. The Greek word for perseverance here is hupomen\u0113, it refers to a capacity to bear up under difficult circumstances. If Paul had anything going for him it was hupomen\u0113, a capacity to bear up in unfavorable circumstances. Does that describe you? Proverbs 24:16 puts it this way: \u201cFor a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of calamity.\u201d What did your Jr. High School football coach, basketball coach, gymnastics coach tell you? He told you it\u2019s not getting down, getting knocked down that\u2019s the issue; everybody gets knocked down. It\u2019s how fast you can get back up. And see, this is what God wants to develop in us, a perseverance, a stick-to-itiveness in the midst of adversity. This is what Paul demonstrated for Timothy as Christ\u2019s work through Paul for twenty years. Timothy saw Paul getting knocked down over and over and over again and Paul kept getting right back up, over and over again and completing his assignment.\n\nIn fact, at one point, and he describes it a little bit later in verse 11 so I won\u2019t go into too much detail on this, but in Timothy\u2019s home town, you\u2019ll find this in Acts 14:19-20, they threw in Lystra so many rocks at Paul that they thought he was dead, and they left him alone. [Acts 14:19-20, \u201cBut Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. [20] But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe.\u201d]\n\nNow what would you do if God sends you out on an assignment and people are so opposed to what you\u2019re doing that they actually throw rocks at you to the point of physical murder; they think you\u2019re dead and then they just leave you there dead on the road without any decent burial. Most of us would be feeling so sorry for ourselves. Paul, on the other hand, gets right back up, goes right back into the city that abused him and finished his task before God. That is perseverance.\n\nIt is not something that is conjured up in the flesh, it is something God works through us. It\u2019s the very thing that Jesus emulated and imitated as He was dying on the cross, Hebrews 12:2 says, \u201cfixing\u201d same word, hupomen\u0113, \u201cfixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross,\u201d that\u2019s hupomen\u0113, \u201cdespising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.\u201d\n\nWhat do you see in Christ? hupomen\u0113, perseverance. What do you see in Paul? hupomen\u0113, perseverance. What does Paul want Timothy to imitate? hupomen\u0113, perseverance. What does God want for your life? hupomen\u0113, perseverance. You say well, Pastor, I just don\u2019t have it. I mean, I just don\u2019t have it! I quit really quick, any little problem I throw in the towel. Do you have an answer for me? And I\u2019m so glad you asked.\n\nJames 1:2-4 is the answer, \u201cConsider it\u201d what? \u201call joy, my brethren,\u201d speaking to believers, \u201cwhen you encounter various trials,\u201d wow, you mean when adversity hits I\u2019m supposed to internally celebrate? Apparently. \u201cConsider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, [3] knowing that the testing of your faith produces\u201d what? \u201cendurance,\u201d hupomen\u0113. [4] \u201cAnd let endurance\u201d same Greek word, \u201clet endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, not lacking in anything.\u201d God already knows we don\u2019t naturally possess this quality of perseverance. So He starts to instill it in us by putting us into circumstances that are above our ability to navigate.\n\nAnd finally, we try this option, it doesn\u2019t work, our problems are still there. We try this option over there, it doesn\u2019t work. We try this option, it doesn\u2019t work. And then finally we come to the Lord and say you know Lord, I\u2019ve tried everything, I guess I\u2019ll have to trust You. And God says thumbs up, that\u2019s what I wanted the whole time because I\u2019m trying to develop something in you which you do not necessarily possess on your own, hupomen\u0113, but it will come to you as you learn to walk with Me in the midst of trials. How to endure in the midst of the apostasy? Imitate Paul\u2019s character in faith, patience, love and perseverance, and also imitate Paul\u2019s teaching, conduct and purpose in his ministry. Next time we are together we\u2019ll be taking a look at patience in the midst of difficulties.\n\nShall we pray. Father, we are grateful for this straight teaching that You\u2019ve given us in Paul\u2019s life. Help us to walk out these attributes this week as we acknowledge that You have sovereignly many times put us in difficult positions. Help us to draw upon You and allow these attributes to become more and more manifest in our lives and make us people of character. We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory, we ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name. And God\u2019s people said.. Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t