{"id":18224,"date":"2016-06-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-26T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/2-timothy-034-he-is-faithful\/"},"modified":"2016-06-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-26T05:00:00","slug":"2-timothy-034-he-is-faithful","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/2-timothy-034-he-is-faithful\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Timothy 034 – He is Faithful"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[100],"series_event":[454],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18224","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 034 - He is Faithful","sermon_date":"20160626","sermon_month":"6","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3695,"sermon_slides":3696,"sermon_mp3":3702,"sermon_id":"6261693770","series_or_event":454,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":100,"chapter_and_verse":"4:9-22","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nHe Is Faithful\n\n6-26-16\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 Timothy 4:9-22\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 35\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them 2 Timothy 4, and verse 9.\u00a0 The title our message this morning is He is Faithful.\u00a0 I want to thank Gabe for filling in last week.\u00a0 Of course, as Bruce just mentioned I was in Australia, which is kind of an interesting place.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of the inverse of us, our summer is their winter and the first thing I noticed when I got there, I said Ya\u2019all are driving on the wrong side of the road.\u00a0 But being the multi-culturist I am I should say they\u2019re driving on a different side of the road, not the wrong side of the road.\u00a0 But that\u2019s kind of important information when you think about it, like crossing the street, where to look for cars.\u00a0 I found myself getting into the driver\u2019s side of the car a couple of times, their steering wheel is on the opposite side.\u00a0 So the Americans sort of stick out like a sore thumb over there.\u00a0 I learned a lot of interesting terms, like floak, and they kept calling me a bloak, I asked is that an insult of what is that?\u00a0 A bloak is just a generic expression for just a person.\n\nThe hood of the car is called the bonnet, the trunk is called the boot.\u00a0 So they said we need to get that out of the boot and I started to take my shoes off a couple of times.\u00a0 And they do have Starbucks over there so that was great.\u00a0 So I was standing in line, I got some coffee and I said can I have some cream.\u00a0 And the guy just looked at me puzzled and someone in the back could see that this linguistic problem and he yells out \u201cask for milk.\u201d\u00a0 So I said can I have some milk and he knew exactly what I was talking about because cream to them is ice cream, so he\u2019s looking at me kind of strange, like you want ice cream on your coffee.\u00a0 And when they say it\u2019s time for dinner they use the expression tea, it\u2019s time for tea, and to them that means dinner.\u00a0 And then they call dessert supper, so they said it\u2019s time for supper and I was like great, we get another meal.\u00a0 So that was fun.\n\nBut it was a good time; their churches over there average about 50 members per congregation.\u00a0 Probably the most orthodox churches there are what\u2019s called the Plymouth Brethren movement, those of you that are familiar with that.\n\nAnd what was I doing there?\u00a0 I was with a group called Awake to Israel and they had a lot of different speakers there at a particular camp called Awake to Israel.\u00a0 Randall Price has taught there, Mark Hitchcock has taught there, Thomas Ice, Ed Hindson. \u00a0I guess they finally reached the bottom of the barrel and they asked me to come.\u00a0 And I didn\u2019t know this as well as I know it now but going there, what you discover is their churches are very much into replacement theology, which is basically the view that God is finished with Israel and the church has taken over Israel\u2019s place.\u00a0 And so there was some Australians there that really had a burden to bring to their country pro-Israel, what we call dispensational, pro dispensational teaching.\u00a0 And people literally come from all over to this camp to be exposed to pro-Israel teaching.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what I was doing there.\u00a0 I taught on different subjects related to prophecy for about eight lectures or so.\n\nAnd the state of their churches, it\u2019s very sad in the sense that some people are even promoting the conference were hauled into disciplinary proceedings from their own churches.\u00a0 So that\u2019s how badly Satan is trying to stamp out any pro-Israel teaching theologically. So I was there to sort of provide the opposite side of it, so I tried to do that.\u00a0 And it was a great experience, I was treated very, very well.\u00a0 They\u2019re very, very proud of their cities and country.\u00a0 I had a chance to tour Sydney and things of that nature.\u00a0 So if you can add to your prayer list Awake to Israel and pray for this group that\u2019s trying to promote Israel and God\u2019s future for Israel, in the nation of Australia, that would be greatly appreciated.\n\nAnd next week, I was looking at the calendar and it\u2019s the 4th<\/sup> of July weekend, typically on 4th<\/sup> of July weekend I give a patriotic message and so next week we\u2019re not going to be in the book of 2 Timothy, I\u2019m going to be giving a patriotic message and it\u2019s going to be entitled The Bible and Voting.\u00a0 So I want to psychologically prepare you for that in advance.\u00a0 I will not be mentioning any political parties or political personalities.\u00a0 I won\u2019t be mentioning the last trump or any other candidates\u2026 someone, by the way, told me we were in the end times.\u00a0 I said why do you think that?\u00a0 Well, the Bible mentions the last trump and we have this guy running.\u00a0 But I won\u2019t be mentioning any political candidates; I won\u2019t be mentioning any political parties. What I\u2019m going to be talking about is principles that evangelicals can use when they cast votes.\u00a0 And these are principles that I\u2019ll go over that you\u2019ll discover can be used in any election, state, local, federal.\u00a0 And so we\u2019re going to be anchoring our case from the Word of God.\u00a0 So if you don\u2019t think that the Bible has anything to say about politics or political issues and pastors should not get involved in those kind of things, then next week would probably be a good week for you to sleep in and miss that because we\u2019re going to be doing that next week.\n\nIn the meantime here we are in the book of 2 Timothy.\u00a0 The book of 2 Timothy, as you remember has about four parts to it.\u00a0 It\u2019s a book of encouragement, trying to get young Timothy to not endure to prove he\u2019s saved, we know he\u2019s saved, but to endure in his task. \u00a0He is the pastor-teacher over the church at Ephesus.\u00a0 So chapter 1 was a basic call to endurance.\u00a0 Chapter 2 is metaphors explaining what endurance e looks like.\u00a0 Chapter 3:1 through chapter 4:8 is the section we\u2019ve just emerged from.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the section on apostasy, the predictions that\u00a0 Paul makes about the end times, how the church would have a tendency to deviate from truth.\u00a0 And Paul tells Timothy what he is to do in the midst of the apostasy, the key thing being to preach the Word of God in season and out of season.\u00a0 So it was really a tremendous section on the role that the Bible and the studying of the Bible and the open teaching and proclamation of the Bible is to play within the local church. That\u2019s the only way to protect the church from the inevitable apostasy or departure.\n\nAnd we come now to the very last section in the book of 2 Timothy, Ed read it to you this morning.\u00a0 It starts in chapter 4, verse 9 and goes all the way through verse 22.\u00a0 It basically is a record of how God meets needs.\u00a0 We are dependent and needy people, are we not?\u00a0 And yet God came through and met six strategic needs in Paul\u2019s life, at the very end of his life.\n\nNow I have to admit that when you come to a section like this, at the end of 2 Timothy, it\u2019s just so tempting to look at this as random, irrelevant biographical information; it\u2019s tempting to just skip over it very quickly, read it without fully understanding what is being said.\u00a0 But you see, our doctrine of verbal plenary Scripture, inspiration, will not allow that approach.\u00a0 Verbal inspiration means the very words of the Bible are inspired; every word God put there for a reason.\u00a0 And plenary means all of Scripture is inspired by God.\u00a0 In fact, Paul told Timothy that, you recall back in chapter 3 and verse 16, where he says, \u201cAll Scripture is inspired by God,\u201d so that would also include this section beginning in verse 9 through the end of the book, which at first glance looks like random, boring biographical information.\u00a0 But you see, I\u2019m convinced that the Holy Spirit placed this information in front of Timothy, and indirectly in front of us, for a reason.\n\nAnd as I read through this material I said to myself, Lord, what is this material doing here?\u00a0 Why give us all of this biographical information at the end of the book?\u00a0 And here\u2019s sort of the conclusion I came to: what Paul is showing Timothy in these final verses is that God came through for Paul in a way that only God could.\u00a0 Paul was at the very, very end of his life; he was at the time of his life when he was most desperate.\u00a0 In fact, this is his, as we\u2019ve said before, his second imprisonment which was completely different than his first imprisonment.\u00a0 His first imprisonment he was in Rome, he had the opportunity to receive visitors and guests.\u00a0 He was not isolated and by himself.\u00a0 He had decent living conditions.\n\nBut by the time Paul is in his second Roman imprisonment, from which he wrote 2 Timothy, the world has totally changed.\u00a0 Nero is on the throne, he has, or is about to, burn Rome, most of it to the ground and blame it on the Christians.\u00a0 The first wave of Roman imperial persecution against the church is about to be launched.\u00a0 Paul is about ready to die.\u00a0 He is isolated by himself with very few exceptions.\u00a0 And it was at a time in Paul\u2019s life where he was the most desperate.\u00a0 It was a time in his life where he was the most needy.\u00a0 It was the time in his life where he needed more than any other time in his life to see the faithful hand of God.\u00a0\u00a0 We really don\u2019t need to see the faithful hand of God during mountaintop experiences; we need to see the faithful hand of God in the midst of the valley, in the midst of the darkness, because it\u2019s in the midst of the valley and the darkness that God really showcases His faithfulness.\n\nAnd I believe that this is what Paul is revealing to Timothy.\u00a0 Timothy, at a time in my life when I was most desperate God came through for me in six ways.\u00a0 There are six tangible things that God did for me.\u00a0 And Timothy, I want you to understand that I have no corner on God; if God has been faithful to me in the midst of my most difficult time, then guess what?\u00a0 He\u2019s going to be faithful to you.\u00a0 And we can take such great comfort in this final section. We may get through all six of these today, we may not, but the tenor and the tone of this final section is the faithfulness of God.\u00a0 When everyone else is faithless, when we ourselves are faithless, God is faithful.\u00a0 The world may let you down, God, whose character cannot change, never will.\n\nGod is in the business, whether it\u2019s a good time or a bad time, He\u2019s is in the business of meeting needs in our lives.\u00a0 In fact, David, in Psalm 37:25 said this:\u00a0 \u201cI have been young and now I am old,\u201d in other words I\u2019ve lived a long time, \u201cYet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging for bread.\u201d\u00a0 David says I have lived a long time and I\u2019ve observed a lot and I\u2019ve seen a lot and here\u2019s something I have never seen; I\u2019ve never seen the needs of the righteous unmet by God.\n\nPaul, in Philippians 4:19 says, \u201cAnd my God will supply\u201d some of your needs, oh, it doesn\u2019t say that, sorry, \u201cAnd my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 It is God who has told us, \u201cI will never desert\u00a0 you nor shall I forsake you.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 13:5b]\u00a0 And if there was ever a time for Paul to experience this it would be during this second Roman imprisonment because as we shall see, the man virtually had nothing to rely on but God, and yet God came through.\u00a0 Hebrews 13:;8 says, \u201cJesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.\u201d\u00a0 If things are going great in your life Jesus is the same.\u00a0 If things are going terrible in your life from the human perspective, Jesus is the same.\n\nAnd God came through for me, Paul says, when no one else would or could, in six practical tangible ways, and guess what Timothy?\u00a0 I have no corner on God, He\u2019s going to come through for you, so don\u2019t be discouraged in the midst of difficulty.\u00a0 And by extension He\u2019s going to come through for us.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen with the economy, I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen with the election that everybody is nervous about.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen with the United States of America.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen internationally.\u00a0 I just don\u2019t know!\u00a0 I wish I did but I don\u2019t.\u00a0 But I do know one thing; I know that no matter what happens God is faithful.\u00a0 And at the end of the day you can take the faithfulness of God to the bank.\n\nSo how did God help Paul?\u00a0 The first way He helped Paul was in the area of loneliness.\u00a0 Paul, as we study these words, was in a position of isolation and loneliness.\u00a0 And it becomes obvious just by reading some of the things he says.\u00a0 If you look at verse 9 it says, \u201cMake every effort\u201d as he\u2019s speaking to Timothy, \u201cto come to me soon.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m by myself, I am in isolation, I\u2019m hungry for fellowship.\u00a0 And those that I had trusted have left me.\u00a0 He makes a reference to that in verse 10, \u201cfor Demas,\u201d one of his close ministry associates according to Colossians 4:14, and Philemon 24.\n\n[Colossians 4:14, \u201cLuke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas.\u201d\n\nPhilemon 24, \u201cas do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.\u201d]\u00a0 Paul says this of this former associate, \u201cFor Demos, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica;\u201d he mentions somebody else here, \u201cCrescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.\u201d\u00a0 And he mentions all of these people that had once been with him, had once stood with him, and for one reason or another, maybe it was fear of persecution from Nero, maybe it was some other explanation why they had deserted Paul.\n\nWell, who was standing with Paul. He says there in verse 11, \u201cOnly Luke is with me.\u00a0 Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.\u201d\u00a0 So Luke and just a handful of others were the only ones left standing with the Apostle Paul.\u00a0 If you\u2019ll go down to verse 12 and he continues to talk this way in terms of his loneliness, he says, \u201cBut Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.\u201d\u00a0 Tychicus, and you can study these people throughout Paul\u2019s ministry; these were key people.\u00a0 They had left Paul, either because Paul had dispatched them to other places, they had left Paul because they fell in love with the world, they had left Paul because of the fear of persecution, but Paul, by and large, with very few exceptions, was all by himself.\n\nIf you go down to verse 16 he says, \u201cAt my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me;\u201d and I love this last little line here in verse 16, \u201cmay it not be counted against them.\u201d\u00a0 The Bible says that a man of many friends comes to ruin, that\u2019s why you should be careful about your friend list on Facebook, \u201cA man of too many friends comes to ruin, But there is a friend\u201d the book of Proverbs says, \u201cwho sticks closer than a brother.\u201d [Proverbs18:24]\n\nPaul, apparently was injured, or he was wounded by the fact that all of these people had deserted him where he has to actually acknowledge I\u2019m not going to hold a grudge against them.\u00a0 And the fact of the matter is, relationships are things that we need.\u00a0 There are things that God has designed for us to have\u2014basic human interaction with other individuals.\u00a0 In fact, all the way back in the book of Genesis, chapter 2 and verse 18, now this is before sin entered the picture; this is when Adam was walking in a perfect relationship with the Lord.\u00a0 He had unhindered access to God.\u00a0 And yet what does Genesis 2:18 say, \u201cThen the LORD God said, \"It is not good for the man to be\u201d what? \u201calone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.\u201d\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting that at the beginning of human history, before sin even entered the picture, as Adam stood in a perfect relationship with God we see that God designed human beings for human interaction and God looked at Adam in a state of isolation and being alone, having no one, fellow human beings with him, in this case his wife.\n\nEcclesiastes 4:9-12 says, \u201cTwo are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. [10] For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. [11] Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?<\/em> [12] And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands<\/em> is not quickly torn apart.\u201d\n\nAnd I bring this up because a lot of people have what I would call a \u201cLone Ranger\u201d mentality with Christianity.\u00a0 They do not want to go to a church; the reason they don\u2019t want to go to a church is because the church is filled with hypocrites.\u00a0 To that argument I say well, come on and join, we\u2019ve always got room for one more hypocrite here.\u00a0 Or they\u2019ve been injured in church or someone has hurt them.\u00a0 I remember when I first started in ministry one of the elderly ladies in the church told me something that has stuck with me for a long time.\u00a0 She says: it\u2019s not the unsaved world that\u2019s going to hurt you, it\u2019s your brothers and sisters in Christ that will hurt you because they\u2019re the ones you make yourself vulnerable to.\u00a0 They\u2019re the ones you open yourself up to, and it\u2019s a shocking thing to discover a saved brother or sister in Christ going back into the sin nature and saying something that\u2019s injurious or harmful to us, or doing something against us.\u00a0 And it\u2019s sort of a hard thing to get over because we have a tendency to think that everybody in church is in some kind of glorified state.\n\nThe fact of the matter is all of us saved, even saved people are still tainted by that sin nature and we can do things to upset each other; we can do things to injure each other.\u00a0 So a lot of people have experienced this and they withdraw from a church, OR, they go to a church that\u2019s so big that they can be anonymous, they don\u2019t really have to get to know anybody to well.\u00a0 Big churches\u2026 and I\u2019m not against big churches, but big churches have a tendency to allow someone to kind of fly under the radar, under the cloak of anonymity, you don\u2019t have to learn anybody\u2019s name, you can just sort of walk in like a movie theater, absorb the show, and then leave.\n\nAnd that is a far cry from God\u2019s calling on the church.\u00a0 We are not called to be Lone Rangers in Christ, we are called to be part of a body.\u00a0 We\u2019re not called to just come and simply listen to lectures as if there were a lecture hall; sermons are important but there\u2019s so much more to it.\u00a0 We are called to be vulnerable to each other; we are called out of isolation.\u00a0 We are called to be a family and we take each other for what we are, the good, the bad and the ugly.\n\nAnd so we have this need for human interaction, intimacy, friendship, fellowship.\u00a0 And Paul had that same need.\u00a0 And in this place of isolation it would seem at first glance as if that need was not being met.\u00a0 But watch how the Lord came through for Paul.\u00a0 [Titus 1:17] \u201cBut the Lord,\u201d after everybody deserted him, \u201cthe Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might here; and I was rescued out of the lion\u2019s mouth.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Nobody else stood with me\u2026 but God did.\n\nIn fact, if you go down to verse 21, towards the end of the chapter, Paul writes to Timothy, \u201cMake every effort to come before winter,,\u201d he mentions individuals, \u201cEubulus greets you, also Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brethren.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The Lord stood with me, but Timothy, as you come to me the Lord is going to use you to meet a relational need in my life.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that at the very end of Paul\u2019s life, when Paul really had no one to depend upon, God was still watching out for Paul at his basic level of need, the need of relationships.\u00a0 And he was going to meet those needs practically, I believe, through Timothy, but even until Timothy arrives Paul is very clear, \u201cthe Lord stood with me.\u201d\u00a0 The Lord looked out for me.\u00a0\u00a0 And Timothy, if He looked out for me He\u2019s going to look out for you, at this basic relational level.\n\nMay I just encourage you, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, to let the Lord meet that need in\u00a0 your life.\u00a0 Let Him bring the right relationships, the right friendships into your life in His timing.\u00a0 Don\u2019t resist that, don\u2019t resist community and comradery, and the opportunity to cry, if need be, over the phone with somebody.\u00a0 Be encouraged by somebody.\u00a0 Perhaps that need is not being met in your life but the Lord, as I am understanding the Scripture, wants to meet that need.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen Him meet that need in my life many times.\u00a0 Do you know the Lord met that need in David\u2019s life through Jonathan, and we can ago on and on in the Bible about how God brought intimacy and friendships into people\u2019s lives.\u00a0 Until you come, Timothy, the Lord is going to help me because the Lord\u00a0 wants to meet a relational need in my life through you.\n\nNow there is a second need that Paul had and that\u2019s the need to be delivered from situations which, from the human vantage point looked impossible.\u00a0 Paul got himself into situations where he thought to himself there\u2019s no way I can get out of this.\u00a0 The only way I can get out of it is if the Lord helps.\u00a0 And he makes a reference to that in verse 17, the second half of the verse, \u201cBut the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished and that all the Gentiles might hear:\u201d now look at this last phrase, \u201cand I was rescued out of the lion\u2019s mouth.\u201d\n\nIn the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15 and verse 32, Paul says this, \u201cIf from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus,\u201d Paul talks about being delivered from a lion\u2019s mouth, he talks about fighting the wild beasts in Ephesus\u2026 I mean, was Paul literally delivered from an actual lion, like we can see in a zoo?\u00a0 Were these actually beasts?\u00a0 Perhaps, but I have a tendency to think that Paul is using animals as a metaphor for the overwhelming problems that he faced.\n\nIn fact, in Paul\u2019s writings he will say things like this concerning certain problems: I despaired to the point of death.\u00a0 The problem, whatever it was, was so big, and I couldn\u2019t see my way out of it, that I began to think to myself the easiest way of escape is just to die.\u00a0 Have you ever been in that kind of situation or circumstance?\u00a0 I think God intentionally puts us in circumstances like that. Because if the circumstance is no bigger than me to handle then I really don\u2019t need God, do I?\u00a0 But if you\u2019re put into a situation or a circumstance that\u2019s greater than you, and you really through human manipulation and energy don\u2019t see a way out it, you\u2019re forced to trust God.\u00a0 And many times in my life I go to God almost as a last resort.\u00a0 I tried this, it hasn\u2019t worked, I tried that and it hasn\u2019t worked, and then I say well, I guess I\u2019m just going to have to trust the Lord through this.\u00a0 And the Lord is saying to me that\u2019s the response I wanted at the beginning; I wanted you to come to Me at the beginning with this problem because I put it intentionally into your life and I\u2019m the only one that can help you.\n\nPaul faced circumstances like this and notice the faithfulness of God, the Lord rescued, he doesn\u2019t say I extricated myself, the Lord rescued me out of the lion\u2019s mouth.\u00a0 When everything else failed God was faithful.\n\nI\u2019m reminded of that hopeless condition that the three Hebrew youths were in, you recall Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, those are their Babylonian names that Nebuchadnezzar changed them to, their Hebrew names were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, and you know the story, Daniel 3:9-25, then Nebuchadnezzar because they wouldn\u2019t bow down to a graven image was filled with wrath and his facial expression was altered towards Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, he answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.\u00a0 He commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire.\u00a0 These men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes and were cast in the midst of the furnace of blazing fire.\u00a0 For this reason, because the king\u2019s command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flames of the fire slew those who carried Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego.\n\nHave you ever been in a circumstance like that?\u00a0 Perhaps not of this physical severity but we\u2019ve all been in health related difficulties, financial difficulties, work related difficulties; circumstances that are so big we just don\u2019t see how we can get ourselves out of this one.\n\n[Daniel 3:23] \u201cBut these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, fell into the midst of the furnace, a blazing fire, still tied up. [24] \u00a0Then Nebuchadnezzar was astounded and stood up in haste.\u00a0 He said to the high officials, was it not three men we cast into the fire.\u00a0 They replied to the king, \u2018Certainly, O king.\u2019\u00a0 [25] He said, \u2018Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!\u2019\u201d\n\nI think prior to this event happening in the lives of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, they could have given a good Bible study on the faithfulness of God.\u00a0 But you see, it\u2019s entirely different to experience the faithfulness of God.\u00a0 When they emerged from that furnace they didn\u2019t just have an intellectual Bible based knowledge that God is faithful; they had actually experienced it.\u00a0 And I think their study was no longer just a Bible study, but it was a life experience study.\n\nAnd let me tell you something, this is what God wants to do with you; this is what God wants to do with me.\u00a0 He is not content for us to simply have some kind of intellectual awareness of God\u2019s faithfulness.\u00a0 He wants us to experience the faithfulness of God.\u00a0 And yet how can we ever get to a point in our lives where we experience the faithfulness of God unless God pushes us to the point of need.\u00a0 It\u2019s not until they actually were in the fire that they experienced God\u2019s faithfulness.\n\nSome of you are in the fire right now.\u00a0 Those of you that are not in the fire don\u2019t celebrate too much because your time is probably right around the corner, you just don\u2019t know it\u00a0 yet.\u00a0 And it\u2019s so easy to become angry at God when circumstances are too big and we don\u2019t see it as the hand of God trying to broaden and deepen our understanding of God\u2019s faithfulness.\u00a0 And it\u2019s in those times where we need to see the hand of God in our lives, when we need to have Scripture memorized, because a lot of time the emergency comes up, the phone call comes, the bad news comes, you don\u2019t have time to sit down with your concordance and look up verses.\u00a0 The only thing you really have to focus on is what you committed to memory.\n\nI think the Scripture, I can\u2019t prove this, but I think this, the Scripture that was going through the minds of those three youths when they went into the fire was Isaiah 43:2, \u201cWhen you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.\u201d\n\nEven in this minor trip that I had to Australia I didn\u2019t look carefully at my airline ticket, there\u2019s a big difference between departure and boarding.\u00a0 I looked at the departure time, not the boarding time, and I woke up in a strange country, my host had left, I was in this hotel room and I realized that I had just cut off an hour, or I was an hour late.\u00a0 I thought it was boarding at a certain time, actually departing at a certain time when in reality that was the boarding time, you get the drift here, and you know, the first thing that happens is you start to panic, how much is this going to cost me to get another flight?\u00a0 Where am I going to stay?\u00a0 And the Lord just comforted me as I was struggling and scrambling to get to the airport, with just one verse of Scripture.\u00a0 Philippians 4:19 which I read just a moment ago, which says, \u201cMy God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 Instead of panicking, which is my normal operating procedure, I made a decision this time that I wasn\u2019t going to panic and I was just going to mentally recite that verse.\u00a0 Lord, I don\u2019t know how I\u2019m going to get out of here but\u00a0 You\u2019re going to be faithful and I\u2019m going to claim Your promises.\u00a0 And it\u2019s amazing how just that small Scripture in my mind had such a calming effect.\u00a0 And that was just a minor emergency, I did make it to the plane on time, they were almost taxing out of the runway by the time I got there but I got back.\n\nAnd there\u2019s things like this that are going to happen in your life and you have to make a choice, are you going to hit the panic button or are you just going to rely upon the promises of God?\u00a0 So God met this need in Paul\u2019s life.\u00a0 In fact, if you go down to verse 18 he gives the impression that God is not going to just meet this need but He\u2019s going to keep meeting needs.\u00a0 Verse 18, \u201cThe Lord will rescue me from\u201d notice the word every, \u201cevery evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 As we teach here we are not currently in the kingdom; we believe the kingdom is yet future because once we\u2019re in the kingdom we won\u2019t have needs like this; we won\u2019t have needs like this.\u00a0 We won\u2019t have emergencies like this.\n\nSo until the kingdom arrives we have to keep relying upon or trusting God.\u00a0 It\u2019s very clear when you go back to verse 1 that Paul talks about the kingdom being yet future.\u00a0 In fact, when you go over to chapter 4, verse 20 it\u2019s obvious that Paul didn\u2019t believe he was in the kingdom because he says, \u201cErastus remained at Corinth, brut Trophimus I left sick at Miletus.\u201d\u00a0 In the kingdom everybody\u2019s diseases are healed.\u00a0 Isaiah 35:5-6 indicate that.\u00a0 [Isaiah 35:5-6, \u201cThen the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. [6] Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.\u201d]\n\nBut until the kingdom arises we are a needy people; we are in a place of need, we are in a position of need, we are in a position of dependency, we forget that we are created as dependent beings.\u00a0 And we are in need of seeing over and over again the faithful hand of God.\u00a0 Paul says to Timothy, you know what, God came through for me in this area of deliverance and He\u2019s going to come through for you as well.\n\nThere is a third need that the apostle had and this has to do with deliverance, not just from impossible circumstances but deliverance from persecution.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, verse 14, \u201cAlexander he coppersmith did me much harm; The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.\u201d Verse 15, \u201cBe on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching.\u201d\u00a0 Paul here makes reference to somebody and names a name as Paul has a tendency to do in these books.\u00a0 He names somebody that injured Paul; we\u2019re not told exactly what the injury was but the Greek word for harm that\u2019s used here in verses 14 and 15 is the exact same word that Luke uses in Acts 28:5 referring to a snake bite.\u00a0 Acts 28:5, of Paul it says, \u201cHowever he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.\u201d\u00a0 Whatever happened to Paul it\u2019s analogous to poison running through his system.\n\nIn Matthew 17:15 it says, \u201cLord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.\u201d\u00a0 Apparently some sort of epilepsy or demon possession; this word for \u201cill\u201d is the same word that Paul uses to describe harm that was perpetrated on him by Alexander the coppersmith.\u00a0 And it wasn\u2019t a minor injury because of the adjective \u201cmuch.\u201d\u00a0 Alexander the coppersmith didn\u2019t just offend Paul, didn\u2019t just upset Paul, didn\u2019t just get under Paul\u2019s skin periodically but this is a man that injured Paul in some actual way, whether it was physical, emotional, relational, I don\u2019t know, but this man did something against Paul that wounded Paul to the point where he had a difficult time forgetting about it.\n\nHave you ever been hurt by somebody and no matter how hard you try to push it out of your mind that same wounding or injury keeps coming up, over and over again in the arena of our mind.\u00a0 That\u2019s the kind of thing that Paul is speaking of here.\u00a0 And Alexander the coppersmith was such a troublemaker Paul even warns Timothy, \u201cBe on your guard against him,\u201d verse 15, \u201cfor he vigorously opposed our teaching.\u201d\n\nAnd yet in the midst of that very need God came through for Paul because it says there in verse 14, \u201cthe Lord will repay him according to his deeds.\u201d\u00a0 Paul took Alexander the coppersmith off his own hook and he placed the man on God\u2019s hook.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what a lot of us need to do with people; we sit up late at night or wake up early in the morning thinking about such and such a person and what they\u2019ve done to us and how they\u2019ve injured\u00a0 us and we think that by harboring an attitude of un-forgiveness that we\u2019re hurting that person when in reality a bitter spirit towards somebody that has injured us, and by the way, we all get hurt, it\u2019s part of living in a fallen world.\u00a0 But harboring an attitude of bitterness towards the person that hurt us doesn\u2019t hurt that person that injured us at all.\u00a0 The only thing it injures is who?\u00a0 Ourselves!\n\nBitterness is like drinking poison thinking it\u2019s going to hurt somebody else.\u00a0 And it is amazing how the devil has worked to chain God\u2019s people into a place of bondage through an unforgiving attitude towards somebody.\u00a0 And\u00a0 Paul here says the Lord will repay him.\u00a0 Paul wasn\u2019t out trying to seek vengeance; he wasn\u2019t out trying to seek revenge; he wasn\u2019t out trying to plot his next move.\u00a0 He simply took the man and said\u00a0 you\u2019re on God\u2019s hook now.\u00a0 And I discovered a long time ago that if I will not seek vengeance for personal wrongs but rather leave room for the vengeance of God that God has an interesting way of settling the account.\u00a0 Sometimes He deals with people dramatically through discipline, sometimes He exercises complete grace towards that person, but you see, once I put the person on God\u2019s hook they\u2019re no longer my responsibility.\u00a0 \u201cThe Lord will repay him,\u201d that\u2019s what Paul says.\n\nThe book of Romans, chapter 12, verses 17-19 it says never pay back evil to anyone.\u00a0 Respect what is right in the sight of all men and if possible so far as it depends upon you be at peace with all men, never take your own revenge beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written: vengeance is mine, I will repay, thus saith the Lord.\n\n[Romans 12:17, \u201cDo not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. [18] If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. [19] Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God\u2019s wrath, for it is written: \u201cIt is mine to avenge; I will repay says the Lord.\u201d]\n\nGod\u2019s going to do a far better job dealing with Alexander the coppersmith than I ever could, Paul says.\u00a0 I am releasing him to the custody and the sovereignty and the authority of God, and guess who is becoming liberated in the process?\u00a0 Paul says I am.\u00a0 So is it not interesting at the very end of his life even this need that he had for wrongs to be made right he sensed the hand of God meeting that need as God touched Paul\u2019s heart in this place of confinement to the point where Paul could even surrender his opponents to the hand of God.\u00a0 I would encourage you to do that; have you done that to your adversaries and your opponents and people that say unfair things about you?\u00a0 Or act in unbecoming ways towards you?\u00a0 Are you the type of person that\u2019s trying to go out and settle the score or have you released these people to God?\u00a0 As you find you do the latter you\u2019ll find you\u2019re the one that\u2019s liberated and free.\n\nPaul had another need, the need for spiritual hunger.\u00a0 Notice if you will chapter 4 and verse 13, \u201cWhen you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments.\u201d\u00a0 Well, what are \u201cthe books\u201d?\u00a0 When you study this word \u201cbook\u201d in Greek, it\u2019s the Greek word biblion<\/em>, it\u2019s used in Luke 4:17 of the Isaiah scroll.\u00a0 Luke 4:17, when Jesus was in the synagogue in Nazareth it says, \u201cAnd the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,\u201d the same word \u201cbook\u201d biblion,<\/em> is\u00a0 used here.\u00a0 I believe when Paul says \u201cthe books\u201d he\u2019s talking about the, what we would call the Old Testament, the Scriptures themselves.\n\nHe mentions here in verse 13 \u201cthe parchments.\u201d\u00a0 Charles Ryrie, of \u201cthe parchments,\u201d said papyri scrolls, the parchments, the skins of Aveilus, used for more precious documents, in this case Paul\u2019s personal copies of the Old Testament.\u00a0 Charles Ryrie says: \u201cThe missionary prisoners still wanted to study.\u201d\u00a0 You know, a lot of people think they\u2019re beyond studying; I\u2019ve studied that already, I know that already.\u00a0 Is it not interesting that the man who was trusted with the mysteries of God at the very end of his life wanted to read the Scripture and study it.\u00a0 People that act like they\u2019ve arrived because they\u2019ve read that already in the Bible, I think are missing the point.\u00a0 You never arrive; there are always new things God wants to teach you. I\u2019m astonished that whenever I go back to this book I\u2019m learning new things over and over again, in books that I\u2019ve already read and studied.\n\nPaul says I want to study.\u00a0 And you see, Paul had a need, he needed to be spiritually fed.\u00a0 Paul had that need; if Paul had that need how much more do we have that need!\u00a0 \u201cMan shall not live by bread alone but\u201d on what? \u201cevery word that precedes from the mouth of God.\u201d\u00a0 Job 23:12 says, \u201cI have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 1 Peter 2:2 says, \u201clike newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.\u201d\n\nYou say well pastor, I just don\u2019t have a hunger for the Word of God.\u00a0 Let me tell you something; do you know what destroys your hunger for the Word of God?\u00a0 Junk food.\u00a0 If I\u2019m driving home and my wife tells me she\u2019s prepared a nutritious meal for me and I stop at McDonalds and have the Big Mac value meal and a quarter pounder, not to mention the Sundae with the little nuts on top, I know these things pretty well, I\u2019m confessing some sin here, and I devour this food what appetite is there left for what\u2019s nutritious?\u00a0 See?\n\nWhat is spiritual junk food?\u00a0 1 Peter 2:1, right before the verse I just mentioned, tells us what spiritual junk food is, \u201cTherefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, [2] like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word\u201d of God.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have an appetite for the Word of God the reason for that is the stomach is filled with junk food, it\u2019s filled with malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander.\u00a0 What Peter is saying is get rid of the junk food and you\u2019ll have an appetite for the true Word of God.\u00a0 And Paul had that need for spiritual nourishment.\n\nAnd how few spiritual leaders understand this.\u00a0 Spiritual leaders feed others constantly but they themselves need to be fed.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019m grateful for Sugar Land Bible Church, and an elder board like we have that doesn\u2019t get its pastor running around from activity to activity doing this and doing that, but there\u2019s a guarding, to a certain extent, of the pastor\u2019s personal study and meditation, and even the ability to go to different conferences and be fed himself so he can effectively feed others.\u00a0 Paul had that need and is it not interesting how that need was met as Timothy was to bring to Paul, at the very end of his life, the sacred writings.\n\nPaul had a fifth need and that was a physical need.\u00a0 He had spiritual needs; he also had physical needs.\u00a0 Look at verse 13, \u201cWhen you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus,\u201d why would Paul need a cloak?\u00a0 The simple answer to that is he\u2019s in a dungeon and he\u2019s freezing.\u00a0 Charles Ryrie says this of the cloak: \u201cTo protect from cold and the damp of his dungeon.\u201d\u00a0 Even at the very end of his life God was looking out for Paul\u2019s physical needs.\n\nWe have physical needs, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 Food, shelter, finances, money, as you get old, sadly hospital expenses and things of that begin to mount up and we think that somehow the grace of God doesn\u2019t cover those circumstances and what we\u2019re learning here is that God would do the looking out for those things.\u00a0 We look at them as minor; to God they\u2019re major.\n\nI\u2019m reminded of what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:25 and following, \u201c\u201cFor this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to<\/em> what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to<\/em> what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet<\/em> your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? [27] And who of you by being worried can add a single<\/em> hour to his life?\u201d\u00a0 Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but it won\u2019t get you anywhere.\u00a0 [28] \u201cAnd why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, [29] yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. [30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive<\/em> today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He<\/em> not much more clothe<\/em> you? You of little faith!\u201d that\u2019s the problem.\n\nLord, You\u2019re big enough to get me to heaven one day and pay for my salvation but this rent payment that I\u2019ve got at the end of the month, that\u2019s a problem.\u00a0 And we diminish God and we just don\u2019t trust Him and His ability to meet basic needs in our life which He is more than willing to do.\n\n[Verse 31] \u201c Do not worry then, saying, \u2018What will we eat?\u2019 or \u2018What will we drink?\u2019 or \u2018What will we wear for clothing?\u2019 [32] For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things;\u201d the pagan world is focused on these things; that\u2019s what they\u2019re all worried about, the stock market, the economy, inflation, retirement fund, that\u2019s their focus.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.\u00a0 [34] So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.\u201d\n\nAmen!\u00a0 Inch by inch life\u2019s a cinch; yard by yard life is hard.\u00a0 Stop worrying about what is going to happen tomorrow and start worrying about, or be concerned about am I going to get through today?\u00a0 And you\u2019ll discover that the burdens on your life will start to dramatically shrink when we live day to day.\u00a0 1 Peter 5:7 says, \u201cCasting all your anxiety on Him,\u201d why? \u201cbecause He cares for you.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s the great shepherd of the sheep, He knows you by name, He knows what your needs are, He knows the specific predicament that you may find yourself in this afternoon.\n\nOne more need and we\u2019re finished.\u00a0 Relational!\u00a0 You know, of all of the things that I wish I could jettison in ministry it\u2019s this issue, walking in solidarity with somebody, being on the same page with somebody, having comradery with somebody, accomplishing exploits for God\u2019s purposes with somebody and then there\u2019s a fracture in the fellowship, there\u2019s a disagreement of some kind, there\u2019s a parting of the ways.\u00a0 And the person that you were once in comradery with the fellowship has been broken.\u00a0 If I could get rid of anything in the ministry I would get rid of that because to me that is the most painful.\n\nAnd this is the very thing that happened to the great apostle Paul because in Acts 13:13, on his first missionary journey, we read these words, \u201cNow Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; but John\u201d that\u2019s John Mark, \u201cleft them and returned to Jerusalem.\u201d\u00a0 We\u2019re not told why John Mark bailed out on missionary journey one, maybe the rigors of being a missionary was too much for him, I don\u2019t know what the circumstances were but this young man said I\u2019ve had enough, I\u2019m done.\n\nAnd then when we come to missionary journey two Barnabas wants to take Mark with him on missionary journey two and Paul says no way, that brat, or that kid, or whatever he said, is not coming on missionary journey two.\u00a0 And Barnabas, who had traveled with Paul, had such a sharp disagreement that the two of them went their separate says.\u00a0 It says in Acts 15:39, \u201cAnd there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.\u201d\u00a0 Paul and Silas went a different way and they retraced their steps through southern Galatia.\n\nThis word \u201csharp disagreement, \u201c I looked this up in Greek, it\u2019s only used twice in the Greek New Testament, but it refers to an intense difference of opinion.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just a minor argument, this was an argument that was so severe that it caused a rupture in the missionary team.\u00a0 And I believe that this is something that plagued Paul his whole life, thinking back on this relationship that he had once had with Barnabas and also Mark, that had been fractured and anybody that goes through something like that knows that the wounds are difficult to close.\n\nAnd may I just say to you, did\u00a0 you know at the end of Paul\u2019s life God was even looking out for that issue because what does it say here in 2 Timothy 4:11, it\u2019s astounding what it says in light of what I\u2019ve just revealed to you from the book of Acts.\u00a0 Paul says, \u201cOnly Luke is with me.\u00a0 Pick up Mark,\u201d wasn\u2019t that the same guy that bailed out and they had the disagreement over years earlier?\u00a0 \u201cPick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.\u201d\u00a0 This guy that was useless has now become useful in the providence of God.\u00a0 This man that I was alienated from, the relationship has been restored.\n\nAnd you see, there are people like that in my life, there are people like that in your life, that we want nothing to do with because of some past wounding or disagreement.\u00a0 Can I just encourage you to let the Lord work.\u00a0 You would be shocked at what God will do in terms of healing and restoring a broken relationship.\u00a0 God, that was so interested in Paul\u2019s needs that at the very end of his life he even looked out for his relational needs.\n\nLoneliness, God came through, when nobody else could.\u00a0 Deliverance, God came through when no one else could.\u00a0 Persecution, God came through when no one else could.\u00a0 Spiritual hunger, God came through when no one else could.\u00a0 Physical needs, God came through when no one else could, right down to relational needs.\n\nAnd how does the book conclude.\u00a0 I love this verse, 22, \u201cThe Lord be with your spirit.\u00a0 Grace be with you.\u201d\u00a0 What sustained Paul all of these years was the present tense grace of God.\u00a0 Salvation to Paul was not just a yesterday thing or a tomorrow thing; it was a today thing.\u00a0 It sustained him throughout the difficulties of ministry and sustained him right until his very death.\u00a0 Timothy, I\u2019ve got no corner on God, God is the same yesterday, today and forever.\u00a0 If He helped me He\u2019s going to help you.\n\nSo in the midst of inevitable disappointment and discouragement and frustration I want you to turn to God.\u00a0 See, this is not just a bunch of biographical data here, it\u2019s systematic thought contributing to Paul\u2019s point to encourage us in the midst of difficulty.\u00a0 I hope you understand today that God meets needs.\n\nNow there\u2019s a need that we have that we don\u2019t always feel and that\u2019s the need to have our sins forgiven, the greatest need that we have.\u00a0 Jesus has bridged the gap between God and man through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension.\u00a0 He\u2019s done everything possible to need that need, all we must do is respond to it by faith.\u00a0 It\u2019s possible there could be people here that have never responded by faith to receive the free offer of forgiveness that God wants to give them and fix their greatest need that they have, that they may not necessarily feel.\u00a0 If the Spirit of God is doing something in your heart right now as I speak, if He is convicting you in any way, and if you\u2019re unclear of\u00a0 your eternal destiny our exhortation to you at Sugar Land Bible Church, right there where you\u2019re seated, without having to walk an aisle or raise a hand or join a church or fill out a card, simply right there where you\u2019re seated to trust in the promises of Jesus and Jesus alone for the safekeeping of your soul.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something that you\u2019re doing now then\u00a0 you\u2019ve changed your eternal destiny.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you have done your destiny is forever changed; the greatest need that you have has been met.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more clarification on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 But as we grow in our walk with God let\u2019s start to view God differently, not as the enemy, someone to be angry at because of difficulties but difficulties which are designed by God so that we can tangibly see His faithful hand in our lives, meeting all of these six needs and more.\u00a0 He did it for Timothy, He did it for Paul, He\u2019ll do it for us.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re so grateful for your nature that You are Jehovah Jireh, which mean God provides.\u00a0 Help us, Father, to look for Your faithfulness and Your provision this week as we walk with You, we\u2019ll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 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