2 Timothy 1-17

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 1

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus cby the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus,

2 To Timothy, my beloved bson: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day,

4 longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.

5 For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.

6 For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,

9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,

10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

11 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.

12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

13 aRetain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the btreasure which has been entrusted to you.

15 You are aware of the fact that all who are in aAsia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.

16 The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my cchains;

17 but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me—

18 the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day—and you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 3

“Difficult Times Will Come”

1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, chaters of good,

4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

5 holding to a form of agodliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

6 For among them are those who aenter into households and captivate bweak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,

7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.

9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

10 Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,

11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!

12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,

15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 2

You therefore, my ason, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2 The 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.

3 Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

5 Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.

6 The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.

7 Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel,

9 for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.

10 For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.

11 It is a trustworthy statement:

For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;

12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him;

If we bdeny Him, He also will deny us;

13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

An Unashamed Workman

14 Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.

15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

16 But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness,

17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

18 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.

19 Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.”

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 3

“Difficult Times Will Come”

1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, chaters of good,

4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

5 holding to a form of agodliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

6 For among them are those who aenter into households and captivate bweak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,

7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.

9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

10 Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,

11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!

12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,

15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 3

“Difficult Times Will Come”

1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, chaters of good,

4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

5 holding to a form of agodliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

6 For among them are those who aenter into households and captivate bweak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,

7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.

9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

10 Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,

11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!

12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,

15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

There is probably no more intimate method of communication than a letter, even in tis age of technology. Paul’s writings weren’t “books”. They they were personal disclosures from his heart to friends in the ministry.

By any measure Paul knew his life was coming to an end: “For I am being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near”. And he had no regrets: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”. This imprisonment only represented the last in a long list of events by which his faithfulness as an apostle was marked.

When a dying man speaks of death, it would do us well to listen. Paul died as he lived: fully confident that the Lord would deliver him “from every evil attack and bring him safely to His heavenly kingdom”. To die with such great hope is to have lived with great faith.

There is probably no more intimate method of communication than a letter, even in tis age of technology. Paul’s writings weren’t “books”. They they were personal disclosures from his heart to friends in the ministry.

One of those recipients was Timothy, who some scholars have suggested had a timid personality. Whether or not this was true, he was newly installed pastor of a large church, and he would need courage to confront error and defend truth. He would also need to prepare himself to suffer for the gospel.

Several years before his final imprisonment, Paul had written of Timothy’s like mindedness, how he had “proved himself,” and how “as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel”. Paul saw something in this young man, perhaps a depth of understanding that flowed from being raised by a cChristian mother and grandmother.

From Paul’s point of view, no one else understood and shared his heart for the churches like Timothy. When he sent his protege into a community of believers, Paul’s perspective was: “Receive Timothy, and you receive me.” That mutual concern is no doubt the primary reason Paul put Timothy in charge of the church at Ephesus where Paul had spent nearly 3 years.

When we look at Paul’s writing from a prison cell we can hear the emotion and urgency of a man knowing he is about to die. He tells Timothy “Do your best to come to me before quickly. Do your best to come before winter”. During this time many of Paul’s closet companions had abandoned him. Have anyone here ever had people you thought were your rid or die friends, your road dogs or your BFF ever abandon you? that’s what Paul was experiencing. We often think that people in the Bible like Paul did not suffer some of the things we struggle with in life but they did. His one time associate Alexander had turned against him. Paul needed Timothy’s strength. We serve any amazing God because He will put people in your life that will provide you and I with the strength and encouragement though Him to sustain us in the storms of life. At Paul’s trial not a single friend stood with him. Paul needed Timothy’s strength and encouragement to help sustain him.

-17

Now here is what we need to come to grips with. as we get closer to Jesus’s return difficult times will come, but will we be strong, will we be steadfast, will we stand up.

“Difficult Times Will Come”

If our faith and relationship with Jesus is weak we will be weak. We will need steel in our spines to withstand the difficult times to come. I think sometimes that’s why God has us go through somethings to train and condition us for the difficult times. they say experience is the best teacher.

Now let’s take a look at versus 2-4. This is a long list of things that if we are honest with ourselves, we can see ourselves falling into at least one but probably more than one of the things we love more than God.

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of a godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also. Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Historians describe Rome’s Mamertine prison as a former cistern, a dungeon in a well that was a dozen feet below ground. It was also the last stop for prisoners condemned to die. If they were Roman citizens they could not be thrown to the lions, so they were often dropped into this small damp, dark stone cold cell. Tradition and strong evidence tell us that the apostle Paul spent his last days in such a place before being beheaded by Emperor Nero. And in those final days, Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, the last letter of his life—from his dungeon cell.

But here is the Good news. God clearly tells us what the solution to the to the problem is. Now He could have made it more complicated but He didn’t and its right in front of us. Literally right under our noses.

God tells us in the last 8 words of versus 4: lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

By any measure Paul knew his life was coming to an end: “For I am being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near”. And he had no regrets: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”. This imprisonment only represented the last in a long list of events by which his faithfulness as an apostle was marked.

You see all of those things listed in versus 2-4 men do because they like the way they feel when they do them. We love how loving ourselves more than we love God feels.

When a dying man speaks of death, it would do us well to listen. Paul died as he lived: fully confident that the Lord would deliver him “from every evil attack and bring him safely to His heavenly kingdom”. To die with such great hope is to have lived with great faith.

There is probably no more intimate method of communication than a letter, even in tis age of technology. Paul’s writings weren’t “books”. They they were personal disclosures from his heart to friends in the ministry.

The problem with doing that is that it is not sustainable. We start needing more and more of it to get the same feelings. Like a drug addict we need more and more and the result is we become a worse and worse person.

Now here is the really scary part for me. If we really look at these sins because at their core that’s what they are, we will see that in most if not all of them it requires that we do something to God’s other children.

One of those recipients was Timothy, who some scholars have suggested had a timid personality. Whether or not this was true, he was newly installed pastor of a large church, and he would need courage to confront error and defend truth. He would also need to prepare himself to suffer for the gospel.

Several years before his final imprisonment, Paul had written of Timothy’s like mindedness, how he had “proved himself,” and how “as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel”. Paul saw something in this young man, perhaps a depth of understanding that flowed from being raised by a cChristian mother and grandmother.

We will have to cause hurt, pain and humiliation to others simply because we don’t love God enough.

From Paul’s point of view, no one else understood and shared his heart for the churches like Timothy. When he sent his protege into a community of believers, Paul’s perspective was: “Receive Timothy, and you receive me.” That mutual concern is no doubt the primary reason Paul put Timothy in charge of the church at Ephesus where Paul had spent nearly 3 years.

We don’t in reality have a consistent relationship and fellowship with a God who has raised us up to stand on mountains and and a God who raised us up to walk on stormy seas.

when we love God how He wants us to love Him then we are stronger, because we are standing on His shoulders, above the sin and disobedience of the world.

Now here’s the thing. When we do those things in versus 2-4 we still hold ourselves out as Godly. Look at versus 5, “holding to a form of Godliness although they have denied its power”.

So we can keep acting like we are all saved sanctified and filled with the Holy Spirit, but God will not be mocked. He is even telling telling others who are living the Godly life to avoid you.

So the solution for us is this. Stop denying the power of the Blood of Jesus. You see church there is power in the name of Jesus. There is power, wonder working power. There is power to move past your fears. There is power in the blood to move past your mistakes, there is power in the blood to move past your brokenness and your disappointments. There is power in the blood. There is power in the blood of Jesus to make you stand on mountains and there is power int the blood of Jesus to make you walk on stormy seas. Yes there will be difficult days the re may be some dark days but there will always be power in the Blood of Jesus. You can keep doing what your doing and keep getting what your getting, or you can stand on the shoulders of God by accepting and believing that there is power in the Blood of Jesus. Yes, He died on Calvary’s cross and yes he got up on Sunday morning and I am so happy He got up but I’m happier still that He is coming back.

When we look at Paul’s writing from a prison cell, we can hear the emotion and urgency of a man knowing he is about to die. He tells Timothy “Do your best to come to me before quickly. Do your best to come before winter”. During this time many of Paul’s closet companions had abandoned him. Have anyone here ever had people you thought were your rid or die friends, your road dogs or your BFF ever abandon you? that’s what Paul was experiencing. We often think that people in the Bible like Paul did not suffer some of the things we struggle with in life but they did. His one-time associate Alexander had turned against him. Paul needed Timothy’s strength. We serve any amazing God because He will put people in your life that will provide you and I with the strength and encouragement though Him to sustain us in the storms of life. At Paul’s trial not a single friend stood with him. Paul needed Timothy’s strength and encouragement to help sustain him.

So, what do Christians write in a final letter? You write encouragement, affection and a challenge to be strong in the faith, and a solemn charge. Paul’s challenge to Timothy could be summed up as the same challenge to us. “Do you best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who do not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the Word of truth”

Now here is what we need to come to grips with. as we get closer to Jesus’s return difficult times will come, but will we be strong, will we be steadfast, will we stand up.

If our faith and relationship with Jesus is weak, we will be weak. We will need steel in our spines to withstand the difficult times to come. I think sometimes that’s why God has us go through somethings to train and condition us for the difficult times. they say experience is the best teacher.

Now let’s take a look at versus 2-4. There are 18 things that will make you apostate, which means your are rejecting the principles and beliefs of the faith. This is a long list of things that if we are honest with ourselves, we can see ourselves falling into at least one but probably more than one of the things we love more than God.

But here is the Good news. God clearly tells us what the solution to the to the problem is. Now He could have made it more complicated, but He didn’t and its right in front of us. Literally right under our noses.

God tells us in the last 8 words of versus 4: lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

You see all of those things listed in versus 2-4 men do because they like the way they feel when they do them. We love how loving ourselves more than we love God feels.

The problem with doing that is that it is not sustainable. We start needing more and more of it to get the same feelings. Like a drug addict we need more and more, and the result is we become a worse and worse person.

Now here is the really scary part for me. If we really look at these sins because at their core that’s what they are, we will see that in most if not all of them it requires that we do something to God’s other children.

We will have to cause hurt, pain and humiliation to others simply because we don’t love God enough.

We don’t in reality have a consistent relationship and fellowship with a God who has raised us up to stand on mountains and a God who raised us up to walk on stormy seas.

when we love God how He wants us to love Him then we are stronger, because we are standing on His shoulders, above the sin and disobedience of the world.

Now here’s the thing. When we do those things in versus 2-4, we still hold ourselves out as Godly. Look at versus 5, “holding to a form of Godliness although they have denied its power”.

When you have a form of Godliness, an appearance of Godliness, you use religious language and profess belief in God, but your real love is in the mirror. You prey on the immature Christian taking advantage of their weak morals and ignorance of the WORD. You see when YOU don’t know God’s word, everything sounds holy. People will speak with power and conviction and we start thinking that they really know the Bible, but when you look for yourself you will find they have been perpetrating a fraud. You see reading the word gives you discernment. You may not know exactly what it says but because you have spent time reading and praying you will get discernment from the Holy Spirit. What happens is someone will say something that they claim is Biblical and that think will just not sit right in your spirit and you will go and look it up in the Bible for yourself, because if you don’t you will entertain spiritual fads and false doctrine. As Christians we need to guard against any teaching that glorifies self and denies God. Now when we look at this scripture you can get the sense that Paul was demeaning women in general but was referencing the women of Ephesus who were caught up in false teaching.

So, we can keep acting like we are all saved sanctified and filled with the Holy Spirit, but God will not be mocked. He is even telling others who are living the Godly life to avoid you.

Now here is what happening to you when you purge those sins in versus 2-4. You become a vessel of honor, you become sanctified by the truth, you are now able to be use by God, and you become prepared for every good work. When you purge those things from your heart, you will have the only kind of heart to have if we are to expect answers to our prayers.

We don’t want any of those 18 characteristics to stand between us and our answered prayers.

So, the solution for us is this. Stop denying the power of the Blood of Jesus. You see church there is power in the name of Jesus. There is power, wonder working power. There is power to move past your fears. There is power in the blood to move past your mistakes, there is power in the blood to move past your brokenness and your disappointments. There is power in the blood. There is power in the blood of Jesus to make you stand on mountains and there is power int the blood of Jesus to make you walk on stormy seas. Yes, there will be difficult days, there may be some dark days but there will always be power in the Blood of Jesus. You can keep doing what you’re doing and keep getting what you’re getting, or you can stand on the shoulders of God by accepting and believing that there is power in the Blood of Jesus. Yes, He died on Calvary’s cross and yes, he got up on Sunday morning and I am so happy He got up but I’m happier still that He is coming back.