2 Timothy 4:9-22 "The Long Goodbye" - Sunday Morning Service 8:30AM - Pastor Ryan Nichols
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the lord you guys could go and have a seat if you like i searched the world so they could if a man's empty praise and treasures of faith are never enough back together and every desire is now satisfied so lord god we give you we give you praise and we give you this future grace that's mind today at jesus christ so i can face tomorrow would help us to rest in that i don't care how crazy this world is getting i don't care how crazy our lives get lord we know that in you there is victory there is victory over death over sin over every struggle in this life over corruption lord god so just help us to rest in that fact help us to rest in you this morning my father now as pastor ryan comes us to ask that you be with him wayilim you
Lord, use them for your glory. Give them the words to speak and give us open ears and open hearts, Lord God. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.
Good morning.
If you could begin to find your seat, grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.
Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A handful of things to take note of. As always, what's going on on the left-hand side? Studies to get involved in throughout the week. Middle section of your bulletin, just a few reminders. First of all, the live nativity is coming up this week. I'm not sure if they still need help with that.
You might check the sign-up sheet in the lobby if you're interested in helping. But no matter what, you should go check it out over at Bible Christian Church from 6.30 to 8.30 p.m. this coming Friday and Saturday. We've, of course, got the Dallas trip coming up for the Operation Christmas Child, so I ask that you be in prayer for that. Ladies, there's a ladies' breakfast coming up this Saturday, the 13th,
at 8 p.m. 8.30 in the Agape Room. Intercessory prayer is tonight at 6 o'clock. We'd love to have people show up for that, pray about the needs, not only within the body but within the community. And then we will have a Christmas Eve candlelight service. We're going to do two of them this year at 5.30 and at 7. So find the right time for your family and come join us Christmas Eve
for a candlelight service. Those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device, your device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 67. Psalm 67. Look at the New American Standard for this part so that hopefully we all sound the same. If you need a copy, it should be one in a row around you.
And as you are turning to Psalm 67, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.
I will read the odd verses. A few will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 67. We are turning to Psalm 67. We are turning to Psalm 67. God be gracious to us and bless us and cause His face to shine upon us. Selah. That your way may be known on the earth, your salvation among all nations. Let all the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you.
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you will judge the peoples with uprightness and guide the nations on the earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise you. you, O God, let all the peoples praise you. The earth has yielded its produce. God, our God, blesses us. And read verse seven with me. God blesses us that all the ends of the earth may fear him. And so, Father, we do come before you and praise you for how good you are to us and ask
that you would be gracious unto us. And so, Lord, speak to us through your word this morning. Draw us near to you and do the work that only your Holy Spirit can do in us through your word. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4. Well, today we'll end our series in
2 Timothy, a series that we entitled, Final Words from a Faithful Servant. And today we end our series in 2 Timothy, a series that we entitled, Final Words from a Faithful Servant. We'll end with what I've simply entitled, The Long Goodbye. Verses 9 through 22 will give us the final words that are written from the Apostle Paul. And so, starting in verse 9 of 2 Timothy
chapter 4, it says this. Make every effort to come to me soon. For Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. And when you come, bring the cloak with you that I left at Troas with Carpus and the
books, especially the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself, for vigorously he opposed our teaching. At my first defense, no one supported me. But all deserted me. May it not be counted against them. But 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. And I was rescued out of the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Greet Prisca and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus remained at Corinth, but Trophimus I left sick at Miletus. Make every effort to come to me before winter.
Eubulus greets you. Also Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brethren. The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. In these final words, there's three things that I want you to take note of. There's going to be some requests that he makes of Timothy. He's going to recount God's faithfulness. And then, of course, he will give some final greetings. But there's four requests that he's going to make.
The first one comes to us in verse 9. He says, It's interesting because at the end of Paul's life, as he is drawing near to the end of his life, the thing that he realizes that he needs the most in this moment is he needs to be surrounded by the people that he loves. Because from this, you can sense in the heart of Paul a great loneliness that aches away at his soul. He makes us known of that by the things that he says. He says, first of all, I need you to make every effort to come to me soon
because Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me. It's interesting that he brings up this guy, Demas, because Demas is kind of an interesting fellow. He's not just mentioned here. He's mentioned two other times in Scripture. He's mentioned in the book of Colossians, and he's mentioned in the book of Philemon. Only the interesting thing about him
being mentioned in the book of Colossians and being mentioned in the book of Philemon is that Demas in those places is referred to as a faithful servant and a fellow co-worker. It's interesting because you have to ask yourself a question. What happened to Demas? How did he go from, in Paul's first imprisonment, a faithful co-worker and a fellow servant to being someone who loved this present world and deserted me and departed for Thessalonica? We don't really know the story of Demas. We just know the bookends
of his life that we see at this point in time. Maybe Demas came to a place where he repented of the fact that he had loved this present world and had deserted Paul in his greatest need. But what we see right now is a warning to all of us as people, a warning that no matter how faithful of a servant you are, no matter how solid of a character you are, no matter how solid of a co-worker you are, no matter how solid your work in Jesus Christ is, no matter how great your faith is, there's always something lurking in the back of all of our minds, and it's the desire for this present world. What was it about this present world that pulled him away? We're not really sure.
It could have been the pleasures of this present life. It could have been the stresses of being in the faith at this point in time in Rome. After all, persecution had increased greatly. Nero had already been in power. And the persecution against the church was great at this point in time. Perhaps it was just plain fear. Perhaps he was just choked out with the cares of the world. Whatever it is, he found his
heart beginning to drift. And I use that word on purpose because I don't think anybody wakes up and one morning says, I'm going to desert the faith. As a matter of fact, we're not even told that he denounced his faith. We're not told that he left the faith altogether. We're told that he drifted from being a fellow co-worker and a co-laborer with Paul to somebody who loved this present world
and ultimately deserted someone that he had served alongside. It's a warning for all of us. How do we remain the fellow co-worker and not become the one who loves this world and is a deserter? Well, first of all, we have to identify the places in our lives that still love the world too much. You have to identify the places in your life where you find yourself so
anchored by this world that you forget that this place is not your home. Where are you too anchored to this world? Where does the love of this world take a place that only God deserves in your life? Because I would tell you, if you can identify that, you can keep from becoming a demon. The second thing that you have to do is once you have identified that part of you that loves the
world too much, the second thing that you have to do is you have to put that to death. The Bible tells us over and over again, you have to put to death the things of the flesh. That you can't entertain them. You can't bargain with them. You can't negotiate with them. You can't say, you can have this much of me, but that's it. They can't have any of you. You have to completely put it to death in your life. And I don't know what
that looks like for you because that's between you and Jesus. That's between you and what the Holy Spirit tells you that you need to do in your life. But you have to put to death the things that are keeping you too tied to this world. And then number three, you have to make it your goal to be as close to Jesus as possible. That this world becomes strangely dim. That the love of this world becomes hatred because of your
great love that you have for your Savior. Because that is ultimately the only way that you will not become a Demas in your life. Instead, you will remain a Luke. You will remain a Paul who stays close to Jesus till the end. He says, could you come soon? Because Demas, having loved this present world, has departed for Thessalonica. He then goes on to mention two other brothers. He says, Crescens has gone to Galatia and Titus to
Dalmatia. Now we're given no indication that these guys left for a nefarious reason or because they love the world. I actually think that these two probably just moved on in another area of ministry. That was where they were needed the most. It was where they were needed to fulfill the work of the ministry. And so they left the current place where they were at with Paul supporting him because God
had called them to go somewhere else. And I'm here to tell you right now, in my life, I have seen people leave because they are Demases. I've seen people leave my life because they love this present world, because they got distracted by the things of the world and plain old walked away from the faith. I've seen people leave my life in that way and it hurts. It hurts really bad to see people leave in that way. But I've also watched
people walk out of my life because they walked into another area of service. Because God called them to another place in their life. And that's a hard thing too. Even though that's what God called for them to do, even though they are going where God has called for them to go, it doesn't make it easy. It's never easy to say goodbye to the people that you love. It's never easy to say goodbye to the people that you love.
It's never easy to say goodbye to the people that you care about. At the end of last semester, I had to say goodbye to some students that I had worked with and had gotten very close with and I'm here to tell you right now, that was a painful thing to do. Every year, as a youth pastor, I had to do that. And it's a really hard thing to do, to say goodbye to the people that you love. But it's also a very necessary part of life. But it doesn't mean that it doesn't leave you feeling a little bit lonely.
It doesn't mean it doesn't leave you feeling a little bit like you just need to be close to a really good friend. And that's what Paul is, right? It's the very human side of Paul. And then he goes on to say, Only Luke is with me. Luke is such a fantastic character in Scripture. He is such a fantastic man of God. I can't wait to have some conversations with him someday.
Luke, as he is often referred to as the beloved physician. Luke was a Gentile. He would go on to write the Gospel account of Luke. Later he would write the Gospel account, or the account of the Book of Acts. Many believe that both the Book of Luke and the Book of Acts were actually amicus briefs that supported Paul in both of his trials. That they supported
the work that he did. And so that's why they were written. No matter what it was, Luke was the beloved physician. And he was always alongside Paul. Often times in a very silent way. But he was always there. And he offered not only spiritual support to Paul, but he offered physical support to Paul. See, there's a reason why a physician traveled with Paul. Because Paul
had a great deal of physical ailments in his life. He not only dealt with the thorn in the flesh that's never been identified for us, but it was something physical, at least most scholars believe, that took place in the life of Paul, that kept him from being at full strength. It kept him from competing on all eight cylinders all the time. And he needed someone there to care for his physical needs. Not
to mention the fact that he had had the tar kicked out of him more times than any of us would want to remember. And at that point in time, you need a physician with you. Quite frankly, I've never been beaten up quite like Paul, but the number of injuries that I had when I wrestled would indicate to me that perhaps one day I might need my own physician that travels with me everywhere because I don't handle the injuries very well anymore. And that's what Paul needed in his life.
But Paul always had a beloved friend named Luke. And isn't it great to have that one person in your life that's always your go-to? That one person in your life that's always the go-to person that no matter what, you can always count on them. Listen, that's what the body of Christ is supposed to be. Because we are supposed to have those people in our lives that are always our go-to in life.
Where it's like, no matter what, that person is your solid. That person is the one that's always going to be alongside you. You can call them out of nowhere. You can text them out of nowhere and they're always going to be there. It's great to have that person in your life. And if you don't have that person in your life, I would recommend you be a Luke to someone else because eventually
they will become one for you. And so Paul makes this request. He says, come to me soon because what I really need right now is my friends. Because I'm left all alone. Some have left for good reasons, some have left for bad reasons, but the only guy I've got with me is Luke and I would love to have you come with me. And this, again, I want to point out to you, tells us
just how important it is as human beings in the body of Christ that we have the support of the brothers and sisters around us. We were never created to walk this walk alone. We were always created for community. We were always created to have each other. And that's the greatest thing that God desires for us and that's at the heart of who we are. I have seen lots of people
at the end of their lives and they all want the same thing. Not all of their money, not all of their things, not all of their possessions. What they want is their friends. And they want their friends to be right there beside them. As a matter of fact, if you were to go to the book of 2 Corinthians, don't go there. But if you were to go to the book of 2 Corinthians
chapter 7, I believe it's verse 6. Paul talks about something. He says, we were despairing even of life, but God who comforts the downcast, or as it says in the New American Standard, as God who comforts the depressed comforted us with what? With the coming of Titus. You see, Paul found himself in a place in the writing of the book of 2 Corinthians where he said, I found myself in a place
where I was so depressed. And you know what cured my depression? It was not only God, but God did so by the sending of Titus. You see, what we realize is oftentimes what we really need in our lives is someone who is alongside us to comfort us. And God uses you to answer the prayers of people. Have you ever thought of it that way? That perhaps someone who is battling something difficult
in their life is praying that God would send comfort. But rather than God send just some warm feeling over them, God sends them you. Because you are who he wants to cure, who he wants to use to cure their depression. And oftentimes someone is who God will send you to cure your depression as well. Because that's the importance of the body of Christ. So the first request he makes is
make every effort to see me soon. The second request he makes is pick up Mark. Middle of verse 11. He says pick up Mark and bring him with you. For he is useful to me for service. This is something that you can just kind of blow by and not pay that much attention to. And perhaps you know the story but I'm going to share it with you anyway because I think it's important to be pointed out because
as I've mentioned before, the gospel doesn't just restore our relationship with God. It restores our relationships with each other. Not just on the day that you get saved but it keeps restoring our relationships with each other throughout our lives because your testimony of salvation is just your first testimony. The rest of your life is a testimony to what God is able to do.
It was the end of it was the middle of Paul's first missionary journey and he found himself in a place where he was very ill. Life was very difficult and they'd faced an incredible amount of difficulties. The two guys that were with Paul on his first missionary journey were first of all a guy by the name of Barnabas, which means encourager. And Barnabas' nephew, a very young man, probably 18 to 20 years old, named Mark.
And when things got really, really difficult, Mark hit a place where he said, I just can't do this anymore. He didn't denounce his faith, he just said I can't keep doing this. This job is too hard. This work is too hard. I can't face another beating. I can't face another difficulty. I gotta go home. So Mark in the middle of that missionary journey caught the next ship back to Israel.
And he left Paul and he left Barnabas. And Barnabas was the forgiving type but Paul's hardcore. And when they got back, they gave the report of their missionary journey and Paul said, let's go do it again. Let's go visit all the churches that we started. Let's encourage them and who knows maybe we'll start some more while we're along the way. And Barnabas says, that's a great
idea. Let me text Mark. And Paul says, I don't know why you would do that because he's not going with us. And Barnabas being the encourager that he was said, Paul of course he's going to go with us. I know we made a mistake but let's bring him. I promise he's not going to do it this time. I'll vouch for him. He's not going to do that this time. And Paul says, nope. Dime out on me once.
Not going to let you do it to me again. I'm not giving him a second chance. And the contention became so great over this between Paul and Barnabas. Two of the giants of the church of all time but especially of that time. The division became so great that they went on two different missionary journeys. They couldn't go with each other. They said, listen, we're just going to have to agree to disagree
and go our separate ways. And so Barnabas took Mark and they went on a missionary journey. And Paul took Silas and they went on a missionary journey. And if that's all that you knew of the story, you would say that's so sad. It's so sad that this one mistake that Mark made, albeit a big mistake, caused so much division not only between he and Paul that it was almost irreconcilable
but it caused a division between Paul and Barnabas that was almost irreconcilable. And you can find yourself going what do you do when division between believers becomes that great? How can that ever be healed? We're never given the complete story of what happened. We're only given the conclusion of the story. And the conclusion of the story first of all came, if I remember correctly,
it was in the book of Colossians when he referred to Mark as a co-laborer and a fellow servant. But the ultimate closing of the story comes here. When at the very end of Paul's life he writes to Timothy and he says, hey listen, on your way would you grab Mark and bring him too? Because he is useful to me for service. Because Mark grew out of his flakiness and
Paul grew out of his bitterness. But it all took time in the grace of God. You see, here's how the grace of God begins to work in the lives of people who have bitterness in their lives. But listen, this can only happen if believers are surrendered to the work of the Holy Spirit in their life. But if they are surrendered, each one individually to the work of the Holy Spirit in their life
then this is what begins to happen. Again, this isn't written anywhere in Scripture. I know this from experience and I know this because this is who God is. As Mark was surrendered in his walk to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit began to work on him. And the Holy Spirit began to say, you can't just keep bailing out on your commitments. You can't be somebody who is
this one day and this another day. You have to start deciding this is who you're going to be, this is what you're going to do and you're going to commit to it no matter how hard it is. And that's what you're going to do in your life. As a matter of fact, you really bailed in a big way on Paul and you need to apologize to him for it. You need to repent. You need to confess that what you did
was wrong and you need to repent and you need to do that in a public way and you need to do that personally with you and Paul. Now that's written nowhere in Scripture but I guarantee that's what happened. You know how I know that? Because it's happened with me. And I've had to personally apologize to people for not keeping my commitments. Because the Holy Spirit,
if an individual is surrendered to Jesus Christ and surrendered to the Holy Spirit then the grace of God in a very gentle way begins to work that in your life. It won't happen all in one day but it does happen over time. You know what the grace of God did in the life of Paul? The more he surrendered his heart to Jesus the more Jesus did a work in his life the more the Lord was like Hey Paul, do you remember how much I've forgiven you of?
Paul's like an amazing amount, God. You have forgiven me of an amazing amount. Don't you think you should offer that to Mark? That's a really good point, God, but you don't know what he did to me. I understand. I'm going to let you think on that. And then a little bit later God came back to him again. He said remember how much I've forgiven you of? Maybe you should
do that with Mark. And eventually Paul came to the place as he was surrendered to the Holy Spirit as he was surrendered to the work of the grace of God in his life, he finally came to a place where he stopped holding that against Mark and he could forgive him. He said now I need you to tell him that. I need you to tell him you forgive him. Maybe even in a really public way because that blow up
was in a pretty public way. And that's what happened. Again, it's not written in Scripture. I can't guarantee that's the exact way that it happened. I feel pretty confident in saying that's probably the way it happened. But however it went about, they both surrendered their lives to the grace of God. They both surrendered their lives to the work of the Holy Spirit.
And what happened was restoration. Because the Gospel is always restoring. Amen? He says, hey could you pick up Mark and bring him along with you? Because he's really useful for service. And then he goes on to say this. He says, but Tychicus I have left at Ephesus and when you come bring the cloak I left at Troas with Carpus and the books especially the parchments.
The third thing that he asks for is he says, could you please just bring the necessities to me? Please bring the necessities. Now I want you to pay attention to something. If you remember correctly where was Timothy the pastor of right now? He was the pastor of the church in Ephesus. Now a good pastor is not going to leave their church with no pastor. And he knew that would be a concern
for Timothy to leave his church behind without a shepherd to take the helm. Without a shepherd to be over the flock. And so Paul says but Tychicus I've sent to Ephesus. He's not only going to carry this letter but don't worry he's going to shepherd the flock for you because I really need you to come minister to me. I really need you in this moment. He says but when you come there's just a couple
things I'd really like for you to bring. And you think okay now's where Paul's going to make the really selfish list. Paul asks for three things. He says number one could you bring my cloak? Now I've never been to the Mamertine prison but I've read a lot of authors who have gone there and they all say the same thing. When you're in a stone walled dungeon underground
it gets pretty cold especially in the winter. Not a lot of good heating sources there. And he said could you bring my coat? The cloak at that point in time would have had a hole for the head and gone over them and gone down to about the knees or maybe just a little bit before, a little bit further and it would have kept him warm. He's like man it's really cold here
and I'm really old. I could really use a coat. He said would you stop in Troas? Visit with Carpus for me. I'll lift a cloak with him. I could sure use that right now. And he says could you bring my books? I love this because Paul was a nerd to the end right? He's like could you bring the books and the parchments? Now there's a lot of debate about the parchments
but I have no problem going with the fact that the parchments or whatever pieces of Old Testament scrolls that he had I actually believe that wholeheartedly. Scholars debate what are the parchments? Listen, he made a differentiation between books and parchments. Clearly one was for worldly education the other is for spiritual education. No matter what he wanted to remain sharp
until the day that he died. He wanted to remain sharp until his head was taken off of his body. He wanted as much as he could to keep growing in the Lord as long as he could. I'm going to tell you right now the closer you get to the end of your life the more that you want to know about Jesus. I know it because I've watched it. I know it because I've seen it.
And I have seen men and women of God as they near the end of their lives and their greatest desire is just to have you read to them. Because eventually they hit a point where they can't read it for themselves and they're like could you just read it to me? Because they want to stay sharp. And that's what Paul wanted. And can I tell you in this life which is when you really start to assess
the most important things in your life because you realize what's truly necessary if at the end of your life you realize that the most important thing you need to do is to stay sharp why not start now? We have become a generation of people that don't read unless it's on Instagram or TikTok or whatever thing just came across your phone. We have become a generation of people that don't read. And the thing that always made our nation great is that we were a nation of readers.
As a matter of fact if you study early American history what you find is that there was a veracity of reading that took place. They knew the law they understood the scriptures and they wanted to learn as much as they possibly could because they wanted to be their own people. And now a couple hundred years later we have become ignorant as a generation. Because we have become satisfied with the entertainment of the world we have become satisfied with the circus and so we no longer sharpen our minds.
I'm not saying you can't have fun I think the dumbest things in the world are hilarious but it's also incredibly important that we remain sharp that we stay sharp mentally that we stay sharp spiritually and so if Paul's greatest desire at the end of his life is bring the books and bring the parchments we should probably pay attention to that and think to ourselves how am I sharpening myself through reading and truly taking in to keep my mind sharp. Paul says could you bring the necessities I don't need much I need my coat because it's pretty cold here I need the books and I need the parchments and then he gives a warning he says be on your guard this is the fourth request he says be on your guard the Lord will repay him according to his deeds
be on guard against him yourself for he vigorously opposed our teaching we don't know much about this Alexander the coppersmith he is potentially one that's mentioned I think at the beginning of this book or the beginning of first Timothy but we really don't know much about him other than his trade which was a coppersmith and the fact that he was of great harm to Paul and of great harm to the cause of the faith notice what he says he says Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm some people think the way that he did Paul harm is that he actually informed on Paul when he arrived in Rome that he is the reason why Paul has been arrested and is in the position that he is in right now and perhaps even has testified against Paul
in the hearings that will ultimately lead to his beheading some people believe that's how he caused Paul much harm I have no problem believing that I also think that he probably spoke against the gospel the truth you see part of the issue that they were having in Rome right now is first of all Christians were being accused of blasphemy which seems really strange because they are the ones who are promoting the gospel of Jesus Christ but blasphemy against the Roman emperor because by this point in time the Roman emperor had declared himself as God and emperor worship was what took place within the Roman empire so anybody that spoke against that was accused of blasphemy Christians also at this point in time were accused of of cannibalism
because the communion service which we'll take part in today indicates the body and the blood of Jesus and even though it's not actually the body and the blood of Jesus they were accused of cannibalism and so this guy probably spoke against the gospel oh man he's blaspheming against the Roman empire and there are a bunch of cannibals who are constantly partaking in the eating of flesh and blood and probably testified against him and spoke against the gospel no matter what it was and there's a whole lot of harm and it's probably why Paul is going to lose his life and so what does Paul say he says Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm the Lord will repay him according to his deeds the Lord will repay him according to his deeds and I love this
because we are reminded of something you don't have to fight your own battles against everybody as a matter of fact you don't need to be the one that defends yourself period there's certain times where you have to say that's not what I said you don't have to go down defending yourself all the time you have to let God do that as a matter of fact go with me one place in scripture go to the book of Romans one of Paul's earlier writings I want you to go to Romans chapter 12 Romans chapter 12 and I want you to look down at verse 17 Romans chapter 12 verse 17 verse 17 says this never pay back evil for evil to anyone respect what is right in the sight of all men it is possible so far as it depends on 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 says the Lord but if your enemy is hungry feed him if he is thirsty give him a drink for in doing so you will heap coals of fire on his head do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good isn't it wonderful that what Paul said early in his life he's now living at the end of his life what he knew God had told him early in his ministry he's now living out later in his ministry because often times the greatest claims that we make will end up having to back up with our lives that's what Paul's doing here he says listen it's not my job to repay evil for evil I'm going to leave room for God to bring vengeance because vengeance is mine I will repay declares
the Lord and I believe that Paul probably did everything within his power to show love and grace to his enemy but he left room for God to be the one that fought his battle he left room for God to be the one that would bring the vengeance listen if you take vengeance for yourself you're always going to live with the guilt of it if you leave it up to God he does way better than you and nothing's on your hands at that point in time and God's way better at dealing with things than you are back to second Timothy he says be on your guard against him he says this guy Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm because he stood against me but may it not be excuse me but God will repay him but then he gives Timothy a warning
he says but you be on your guard against him yourself for he vigorously opposed our teaching listen just because God's the one that's going to bring the vengeance doesn't mean that we can't bring the warning you need to beware of this guy you need to beware if you see him you need to beware if you hear about him because he is going to oppose you listen we live in a culture right now we don't want to name names and I've started doing that a whole lot more from the pulpit is naming names of people that I think you should beware of for a long time I just kept things kind of this kind of thing goes on but at some point in time we've got to start naming names Paul does it he tells us who he needed to beware of because if they are an enemy of the gospel
then we need to pay attention to them show them the love and grace of Jesus Christ because that's what we're called to do with our enemies but you also need to be aware I think a great man once said you need to show some love but you also need to be aware of these things he says he gives them this warning he says he opposed our teaching and while you can show him love keep a distance because he is going to cause you harm and so he makes these requests of Timothy but the second thing that Paul does overall is he begins to recount God's faithfulness he says in verse 16 at my first defense no one supported me but all deserted me may it not be counted against them but the Lord stood with me and he strengthened me so that through me
the proclamation might be fully accomplished and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was rescued out of the lion's mouth the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom to him be the glory forever and ever amen Paul says at my first defense everyone abandoned me I think he's talking about the first time he was in prison years before this I think he's talking about his first trial this last time that he was arrested he says nobody stood with me now it's kind of fascinating he had written a book to the church in Rome he had ministered to the church in Rome and yet when he needed them the most the church in Rome abandoned him I don't think that means that they left the faith
I don't think it means they abandoned the faith I think they just said dude I just can't show up for this one like I don't want to lose my life I don't want to lose my family I don't want to lose my livelihood and so Paul's sort of a hot button issue right now and I'm going to support him and I'm going to support him from afar kind of raw on their parts but I love the grace that Paul shows he says hey listen don't hold it against them I totally get where they're coming from I can appreciate that I can appreciate their desire to save their own lives so don't hold it against them he says but even though all of those people didn't stand with me even though everybody else abandoned me I want you to notice where he says but the Lord stood with me
and can I just tell you this was something that Paul had learned throughout his ministry life matter of fact at the end of the book of Acts you will find that when he's in Jerusalem getting ready to be shipped off to Rome to go to trial before Caesar there was a plot against him a plot against him to put him to death and when that plot was discovered he let someone know about it I think he was probably pretty fearful for his life at that point in time and it says an angel of the Lord stood with me and told me that you are going to not only testify here but you are going to testify in Rome when Paul was on a ship on his way to Rome that was being shipwrecked that was in the middle of a storm he said God stood with me
and said I have to go testify in Rome don't worry everybody's going to be safe the ship's going to die but everybody else on the ship is going to be fine God stood with me and as he looked back over his life he says the Lord has always stood with me and the Lord stood with me in that moment and you know what the great thing about God is is sometimes you can sense God standing right there with you because you can feel the presence of the Lord with you in that moment but there are times where you can find yourself going Lord I don't feel your presence with me I don't feel like you're standing with me as a matter of fact I feel very alone in the way that I'm standing right now and I bet you can even find yourself thinking in that moment
why is God abandoning me in my most difficult time until you look back and when you look back you realize I didn't see him there but he was there he was there in a quiet way but he was still there and I know he was there because I'm here today sometimes we don't see it in the moment because sometimes our lives are overshadowed by the difficulties that are going on around us and we don't see God standing with us it doesn't mean he's not there it's kind of like the sunshine on a cloudy day you wake up in the morning and it's overcast and you go where's the sun it's still there you just can't see it because of the clouds but it doesn't mean it's not there and that's the way it is in our lives at some moments we feel like God was not there with us
until the clouds began to part and you realize that he was with you all the time he says God stood with me and I want you to notice what he says God did when God stood with him God stood with me and he strengthened me literally that word means to be infused with strength in other words he empowered Paul what did he empower him to do he empowered him to stand strong in the midst of difficult trials he empowered him to be the man that God called for him to be he empowered him to stand strong on his faith and not to bail on his faith and he empowered him to preach the gospel when he knew it was probably going to cost him his life he says God infused me with strength and that tells us that in that moment Paul didn't feel very strong
and you know what brings me a great deal of comfort in my life is to know that Paul the great apostle when things were really difficult found that the only way he could do what he could do is if God infused him with strength is if God gave him everything that he needed to be able to do it because he didn't have it on his own the longer I'm walking with Jesus the more I realize the best place that I can be in my life is the place where I say Lord I ain't got nothing to give I got nothing to give out to anybody all I have is these five loaves and these two little fish what's that among so many and God says don't worry I'm going to do something miraculous with that because I'm going to infuse you with the strength that you need to do what you need to do
and I'm going to do it better than you could have ever imagined probably the greatest ever because that's what I do is I empower people to do what they need to do especially those who are broken and humble before me he says but God stood with me and he strengthened me so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished and that all the gentiles might hear what did God strengthen him to do exactly what God called for him to do he said this is what I want you to do and Paul says I don't have enough they want to kill me every time I turn around and I don't have enough strength for this my body's broke down I can't hardly see I don't know how I'm supposed to do this and God says I got you and he gave him everything that he needed
so that he could finish the race so that he could run the course so that he could fight the good fight he said God strengthened me and notice what he says and I was rescued out of the lion's mouth he's delivered from Nero I think he's talking about Satan I think he's talking about the roaring lion who's always seeking to devour and his greatest desire was to silence the mouth of Paul he says but the Lord he rescued me out of the lion's mouth because that's who God is and that's what God does and then he goes on to say this and he said and the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom he said the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed I'll remind you again of the thought that God just keeps
running through my mind and that's that God's past faithfulness creates present confidence in our lives remembering God's past faithfulness always gives us our present confidence now that doesn't mean we can only live off of the past but that past reminds us that God can do it today he says and God will rescue me from every evil deed now you know what's kind of interesting rescue in God's eyes looks different than it does in ours we view rescue as nothing bad ever happens in our lives that's how we view rescue the Lord rescued me so nothing bad happened and God says listen but for me to do what I need to do I have to rescue you in the way that I see fit remember when the disciples would get into a boat and it would storm
God didn't keep them from the storm he kept them in the storm see that's rescue rescue doesn't mean that Paul would never go through anything hard his entire life was going through something hard I actually think it's funny that Paul's like and the Lord will continue to rescue me from every evil deed bro like every evil deed in the world has happened to you what are you talking about he will continue to rescue me from every evil deed well because no evil kept him from the task that God had called for him to do no evil silenced him from what God was calling him to do and how he was calling him to live he says God will continue to rescue me and God's rescue may look different because God's rescue which by the way he felt confident
he was going to die after this one God's rescue would not mean that he would be saved from the executioners he would meet death but after that death he would meet Jesus because rescue looks different in the eyes of God than it does in the eyes of man and we have to remember that God's desire is not to keep us from the storm it's to keep us in the storm as a matter of fact in John chapter 17 which is that great high priestly prayer of Jesus he says I ask not that you would deliver them from this world but that you would deliver them but that you would keep them from the evil one because the things that we have to go through in this life are the things that we have to go through in this life but if we can go through those things
then God ultimately brings us to him God ultimately teaches us about him then we have gained eternity he recounts God's faithfulness he says and the Lord will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom I'm reminded of that phrase that we're given in the book of Colossians in 2 Timothy 2 where he says I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day and so Paul of course breaks into spontaneous praise to him be the glory forever and ever Amen and now he closes with some greetings he says greet Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus of course Priscilla and Aquila were two of Paul's most favorite co-workers they joined him in Ephesus not only in the work of the ministry
but in the work of tent making as well they made tents together all day and then they did ministry together all afternoon and then into the evening he says man greet those guys these guys greet you and then he says and also the household of Onesiphorus Onesiphorus is a fascinating guy because he's also mentioned for us in 2 Timothy 1 verse 16 matter of fact go over to 1 16 real quick should just be one page over it says this the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus for he often refreshed me he was not ashamed of my chains but when he was in Rome he eagerly searched for me and he found me the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day isn't it great to have somebody like an Onesiphorus in your life who eagerly sought Paul
who went from house to house from prison to prison trying to find out where Paul was just so that he could give Paul a bro hug to keep up the good work to tell him to keep going he brought me much comfort and so I'm so thankful for the household of Onesiphorus and he says so greet Priscilla and Aquila and greet the household of Onesiphorus he says Erastus remained at Corinth we don't really know very much about Erastus other than this moment he says in Trophimus I left sick at Miletus we don't know very much about Trophimus although it is kind of interesting for us to pay attention to the fact that Paul had the gift of healing and yet Trophimus he left sick at Miletus you kind of go why why did Paul leave him sick
well because the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for us to use just however we want to the gifts of the Holy Spirit are subject to the will of the Holy Spirit and in that particular instance the Holy Spirit said no the gift of healing is not for him this time there is something he needs to learn there is something I'm going to do in his life that I can only do this way so I left him sick at Miletus and in verse 21 he says before winter Eubulus greet you and also Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brethren we don't know very much about those other people either other than they are people that are just Paul knows he says these people greet you there is one line that I think is really important to pay attention to there he says
make every effort to come before winter why does he say that because shipping lanes were closed down in the winter and he knew if Timothy didn't hurry that he wasn't going to make it before winter and I believe he felt confident that if he didn't make it before winter he wasn't going to get to see Timothy and so he says bro don't delay get a move on because you got to get here soon because once those shipping lanes closed down you're not making it here and I'll never see you again sorry guys it has one commentary that I read that said it's like a siren call to all of us come before winter we only have so much time on this side of eternity we only have so much time on this side of the world and the time that we have we have to take advantage
of every opportunity and if God is telling you to do something you need to do it if there is an opportunity to show kindness you need to do it if there is an opportunity to reach someone with the gospel you need to do it I don't know about you but I'm sensing an urgency in the time that we live in right now I am sensing that we'd better do it before winter now don't get me wrong winter is setting in right now in the world and that's not what I'm talking about but I think that winter is about to set in and our time to do these things is short I think if I've learned anything this year it's that none of this is guaranteed tomorrow so make sure you do it today I've gotten very bold in the way that I'm handling things with some people right now
I used to always just be really nervous and I still get this way I get really nervous to invite someone to church or just reach out with the gospel I was afraid of offending somebody that fear is slowly but surely getting stripped from me because I know that winter is coming I know that there's only so much time there's only so much opportunity so I want to take advantage of it because I'd rather offend you on this side of eternity and have you go with me to the other side of eternity than to just keep putting it off I'm part of the reason you didn't make it know that I'm part of the reason that you're not there with me so I want to take advantage of every opportunity that I have I've always said that when you do as many funerals as I do
you learn something because you talk to a lot of families I sit down with a lot of families and I talk to them about their loved one and what meant the most to them and I've learned something I've learned that life is made up of relationships life can be summed up with that word relationships relationships that you have with people and the relationship that you have with your creator and life is too short for bad relationships and so take advantage of the opportunity to make sure that your relationship with your creator is the way that it should be but also take advantage of every opportunity to make sure that your relationships with people are the way that they should be and if God is calling you to do a kindness
if God is calling you to confront an issue if God is calling you to restore a relationship do it because winter is coming. He says, make every effort to come before winter. And then he closes with Paul's famous words, the Lord be with your spirit. Interestingly enough, the word spirit there is in the plural in the Greek, and so it's a greeting to all of the church. He says,
the Lord be with your spirit, grace be with you, because his grace had brought him safe thus far, and his grace would lead him home. Amen. Well, this morning is Communion Sunday,
and so before we partake in communion, I'd like to take just a moment to share with you, to remind us all of why we do what we do. So I'd like to invite the worship team to come on up, and while they're on their way up, we'll talk about this. So inside of each of these trays, as always, there's two cups that are stacked together. The top cup has the juice, and the bottom cup has the cracker.
In and of themselves, they're very insignificant, but what they represent is incredibly powerful, because what they represent for us is the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. What they represent for us is the common bond that we have as believers. That's why it's called communion. The word commune means to have in common, and we are a body of believers in here that are very different.
This has really struck me here lately, too. The picture that I posted on Instagram was not only of MC that shared Wednesday night, but of Michael, who he called up here with him, and Michael I grew up with, and MC I've gotten to know more recently, and you couldn't come up with three guys with more different backgrounds than the three of us, right? And yet at the end of the day, we are unified by the brotherhood of Jesus Christ, because that's what we have in common. In some ways, that's all we have in common, other than the fact that Michael and I used to get in trouble together in junior high here. That's really all we have in common, is Jesus, because
that commonality of Jesus is what we celebrate in this meal, and that's why we're told to make sure that we do it worthily. So the first thing that we have to do to make sure that we do it in a worthy manner is that we understand what we're doing. See, on that last great night of the feast, Jesus took the bread. He broke it. He said, this is my body, which is broken for you.
Take and eat, because Jesus' body was truly broken for us, and on that last night of the feast, he took the cup, and he held it up, and he said, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you, and so we celebrate the fact that the commonality that we have is the body and the blood of Jesus, is that the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ put us all on a level playing field, because we all come to Jesus with the same problem, which is sin, and we all arrive with the Father with the same solution, which is Jesus, because that's the one place that we have together. So that's what we celebrate here, is the fact that Jesus died for us, but the second way that we partake of it in a worthy manner is to make sure that our heart's
right before the Lord, to make sure that there isn't something going on between you and somebody else that you need to confess to Jesus, and maybe when you leave here, go deal with between you and that brother or sister, to make sure that there's nothing that's between us and the Lord, no sin that's separating us, because while as believers, we can't lose our salvation, we can break off the fellowship, so when they play this last song, I just ask that you allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart, and to confess the things to the Lord that need dealt with, but again, if you're here this morning, and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, then you can't really partake of it.
You can't really partake of it in a worthy manner, not unless your heart's surrendered to Him, not unless you've come to Jesus and cried out to Him to be your Savior in faith. That's how you know that you belong to Him. So may today be that day for you, if you've never done that in your life. And so the ushers are going to come down, and they're going to hand out the elements, and I just ask that during this last song, you'd allow the Lord to search your heart, and that as you get your elements, stand, and then when they're done, we'll partake together.
Father, we come to you now. Lord, I thank you so much for your body that was broken for us. Father, I thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who bore the nails, whose side was pierced. Lord, who took all of our sin in His own body on the tree. Lord, I thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ that was enough to cover sins. And I ask, God, that you would keep our hearts ever in mind
of the great sacrifice that you made for us. Lord, I thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ that was enough to cover sins. And I ask, God, that you would keep our hearts ever in mind of the great sacrifice that you made for us. And so, Father, as we partake, Lord, make it more real than we've ever known before. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's partake. And if you'd bow with me one last time.
Father, I pray that as we go out today, Lord, that you would move in our hearts and lives, that you would draw us near to you, continue to fashion in us the hearts of the men and women of God that you want us to be. And Lord, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.