I want to draw your attention to verses 13-14, in 2
Timothy Chapter 1: “Follow
the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and
love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard
the good deposit entrusted to you.”
The context is clear. Paul is speaking to Timothy about the
importance of guarding the Gospel. This is the point which the apostle Paul has
been making since v.8. The gospel (which is the power of God for the
salvation of everyone who believes[1])
had begun to destroy much of the
powerful satanic cult of Diana in Ephesus[2]
as people turned from the darkness of rank and file idolatry to the light of
the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. You
may be very certain that Satan would not have left this advance against his
kingdom unchallenged. He is the most formidable opponent of the gospel and he
will throw everything against the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ by
means of his demonic forces. In addition he will use those people whom he has
taken captive to do his will (see 2:26)
to accomplish his destructive purposes.
Wherever there has been a work of God in history, there you
will also have seen an anti-work of Satan. The Reformation of the 16th
century, which saw the Word of God restored to the church was opposed by the
Counter Reformation, beginning with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and ending
at the close of the Thirty Years' War (1648). The Counter Reformation included
the brutal Inquisition[3],
an office dedicated to persecute those that had deviated from the Roman
Catholic faith. It continued throughout the period of the Protestant
Reformation, and in the name of the Catholic Church, many Protestant brothers
and sisters were killed for their real faith in Jesus.
Back to Ephesus and Timothy; I can only imagine (and I know
some of this from personal experience) that the spiritual battle[4],
the fight for true faith in Ephesus was
very severe and exhausting so that Timothy was tempted to shrink back[5].
In this situation the apostle Paul reminds
him that God had not given him a spirit
of fear but of power and of love and of self- control (1:7). He encourages him not to be ashamed of the gospel of the
testimony about the Lord Jesus Christ[6]
(1:8). Paul himself was not ashamed,
for He himself is firmly rooted in the gospel: ”I am not ashamed, for I know
whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until
that Day what has been entrusted to me.” [1:12].
It is from this that
this great exhortation is made to
Timothy in vv.13-17 (paraphrased): “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Timothy, by
the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted
to you! Guard the Gospel. Do not be ashamed of it and do not turn away from it
like so many in Asia who have turned away from me and the Gospel- except Onesiphorus.
The key idea here is ‘guard
the gospel’. But how is the gospel to be guarded? I want to answer this
question with the help of our text, 1:13-2:13.
In the first place we
must make sure that the gospel is guarded in our own hearts and lives.
We see how intensely Paul works with Timothy on this matter. Fear of
what people may think and say of our Christian profession and becoming ashamed
of the gospel can be a great hindrance to the life of our soul. The only remedy is to make sure that we know
Christ the Saviour very well. We come to know the Lord Jesus in the gospels and
through the sound words of apostolic teaching
[1:13]. And we must guard this
truth of the gospel not in our own strength and willpower, but by always
drawing on the strength of the indwelling Holy Spirit [1:14]. Of the Person and
Work of the Holy Spirit the Lord Jesus
said in John 16:13: “ When
the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He
will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak , and
he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
So here is what is
meant by
guarding the truth of the Gospel:
First, we must
guard the truth as it is in Jesus Christ in our own hearts, and in so doing we must not add, subtract, embellish or
diminish the gospel. We must tell the story of the Bible as plainly as
possible, and when we do that, we must remember secondly, that we can only do that by the Holy Spirit who dwells in
us. He helps us keep the pattern of
sound teaching. He enables us to guard the good deposit with faith and love
that are in Christ Jesus [1:13]. Thanks
be to God who gives us the victory through the indwelling Spirit.
Are you able to guard the gospel in your own heart, and in your own
family and in your own society? The
answer is yes, because if you are a
Christian, you are enabled by the Holy Spirit, and you are strengthened by the
grace that is in Christ Jesus (2:1).
Notice that the work of the Holy Spirit and the Work of Christ is synonymous. Notice also that you and the Holy Spirit must
work together in taking hold of the Gospel. You are called to be responsible to guard the
gospel deposit and at the same time you are called to be reliant upon
the Spirit’s power and by the grace of
God to guard the Gospel. God has designed this to be so. We must do everything and yet we can do
nothing without Him. An old Puritan
motto says it all: “Pray and work.”
So when it comes to challenging times and when we feel under pressure to
abandon the good deposit, the
gospel, we need to know that we
are not alone. We will pray and ask that the indwelling Holy Spirit will help
us at such times. Paul had fully embraced and defended and kept the gospel at
every turn. So must Timothy and so must we. We must and we can. We are not
helpless when it comes to being challenged
to stand for the gospel.
In the second place we
must make sure that we raise up a generation of faithful, eloquent gospel
messengers: “and what you have heard from me (
the pattern of sound words) , in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to
faithful men who will be able to teach
others also.” [2:2]. Now, while every Christian has a duty to guard the gospel by
the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we also have a duty to nurture a
future generation of fearless gospel pastors and preachers like Timothy and
Titus. The pastoral ministry according to Ephesians 4:11-16 as a foundational
ministry of the church. Pastor-teachers are given to build up and equip so that
the saints of God can do the work of the ministry. Are you daily praying for a
future generation of fearless, courageous, Spirit filled, Gospel saturated pastors who will pass on the baton to yet
another generation? Are you praying to
God that your future children and your future grandchildren will have a gospel church to attend? Don’t take this for granted. I am afraid that
this has already become a problem. Remember the prophecy of Amos 8:11-12. Remember, that such a famine of the absence
of the Word of God existed in the Intertestamental period, those 400 years before
the coming of Christ. Remember, that such a famine existed hundreds of years
before the 16th Century Reformation. Woe to that generation to whom
the Word of the Lord, the Gospel of Grace will be withheld. How will they be saved without the Gospel?
How will they enter into eternity, into the presence of a Holy God and into His
holy heaven, unreconciled and without Christ as Mediator for their sin? Think, brothers and sisters, and do not think
only, but take each other by the hand and say, come let us pray and seek the
Lord, to have mercy upon us! Plead with
Him that He will not take His Gospel from us!
In the third place
remember that the gospel will not be
maintained and guarded without suffering: “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus…” [2:3]. Paul reminds Timothy that Gospel labour is associated with
suffering. It is a spiritual battle, and we read here that it requires the mind-set
of a soldier, and like any soldier worth his salt, he is ready to embrace the
hardships and suffering and discipline and disappointments that come with
living under the Gospel. Paul experienced this, and in 1:15 you saw a hint of it.
But Paul does not only use the image of a soldier to convey
the need for a disciplined approach for gospel centred living. Think
over what I say, he says [2:7]:
You need the mindset of a soldier, an athlete, a hardworking farmer . All of
these images remind us of the commitment, sacrifice and hard work that is part and parcel of the
Christian life. Paul says to Timothy, ‘Gospel
work is hard, so don't expect it to be
easy.’ Our generation does not like to hear this. We want a soft and cuddly Christianity, but
that is not possible in this life. Brothers and sisters, remember
that we are at war! In this war we are guarding our most precious
commodity, the Gospel against the attack of Satan. I trust that you can see
this clearly! On May 10, 1940, in the midst of WW II, Winston Churchill, became the Prime Minister
of Great Britain. On May 13th 1940
he gave his first famous speech as Prime Minister to the House
of Commons. He said:
“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil,
tears, and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We
have before us many, many long months of struggle and suffering. You ask, ‘What
is our policy?’ I can say it is to wage war by sea, land, and air, with all our
might and with all the strength that God can give us to wage war against a
monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalog of human
crime. That is our policy. “You ask, ‘What is our aim?’ I can answer in one
word: it is victory; victory at all cost; victory in spite of all terror;
victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no
survival…”.
That was a great and significant war. Nothing has been seen
like this before, and that speech and call to action was necessary in order to
guard the safety and integrity of Britain. The Bible is calling us here to a
much bigger and critical and important battle against a much darker kingdom
than the Third Reich. It calls us to guard and defend the Gospel from those who
would invade it and pervert it.
Fourthly, in
the defence and the guarding of the gospel, remember your ultimate position and
destiny! Paul writes, ”remember Jesus
Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my
gospel… [2:8-13]. The Christian
life, the Christian ministry, Christian service, is based on the person of
Christ, on the work of Christ, and on the truth of Christ. Yes, Paul is suffering for the sake of Jesus.
It is the reason why he is bound in chains as a criminal. But the Word of God is not bound, and so this
momentary suffering which Paul
experience for the elect (the church) is nothing, when compared with that which is before him. Do you see that? Paul looks ahead! The gospel that he preaches
included that great fact that Christ is risen from the dead. The fact of the
resurrection (heaven) transforms the way in which we look at our temporary sufferings,
and Paul in particular sees here that this is all worth it. He knows that
His suffering will benefit all
God’s people, even those like you and I who are now reading this letter, for
Paul’s persistent and faithful testimony about Jesus encourage me today! I know that this
trustworthy saying in vv. 11-13 is true. This little faithful
saying serves like a memory verse - something that you would repeat to yourself
over and over in times of difficulty. And it is a reminder of the nature of the
Gospel.
This little text teaches us that you won’t need to give up, because
Jesus does not give up on you! He will never forsake you. If you have died with Jesus Christ, you will
also live with Him. And you will not only live with Him. You will reign
with Him.
But there's a warning here “If we deny Him, He will deny us.” If you give upon the Gospel there can be no hope of heaven for you, because His is the only name under heaven by which a person can be saved: Jesus Christ.
So , dear people- guard that good deposit
with all your power , whilst trusting
the Holy Spirit to keep you
faithful to the end. There is no greater priority than this. Hold on to
the Gospel. Your heaven is waiting. Your
resurrection is coming!
[1]
Rom 1 :16
[2]
See Acts 19:21-41
[4]
See Ephesians 6:10-18
[5]
Hebrews 10:38,39
[6]
All in Asia (including Phygelus and
Hermogenes) had turned away from Paul in his imprisonment , presumably
because they were ‘ ashamed’ of him.
Onesiphorus (1:16) was an exception
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