Good morning to everyone. Good to be with you again this morning. I'm so sad about Joanne leaving. She's kind of been like my mom since I've known her. So we love you Joanne. We appreciate all this time and hopefully we'll see you from time to time. 

We're continuing our study in 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verses 14 to 19. This morning we've been working through these pastoral epistles verse by verse and I wanted to start this morning with Isaiah 520. I'll just read that to you. 

In Isaiah 520 he wrote, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." 

I don't know about you, but I've kind of been struggling with the world of late. It's a very palpable sense of oppression kind of sitting over us and in our country in our world right now and where things are going. I've been thinking on this verse, "woe to those who call evil good and good evil." 

We live in a world that's filled with lies and deception. A world where evil is called good and good is called evil and that there's such a heavy pressure to compromise, to go along, to get along or maybe even in these days to save your own neck. To speak the truth in this kind of world, to stand up and say thus saith the Lord is to stand against a mighty tide of anger and violence sweeping across our land invading our communities and even influencing some of our churches. 

It's insane on its face what's going on in our world. It's indeed calling evil good and good evil and if we're not diligent to stick to the Word of God, to study, to search the scriptures, to agonize over the truth and cut the pieces straight, then we will be consumed by the wiles of the devil, the pressures of our culture and the demands of the society and government to conform to the evil ways of this world. 

It's a frightening time, an unsettling time. The desire that the believer in Jesus Christ has in his heart for justice, for the truth going forth, for the glory of God and the salvation of men is met with resistance, met with force in many cases and could cost you not only your job, your wealth, your acceptance, but maybe your life. 

We need to remember that this was the exact situation that the Apostle Paul, the pastor Timothy and the church at large found itself in the context of the letter before us. They were all the way down the road to persecution, to martyrdom. In fact, the great apostle to the Gentiles found himself chained in a dungeon, the sewer pit that was the Mamertine prison awaiting the removal of his head by the Emperor Nero. 

We have seen throughout these pastoral epistles that the charge of Paul to Timothy and then we will see to Titus was to preach the Word, to stand for the truth, keep on saying what God says, keep preaching Christ crucified. My brothers and sisters, this is the answer for us today in the context of our world. 

We do not yet find ourselves in the danger of prison and persecution and death, but even if we do, our mission will not change. Our call will be the same to preach the truth no matter what. 

That's the message that's at the heart of our text again this morning, particularly to avoid false teaching, wrangling about words, and to give ourselves diligently to the study of God's Word so that we might cut the pieces straight, rightly divide the word, and speak what is true. 

This is an important message for us today with all that is coming at us in our world. We must not lose sight of this one thing or fail in courage to be truth preachers, to be approved workmen who are discerning and able to avoid those who speak error and lies not according to the doctrines of Christ. This is really what matters most in our world for believers to be a witness for Him. 

Well let's look at our text together in 2 Timothy 2 at verse 14. Paul says, "Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness, and their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already passed, and they overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal. The Lord knows those who are His, and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." 

I've given you four points on your outline this morning for our study. First, remind them. Second, rightly dividing. Third, run away. And fourth, rock of God. 

Well first we see Paul exhort Timothy to remind them of these things. So who is "them" and what are "these things"? Well these things refer back to the previous verses, specifically verses 11 to 13, and this is such an important lesson for us to hear and understand. 

What is the problem? We see the problem in the following words, where he says, "charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit to the ruin of the hearers." You know, it's so easy to become a theological crank, to be so caught up in some minutiae, to miss the big picture. We see this all the time in the church. 

Some particular doctrine or system is so dearly held by a pastor or teacher that everything is geared toward proving this point. There's an unreasonable focus and diving into the meaning of certain words or tenses or parts of speech or philosophies or systems of men that all things that are meaningful are lost, and we're left with warring factions on each side of the grammar. 

You understand and know that I'm one who is super concerned with the study of words in their context, in their flow, considering the intent of the author, the audience, etc. But this must always, listen now, must always be for the purpose of understanding the big picture, understanding what God is saying in a given text, a book, the whole of the Scriptures, always pointing to Jesus and His glorious gospel. 

We are not striving about words to prove our system or doctrine. We're not wrangling over minutiae in order to be right or to write some book or to come up with some new thing. This kind of thing is detrimental. Paul says it will ruin the hearers. The study of the Word of God must always be concerned with life and godliness, must always have life and death and salvation and damnation, the gospel truth, Jesus, at the heart of it. 

"Remind them of these things," Paul says. What things? Well, look at verses 11 to 13. He says, "This is a faithful saying, for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful. He cannot deny Himself." 

What matters? What is it all about? What should be at the heart of our preaching, our living, our hope, our anticipation? Eternal things, gospel truth, the promises of God for today and for eternity. Timothy had a bunch of academic philosophical word wranglers on his hands in the church in Ephesus. Paul said remind them of what matters. Remind them why we are here, what we are to be doing in the church, the salvation we have in Christ, the life we can now live because of our death, burial, and resurrection with Him. 

Remind them of our eternal hope that we will reign with Him. We are enduring now, it's hard, there are difficulties, persecution, even death for the sake of Christ, but remind them that this momentary light affliction is working for us a far more excellent and eternal weight of glory. We shall reign with Him. 

Remind them of these things, Timothy, and tell them to start preaching Christ and being faithful to His Word rather than wrangling and striving about words. Well, this is an important application for us in our church, in our lives, in our ministries. 

I wonder if you've ever been in a situation where you and another Christian are together and there's an unbeliever there and there's an opening, there's an opportunity to witness, and you're excited for the privilege to preach the gospel, but this other believer, he's all hung up on the controversy between Pelagius and Augustine. It's an interesting topic, but not really what matters to this lost soul that God has brought across your path. 

Many churches have this same kind of problem, a desire to teach a system, to dissect everything down to the syllables to show that their guy that they follow, their book that guides them, which they read in seminary, is the gospel truth. I have an idea. How about we preach the gospel truth? That's what men need, that's what we need. 

Striving about words, useless wranglings are not edifying, but are the ruin of the hearers. Have you ever listened to a sermon and at the end of it you walk out of the church and think, “I wonder what that guy was trying to say”? I hope not here. The goal of the preacher should be to be clear. 

There's no greater assurance to me than when people say to me, “it was very clear, thank you for being so clear.” And the clarity should be about the Word of God, should be centered on Jesus and the gospel truth and the implications for our lives and ministries. These are the things that matter, my friends, and that's why we see next in our text, rightly dividing. 

Verse 15, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 

Well, this is a tremendous verse for us. Paul says to Timothy, in contrast to striving about words, establishing some system or wrangling over useless matters, be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 

First, he says be diligent. Every time I study this, it makes me think of Rick Warren. I don't have this in my notes, but it makes me think of Rick Warren because Rick Warren had what he called the pastor's toolbox. I don't know if you remember that. 

40,000 pastors around the world each week downloaded their sermon from his toolbox. I wonder what they did with their time. Be diligent. This speaks of hard work. The word can be translated, be anxious, make haste, do your best. The word speaks of an anxious desire to work hard to give maximum effort to something. 

And the words show and approve speak of putting to the test, to test someone to find them acceptable to the one conducting the test. Approved unto God, it says. That means that our work, our study is acceptable to him rather than being ashamed. 

Have you ever cut corners on a project at work? You ever not studied and prepared for an exam in school? When the boss or the teacher puts your work to the test, you are ashamed because you know that you did not do your best. You failed to be diligent, to show yourself approved, to give maximum effort. 

Paul wants Timothy to give maximum effort to find himself approved by God in his work of study and preparation and preaching and teaching of the Word of God. And how is he supposed to do this? By rightly dividing the Word of Truth, cutting the pieces straight. 

The words here speak of cutting pieces straight to fit or to put something together. It could be a quilt, it could be a tent made of skins or stones for a building or anything where putting pieces together to form the whole might be necessary. This is what Timothy is to do with the Word of God. 

He is to be diligent to study, to agonize over the Word, to give maximum effort, to know and understand and be able to make understandable these words he is to teach and to preach. This is to be the endeavor of his life and ministry so that he might get all the pieces straight and when he puts them together there's a beautiful tapestry, a wonderful picture of the truths of the Word of God. 

It makes me think of our friend Ron Heft. He builds beautiful structures, homes, garages, sometimes very intricate and fancy floors or cabinets. He even built this pulpit where I stand. He cuts the pieces straight. He fits them together and makes a beautiful end product, sturdy, functional, and beautiful to the eye. 

Now if you contrast that with, say, me and Ray, when we get together to build a pig shack or something, we're not so concerned about precision, about getting everything just right. In fact, Ron has what he calls Finnish carpentry, but me and Ray, we like to put another N in there because Ray's from the homeland, you know, Finnish carpentry, and we do our Finnish carpentry with an 011 chainsaw. 

For the pastor preacher, for the believer in Christ, you want to have precision. You want to get those pieces cut straight and make maximum effort to understand and fit together the Word of God correctly and say what it says. And this is something that seems to be so lacking in the church today, so many play fast and loose with the words of God. 

I don't really want to offend anyone, but one of my favorite examples of this is a verse that I hear so often quoted and applied to the church today. I'd like to ask you before we turn to this passage, could you explain to me what's going on in 2nd Chronicles 7? What's the context of that chapter? Does anyone know? Who's it for? What's going on? What's God saying? 

Let's turn and have a look, because I want to make this point concerning rightly dividing the word of truth. 

2nd Chronicles 7 at verse 1, it says, "when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house." 

When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying, "For he is good, for his mercies endure forever." 

Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 bulls and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 

And the priests attended to their services, the Levites also, with instruments of music of the Lord, which King David had made to praise the Lord, saying, "For his mercy endures forever." Whenever David offered praise by their ministry, the priests sounded trumpets opposite them while all Israel stood. 

Furthermore, Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord, for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat. 

At that time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt. And on the eighth day they held a sacred assembly, for they observed the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. 

On the 23rd day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the good that the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, for his people Israel. 

Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house, and Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lord and in his own house. 

Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer and I've chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain or command the locusts to devour the land or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. 

Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer made in this place, for I have now chosen and sanctified this house that my name may be there forever and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually. 

As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and my judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom as I covenanted with David your father saying you shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel." 

Okay, so we see that the context here is the dedication of the Temple of Israel built by Solomon, and what we see is that God is giving his approval of this place and some conditional promises. 

We could take out verse 5, I suppose, and apply it to the church. King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 bulls and 120,000 sheep. If we tried to apply this verse to believers in the church today, I suppose it would be good for Bobby's sheep business, and I'm sure we couldn't keep up with the bulls, but it's really not for us, is it? 

Or maybe let's get a little closer to the heart of the matter. Verse 15, "now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer made in this place." Well, if we took this verse for ourselves today, then we must find this place, the temple built by Solomon. For God says my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer made in this place, and this presents a problem. 

And did you notice the conditional promises? Verse 17, "if you walk before me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and my judgments, would any of you like to try to live up to that standard?" This passage is written to Israel, to King Solomon, and the people of Israel at the dedication of the Temple of God. It's a promise for Israel, a conditional one, in fact. 

And yet we hear verse 14 ripped out of this context today and applied to the church in the United States of America. "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land." 

I had a man recently tell me, we are his people, we are called by his name, this applies to us. My brothers and sisters, do you know what you have in Christ? Do you know who you are in him? 

God says to Israel, if you do this and this and this, then I will hear you, then I will forgive your sins, and I will heal your land. Did you know that I can come boldly to the throne of grace to find help in time of need? I can crawl right up into my daddy's lap and find grace and I can call him Abba, Father. My sins are forgiven in Christ, not because of what I have done, but because of what he did. 

You don't want this deal in 2 Chronicles, my friends. And look at how it worked out for Israel. And here's the truth of verse 14, the church in this country in which we live has no such promise, claims no such healing for our land. This is a promise for Israel. 

And I think if we look at the Scriptures, especially in passages like Romans 1, what we see in America today is not going to bring the judgment of God, but rather it is the judgment of God for forsaking him. We have to be careful, we have to be diligent, give maximum effort to rightly divide the word of truth, lest we be confused and discouraged. 

This does not mean we should not pray for America, that we should not long for God's blessing on our country, times of peace and justice, but what we should not do is try to claim 2 Chronicles 7:14 for ourselves. This piece will not fit into the tapestry we're trying to put together. 

We could look as we did a couple weeks ago at passages like the Sermon on the Mount. The Lord's Prayer, for instance. As I forgive, I'll be forgiven. Do you want that deal? No. That's an old covenant. He's preaching law to religious Jews. Understand the content. 

What about Matthew 10? He sent out the 12 disciples. He names them by name. He tells them not to go to the Gentiles, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And he tells them to preach the kingdom of heaven as at hand. That's not the gospel. 

And then we try to take the rest of that passage for ourselves and heal the sick and raise the dead and cast out demons. When we try to claim promises or apply passages that are not meant for us, specifically, or do not apply to us, then we're going to be disappointed. We will be disillusioned. We will be confused. And God is not the author of confusion. 

This is why there are churches in Tennessee, I just watched a video on this the other day, where they handle poisonous snakes as part of their worship. It matters, my friends. It matters that we cut the pieces straight. And this can only come through diligence, agonizing over the words of God to put the pieces together so they fit. 

So we see in our text, remind them. We see rightly dividing, and next we see run away, verse 16. "But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer." 

The word there in the Greek is where we get our word gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection has already passed and they overthrow the faith of some. 

Paul says shun. Expositors translate this word, give a wide berth. It literally means to turn oneself around to avoid something. Don't involve yourself. Take the long way around. Give a wide berth. The word profane means common, as opposed to sanctified. And idle babblings speak of emptiness, having no meaning or substance, like pastor used to say, soap bubbles, right? 

And because that which is empty must be filled, it is not merely a lack of substance, but the void is filled with evil. Engaging in these things, common, empty, evil babblings will increase to more ungodliness. 

Run away, Paul says, from all these things, from these people. And evil messages like gangrene, like cancer, spreading rapidly, nefariously through the body, ravaging the health and well-being of the church. The church today is not so much concerned with doctrine, but the truth is that false teaching, evil messages are ravaging the church, tearing apart the believers, prohibiting growth and fruit that comes from health. 

False doctrine is so serious. Paul gives us a couple of examples. He says there in Ephesus, Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying the resurrection's already passed, and they overthrow the faith of some. They lead some astray. 

We are so hesitant to name names today, to have confrontation, but Jesus and Paul were not shy about calling out false teachers to their face or warning about them by name. We need to do the same for the sake of the church, for the sake of the truth. 

This particular false teaching was a spiritualizing of the resurrection. These false shepherds were leading the sheep into a hopeless doctrine of no bodily resurrection. They were saying that the spiritual resurrection with Christ at salvation is the final state, and my friends, if this is the final state, then we have no hope. 

We have no reason to look up, to long for the coming of our Lord, the glorification of our bodies. What we are, what we will be, is what they were teaching, and this is a serious heresy. So Paul calls them out for it and tells Timothy to give them a wide berth, stay away from them, get them out of a position of influence in the church. 

They failed to rightly divide the Word of truth, to cut the pieces straight, so they must go before causing a cancer to form and to grow in the church. Remind them, Paul says, rightly divide the Word, run away from false teachers and false teaching, and finally we see in our text the rock of God. 

Verse 19, "Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal. The Lord knows those who are His and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." 

There's been a lot of discussion as to what the phrase "the solid foundation of God" refers to. It seems best to me in the context to understand this as the revealed truth of God, His Word, that Word that Timothy was to be so diligent to rightly divide. 

Also, Paul loosely quotes from Nahum 1:7 here, further supporting the view as the Word of God being the solid foundation, and certainly we could see Jesus as the solid foundation, as we read in 1 Corinthians 3:11, or God as the rock, or Jesus as a rock. The gospel is the foundation of all doctrine, but it doesn't really matter because it is the Word of God that reveals all these things to us. 

And the solid foundation, the great encouragement, is this, God knows those who are His. And this was a tough time for Timothy, and he had these false teachers, and he had all this confusion, and he didn't know who was a believer, who isn't a believer, and he was worried about persecution, he was worried about Paul. 

It can be discouraging to look at our world, to see all that's going on, to wonder how even Christians can be so far led astray by the hymenaeus and phyletuses of our world in the church. It can be befuddling as to how so many can support such evil and call it good. But here's the consolation, God knows those who are His. 

In Christ we have security, my friends. In Christ we know our Abba Father, and He knows us. And there are so many passages that affirm this assurance in the Scriptures. I was thinking of Psalm 2, such a tremendous psalm for our time. 

"Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath and distress them in His deep displeasure. Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord has said to me, you are my Son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. 

Now therefore be wise, O kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. What's the message we need to bring to the world? Kiss the Son lest He be angry and you perish in the way when His wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. 

God is not wringing His hands over the riots, over the burning and looting and the unrest in our country. He's in control. He's not fearful of the wrath of man. He sits in the heavens and laughs. 

I watched one of the leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement in an interview yesterday. And here's what he said, I thought this was fascinating. He said, the black Jesus is going to deliver the oppressed and that they will burn the entire system down and Jesus will deliver them from their oppressors and that black people will run this country from now on. 

He went on to quote Revelation 1 and say that the revelation of Jesus is one of hair like wool and skin of burnished bronze. He then said, see, Jesus looks like me and not like you, speaking to the white woman reporter who was interviewing him. 

I'm guessing Jesus wasn't white or black, seeing as how he was a Jew from Nazareth. But I do know this, according to the word of God, his mission was not to bring social justice to this old cursed world. His mission was to deliver those oppressed by indwelling sin under the curse of the law and the wrath of God, a spiritual oppression, not a cultural or societal, physical and temporal oppression in this world. 

Maybe I should have used that as an illustration of not rightly dividing the word of truth, because his hair was white like wool and his feet were like bronze, stomping out, judging. But the point is this, whatever comes, whether it be prosperity and freedom as we've had. I ask myself, what have I done with it? Or bondage and persecution. 

The Lord knows those who are His. Paul was sitting in the Mamertine prison when he wrote these words. If we endure, we shall reign with him. If we died with him, we shall also be raised with him. Ammonias and Philetus were wrong, the resurrection is not past. We look forward to glorious revealing of the sons of God. 

Are you discouraged by all that's going on in our world? Are you frightened by what may soon come? Are you disheartened by the spiritual state of so many around us, the injustice, the prospering of the wicked? Nothing new, my friends, read the Psalms of David. 

There's encouragement in the truth that God knows those who are His. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us. 

I want you to look at one more passage as we close. Do not lose heart, take courage, be not afraid. Listen to the amazing words of Romans, beginning Romans 8:18. Turn to Romans 8:18 with me, please. Paul's been giving us tremendous doctrine of our salvation. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ. 

We now have been delivered from the bondage of sin. We walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh. The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us. The Spirit gives life to our mortal bodies. And down in verse 18 he says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 

For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope. 

But hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. 

But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 

Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called, whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified. 

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 

Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, who furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." 

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

If God is for us, who can be against us? The Lord knows those who are His, and because we have this security, this truth, we have a strong desire, those of us who name the name of Christ, to depart from iniquity. To live a holy life that brings glory to Him, and is a witness to all men. 

And this desire comes from a spirit of thankfulness. Thankfulness for the grace of God, for Jesus, for our new life in him, for the reality of eternal life. We want to live for him, because he died for us, and rose again to give us new life. 

This was the heart assurance of the Apostle Paul, as he wrote from the dungeon, knowing that soon his martyrdom would come. But I want you to notice, as we continue our study of 2 Timothy, Paul's great concern was not for himself. He was not concerned about his circumstances, the injustices of the world, or his own destiny. 

His continual fervent desire is that the gospel would continue to go forth in clarity and power. And that Timothy would carry the torch, that Timothy would be faithful to preach the word, to cut the pieces straight, so that believers would grow, and men would be saved, and that God would be glorified. 

That's where we need to put our focus. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful. Thankful for your word that encourages us, that helps us to think rightly, to see things for how they are, to be discerning. Father, I pray that you would just help us to be diligent, to be passionate, to know you by knowing your word, to have wisdom and discernment, to make decisions and live lives that bring glory to you, that bring men to Christ. 

Help us to remember these things that matter, and help this to be the focus of our lives and ministry, as long as we're here on this earth. We trust you to be in control. We trust you to know how many days we have, how many hairs upon our head, Lord. We trust you, and know that you always do what is best for us, and for Jesus and his gospel. 

It's in his name we pray. Amen.