Paul's Epistles – II Timothy – Part 8:
Love that Waxes Cold
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org
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SERMON INTRODUCTION
This second letter from Paul to Timothy will be the
next “epistle” we examine.
After writing his first Epistle to Timothy, Paul left
Corinth, and set sail with Titus for Crete, where he left him to set the Church
in order (Titus 1:5).
The key-word in II Timothy is “Ashamed.”
“I must not be ashamed of my Lord, His Gospel, or His
suffering saints (II Timothy 1); How can I become a workman that “needs not be
ashamed” (II Timothy 2 & 3.), and then the Lord will not be ashamed
to own and stand by me (II Timothy 4).
PREVIOUSLY
Introduction to II Timothy
Appeal for Loyalty
Remaining Loyal to Christ and Paul’s Teaching
Warning Against Quarreling About Words
Terrible Times in the Last Days
A Final Charge to Timothy
TODAY’S SERMON
Love that Waxes Cold
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE
II Timothy 4:9-22 (66 AD, approximately one year after
the first Epistle to Timothy)
Do your best to come to me
quickly, 10 for Demas, because he loved this
world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to
Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with
me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in
my ministry. 12 I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak
that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the
parchments.
14 Alexander the metalworker did me a
great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. 15 You too should be on your guard
against him, because he strongly opposed our message.
16 At my first defense, no one came to my
support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17 But the Lord stood at my
side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be
fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered
from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil
attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be
glory forever and ever. Amen.
19 Greet Priscilla[a] and
Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus. 20 Erastus stayed in Corinth,
and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus. 21 Do your best to get here before
winter. Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the
brothers and sisters.[b]
22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be
with you all.
The overall message of this
epistle to the church is;
Loyalty to the Lord and
Truth in the view of persecution and apostasy
I. LOVE CAN WAX
(BECOME FULLY, OPPOSITE OF WANE MEANING DIMINISHINGLY) COLD
a. Love that waxes cold
i. Jesus speaking of end times, which we have read by Paul’s description
in earlier versus, is NOW... Matthew
24:8-13 “At that time many will turn away from the faith
and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets
will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of
wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one
who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
ii. Another
end time scripture states in Mark 13:12 “And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the
father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to
death.”
iii. Matthew 24:10 “And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate
one another.”
iv. “So come to me
quickly, Demas, because he loved the world, deserted me”
1. Demas had at one time been one of Paul’s “fellow workers” Philemon 1:24
2. During Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome, Demas was also in Rome Colossians 4:14
3. There
is also biblical evidence that Demas was with Paul during Paul’s second
imprisonment in Rome, at least for a while. Then something happened. Demas
forsook Paul, abandoned the ministry, and left town.
4. The Greek verb used in the original implies
that Demas had not merely left Paul but had left him “in the lurch”; that is,
Demas had abandoned Paul in a time of need.
5. Demas left Rome because he fell in love with
the world. In other words, Demas chose the corrupt value system of the unsaved
world over what heaven values.
6. The tragedy of Demas is still being lived out
today by those who choose the temporary benefits of this world over the eternal
riches of heaven. Today there are still those
who seem to receive the Word but then “the worries of this life and the
deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful” (Matthew
13:22). Past service is no guarantee of future
faithfulness; we must depend on the Lord, our Strength (Psalm
28:8). We must be born again (John
3:3); otherwise, we have no foundation of faith.
“They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had
belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that
none of them belonged to us” (1 John 2:19; Matthew
7:22–23).
b. Others left me as well
i. Only
Luke is with me now
c. Bring Mark with you
i. He
is helpful to me in the ministry
ii. “When you come, bring the
cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the
parchments.”
II.
ALEXANDER THE METAL WORKER DID ME A GREAT DEAL OF HARM
a. Alexander the metalworker
i. Some scholars believe this Alexander the coppersmith to be
the same Alexander mentioned in two other places in Scripture (Acts
19:33 and 1 Timothy 1:20), although we cannot be sure, since Alexander was
a common name.
ii. The first possible mention of Alexander the
coppersmith occurs in the book of Acts. During his travels through Asia, Paul
encountered some Greeks who were opposed to his preaching because it was
damaging their business.
iii. Paul writes to Timothy in Ephesus. Paul says that Alexander rejected his
faith and conscience (verse 19) and that Alexander and another
man named Hymenaeus had been “handed over to Satan to be
taught not to blaspheme” (verse 20). Alexander, who had obviously professed
faith in Christ at one point, had “shipwrecked” his faith; that is, he veered
off course, away from good teaching, and drifted into the dangerous rocks of
false teaching. He had refused to follow the dictates of his conscience; he was
walking according to the flesh and not the Spirit (see Romans
8:5–9), claiming the name of Christ while behaving
like an unbeliever. As a result, Paul had pronounced an apostolic curse upon
Alexander, allowing Satan to destroy or harm the man so that his soul might
still be saved (see 1 Corinthians 5:5).
b. The Lord will repay him for
what he has done
i. As Paul taught in Romans 12:19 “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath,
for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the
Lord”
ii. 1 Peter 3:9 “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the
contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you
may inherit a blessing.”
iii. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 “Make sure nobody
pays back wrong to wrong, but always strive to do WHAT IS GOOD FOR EACH
OTHER AND EVERYONE ELSE”
iv. Mark 11:25 “...and when you stand praying,
if YOU hold anything against anyone, FORGIVE them, so that your Father in
heaven may forgive you your sins.”
v. Proverbs 10:12 “Hatred stirs up
conflict, but love covers all wrongs.”
vi. Matthew 5:38-39 “You have heard that
it was said, ‘eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I {Jesus speaking} tell
you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn
to them the other cheek also.”
1. Do NOT take this out of context!
2. Jesus is speaking of those who are offending you, not beating you
3. Do not resist them meaning, if they offend you, argue with you, speak
against you, spread lies about you, gossip about you, do not do this back!
4. The slap is symbolic of offense that is insulting and hurts...
5. EVEN WHEN the offense IS insulting and hurtful, you do NOT retaliate!
6. Retaliation (revenge, repayment, etc) belongs to the Lord alone!
c. Be on your guard against
him because he strongly opposed our message
i. Whether
he truly believed at first or not, does not make a difference.
ii. Whether he opposed because it hurt his idol making business or not,
doesn’t matter either.
iii. Point is, he STRONGLY opposed the gospel, and maybe spoke against Paul
in a way that lead to his arrest, this opposition is different than others.
1. When one of the flock (believers) stray, we are instructed to try and
bring them back, James 5:20
“remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of
their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”
2. When someone sins against you, we are to forgive them
3. When someone does you “wrong”, we see again and again prayers for them
to be forgiven by God for their actions. Paul in this chapter, Jesus at the
crucifixion.
a. Jesus said, “Forgive them {those crucifying Him} Father, for
they know not what they do.”
b. They {the Roman soldiers} did NOT know Jesus was Lord, they were NOT
purposefully attacking the Gospel or Christ Jesus. They were ignorant of their actions, and
thus, though the “offense” hurt, figuratively and literally, Jesus did not
retaliate, did not ask the Father for “justice”, “punishment”, or to “get them
back” for what they had done, but Forgiveness.
4. However, in this case, as well as some others where people were “handed
over to Satan”, these acts were deliberately done against a believer to
cause harm.
5. In these cases, they are either handed over to Satan (meaning, set free
from the gospel to receive the full actions from their decision to abandon
Christ in hopes of them hitting rock bottom and returning to Him), or, the
worse of the two, the one attacked “makes room for God’s wrath”, meaning, if
they do not repent and accept Christ, they will pay the ultimate penalty for
their purposeful opposition and “works” against the Gospel on Judgment Day.
III.
AT MY DEFENSE, NO ONE CAME
a. At the trial no one came to
Paul’s defense or to support him, everyone deserted him
i. “...may it not be
held against them.”
ii. An example of an offense that was not meant to harm another, though it
did.
b. But the Lord stood by his
side and gave him strength
i. The
Lord stood by Paul for a reason, so that through Paul the message might be
fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it
c. Paul states he was
delivered from the lions mouth
i. The Lord will
rescue me from every evil attack
CONCLUSION
– Lord will rescue me from every evil attack
If the attack was
verbal, gossip, slander, offensive, hurtful, etc.
1.
You forgive so that your Father in heaven can
forgive your sin
2.
Pray that the Father in heaven forgives them for
they know not what they do
If the attack was specifically meant to defame the Gospel or
Christ Jesus, your belief, the Bible, its teachings, etc.
3.
Hand them over to Satan, release them from any
obligation or relation with the New Testament covenant and return them to the
Old Testament covenant in hopes that they will hit rock bottom when they are
unable to fulfill the commands and will seek out the Lord once again
4.
And revenge, vengeance, pay back, justice,
etc...is the Lord’s alone! If they refuse to repent and accept Jesus Christ as
their Lord and Savior and take part in the New Covenant, then they will be
judged by the Old on Judgment Day, which is the eternal wrath of God revealed.
Next week we will look at the last book in the
“Paul’s Epistles Series”, Titus.
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