Believers are called to actively pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, while simultaneously avoiding youthful lusts and foolish, strife-generating questions. The sermon emphasizes the importance of separating from negative influences and seeking fellowship with like-minded individuals who sincerely call on the Lord. It further instructs that the servant of the Lord must not engage in strife but rather be gentle, apt to teach, patient, and meek in instructing those who oppose themselves, with the hope that God may grant them repentance and recovery from the devil's snare. The ultimate aim is to uphold God's truth and help others acknowledge it, leading to their deliverance from false teachings and the devil's captivity.
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Greetings, friends, in the ever-precious name of the Lord Jesus. We greet you in that worthy name, the name of our wonderful Savior, and we come to his wonderful book once more as we continue the study of Second Timothy. Our reading is found today in chapter two, commencing at verse twenty-two, reading to the end of the chapter. Flee also youthful lust. but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strife, and the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all, act to teach, patience, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.
If terror ventured, God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who were taken captive by him at his will. May God bless the reading and the hearing of his precious word. We lift our hearts in earnest supplication to the God of grace above, that by his Spirit he will guide us in these perilous days, the last days of Christianity, as we are considering then from the second epistle of Timothy. May I again re-emphasize there is the greatest need for spiritual energy in the darkening state that is around us in the moral and spiritual condition of things.
The second epistle of Timothy, as we have already seen, brings out the challenge that the believer in the last days should be brave and should also be strong and should also be consistent and should also be faithful. We come to the portion before us today reminding us that there is not only a positive responsibility in relation to the truth of God, but there are also negative responsibilities in relation to the obedience of the believer. That is exactly what we find in the opening two verses of our reading today.
Let me open the twenty-second verse to emphasize that the Apostle says, flee. Then may I point out, right in the center of verse twenty-three, there is the word, avoid. Wherever you find God commanding his children to flee, it is the best thing to obey. Wherever you find God directing us to avoid certain things, or even certain persons, it is wise to concede to the command of his voice. Now know what the beloved apostle writes in the opening of this twenty-second verse.
Flee also youthful lust. How we can recognize that even today in the midst of an immoral world, the believer should recognize this responsibility toward his and her God in relation to the maintaining of the truth. O my beloved Christian, to you who are Him, I plead with you as well as with my own heart, through the voice and the Word of God, we may flee these things. But then you will note immediately there is a positive responsibility. If there is a direction from which we should flee, there is also a direction in which we should go.
And here are the words, but follow. righteousness, faith, love, peace, with then that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Now here are qualities of character, qualities of life, qualities of testimony that we can direct our hearts and our lives in. May I repeat them? There is the word righteousness. follow righteousness and this means in its practical bearing this means right living follow the path of right living turn away from youthful lust but follow righteousness or right living not only follow right living follow that path of faith that path that leads onward with the example of that great hero of faith even our Lord Jesus who was the originator and who is the completer of our faith, and who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and despised the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of God.
Follow the path of right living, follow the path of faith, and then follow the path of love. Oh, the greatest thing that we need in these days of hatred, wickedness, lawlessness, and strife and envy, is to follow that path of love By which example we follow the Lord Jesus again. Follow that path of peace. Peace not only within the heart, not only within the soul, but seek by God's grace to live at peace with all men. As far as it is possible as the Apostle Paul wrote. And notice the company. There are not only the characteristics that we should follow, but the company that we should seek to follow in fellowship with.
follow with them that call on the Lord out of the pure and the sincere heart. My fellow believer, may I emphasize for you and for me in these dark and difficult days, we need the proper company. We need the segregation. Now listen carefully. We need the segregation or the separation of a path that is in company with light men, like women, like-minded souls, who want to follow the Lord, and those who will call upon the Lord out of a sincere heart.
Beloved me, I state, these are days of great hypocrisy that God would have his children find those who are sincere, calling upon the Lord out of a pure heart, and following righteousness. following faith, following love, and following peace. May God the Holy Spirit speak to each one of us in the very depths of our hearts, as well as to speak to the conscience, that we may seek in obedience to follow the Lord Jesus thus. And then there is another negative emphasis. as we look at verse twenty-three, but foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strife.
It is absolutely purposeless, useless, unedifying, unChrist-like, as well as bringing no merit or glory to God or blessing to man, when we seek to entangle ourselves in questions that should be avoided. questions that only promote foolishness as well as lack of learning, knowing they do gender strife. Oh beloved, how important it is to stay out of strife as a child of God, to keep away from those strife that seem to permeate even in the Christian profession. For the apostle goes on to say the servant of the Lord must not strife.
But be gentle unto all. apt to teach, patient, in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. Now here we have brought very clearly the attitude of heart as well as the action of the heart and mind toward those who perhaps would strive against us. And we are commanded the servant of the Lord must not strive. It does not indeed bring glory to God nor blessing to man when there can be, and often is, the strife of words between brethren and those that are in Christ, as well as those who may be out of Christ.
But here is the conduct that God requires. Be gentle unto all. What a wonderful testimony. To be gentle unto all. App to teach. just desiring with the attitude of the spirit of God's power to teach those who are opposing us. And it requires patience. And it requires meekness. Notice these attributes. Gentleness. And teaching the power, the ability to teach. Teaching ability. Coupled with patience. And linked with meekness in order to instruct.
Those that oppose themselves. Oh, beloved, note the language. Do you note it very carefully? Them that oppose themselves. May I read what another translation says. Be gentle towards all. Act to teach. Forbearing. In meekness. Setting right those who oppose. If God perhaps may sometime give them repentance. To acknowledgement of the truth. Now note. The attitude of the heart, the attitude of the mind of a Christian to what such a oppose is important. And God says why? Perchance He will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
Now, beloved Christian, may I remind you what the truth is? We are to uphold the word of God. We are to stand true to the scriptures of truth. And we are indeed to be in meekness and patience teaching others that they may be delivered from opposition to God's truth and to the acknowledging of it in repentance. And being recovered, being recovered, may I quote again, an excellent translation in the last verse that declares, And to the acknowledgement of the truth and that they may awake up. out of the snare of the devil, who were taken by him for his will.
In our closing moments, I wish to emphasize an existing fact. There is present today in the profession of Christendom, there is present much that is contrary to the clear unmistakable spiritual teaching of the Word of God. In other words, there are many false teachings prevailing today. And there is without question of doubt a multitude of persons who have been taken into the snare of the devil and who have succumbed and have followed the teaching of false teachers. Now, beloved Christians, I do trust you and I have within our heart the basic foundation of God's truth that we may be able to fulfill these scriptures by the conduct of our life and the testimony of our lips to thus recover some and await them out of such near.
Oh, may I ask my friend as I close, do you know Christ as your Savior? This is the basic foundation of the truth of God. You must first know Him. God grant that you do. Shall we pray? Father, in the precious, the worthy name of the Lord Jesus, we commend to the Spirit of God the blessing of thy word, to the great edification of thy people and salvation of sinners. Amen.