This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “II Timothy” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, July 3, 1988.
About this sermon
Paul grounds his confidence in his ministry entirely outside himself, in Christ’s redemption, and he extends that confidence to Timothy. Two pillars of education pass that confidence on, and neither is self-reliance.
Sermon transcript
Timothy three. And we are reading from verse ten. Here, the word of God. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. But persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Paul is confident. Now he’s confident not because he has discovered some new thought. A bright new idea has occurred to him. And this bright new idea has become the source of his confidence and put that kick back into his step. Paul is confident, but not because he has discovered some new philosophy of life that seemingly has made sense of all of the distressing features of life and given him then a sense of well-being.
It wasn’t for the purpose of presenting to the world a bright new idea or a wonderfully developed philosophy of life that Paul navigated the Mediterranean world, or traversed the territories of the Middle East, of Asia, Macedonia, Achaia, Italy, even Spain. Paul is confident But neither does his confidence arise because he was possessed of a natural optimism. He was one of those people who always seemed to be bubbling over, inherently effervescent, if not forever effervescent. A sort of spiritual version of Mary Lou. No, that wasn’t the source of Paul’s confidence.
Paul is confident because God has done something. God has been at work. And what God has begun, He will complete. And of that, all is absolutely certain. What is it that God has done? God has sent His Son into the world. He has sent his Son into the world for sinners, and by root of the Son, those sinners have been reclaimed. Jesus Christ has died. He has been a sacrifice acceptable to God. And now, for the sake of Christ, God receives these sinners. into his fellowship. God has been at work in Jesus Christ, his son, for the removal of sin and also for the bestowal of eternal life on all who would trust. For Christ has not been left in the grave, he has been raised up, and he has become the source of life for all who would believe in him.
Paul’s confidence then is in God. It is because of what God has done, and because of what God will do, in bringing to completion that which he has started. Paul says in this very letter, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day. This confidence that Paul has is well grounded, then, in the person and the work of our God, as that is manifest in Jesus Christ, our Savior.
But this confidence which Paul has is not blind to the difficulties of the times in which we live. It is not as if he has passed into some sort of blind optimism, so that now he simply looks on the bright side of things regardless. Paul, you see, is confident, but he is also a realist, and he understands the times. He knows that these are the last days. he realizes that in the last days there will be difficulties, and that these times that are ours are perilous, that is, they are dangerous. So his confidence is not the sort of thing that looks away from the difficulties, away from the hardships, away from those things that may in fact be judged as negative and counterproductive. Instead, Paul, in his confidence, looks these things squarely in the face. And his confidence remains while he, in his integrity and in his honesty, sees life as it is.
And certainly as it has become, because now we have entered the last. You know. The expression of the apostles confidence in the opening verses. Of the third chapter, verses one through nine. He certainly realizes what time it is as far as the world is concerned.
The severity of circumstance that now has come to the world because Satan is, as it were, in his death throes. And thus, you see, in the world and also in the church, there are those who are demonstrating the most wicked of characteristics in their opposition to God and to his truth. But despite the onslaught, despite the severity of that wickedness that is in the world and even in the Church, The apostle Paul is confident. The kingdom of Satan will not have the final word.
It cannot. Why? Because God has sent his son. Christ has died, has been raised again. That is why. The kingdom of Satan will not triumph, and those who associate themselves with that kingdom will fail and fail utterly. That is the significance of that ninth verse. After reviewing the severity of that wickedness abroad, Paul makes the statement concerning those who have associated themselves with it. They will go no further. Their father, their father, Paul, he will be obvious to all. The following will become apparent.
The source, then, of Paul’s confidence is not a new thought, not a philosophy which he has discovered. It is not something that arises out of a natural optimism. It is rather something that comes to him from God and is based upon what God has done and will do.
It is the matter of your own confidence. There is that question of confidence that plagues us all. Distressing uncertainty with which you battle continually. There is a market for those without confidence these days. Many people are into what is called self-esteem. What do you think is the source of Paul’s self-esteem if we can speak that way with regard to him? Is it really something that arises out of himself or is it something that comes to him from outside?
What about your own struggles with regard to confidence? Your own problems? And your own self-doubt? Where are you going to look? What foundation will you see? Will you turn to yourself? as has been suggested by so many, and find resources within yourself to resolve the problems that seem to dog you persistently.
Paul is looking at the big picture, and he sees things in light of what God has done and will do, and that is the focus of his life. He is not looking to himself, he is looking away from himself. He is looking to God and to Christ, and he is looking to the certainty of those things which God has done, and the certainty that God will in fact complete what he began. Because of that, Paul has an unshakable confidence, because the God that Paul believes in is himself unshakable. Paul is confident then. He is confident about the general picture, the big picture. and the outcome of the affairs of life. In that big picture. But as we move towards the end of. Second Timothy three.
We find that this confidence of Paul is even more extensive. It is a confidence that extends to this one to whom he writes. For Paul is not only confident about God and about Christ and about the conclusion of all matters pertaining to this world, he is confident about this young man, Timothy.
And that’s what verses 10 through 17 are all about. Now, Paul is not confident about Timothy because he is possessed of an inherent goodwill towards everyone. And he has somehow understood Christian grace along these lines. Christian grace, so say some, demands that you become blind to people, and you look at them exclusively in the very best light possible, ignoring their weaknesses and their frailties, their shortcomings. Paul is not blind concerning the circumstances of the church, you can’t read through the opening part of that third chapter without being convinced of this, neither is Paul blind with regard to the problems and the deficiencies of Timothy.
Timothy is especially weak at this time. You read through that second epistle and you find a man here who is shaking, spiritually shaking. And he is shaking because he is beginning to realize just how much this gospel costs. Paul, for instance, is in chains as he writes. He is in prison. And Timothy is at the point now where he is ashamed or tempted to be ashamed of Paul in chains. This suffering of Paul has become offensive to him.
So it isn’t because Paul is possessed of an inherent goodwill towards all people that he is optimistic with regard to Timothy, confident about Timothy. Nor is Paul insincere. He isn’t patronizing the boy in this passage. speaking condescendingly to him, using a bit of psychology, if you will, a bit of that psychology which we’ve come to call positive reinforcement. Paul is not blind to the weaknesses of the man, yet he expresses a confidence with regard to him. And what is the source of that confidence?
Well, you may be surprised. I’ll give you one word. Education. Now, it’s not what you might think. I know that the spirit abroad today is that education is our savior. We all know that. That’s why we send our kids to school, isn’t it? Education is going to save our children, right? I mean, we were denied in our lives, but our children will not be denied, so we’re going to send them to school. We’re going to deny them nothing in education so they can get the best, make a lot of money, and make us proud.
That’s the way we redeem ourselves. And that’s the way we intend to redeem the world. When everybody has achieved this, we’ll all be happy, right? No, we’ll still be fighting over who gets the biggest piece of the pie. We’ll just be a bit smarter about how to do it.
But the word is education. And there are two pillars of education as Paul understands it from a divine point of view. The first pillar is living example. Why have many Christian schools reacted so much against learning by computer screen? Learning from a machine. Is it just that they’re old-fashioned? They really haven’t joined the modern technological age? They really are stuck in the mud. Now you see, from the divine point of view, education demands a living example.
A living relationship. Communication. A bond. And that’s exactly what Paul is speaking of. This bond that exists between him and Timothy. So that it’s not just a matter of Paul communicating information to this young man, it’s a matter of him communicating a life. Paul is bound to Timothy. And as far as Paul is concerned, he is utterly transparent to this young man.
He doesn’t hold on to certain knowledge in order to have the advantage over the young disciple. Paul teaches by this ancient honor. Divinely graced method. The living example. But the beautiful thing that you observe here as you go down through Paul’s description of the instruction which Timothy has received in this manner. Is how the description that Paul gives of himself nears Jesus Christ. For Timothy is learning from Paul as Paul learned from Christ. He imitators of me as I have been an imitator of Christ. That’s the method of instruction. That’s the pillar of education as Paul understands it.
It is because Christ has been so wonderfully portrayed in this man who has been so willing to be conformed to him It is because Timothy has latched on to that, that Paul is confident now with regard to Timothy. Timothy, you won’t let it go. I know you won’t let it go. You see it, you understand it, you know it to be true, and you will not forsake it. That’s the first pillar of the living example. The fact that Christ is evident in the apostle and Timothy knows that. And he is to hold on to it. I could go on here at some length. About the problems in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, if there is one severe problem facing our denomination. Now I know the response, oh that we would have a church that was filled with young. That’s a sign that the church has a future.
But you see, a church possessed by the young doesn’t have any of the older people to look up to. We don’t have the living examples in whom you can see Jesus Christ. And that essential pillar in the divinely ordained education process is marred, scarred, obscured, if not lost. Tragically, so many in the older generation, and I want to speak gently here, have not distinguished themselves in their lives. But those lives are not particularly or uniquely conformed to Jesus Christ at all. but rather to the world. The second pillar is honored tradition. Don’t misunderstand. It is the record of your past. It is the account of your heritage, that which has become yours because now you are a part of it.
That which is recorded, says Paul, in Holy Scripture. But note again, as all cultures and civilizations of the world could claim some sort of honored tradition, it is this tradition that Paul places here before Timothy, which is utterly, completely unique because this tradition alone, the tradition of the Holy Scriptures, is that which is able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ. So, at the center of the living example, that one pillar that Paul places before Timothy, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And at the center of that second pillar, which Paul places before Timothy, the Holy Scriptures, is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And once more, Paul is confident with regard to these young men. It is true that both are being attacked. For Paul is now one who is himself being attacked by those who are offended at his suffering. But he tells us, indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer. That’s not a disqualification.
And there are those who, in deference to the Scripture, have gone off in the direction of what is called worldly and empty chatter, purveying profane and perverse fables and myths. But over against them, Paul says, all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for doctrine. reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness. Paul is confident, generally with regard to the circumstances we face in the world in these last days. And he is confident with regard to Timothy, as Jesus Christ himself is mediated unto Timothy through the living example of the Apostle’s life and through the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments which is able to make us wise on salvation.
Again, I ask you about your confidence, how easily you are shaken, bewildered, distressed by life? How quickly your confidence dissolves? Would you look to Christ? Would you hold fast to the scriptures? And would you pray that God would give us many living examples in whom we could discern Jesus Christ at work in our midst?
We do ask you, our God, that wherein our confidence has been shaken, it would be restored. Not because we have found something in ourselves, but because we have found you to be true. May you therefore bring us through all the storms of these days. May we stand strong against the onslaught of evil. May we be blessed by the obvious impact of Jesus Christ upon us, upon our lives. And may we see that one whom you have sent to be a sure and certain foundation for us and knowing that he is secure and you are true may we ourselves be at rest
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