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I greet all of you in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Our text for today's message is taken from 2 Timothy, chapter 3:10. The Apostle Paul had warned Timothy about the dangers in the church, that in the last days perilous times shall come. People would be lovers of their own selves. They would be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. They will manifest a whole list of ungodly characteristics out of their lives, like being covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemous, unthankful, ungodly, high-minded, and so forth. They would have an outward show of godliness but be inwardly empty of the power of the Gospel, which means they will pretend to be spiritual. Then they would target the weak and also oppose the truth. That is what we have learned in our previous message.
Living in such perilous times, what can the believers do in such times of apostasy? What can we do to defend ourselves? There are three important things we need so that we may defend ourselves. Firstly, we need godly examples. Secondly, we need godly convictions. And thirdly, most importantly, we need the Word of God. Today we will only focus on the first thing: godly examples. The title of our message is The Christian's Defense Against Apostasy: Godly Example.
Let us look at verse 10: But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience. The word "but" is a contrast or a change of emphasis. In other words, Paul was saying to Timothy: Beware of the false teachers and false believers in the church. Do not follow their examples. Instead, you should follow my life and ministry. You should follow my example. The phrase "thou hast fully known" means to come alongside someone and be his disciple, or to come alongside someone and follow his example.
By this time, Timothy had already spent several decades with Paul. He had witnessed how Paul had lived his life. Except for the twelve disciples, who were taught by Jesus Himself during His incarnation, no Christian has had a greater example and teacher than Timothy because he had Paul. In fact, Paul was confident that Timothy was following his example—his life, his thinking, and his ministry.
How do we know? If you can turn with me to 1 Corinthians 4:16, the passage that we have read in our responsive reading, Paul urged the Corinthians to follow his example, and he said to them: Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. But he could not visit the Corinthians personally, so how could he do that? Look at the next verse, verse 17: For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.
Can you imagine that? I send you Timothy, and when you see him, you will be reminded of me and all the things that I have taught you, not only in Corinth but in every church everywhere. As one theologian said, this is the ultimate goal of discipleship. This will be the desire of every pastor, every Sunday school teacher, every Christian parent: When you see him, you will see me in him, as one theologian said.
But perhaps, in a moment of weakness, being timid by nature, Timothy was discouraged, shaken by the false teachers and false believers in the church. Therefore, here Paul had to encourage him to trust in the Lord, and by God's providence, He had placed Paul as Timothy's mentor, as Timothy's example.
My friends, do you realize that all of us are influenced by the people around us—people whom we work with, live with, and serve with? Sometimes the influence is good, and other times it is bad. Sometimes we follow consciously, and other times subconsciously or indirectly. That is why we must be careful with those whom we associate with, especially those who are in positions to influence us.
Those of us who are in such positions—pastors, preachers, elders, deacons, Bible teachers, and even parents—we have to be extremely careful because God has placed those people under our care. They are watching us; they are observing how we live our lives. We need to ask ourselves this question: Are we able to say to these people—whether they be our children or the Sunday school students—or as a pastor, am I able to say to all of you, Follow me as I follow Jesus Christ?
The first thing Paul said to Timothy was, But thou hast fully known my doctrine. The word "doctrine" is a reference to the divinely inspired apostolic teaching that Paul had taught Timothy. If you look down to verse 16, 2 Timothy 3:16, which all of us are very familiar with: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. So Paul's teaching was based on the Word of God. Paul was a faithful teacher of God's Word, no doubt about that.
But he knew that he could not be with the church forever. One day, he would have to die, just like every one of us. Parents, we would like to be with our children, to be there for them, especially in difficult times, but one day we would have to leave them. Paul knew that, therefore he had invested his entire life to teach people like Timothy, so that he would, in turn, teach others, and the work of teaching would carry on and on for as long as the Lord Jesus would tarry in His return. That was the reason why he said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2—let me read for you 2 Timothy 2:2—And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
Notice there were four generations mentioned there, from Paul to Timothy, to faithful men, and then to others also. And who was the one who taught Paul? The Lord Jesus Christ, who appeared to him on the road to Damascus. If you take any one of them from that link, that four generations—whether it be Paul, Timothy, or other faithful men—that person would be just a teacher, faithfully teaching someone else.
My friends, in fact, every preacher, every Sunday school teacher, every Christian parent is a living link that traces all the way to Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus taught the twelve disciples, and the twelve disciples taught the next generation, and they taught the next generation, and it went on and on until someone taught us. And now, it is our responsibility to carry this work, to teach someone else.
In a sense, we are all in a relay race. Someone passed the baton to us, and we have to pass it to someone else. Our forefathers were faithful—they fought a good fight of faith, they finished the course, and passed the baton to us. Now, we are to pass it to someone else faithfully. As a church, as a fellowship group, as a family, we need to ask ourselves: Am I going to be this broken link, whereby after me there will be no continuation of faithful men anymore?
Have you ever thought about this? What happens if this group of us will be the last generation of believers in Better BP Church? What happens if you are the last generation of Sunday school teachers, after you, no more Sunday school teacher? Or you are a Christian parent, after you, your children and future generations would no longer profess faith in Jesus Christ anymore? The reason is because we have failed to teach others also. We have failed to pass the spiritual baton to someone else. May the Lord have mercy that it will not happen to us.
Yesterday I was in a home care group. One of the members said to me that his grandfather and his parents were Christians. Today, he's a grandfather, and he said, "I cannot believe it; my son is now a father." As I was driving back, I was thinking, If his grandson becomes a believer, that will mean five generations of Christians. Amazing, right? But that can only be possible by the grace of God if every generation is faithful to teach others also. Otherwise, there will be a broken link.
My friends, if the church or the family is weak, it is because the leaders or parents are weak. If the church or the family is to be strong, the leaders and parents have to be strong. The only way they can be strong is that we have to build them up, equip them, use all our time and resources to train them, so that they can pass on the truth to the next generation—to pass the truth to faithful men and women who will hold on to God's truth and authority.
We do not want to waste all our time and resources on people who will be unfaithful. So we must always pray for faithful men and women. I pray that all of us here, listening to this message, will be faithful men and women, always willing, eager, and ready to teach others. And then one day, we will be like Paul, saying to Timothy: Remember, thou hast fully known my doctrine. You have heard everything I've taught you. Do you remember?
Our second point is his manner of life. Paul said, "Thou hast fully known my manner of life." Although teaching is important, it can be counterproductive or harmful even if our teaching is inconsistent with our manner of life or our behaviors. You know, it's like saying to someone, "Only follow what I say but don't follow what I do. Only follow what I teach but don't imitate how I behave." That would be most detrimental.
Timothy had listened to Paul's teaching; he had observed how he had lived his life. He knew how Paul was consistent with his teaching. He lived according to what he preached; he lived according to what he believed in very strongly.
I believe recently all of us have read news—bad news. The global events have truly been devastating: the political unrest, civil war in Myanmar, trade wars between China, the United States, and the Allies, including Australia, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the most recent war between Russia and Ukraine. When people read about such news, some of them immediately respond and say, "This is the last of the last days." Emphatically, some would even quote scripture verses, prophecies about the end times, eschatology, and so forth. They may be knowledgeable, able to teach, able to explain biblical truth, but the question is, my friends, how has that knowledge affected their lives?
How does knowing that we are living in the last of the last days affect the way we live our lives? I've asked this question to several people who said to me, "This is the last of the last days." But what has this knowledge got to do with our manner of life? Is it consistent with what we profess to believe in, what we teach, what we stand for? It is one thing to teach; it is another thing altogether to live according to the truth we teach. As James 1:22 says, "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."
Over there, it is just hearing and not doing, but this is worse—you are teaching and not applying. May the Lord have mercy. And who knows us better than our loved ones, right? Our spouses, our children—they live with us, they watch us, they observe us. They see how we make decisions, how we respond to challenges, how we are able to articulate God's truth in our lives on a daily basis. They see how important the worship of God is to us. Some of us say the worship of God is so important. When we go for holidays, do we first look for a church to worship God on Sundays, or do we only look for places of interest to visit? This can see how serious we are with the services of God.
Are we truly devoted as we said we are? Are we careful, or are we uncareful or careless? Paul said to Timothy, "Beware of the false teachers and false believers in the church. They only have a form of godliness; they pretend to be spiritual, but denying the power thereof." But you know I'm not a pretender. You have seen my life. You have observed how I live, what I teach, whether it is consistent or not. You have observed my manner of life.
My friends, do you think our children will be able to say that of us? "I know my mom, I know my dad. I live with them, I watch them, I grew up with them." They may not be perfect—no one is, except Jesus Christ—but "I know my mom and dad. They are truly serious with God; they love God, and they are godly."
Do you think our parents, our children, our young people, our youth—are they consistent in the way they live their lives, in the things they profess to hold onto, even in the things they teach?
The manner of life.
Paul went on to speak about his third point—his purpose. "Thou hast fully known my purpose." The word "purpose" is very interesting. Basically, it means to set forth or to set before. It is like the Israelites setting forth the consecrated showbread on the table in the temple. Why do they do that? What is the purpose of setting forth those consecrated things? It is for the worship and glory of God. That is the idea. In other words, why do we faithfully teach and then patiently live our lives according to what we teach? What is our driving force, our passions, our motivation?
What is the thing that drives our worship, our services, our giving? Why do we worship God? Do we worship God because we want others to see that we are prayerful? Do we serve God because our friends are serving God? Do we give because of certain obligations? What is the purpose?
Our purpose must always be to the glory of God. It is always for the worship and glory of God. Again, like Timothy and Paul, who were closely associated, Timothy was able to watch Paul. Is this truly his purpose? Those people who are closely associated with us, serving together with us, working together, living together—after a period of time, over perhaps a series of situations and circumstances, somehow we will be able to tell. Is this truly their main purpose? Is serving God, glorifying God, their main purpose?
The late Reverend Timothy once shared this story about a pastor in his church. This pastor appeared to be very humble, willing to do any work in the church. He always professed that his heart's desire was to serve and glorify God—that was the only purpose he had on the face of this Earth. The church was very impressed by him, his commitment, and his devotion, so much so that they decided to send him to the United States to further his theological studies.
He went, finished his theological studies, came back to serve the church, and then one day, Reverend Timothy asked this newly ordained pastor to drive the church van and fetch some children home after the daily Vacation Bible School. This pastor said to him, to his horror, "Do you think God will send me to the States to further my theological studies and return back and be a driver?"
Immediately, Reverend Timothy knew his heart's desire and purpose was never to glorify God. Indeed, sometimes God uses different situations and circumstances to reveal men's hearts. Sometimes even a promotion will reveal everything that is deeply seated in his or her heart. That is how amazing our God is.
But Paul said to Timothy, "You know my purpose. I have never deviated from my purpose. My purpose is always to glorify God, from the beginning up to the day he wrote this—he has never deviated."
Our final point is his virtues. Paul said, "Thou hast fully known my faith, longsuffering, charity, patience." Let us first consider his faith, or his faithfulness. Remember Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:24-27. Allow me to read for you. This was what Paul went through as he served the Lord: "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Twice was I beaten with rods. Once was I stoned. Twice was I shipwrecked. A night and a day I have been in the deep, in journeyings often, in perils of waters,"—in other words, facing dangers in the sea—"robbers, my own countrymen, by the heathen, in the city, in the wilderness, in the sea, amongst false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness."
This was what Paul went through on the outside, but he says what was inside him was even worse. He said, "Besides everything else, I am constantly concerned about all the churches." This was what was really burdensome to him—he was always worried about all the churches. Was he faithful? Most certainly.
What was the secret of Paul's faithfulness? You know, his secret was this. Let me read for you 1 Timothy 4:12—that would be Paul's secret to his faithfulness. He said this:
"And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry."
Why do I say this was his secret? Notice three things he said: "It was God who hath enabled me." The reason why he was able to endure all the persecutions, troubles, and trials was because God had strengthened him. He knew that; he acknowledged that it was God who had strengthened him. It was God who "counted me faithful," which means it was God who considered him faithful.
Take a moment and consider who Paul was. He was an apostle, a pastor, a preacher, a theologian, a church planter, a spiritual leader, and so forth, right? Some people may ask him, "How is it possible for you to wear so many hats, serve in so many areas of ministry?" Most certainly, Paul's answer would be, "God has counted me faithful. It is not about me; it is about Him. It is not because of me; it is because of Him. God has counted me faithful."
My responsibility is just to be faithful in what God has given me, and as God has said, "If you are faithful in little, much more will be given to you." Therefore, Paul said it was God who had "put me into the ministry." In a sense, it was as if Paul was reflecting upon his life, tracing his life—”God was the one who saved me. He was the one who has given me strength day by day. That was why I was able to endure all the trials. God was the one who has considered me faithful, putting me into the ministry. That was the reason why I was able to minister to the Corinthians, Philippians, Ephesians, Galatians, Thessalonians, and so forth. Everything in my life is all because of my God.”
My friends, take a moment and consider our lives in this perspective. If we are believers, God has saved us. He’s the one who has saved us, and it is God who has placed us in this church. It is God who has given us areas of ministry, whether we be serving as an usher, a pianist, a deacon, a Sunday school teacher, a home care group leader. Yes, people may approach us to serve the Lord, but ultimately, God is the one who puts us into the ministry. And if God is the one who puts us into the ministry, He's the one who has called us. Will He not strengthen us?
There will always be troubles, there will always be trials, there will always be difficulties. But God, who has called us, will enable us. Just as Paul said, He will strengthen us. We must believe in that. And you and me—our responsibility is to be faithful. If we are faithful in little, God will open the door for us to serve Him in many more areas. But the opposite is also true—if we are unfaithful, the door will be closed. How sad! One life to live, and we live that life doing nothing for the One who came to save us, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Secondly, let us consider his longsuffering and charity. I would like to look at these two virtues together. The reason why is because as 1 Corinthians 13:4 says, "Charity suffereth long." Exactly the same two words are used there: "charity" and "longsuffering." Longsuffering means to patiently endure. Here, it is used to describe patience with people rather than circumstances. The idea is that you have this patience to press on, even though you have been taken advantage of by a person over and over again, yet you do not retaliate—you are patient, long-suffering.
Charity means love, agape. Why do we need patience? Think about this: we have been commanded by God to love. Love who? Love those who are lost. Love our enemies. If we are going to love people who do not know Jesus Christ, if we are going to love people who would potentially oppose us, reject us, persecute us, do you think we need much patience? Surely, right?
We have been commanded by God to love His household, the believers. You may be thinking, "Well, that is easy—after all, they are believers." Do you really think so? Sometimes it is even more difficult to love the believers than the unbelievers. Why do we say that? Because when it comes to the believers, we have certain expectations. We expect them to live according to certain biblical standards. When they fail to do that, we are frustrated; we are discouraged.
It is more painful when believers gossip about you—right?—than unbelievers. It is more painful when believers cheat on you, betray you, or say all kinds of false accusations about you. It is more painful. The people you live with in your home, the person you are married to, the children you are raising, the friends you go to church with—they are all capable of sin, including ourselves. That is why, if we are going to love them, we must always bear in mind that there are things in their lives that will challenge us. There will be things in the people around us, our close ones, the believers especially, that will disappoint and discourage us, to test our ability to love them. We need patience.
We need patience to preach the Word of God and the gospel. 2 Timothy 4:2 says, "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." Why must we preach with all longsuffering? Because the next verse says, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears." In other words, what you preach is not what they want to hear. If you preach what they want to hear, surely they will love you.
When a brother or a sister in Christ lives in sin, you need to speak the truth in love. But it hurts—it destroys the relationship, it breaks the fellowship. You will be accused of being critical, judgmental, unloving. But it is necessary for you to do so. The easiest thing is not to say anything, not to do anything, just accommodate, just compromise. But that is not love. That is why we need patience with much love to teach and preach the truth.
Paul said to Timothy, "You have observed my life and ministry. You know how even the Jews, my own people, they have opposed me, rejected me, persecuted me." We are studying through the Book of Acts about Paul's missionary journey. Every city Paul would enter, the first thing he would do is find a synagogue and then preach to the Jews. But almost every place he visited, the Jews were the ones who persecuted him. But he would still go back and look for the synagogue and preach to his own people.
What was the driving force? What was the motivation? What was his purpose? It was always because of his love. He had this patience, this longsuffering.
Finally, let us consider his patience. Now, this word "patience" is different from "longsuffering." It means perseverance. It is used to describe perseverance with circumstances, not with people. So the longsuffering was with people; here, it is with circumstances. It is the ability to press on in adversities, difficult times, and difficult situations. You don't give up—you still press on.
Timothy was with Paul during his missionary journey, so all the things that we have read just now—the adverse circumstances, how he was whipped five times by the Jews, each time thirty-nine strokes, and then how he faced dangers here, there, and everywhere—humanly speaking, any one of those adverse circumstances was sufficient for Paul to give up. But he did not. He had patience. He pressed on despite the adverse circumstances. He did not quit when things got tough.
My friends, what about us? Are we someone who gives up easily? When we encounter trouble, is the first thing we do give up? Or are we someone who has patience? We will press on, and on, and on, by the grace of God. Remember, God who has called us and put us into the ministry, He will give us the strength. Everything is about Him.
Remember, we are all living in the last of the last days. Perilous times shall come. There will be more and more people who profess to be believers, but the reality is that they are lovers of their own selves. They are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Outwardly, they have a form of godliness, but they deny the power therein. They have no transforming power within them—they never knew God. There will be more and more of such people, and such people we must never look up to.
Paul says, "Do not look to them. Do not look to those people who have given up. Do not look to those people who have walked away from the Lord, from the church." But look to those who are still steadfast, those who are still persevering, those who are still faithfully teaching the right doctrines, those people whose manner of life is consistent with their teachings, those people whose purpose is to serve and glorify God, those people whose lives will manifest godly virtues like faithfulness, longsuffering, charity—that is, love—and patience.
My friends, when we have more and more of such people in our church, people of such godliness like Paul, whether in our leadership, in our fellowship groups, or in our families—parents whose lives are just like Paul’s—then we will have the strongest defence against apostasy. We will have examples of believers that the new generation will be able to look up to, follow, and exemplify.
Once we have this broken link, that is when the church will be in deep trouble. When our young people look up and there are no such godly examples, then the church is in deep trouble.
Let us pray. Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for this opportunity to consider the life of Paul, how Thou would teach us about his life. Indeed, Thou hast taught us about his teachings, his manner of life, his purpose, and even his godly virtues. We pray that we will live our lives as such, that we will always set ourselves as examples of believers that others may be able to follow.
We cannot do this on our own, but unless the Spirit of God would empower this—this is a spiritual work, a supernatural work—Thou alone art able to wrought it. So we ask of Thee to work in our lives in a manner that will cause us to live focusing on what Thou hast taught us. Wherever we go, we will teach; we will always pass on the truth that Thou hast given to us, that our manner of life will be consistent with what we teach and preach, that our purpose would always be to serve and glorify Thee, and that through our lives we will manifest faithfulness, longsuffering, love, and patience.
Troubles may come, but we will press on, because God who has called us and put us into the ministry, He alone will strengthen us. Oh Lord, be gracious to our church, so that for as long as the Lord Jesus would tarry in His return, we will always have a generation of faithful men and women. We pray all this in Jesus' name, Amen.