THE GOD OF ENCOURAGEMENT
THE GOD OF ENCOURAGEMENT
2 Timothy 3:1-5, 2 Timothy 3:14-17; 2 Timothy 4:6-12, 2 Timothy 4:16-22
One desires, dear brethren, to say a word as to God being “the God of all encouragement,” 2 Corinthians 1: 3. That God should be known to us, His children, in these days of adversity, difficulty and sorrow, as the God of all encouragement should be great support whatever the pressure. Think of God undertaking to serve us in this way, that we might be encouraged! Satan is seeking to cause a spirit of despair to fill our hearts. When we take account of the development of things in Christendom, and indeed in the world, which are so appalling — and then in addition to these, taste the sorrows that are found amongst those that are able to walk together, from which none of us is exempt — these things are calculated to break our hearts, and Satan would use them to bring despair into our souls.
Well, the apostle says, “Be perfected, be encouraged... and the God of love and peace shall be with you,” 2 Corinthians 13: 11. God would be with an encouraged people, not a people in despair, and He would Himself contribute to the encouragement that we experience. If any man had ground for despair, humanly, it was Paul. When he wrote the second epistle to Timothy, he was a prisoner under the most cruel power on earth — the power of Rome; he was in Rome, a prisoner with a chain. Then under those conditions, he has to say, “no man stood with me, but all men forsook me,” 2 Timothy 4: 16. Where three years of the most intense labour had been spent, where night and day he had laboured, in the province of Asia, yet he has to say — “all men forsook me.” It does not mean they had ceased to be Christians, but they had forsaken the apostle as the great vessel of the heavenly testimony. They had come down to a lower standard. Even some of his personal companions had forsaken him; he said, “Demas hath forsaken me.”
Then, dear brethren, false doctrines were working as a gangrene; they had come in and were working destruction in the area where he laboured so ardently, and the faith of some of the saints was overthrown. Looking ahead the apostle sees worse times coming. He sees juggling impostors waxing worse and worse. I would like you to note that word “juggling impostors.” Christendom is giving more and more place to those who juggle with the scriptures, and thus deceive simple souls. The apostle says they will get worse and worse, and the general moral conditions of mankind are expressed in the opening verses of the third chapter of the second epistle to Timothy describing most accurately what exists today.
Paul says, “In the last days,” showing that it was a matter of days in his mind, and the end would come. We have not to wait for centuries or even years for these conditions to arise; they are here now. The time is short; the last days are already here; the end is in view. In spite of all that to which I have referred, the great apostle says, “I am not ashamed”; he was not in despair! He was troubled at what he saw approaching, but he was not ashamed, and he said to Timothy in the light of all that, “be not thou therefore ashamed,” 2 Timothy 1: 8. That is what we need today, to have the consciousness of what is stable and that we have power to meet all that is opposed, as the apostle said to Timothy, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power...” 2 Timothy 1: 7.
The foundation of God stands and is going to remain; our feet can stand firmly and our hearts can rest in this stable position. If we could apprehend a little of what lay in the apostle’s soul at this time, we would understand how he could be encouraged in spite of increasing difficulties as the days developed. There is a wonderful passage in Isaiah 33: 6, wherein it is said of God that “He shall be the stability of thy times,” that is how it should read, I understand.
Whatever the times are, God would be known as the stability of our times. “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms,” Deuteronomy 33: 27. God’s arms, in that sense, are underneath His people. I have no doubt that the apostle Paul had that in his soul when he said, “I am not ashamed.” He indicates in the epistle to Timothy, that he is resting on God and what He could be to him.
In writing to Titus he speaks of God as the “God that cannot lie.” Then he refers to God’s own “purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” It is according to the power of God that we stand firm, the God “who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace,” 2 Timothy 1: 9. Whatever happens, whatever the public failure, whoever may depart, some like Demas may leave the path of testimony, others may turn away from the truth, but what is of God stands. Paul rested there in the most difficult times; God’s purpose remains, and is to be the bulwark of our souls. The apostle was assured that what he had committed to Christ was safe, he said, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day,” 2 Timothy 1: 12. In the second chapter he says, “the foundation of God standeth sure.” He spoke of those whose faith was overthrown by false doctrines but he said the firm foundation of God stands. I have no doubt it refers to the blessed Person of Christ known in the souls of God’s people — the great foundation for God, and that stands; everything “in Christ Jesus” remains.
Then he speaks of the seal, indicating that there is that which God will stand by and which has His authority. Men try to seal things. Jezebel put Ahab’s seal on the document that meant Naboth’s death, but God challenges that seal and the authority that lay behind it. As speaking with God’s authority Elijah said, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine,” 1 Kings 21: 19. That was God’s word to Ahab, and of what value was his seal? You see it again in Daniel’s day. He was in the lion’s den, the mouth of the pit is shut and the seal of the great Persian Empire is put on it, and that to them was the end. But God sends His angel. What is a Persian seal to one having authority from heaven! You see the point — man cannot really seal anything. Man’s folly is seen when they sealed the tomb of Jesus. They got the seal from Pilate — the seal of Rome — and they put it on the sepulchre. They thought that was final and authoritative, but an angel comes down and rolls away the stone, notwithstanding the seal. On the contrary when God seals anything, it stands, because it has His authority behind it.
This passage in 2 Timothy 2, indicates that if in the day of public failure we want to be in a path pleasurable to God, we must depart from evil. You say, what about all the Christians we leave behind? That is a matter for the Lord. He does not overlook one “the Lord knoweth them that are his.” That is His side of the seal. Our side is, “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity,” 2 Timothy 2: 19. That is the final word from the Lord. That is our part in the seal, and no one can ignore it and have the Lord’s support; such a movement has the authority of God. I would say to every Christian who may be linked with what is evil in the sight of God, just look at the seal; “Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity”; that is your side, and you have authority from God to act on it.
In this connection, the apostle refers to the “Master.” As far as the apostle is concerned, whatever comes, he recognises his obligations to the Master, as One whose word is final and whose will is absolute. It is the Lord Jesus as the Master who would have every believer as a vessel suitable for His use, but for this you must depart from iniquity, and also separate from vessels to dishonour. I would entreat you not to bring in any “buts”; being fit for the Master’s use, is dependent on departing from iniquity and separating from persons to dishonour. It is only in that way we can become vessels to honour. I know it will cost something; it will cost tears and suffering and reproach and hatred, but think of the great privilege of being pleasurable to God as a vessel to honour fit for the Master’s use.
In order to be serviceable in that way for the Master, we need to be thoroughly acquainted with the teaching, and with the scriptures. The apostle had great confidence in the scriptures. He says to Timothy, “From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,” and “all scripture is given by inspiration of God.” He had great confidence in them; they are stable; they are given by inspiration of God. The right understanding of them is a great necessity for the thorough furnishing of the man of God unto all good works. That means he does not need to go outside them. If the scriptures are understood, and have their place, the man of God is thoroughly furnished; he does not need anything from man.
We should value all that has helped us to understand the scriptures, for such help is from God, but we do not want anything outside the range of the scriptures in order to equip us for the service of God — the work of God. I speak particularly to young believers. We need to read the scriptures more, and to read them prayerfully. I am not speaking against ministry in relation to them, but we need to read the scriptures themselves. Let the mind and heart be stored with the precious scriptures. That will stand by us to the end. They are especially for the last days, and the apostle says, “Every scripture is divinely inspired,” or divinely breathed. That is what makes the scriptures what they are. Books by the hundred have been written against the scriptures, and many of them have long since gone into oblivion, thank God! But the scriptures remain; their voice remains; their authority remains. Behind the letter of the scripture, there is the breath of God.
What is it that makes all the difference between a man and a horse? It may be true as we are told, that in certain features both are alike. But what is it that makes the difference between a man and any other creature? The breath of God. Nobody, of course, can see this breath, but it is that which lifts man above the level of an animal. What is it that elevates the precious scriptures entirely above every other book? The breath of God. Every scripture is divinely inspired — divinely breathed. God has put behind the letter of the word, His own breath. It has come from His mouth, and that is what makes the scriptures what they are, and they remain in their integrity, their blessedness, and their power and their service for the man of God, right down to the last days. The apostle laid great store by every scripture.
In the last chapter of 2 Timothy, Paul says, “I am already being poured out.” The end is at hand, but what is supporting him? The Lord’s appearing and His kingdom are before his heart. He speaks of those who love His appearing. Looking West, I may say, he sees the sun setting and the closing days of Christendom in its public aspect, going down in unspeakable blackness — the “blackness of darkness.” Then he looks East, and he sees there is another day coming. The Sun is going to arise and bring in a new day. Christ is to appear. He is to come up. That is what is supporting Paul in the dark day, he has in view the Lord’s appearing and kingdom. He is one of those that “love his appearing” and he says, “The Lord, the righteous judge,” will give me at that day, “a crown of righteousness, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
He was leaving the judgment of his own service and its results to the “righteous judge,” he is prepared to await His judgment. Many are the difficulties that arise on account of certain ones wanting judgment now, wanting to be vindicated now, and to have it proved that they are right. But the great apostle was prepared to leave the judgment of his whole course to the righteous judge in that day. If evil arises amongst God’s people it must be judged, all must judge it, and judge themselves; but to seek our own vindication now in order that we should be recognised will only cause endless trouble and sorrow amongst the people of God. The apostle says, I can leave mine to the righteous judge and await His time.
I would appeal to you, dear brethren, to leave every petty personal grievance to the Lord. The valuation of our service is in the hands of the righteous judge and in view of that day. The day will come when He will make known to you, and maybe to others, what He does think of these matters, but in the meantime let us love His appearing, not seeking prominence for ourselves but His glory. It says, “Every morning doth he bring his judgments to light,” Zephaniah 3: 5. He may keep you a year, He may keep you ten, or until the judgment seat, in His wisdom, but morning by morning, His judgments come to light, and the apostle was content to leave the whole matter as to himself personally in the hands of the righteous judge.
The waiting time till that day is to test us as to His appearing. Do we love His appearing? When He appears He is coming up like the sun. Tomorrow morning, please God, when the sun comes up it will take charge of the day; no one can dispute it. God made the sun to rule the day. The sun is master of the day and its will prevails for the day. The earth just yields to the power of the sun, it would go to ruin if it did not. Now, says the apostle, Christ is coming in like the sun. In Matthew 17 we read that “his face did shine as the sun,” and there are those who love His appearing — who love the day when there will be only one will; when Christ as absolute Monarch will govern the scene. Do we love that day, dear brethren? There is nothing mysterious about this. If I love that day I shall be in accord with it now.
You see if I love the day when Christ’s will will be absolute and will govern all, I shall prove it by obeying that will now; I will prove it by being in subjection to the Lord now. It is no good telling me you love that day if you are doing as you like now — going where you like, saying what you like, reading what you like, and then saying, “I do wish the Lord would come so that His will should be supreme in the earth.” To say that I am longing for the appearing, and yet do exactly what I like until the day comes is entirely false. To say we love His appearing and not obey Him now, is a denial, and the apostle says, “If we deny him, he also will deny us,” 2 Timothy 2: 12. The apostle speaks of those who love His appearing and says that they are to have a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will give them in that day.
There is something else Paul has to tell us for our encouragement. He says, “at my first answer no man stood with me.” The great apostle, no doubt used of God for the conversion and enlightenment of thousands, stood alone. In Corinth the Lord said to him, “I have much people in this city.” But now Paul says, at my first answer no man stood with me... Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me,” 2 Timothy 4: 16-17. Whatever the crises that arise as the days pass and the Lord yet tarries, we may be assured that the Lord is available, and will stand by His testimony, and with everyone that is true to it. Whatever comes — whatever sorrow or distress, whatever heart-breaking, if we have to stand in front of the lion’s mouth, as the apostle did — there was a lion’s mouth ready to devour him — the Lord will stand by us! The Lord would give us this assurance, that if we are true to His testimony, He will stand by us and will deliver us from every evil work.
Then he says, “Luke only is with me.” I think that is most beautiful. The apostle tells us in another place what he thought of Luke. He says, “Luke, the beloved physician”; the man that was used to bring in healing and recovery is with the apostle. The Lord sees to it that if the truth is held and what is due to Him is maintained at all cost, the service of such as Luke will be there to bring in healing where it is needed, and to recover those who have gone astray. Do not lower the standard and say that will recover them. That is always the tendency. Some say, Let us lower the standard and that will make room for recovery. It will make things worse. Stand alone in the maintenance of what is due to the Lord, if needs be, as the apostle did, and somehow or other, the Lord will see that a Luke is there, and that recovered persons like Mark become available. Mark is a man that is recovered, he joined the apostle and Barnabas early in the testimony, but as the difficulties arose he went back, and gave up. As recovered, the apostle is able to say, “Take Mark, and bring him with thee; for he is profitable to me for the ministry,” 2 Timothy 4: 11. If there is one that feels like that — a Mark — one who once had a place in the Lord’s service but has dropped out, the Lord would bring you under His gracious healing power. He would bring healing balm to your heart, so that you should yet have part in the service of God before the end.
The apostle sends greetings to the saints, showing that true and holy affections remained in his heart, unquenched by all the opposition, and others shared in these. The salutations were true, fervent, and holy. “Salute Prisca and Aquila,” and then he names others, showing that in spite of the dark day, there was a circle known to the apostle where holy salutations and true affections are known. The Lord will keep that circle to the end. Whether you or I will be in it is a matter we have to face with the Lord, but there will be preserved true affections between the saints, whose salutations one to the other, are in accord with heaven. It may be in a limited way — the apostle could not greet all, but he names some whom he can greet, and these mutual salutations and affections between the saints in one place and another are still preserved in this day.
One just desires that the greatness of these things found in this closing epistle and in the closing words of Paul, may encourage us as we realise more what there is which remains secure, so that our hearts may be strengthened whatever may be ahead for us. May we be thus stable in our souls and have joy in our hearts which can never be taken away from us, so that as thus encouraged, we may go on to the end. I do not know of anything more encouraging than the Lord’s word to Philadelphia, “I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” What has been recovered of the enjoyment of the privileges of the assembly although in weakness, yet, in reality and spiritual affections, will go on. The Lord has set before us an opened door, and no one can shut it.
May the Lord keep us that each may have part in it; and may we be delivered from that which assumes to have all, but of which He is outside. The greatest danger at the present moment is the spirit of Laodicea that assumes to have everything that is of God, saying, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,” but to which the Lord as outside, says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock.” The Lord preserve us from having these things merely in an external way while He Himself is outside; but may He grant that however weak and feeble we may be, there may be that to which He can give His presence — for His name’s sake.