10 BE STRONG.pdf - Dr. George O. Wood

BE STRONG2 Timothy 2What he means by that, it‘s interesting to try to guess. One guess, because of the fire in Rome in64 A.D., Nero blamed the Christians for the fire. It would be natural that he would try to seek outthe leaders of the Christian community, like the apostle Paul. So perhaps Paul is in prison underthe charge of arson or inciting arson. Therefore a criminal of the worse sort.Or maybe that term is simply applied to him because he is in a place where there are otherpersons of that rank. Nevertheless Paul says the Word of God can‘t be bound. By that Word,Paul prophetically speaks of the course of the gospel in every age. Men may be bound, but theWord is free, the Spirit of God is free.III. Look to the future with confidence.Paul is very confidently able to look to the future, in verses 11–13, with a poem or hymn—―If wehave died with Him, we‘ll live with Him. If we endure, we shall reign with Him.‖ But if thepositive is true, so is the reverse. ―If we deny Him [as Judas denied—not as Peter who denied onthe spur of the moment—but as Judas, who denied premeditatedly, calculatingly]… If we denyHim, He will deny us.‖ Lest anyone be tempted to deny the Lord in that fashion, Paul must saythe Lord is faithful to His word. Even though men may be faithless, the Lord is faithful. Mark 8,Matthew 10 said ―He who denies me before men, I will deny before the Father.‖ Paul is sayingJesus cannot deny that statement. He said He would. Therefore at the end of the age, He must dowhat He has said. He must remain faithful to that word. Of course, this was an age when denialwas an ever-present temptation, and denial is an ever-present temptation for us in a different kindof age and a different kind of culture as well.IV. Correct false teachers.Paul then, in verses 14–26, gives a rather lengthy teaching on correcting false teachers. Falseteaching is a dominant theme of this letter and of 1 Timothy. It occurs in 1 Timothy 1 and 4 and7