Transcript

The following is called, “God, Give Us Men.” “God give us men…ribbed with the steel of Your Holy Spirit…men who will not flinch when the battle’s fiercest…men who won’t acquiesce, or compromise, or fade when the enemy rages.

God give us men who can’t be bought, bartered, or badgered by the enemy, men who will pay the price, make the sacrifice, stand the ground, and hold the torch high.

God give us men obsessed with the principles true to your Word, men stripped of self-seeking…men who will pay any price for freedom and go any lengths for truth.

God give us men delivered from mediocrity, men with vision high, pride low, faith wide, love deep, and patience long.

God give us men who will dare to march to the drumbeat of a distant drummer, men who will not surrender principles of truth in order to accommodate their peers.

God give us men more interested in scars than medals. More committed to conviction than convenience, men who will give their life for the eternal, instead of indulging their lives for a moment in time.

Give us men who are fearless in the face of danger, calm in the midst of pressure, bold in the midst of opposition.

God give us men who will pray earnestly, work long, preach clearly, and wait patiently.

Give us men whose walk is by faith, behavior is by principle, whose dreams are in heaven, and whose book is the Bible. God give us men who are equal to the task.”

The Word of God inspires and challenges us to wholeheartedly live for the Lord, by the Word, and for the eternal.

And God does desire for His the Church to pay the price, make the sacrifice, stand the ground, and go any lengths for truth by holding fast to the form of sound words.

2 Timothy 1:13: “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.”

“Hold fast” the Apostle Paul wrote. “Hold fast” means to retain, to keep firmly in mind, to grasp and not let go. “Hold fast” is in the present tense in the Greek and is an imperative or a command. I.e., it is something we are commanded by God to do continually.

Paul is making an appeal to faithfulness and conviction with these words “hold fast.” Paul wanted this instruction to be an ongoing part of Timothy’s life from that day forward. And this is not only for Timothy; it is a command for all the Church, the Body of Christ.

What we are to hold tight to is “the FORM of sound words.” The Greek word translated as “form” means a model, a pattern, a design to duplicate.

In 1 Timothy 1:16, Paul writes, “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.”

The word “Pattern” is translated from the same Greek word as “form” in 2 Timothy 1:13.

In 1 Timothy 1:16, “pattern” describes how each conversion that has occurred since Paul’s conversion under grace has likewise been by Christ saving sinners by His grace, “mercy,” “longsuffering,” and that we just “believe on Him to life everlasting.”

Our salvation and that of everyone who has been saved in this dispensation of grace follow the same pattern as Paul’s.

The “form” or pattern in 2 Timothy 1:13 that is to be followed is that of “sound words.” We get our word hygiene from the Greek word translated as “sound.”

The biblical word “sound” means healthy, wholesome, and uncorrupted. Like Timothy, we the Church are taught to hold fast to the pattern of healthy doctrine not mixed with error.

This teaches us that there is sound, healthy doctrine to be followed and held onto, and there is unhealthy, unsound teaching around us to be avoided.

We are commanded here to hold fast to DOCTRINE, the sound words and teaching of the Bible, rightly divided. This is a call to know the teaching of the Bible.

Sadly, however, many in the Church don’t know doctrine, are not grounded in the Word, and are even taught that doctrine is not important. This verse says differently. Doctrine, knowing and standing for the proper teaching of the Word of God, is vitally important.

The reason most people don’t have the courage of their convictions with the Word of God today and can’t and don’t hold fast to the form of sound words is that they don’t know doctrine. They don’t know the Word well enough to have a firmly-held belief or opinion.

The Lord said in Matthew 22:29, “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.” Not knowing the Scriptures can and does lead people into error.

And you can’t fully experience the power of God in your life without knowing the Word. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 could be considered a commentary on our times:

“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; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

Many want to hear nice speeches, stories, and words that tickle their ears and make them feel good about themselves. They don’t want to hear things that might offend, or to hear that one thing is truth and another thing is error.

In contrast, Paul says to hold tightly to sound, healthy doctrine from God’s Word. To hold to it, you need to know it. And to know it you need to read it, study it, and hear it being taught.

We are commanded to hold fast to the standard of sound, wholesome words, to be committed to the proper theological structure that results from a correct interpretation of Scripture. Paul is telling us to have a sound, correct theology and to hold fast to it.

God’s people need to be grounded in sound doctrine because God’s sound truth is what leads to a spiritually-sound, healthy, Christian life. Sound doctrine is the basis for sound, healthy character and sound living.

A godly character and life is built upon the bedrock of sound doctrine found in God’s Word, rightly divided, and our knowledge of it, our faith in it, and our obedience to it.

This then results in a transformed life by God’s grace, because you live by God’s grace truth for the Church today.

Timothy was also to hold fast to the pattern of the “words” and expressions by which sound doctrine is conveyed and learned.

Sometimes it is suggested in the Church that we should abandon expressions such as “the blood of Christ,” and not talk about sin or hell, because it might offend someone.

It’s also been suggested that we should not use terms such as “mystery,” “rightly dividing,” or “dispensation,” because people don’t know what we are talking about. Save those terms for Adult Sunday School or Bible studies, they say, or we will drive people away.

“Mystery,” “rightly dividing,” and “dispensation” are “sound words” from God’s Word. Those are Bible words. Not using the Scriptural words ultimately leads to the abandonment of the truth which is communicated by these terms.

How is anyone ever going to learn what they mean unless they hear them? Paul commands Timothy to “hold fast,” to retain, cling to, and never let go of the form of sound words, which are sound expressions of the faith.

Paul goes on in this verse and says, “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me…” (2 Tim. 1:13).

Paul clearly defines what he means by “sound words” when he writes, in verse 13, “sound words, which thou hast heard of me.”

This verse gives us the definition of what “sound words” and healthy doctrine are for this present age of grace: the contents of Paul’s epistles, the outline of doctrine and the truth contained in the revelation given directly and first to Paul by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ revealed to Paul the body of truth and divine ordering of man’s conduct and responsibilities for the dispensation of the grace of God.

Paul had taught this to Timothy and thus he “heard” it from Paul directly, as he writes Timothy “which thou hast HEARD of me.” We hear it too, by the Word, when we read, study, and learn Paul’s epistles (Eph. 3:4). Paul’s message of grace are the “sound words,” the pattern, the model for healthy, wholesome doctrine today.

Timothy was to hold fast to this sound doctrine of grace that he had heard and learned from Paul (2 Tim. 3:14). Paul’s sound words were to serve as a model, a pattern for Timothy to proclaim and live by, and not just for Timothy, but the entire Body of Christ.

Everything that Timothy taught was to harmonize with the outline of the truth of God’s grace that had been given to him by Paul. This pattern of the truth proclaimed in Paul’s letters is the standard by which all teaching is to be tested today.

We should never neglect the rest of God’s Word. All the Bible is for us and for our learning and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

But not all the Bible is written directly to us. Most of your Bible is addressed to the nation of Israel and is the teaching in light of God’s program with that nation. But God temporarily set Israel aside in unbelief until the Rapture of the Church.

God raised up Paul, and gave him the instruction for the Body of Christ under grace. And now all Scripture needs to be taught and understood in light of Paul’s message of grace.

And we need to know God’s truth for today. In order to hold fast to the form of sound words, we need to be grounded in the message of grace found in Paul’s letters and know it backwards and forwards so we can defend it, so we can recognize error and unsound words, and so we can live by the sound truth for the Church the Body of Christ.

Paul finishes the verse saying, “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 1:13).

Sometimes a knowledge of the truth can cause some to be proud and obnoxious when they stand for it and make it known. Paul teaches to Timothy the proper attitude that we should have when conveying the truth: “in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.”

We are to hold fast to the truth with a proper attitude toward God: “in faith.” As Hebrews 11:6 teaches, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him.”

As we “hold fast in faith,” we need to have faith with conviction, not doubting and vacillating with an attitude of “I think I know what I believe, but I’m not positive. I was surer a few weeks ago, but then I read something, and now I don’t know for sure anymore.” Holding fast to the truth “in faith” means remaining steadfast.

“Two men who lived in a small village got into a terrible dispute that they could not resolve. So they decided to talk to the town sage.

The first man went to the sage’s home and told his version of what happened. When he finished, the sage said, ‘You’re absolutely right.’ The next night, the second man called on the sage and told his side of the story. The sage responded, ‘You’re absolutely right.’

Afterward, the sage’s wife scolded her husband. ‘Those men told you two different stories and you told them they were absolutely right. That’s impossible—they can’t both be absolutely right.’ The sage turned to his wife and said, ‘You’re absolutely right.’”

While there are those who are indecisive, compromising, unwilling to take a stand, and willing to tolerate error, “in faith” we need to be decisive and have conviction, and be assured that what we believe is true and “hold fast to the form of sound words,” as revealed to Paul.

“In faith” also means we need to depend on the Lord when we stand for the truth. We need His strength, His wisdom to be faithful and hold tightly to the truth for today. If we depend on ourselves to hold fast to the truth and to take a stand, we will falter and fail.

If we depend on the Church to help us hold fast to the truth, the influence of not following the majority can cause us to slip and turn away. Instead, “in faith,” we need to keep our eyes on the Lord as we stand for the truth, and in His strength we can “hold fast.”

We are not to be doubting or depending on ourselves, and we’re also not to be loveless, brash, cold, and insensitive with the truth. We are to “hold fast the form of sound words…in faith AND LOVE which is in Christ Jesus.”

Ephesians 4:15 tells us to be “speaking the truth in love.” We are to hold fast to the truth with a proper attitude toward God: “in faith” and with a proper attitude toward man: “in…love.”

Out of “love” for others we hold fast and stand for the truth of the revelation of the mystery committed to Paul. In doing so, we benefit believers so they might understand their Bibles and live stronger Christian lives according to what God is doing today.

Out of “love” for others we hold fast and stand for the mystery to benefit unbelievers as well, so they might hear the pure gospel of grace by faith in Christ alone, and not of any works.

Holding fast to sound Pauline doctrine in love keeps us from presenting a mixed, muddled, blenderized gospel that comes from mixing elements of Israel’s program, the law, and the gospel of the kingdom with the gospel of pure grace. This unsound presentation can hinder people from trusting the true gospel for today which saves their souls from hell.

2 Timothy 1:14: “That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”

In verse 12 of this chapter, Paul wrote that the Lord “is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” Here in verse 14, he reminds Timothy, “That good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost.”

The words “thing which was committed unto thee” is one Greek word and means a deposit or a sacred trust placed alongside. At the end of his life, Paul was concerned about the preservation of the truth that had been committed to him in his ministry.

In faith, knowing “whom I have believed” as v. 12 says, Paul entrusted the safekeeping of his message, the mystery, to the Lord, trusting Him to keep and guard and preserve it through His people.

Paul then reminded Timothy also that this deposit had been entrusted to him through the years of training and teaching by Paul. It was now Timothy’s personal duty to safeguard it by the power of the Holy Spirit Who indwelt him.

When you deposit a check in the bank, you entrust the entire banking system to keep your money safe from those who might try to take it.

And so Paul deposited his message to Timothy, entrusting him to keep the message safe from those who would try to water it down or attack it or take it away.

In verse 14, the deposit that is the mystery is called “that good thing.” The Greek word translated “good” means excellent, choice, rich, valuable, or precious. The message that was revealed to Paul is a precious deposit.

It is precious because of all the things it reveals: Christ’s exalted position in the heavenlies and His heavenly ministry; salvation by grace through faith alone; being members of the Body of Christ with Christ as our living Head; being declared righteous in Christ; being children of God; our heavenly calling; the blessed hope of the Rapture; our spiritual blessings and exalted position in Christ in the heavenlies, to name just a few.

It is a good, excellent, rich, and precious message.

As with any treasure, this valuable message needs to be guarded. The term “keep” means to watch, guard, and preserve safe and unimpaired.

Timothy needed to take a stand for it and guard the message and defend it against attack, as do we. Attacks against the message of grace for today do come from those outside the church, but more so from those within the church. Sometime the attacks are overt, but more often they happen very subtly.

In 1 Timothy 6:20, Paul says a very similar thing: “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust.”

Timothy needed to preserve the truth from corruption or destruction. Paul wanted Timothy to be a defender of the faith, a guardian of the truth. We need to be too.

The same Greek verb for “keep” is used of the shepherds on the night of Christ’s birth, who were “keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8). They were keeping their eyes open for wild animals that might sneak into the flock to harm or kill the sheep. The same Greek word for “keep” is also used for soldiers guarding Peter in prison (Acts 12:4).

Paul is telling Timothy, and the Body of Christ, to keep our spiritual eyes open, to be watchful, and to protect and preserve the truth like a shepherd or a prison guard on duty.

The word “keep” is another command for the Body of Christ. It is imperative that we do so. For the good of the church, we are to carefully watch and protect the precious deposit of Paul’s message of grace so that it is not lost, compromised, distorted, nor mixed with the gospel of the kingdom, the law, or simple, outright error.

From the beginning of human history, Satan has opposed God’s Word, His plans, and His purposes. Satan hates God’s plan for Israel, her earthly hope and calling, and the Second Coming of Christ.

And Satan hates God’s plan for the Body of Christ, the gospel of grace, our heavenly hope and calling, and the pretribulational Rapture of the Church, and he fights against it, hoping to blind people to it.

This is a spiritual battle. The message committed to Paul for the Church today is simple and clear to us who have seen it, but Satan fights hard to keep others from seeing it.

When we encounter opposition to the truth, Paul encourages us, in this epistle of 2 Timothy, to be faithful.

In 1:8, he exhorts us to be “partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God,” and in 2:3, to “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

Timothy was not to protect and guard this deposit in his own strength but by the very power of God, “by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us,” verse 14 says.

One commentator wrote this, “If a minister took this command seriously enough, he…would feel overwhelmed. Imagine the President of the United States giving you the responsibility to guard the nation’s gold reserves at Fort Knox. ‘Here’s a rifle with a few clips of ammunition. Guard the treasure. It’s all up to you!’

“Anyone in his right mind would be terrified. If, on the other hand, he said, ‘Guard the treasure. You have the entire military forces at your disposal,’ you would have better than a fighting chance.”

We are assured along with Timothy that we are not left alone to stand for the truth and protect the sound words of Paul’s gospel for today. We have the almighty power of God living within us always, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, to give us the strength and power to carry out this instruction to “hold fast” and “keep” the precious deposit.

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.”

In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul shows how Timothy was to preserve and perpetuate the truth: by committing and passing this deposit on to faithful men who in turn would pass it on to others. This is the means by which the Holy Spirit keeps and preserves the truth: by it being passed down from generation to generation.

Christ had made the truth known to Paul. Paul gave it to Timothy. Timothy was to pass it on to faithful men. Those faithful men were to pass it on to others, and on and on.

We are to keep this succession going today, keeping and preserving the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery by committing it to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

May the Lord give us the eyes to see the importance of this instruction to “hold fast the form of sound words,” and to guard the precious deposit, and to pass the truth on to others. Begin praying today for someone you know who needs the truth.