The Truth
2 Timothy 4:1-5 [1] I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; [2] Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. [3] 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; [4] And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. [5] But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
There is so much we hear preached and taught out of Paul’s final letter here to Timothy. I believe most of us could recite 2 Timothy 3:1-5 from memory. I want to focus on verse 4 for a moment. We see a little, but powerful phrase in the middle of that verse. “The truth.” This is the eleventh and final time that the combination of those two words are used in Paul’s letters to Timothy. You’ll find the other times in 1 Timothy 2:4,7; 3:15; 4:3 and 6:5. In 2 Timothy the other instances are 2:15,18,25;3:7-8. As Paul sits in prison knowing what’s about yo happen to him: 2 Timothy 4:6-8 [6] For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. [7] I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: [8] Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
I’d guess a lot of us would be wanting to break out. We’d want someone to feel sorry for us. We might even get to the point where we’d blame or question God. Yet Paul’s concern here is the truth. Throughout 2 Timothy Paul is concerned for the future of the church. He wasn’t concerned with his own well being or comfort. He wrote to encourage Timothy to stand for the truth. He warned him of things to come and some of the obstacles he would face. Nevertheless he was encouraging Timothy to hold fast in Scripture: 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. The things Timothy was warned about are the same things going on today. There is also an attack on the truth. It’s not just used car salesmen anymore. From politicians to the news media there seems to be a glorifying going on of just outright lying. There seems to be no real penalty in this world for spreading falseness. This has crept all across our society. It’s become acceptable and that’s one of reasons why you’ll see so many false churches around. Churches not willing to stand on the truth in the Word of God and just go with whatever feels good. This leads people to want to bend, stretch or just flat out ignore the truth in order to fit in, be popular, or draw a crowd. We know the truth is embodied in the whole Word of God and it centers around Christ our Lord! We must stand for the truth. We can’t be wishy washy in the face of adversity. We do t need to be straddling the fence in time of turmoil. We don’t need to try to live in the gray area when the Bible lays it out in black and white. You try to have a conversation today about Scripture and it amazes me the number of people who will start with, “welllll”. It’s as if they are afraid to offend someone by standing on the truth. We should be confident in what we believe. We should stand firm on the truths contained in the Word of God. We should also be willing to fight for the truths found in Scripture. Are you standing on and standing up for God’s truths today?
God bless you today! Bro. Josh Richardson
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