Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: Paul here is telling Timothy, "Timothy, God has called you to be a good soldier." A good soldier. Why? Because you're in full active service. You're not a civilian anymore. You're a soldier of the cross of Jesus Christ. You have to be disciplined.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Thanks for joining us for our study of 2 Timothy. Considering your God-given call to serve as Jesus' steadfast soldier, Raul will assure you that you can experience victory on the spiritual battlefield when you're disciplined about growing your faith and arming yourself with truth from God's word.

We hope you'll stay with us today to see that with the help of the Holy Spirit, you can overcome every trial and temptation. Today's lesson is titled "Timothy's Practical Appeal." Here's Raul Ries in 2 Timothy, chapter 2.

Raul Ries: Paul the Apostle is in death row, waiting for his execution in Rome by Caesar Nero. And here is Paul the Apostle exhorting young Timothy at 35 years old not to be fearful but to trust in the Lord. Imagine that. Paul's going to get his head chopped off, and Paul is encouraging the younger guy, "Hey, listen, Timothy, listen, kid, don't be afraid. Don't be fearful. Trust in the Lord."

And he says, "You, therefore, my son..." Timothy was like a dear son in the faith to Paul the Apostle. When Paul met Timothy, he was very young. But surely I have seen, and I still continue to see, these young guys and young women that have become sons and daughters in the faith. In the faith in the Lord.

And surely they encourage me. And they not only encourage me, but I get excited like Paul to Timothy because I go, "Lord, these young men and women remind me of me when I was their age. And Lord, what you can do in their lives if they will just surrender and submit their lives to you, Lord."

You see, I can look back now a long ways in my life, and I've learned a lot about life. And there's something in my heart that God's put for many, many years. I mean, it's always been there. I love working with young people. They're the joy of my life. And the reason is because of the potential they have.

The potential they have. Chuck saw the potential that Greg and myself and Mike MacIntosh and all of us had. And he took it upon himself to take time for us and to train us in the ministry. He saw something. We didn't see it, but he saw it.

And it's so cool to be able to see that, that something that somebody else might not see, we can see and say, "You know what? That young man, that young woman, man, they will be incredible when they give their lives to the Lord. God surely will use them."

Whoever thought that a guy like Billy Graham would become the greatest evangelist in the whole world, born in a farm, lived in a farm? Imagine that. And then God would choose him. That God would choose him to go to the whole world and preach the gospel. And then the interest he took upon himself in training other evangelists in the world, pouring his life out to these young men that today they're all over the world preaching.

And check this out, this is so wonderful and so beautiful in the gospel. Here in the epistle, look at verse 1 again. "You, therefore, my beloved son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." He says, "Timothy, don't forget it's all of grace and none of you." Remember that, people. It's none of you. It's all of grace. That's why we're here. It's the grace of God.

People that never thought that I would become anything or you would become anything, look what God has done in His grace. Those of you that are sitting here tonight because of that unmerited favor that God has placed over your lives. Some parents when their kids get saved, they say, "Hey, what happened to my child? He's different, she's different." It's the grace of God. It's a miracle of God.

And Paul wants to remind Timothy here, "Timothy, forget about those that are legalists. They're threading the church. But you remember that it's all of the grace of God in your life." This is opposite from works. It is all of God and none of me. All of God and none of me. Let me give you a beautiful scripture that goes along with this scripture in Galatians chapter 2, verses 20 and 21. Listen to what Paul says to the Galatian legalists.

He says this, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."

It's not through works. It's not through legalism. It's all through what? Through the grace of God as we came to Jesus Christ by faith. When God takes kids out of drugs, alcohol, sexual adventures, and as they were burning their life out for the world and Satan, all of a sudden God takes their lives and begins to rebuild their lives and begins to use their lives and begins to do something with them.

And they can become Billy Grahams or they can become Moodys or Spurgeons or whoever it may be in this world if you would just submit and surrender your life to Christ, to His grace and His love and mercies. That's what Paul says. He says, "And Timothy, by the way, listen, I'm going to die. But there's something of importance."

Verse 2, "And the things that you have heard from me, Timothy, among many witnesses, I want you to commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." Discipleship. Here it is to the fourth generation. God, Paul, and then Timothy, and then the young and the others as four. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria to the uttermost parts of the world.

What is Paul saying? Paul is giving us insight here that this is how the gospel is to spread, by discipling other people, investing our time and life into them. You know what that word that he uses here, "commit these things to faithful men"? The word to commit here, it's a very interesting word in the Greek. It means to deposit for safe keeping.

When you go to the bank and you open an account and you have valuables, and they take you to the back of the bank and there's a little black box and they open it and you put your valuables in and then you lock it up, that's the word that is used here for safe keeping. Nobody can rip you off.

That's amazing what he says here. He says, "I want you, Timothy, to know this, and the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit, deposit into safe keeping these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." So what is he saying? Look for young men and young women where you can invest your life into them.

Disciple them. Pour yourself into them so that they may pour themselves into others themselves. And that's how you keep it going from one generation to the next generation. Verse 3. Now he's going to give us three more: the soldier, the athlete, and the farmer.

He says, "You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." Now by the way, Timothy, I want to let you know that what I told you over here as a steward, as a house manager, that's cool, but I want you to know one thing: you've got to have discipline in your life. You've got to be like a soldier. You can't be slothful.

Why? Because you have an enemy. You've got to learn warfare. You've got to learn how to strategize. How are you going to take that hill? How are you going to defeat your enemy? He's telling him exactly what to do. And what's so cool here is that we notice that we need what? We need ourselves to become soldiers for Christ.

When you go into the military, they tell you right away, "You don't belong to your mom and dad anymore. You belong to Uncle Sam." You belong to Uncle Sam. And the first thing they'll do in boot camp, in the Marine Corps, they will strip you from all your identity and they'll build you into a Marine.

Many don't make it. But if you make it out of boot camp in the Marine Corps, and probably the other branches of service too, you've made it. You should be proud. So Paul here is telling Timothy, "Timothy, God has called you to be a good soldier. A good soldier." Why? Because you're in full active service. You're not a civilian anymore. You're a soldier of the cross of Jesus Christ.

You have to be disciplined. And Paul says here, the hardships that you're going to be facing. Why? Because as a Christian, we do have hardships. We have problems, we have sufferings, we have trials. There's death all around us. And the Christian life is not easy. People hate you. People are prejudiced against Christians. And yet Paul is saying to Timothy, "Timothy, you are going to face heavy things in the ministry."

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you're in the Diamond Bar area on March 14th, make plans to join Pastor Raul and other solid teachers at Calvary Chapel Golden Springs for a family conference titled "Family God's Way."

Whether you've been married for decades, newlyweds, or raising children of any age, this conference offers timeless biblical truths and real-life application to help your family thrive. To get more information, visit somebodylovesyou.com and click on the Family Conference graphic. Now back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Then he says in verse 4, "If you are a soldier for Christ, if you're in the military, what do you do?" They tell you. When you're in boot camp, when we were in boot camp for 12 weeks, we never went anywhere. We were locked up, like in a prison for 12 weeks at MCRD. The first time we got liberty, man, it was incredible.

But at the same time, they remind you that when you go in liberty, you need to be careful what you do. Why? Because if you get in trouble, you go to the brig. Look what he says to Timothy. "No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier."

You want to please who? Your General, the Commander in Chief of your life. You're careful what you do. You don't want to shame your platoon. You don't want to shame your Admiral or General. Now if people do that in the world, how much more do we have to do for the Lord? Since we are enlisted by the Lord. Think about that.

And then notice he says here, that word that he uses for "affairs," it's a very interesting word in the Greek. It means stuff that will not only entrap you but will sidetrack you. Things that will get your eyes off the Lord into other things. He says, "Be careful of that."

Verse 5. He says, "And also, if anyone competes as an athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules." Think of those that want to go to the Olympics and get gold medals. It doesn't start just when you think, "Well, you know, I think I'll go to the Olympics. I'll start training." It doesn't work like that.

That's a vision they had when they were real young, and they started training rigorously, I mean, all the way through. And then what happens? Once they get into a place of competition, they have to obey the rules, otherwise they're disqualified as an athlete. You're disqualified.

"Timothy, don't forget that you're also not only a steward, house manager, but you're also a soldier and you take the role of an athlete. And if you really want to get to the top, then you're going to have to do certain things and have certain friends, and you're going to have to cut off certain people to get to the top. Because if you're not with your friends, they'll take you drinking and doing this thing and you'll never get there. You have to make a choice yourself to become the best."

And that's what Paul is saying here. If you really, really, really want to be the best and you want to be crowned as you compete and be a winner, keep the rules. And what are the rules? The grace of God. Be careful how you use it. Don't misuse it. Remember who you are. You're a child of the light. You're a Christian.

You're not like the world. Yes, we are in the world, but we're not of the world. That's beautiful what Paul says here. Because look what he says. He says, "You're crowned unless he competes according to the rules." Which means what? It's a life of self-denial. It's a life of great endurance. And it's a life of great discipline.

Getting up early in the morning before everybody gets up and going to bed later than everybody else. And not being able to go here and do this and do that because you're focused in your training in what you are training for, and that's the gold medal.

Look what else he says. "The hard-working farmer must be first to partake of the crops." What is he saying? Okay, you're a steward, you become as he's talking here, he says you become a steward, then you become a soldier, then you become an athlete, then you become a farmer.

And to be a farmer, I know just a little bit about that, that you have to get up early in the morning and you have to know about the land and you have to know everything about seeds and animals and all these things. If you're going to be a good farmer, a successful farmer, then you have to what? Be disciplined. You have to be disciplined. It's hard work.

What does he say then? Notice, being faithful to Christ and to His work makes you what? A hard-working farmer must first be what? Partaker of the crops. If you're going to have crops, it's not going to come by you getting up at 10 o'clock in the morning and staying out late and not going out and farming. You're going to have to work hard, hard, and stay on top of it in order to get good fruit. Discipline again.

Verse 7. "Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things." He now exhortation, "Now Timothy, I'm telling you this not because I don't love you, it's because I love you. Ask God to give you understanding, Timothy. Make sure you understand what I'm telling you."

And remember, verse 8, "That Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel." The center of Christianity is what? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is no gospel apart from the resurrection. The false prophets were saying there is no resurrection.

Read 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Paul talks about it all through there. They were saying that the dead don't rise. And if the dead don't rise, then what? There's no hope for us. If we just exist for ourselves and there is no heaven, there is no God, there is nothing, let's eat and drink and die tomorrow, and who cares?

But if there is a God, and we're all going to die, and there is life after death, then you're going to think about how you're going to live. Choose heaven or choose hell. And Paul says, "Timothy, make sure you understand the Christianity is center around the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's the gospel."

Verse 9. "For which I suffer trouble as an evildoer." This is why I was persecuted, because of the resurrection, because of the gospel speaking the truth as an evildoer, even to the point of chains. "But the word of God is not chained." I love that.

You know, they chain me up, but the word of God was not chained. Why? Because as they chain me, every four hours, guess what? I was preaching the gospel to the Roman Centurion. And they were getting saved. Paul had a great ministry. The word of God was not chained. He's in prison writing epistles, and he's witnessing.

And yet people looked at Paul, "Poor Paul, he's in chains." Yeah, but the word of God's not chained. Even though they persecute me, even though they beat me, even though they make me an outcast, it doesn't really matter. The word of God is not chained. The word of God is free. We can speak it any way we want to to people that need it.

Verse 10. "Therefore, I Paul endure all things for the sake of the elect." Notice that, those that are saved. "That they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." I live to see people come to know Christ. That's a beautiful thing. That's my desire. That's what I love, watching people come to Christ, having their lives changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's why we're doing crusades. That's why we do evangelism, because we want to see people come into the kingdom. And then Paul says, "I want to encourage you just a little bit, Timothy, more." Verse 11. "This is a faithful saying: for if we died with Him, with Jesus, we shall also live with Him."

Isn't that interesting? "If we died with Him, we shall also live with Him." Twofold: number one, dying to yourself or physically dying spiritually being with the Lord. That's what Paul's saying here. That there is life after death. If they kill you, you will be with me. Paul's saying they're going to kill me, my head is coming off, but I'm going to be in the presence of the Lord, Timothy. That's what I live for, Paul says, for Christ. I know whom I believe, I know where I'm going very soon.

Verse 12. "If we endure, or since we endure, we shall also reign with Jesus." You see, Paul is saying don't give up. Paul could have given up. Think of all the Christians that were brought to Nero and Nero said, "Confess Caesar is Lord or Jesus is Lord."

And if you say "Jesus is Lord," we're going to take you out, tie you by a horse, and they're going to drag you all around the city. We're going to tar you with tar and then light you on fire. We're going to cut limb by limb, throw you to the lions' den. And many of the Christian people denied the Lord, but six million gave their lives to the Lord. And Paul says this is what I live for because God is real. God is a real person.

Look what he says, verse 12. "If we endure, we shall also reign with Jesus. But if we deny Him, He will also what? Deny us." Whoa. He will reject us. The word "to deny" here in the Greek is to reject you once and for all. He will have nothing to do with you if you deny Him like Judas, He'll deny you. "If we endure, we also shall reign with Him, but if we deny Him, He also will deny us." He will reject us.

Guest (Male): Well, it is wonderful to know that when we come under spiritual attack, we don't have to face it alone but can look to the Holy Spirit for guidance and strength. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries.

If you'd like to get a complete copy of today's lesson, "Timothy's Practical Appeal Part 1," just call us at 800-634-9165. And for a donation of five dollars or more, we'll send one to you. For more encouragement to stand firm on this spiritual battlefield, we'd like to offer you Raul's entire 11-part study of 2 Timothy. It's available on CD and flash drive.

As you consider the Apostle Paul's letter written from a prison cell, you'll be inspired to set aside all hesitation and follow the Lord with absolute trust and an undivided heart. To order Raul's 2 Timothy series, visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165.

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Don't forget, we're a listener-supported ministry. Every tax-deductible gift helps us keep sharing the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. Next time on Somebody Loves You Radio, we'll return to the pages of the Bible for more biblical insight to strengthen your faith and direct you in the Lord's ways. Now with a closing thought, here is Raul once again.

Raul Ries: Verse 13. "If we are faithless, He remains faithful." I love that. How many times you've been faithless, I've been faithless, and yet God is faithful? He remains faithful. Notice, no matter if people believe it or not, Jesus remains what? Faithful to Himself.

When you talk to people about Christ, they don't want to believe it, don't be discouraged. Even though they reject Him, God's word is what? Faithful. God's word is faithful. Jesus remains always faithful to Himself, no matter what people might say. No matter what they say, Jesus is always faithful.

May God instill it in our hearts to be able to continue to move forward over and over and over like Paul, like Timothy, to become His people in such a way that no one can take that away from us. No one.

Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.