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welcome to everyone for our call to worship this evening i want to read from psalm 119 psalm 119 the last section specifically vs. 169 to 176 let my cry come before you oh lord give me understanding according to your word let my supplication come before you deliver me according to your word my lips shall utter praise for you teach me your statutes my tongue shall speak of your word for all your commandments or righteousness let your hand become my help for I have chosen your presets I long for your salvation O Lord and your law is my delight let my soul live and it shall praise you and let your judgments help me I have gone astray like a lost sheep seek your servant for I do not forget your Commandments amen well please take your Trinity hymnal and turn to Him number three hymn number three will use the second tune and stand together Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh huh well let us pray our God and Father we come again into your house tonight sing the praises of our triune God we come to offer praise and worship and adoration to you we acknowledge that you alone are worthy we acknowledge that you are a god to be feared and glorified and exalted we acknowledge as well your holiness and your excellence and Lord we praise you for these things we praise you for who you are Father Son and Holy Spirit we praise you that from everlasting to everlasting you are God we praise you as well for your works and the fact that you have a purpose to save a great multitude that no man can number we thank you Father for election and predestination and for sovereign grace we thank you that you sent your son into this world to live and to die and to rise again we thank you and praise you for the Ministry of the Holy Spirit God we confess that we were wayward we were a far off but you sought us out and in your mercy and in your grace you have brought us 9 to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior to the glory of God most high we thank you for this blessing how we thank you for the privilege that is ours to be believers in Christ to be those heaven bound to be those Lord God who know the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives and we would pray that you would help us to be a thankful people and a joyful people the people that does bring glory to you we ask father that you would be pleased to look with favor upon our time together tonight that as we worship that you would be pleased to dwell in our midst as Isaiah said rend the heavens and come down be found among your people and encourage and strengthen our hearts and conform us evermore unto the image of your beloved son even Jesus Christ our Lord we would ask that you would just be pleased as well to have mercy upon any and all who have come here tonight that are outside of Christ we know god that this describes man by nature that all in adam I and it's through the power of your gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit that you are gracious to bring forth sinners and we pray that would take place here tonight we thank you for the promise and the prophet Isaiah that your word does not return unto you void but it always accomplishes the purpose for which you sent it and as the rain comes down from heaven and waters the earth and promotes life and and growth we pray that word would come to us and promote life and growth we ask that you would just look with favor upon our assembling together tonight bless us for Jesus sake we pray that you would forgive us for all of our sins and transgressions we pray that you would cleanse us in the blood of the Lamb that you would sanctify us by your truth and cause us to receive with Thanksgiving your word we also pray for other churches here in chilliwack we thank you that we're not alone in this community we pray for those churches that are preaching the gospel that you would prosper them that you would bless them she would cause them to be used by you in this community and God be merciful to souls in this in this city we know there are people of God here but we know there are sinners to be saved and we would pray that you would give boldness to ministers of the gospel to proclaim your truth give boldness to each and every one of your people that we may shine as lights in this crooked and perverse generation and that we may with courage hold forth the word of truth we would pray our Father as well that you would be merciful to those in places of authority and in civil government we know this is not an easy task to legislate and to govern and to engage in these sorts of things but we suspect it's much easier when men fear God and they are not resistant to the to the truth of God so we would pray that you put it in the hearts of those in high places to kiss the son lest he be angry and and they perish in his way when his wrath is kindled but a little we pray that these judges these these Kings these rulers in our current generation would heed the instruction of David of Israel and Psalm 2 that they would be wise and that they would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we pray that you would change the hearts of those in civil government and if their hearts are not changed we pray you would restrain them from engaging in further acts of evil we we look to these we look and see in our own society the sorts of sins and crimes that are committed so regularly and we would pray that there would be a turning unto you there would be a change in the conduct of men and that we would see these things and father even abortion and sodomy and euthanasia all sorts of crimes that continue unabated we know father that your word is powerful that as Souls get converted they do get rid of these sorts of things and we would look for that we pray that your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven and that you would be glorified as a result we asked you would continue with us now Lord God and we pray through Jesus Christ our Savior amen well please turn in your Trinity hymnals again to number 432 432 will stand as we sing together you Oh or yes Oh well you can turn in your Bibles to Ezekiel the Prophet chapter 10 Ezekiel chapter 10 this particular section chapters 8 through 11 record for us the departure of God's glory from the temple we saw last time in chapter 9 that vision given by God through the Prophet concerning those men who had the slaughtering weapons that were so told to go around and kill those in the city who did not cry sigh and cry over the abominations in the land the idea being that there was great idolatry a gross idolatry going on in Israel in the temple itself and persons were comfortable with it they were not sighing and crying against it they had accepted it they had probably even participated in it so we continue with that theme in the departure of the glory from the temple zekiel 10 at verse 1 and I looked and there in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim there appeared something like a sapphire stone having the appearance of the likeness of a throne then he spoke to the man clothed with linen and said go in among the wheels under the cherub fill your hands with coals of fire from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city and he went in as I watched now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in and the cloud filled the inner court then the glory of the Lord went up from the chair and passed paused over the threshold of the temple and the house was filled with the cloud and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory and the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heat was hurt even in the outer court like the voice of Almighty God when he speaks then it happened when he commanded the man clothed in linen saying take fire from among the wheels from among the cherubim that he went in and stood beside the wheels the cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim to the fire that was among the cherubim and took some of it and put it into the hands of the man clothed with linen who took it and went out cherubim appeared to have the form of a man's hand under their wings and when I looked there were four wheels by the cherubim one wheel by one cherub and another wheel by each other cherub the wheels appeared to have the color of a barrel stone as for their appearance all four looked alike as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel when they went they went toward any of their four directions they did not turn aside when they went but followed in the direction the head was facing they did not turn aside when they went and their whole body with their back their hands their wings and the wheels that that the four had were full of eyes all around as for the wheels they were called in my hearing wheel each one had four phases the first face was the face of a cherub the second face the face of a man the third the face of a lion and the fourth the face of an eagle and the cherubim were lifted up this was the living creature I saw by the river river k bar when the cherubim went the wheels went beside them and when the cherubim lifted their wings to mount up from the earth the same wheels also did not turn from beside them when the cherubim Stood Still the wheel Stood Still and when one was lifted up the other lifted itself up for the spirit of the living creature was in them then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim and the cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went out the wheels were beside them and they stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house and the glory of the God of Israel was above them this is the living creature I saw under the god of saw under the God of Israel by the river k bar and I knew they were cherubim each one had four faces and each one for wings and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings and the likeness of their face faces was the same as the face which I had seen by the river River kbar their appearance in their persons they each went straight forward amen well certainly some difficulty in terms of interpreting this precise vision but the meaning as I pointed out is clear the glory of God stood our departed and stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house and the glory of the God of Israel was above that so in symbolic or vision forum God's glory is being removed from the city from the temple specifically making way for the judgment of God to come via Babylon in the destruction of Jerusalem and her temple will let us pray our Father we thank you for the word of God again are we are reminded of the fact that you deal with Covenant breakers and you do not treat lightly those who continue to resist and reject the Word of God help us in our new covenant setting to see the same thing in the churches in Asia Minor in Revelation 2 and 3 our Lord threatens to take the lampstand away from those who do not repent grant us grace to learn these lessons well father and grant us grace to pursue those things that are pleasing in your sight yes certainly as individuals but as a local church and we pray these things through Christ our Lord amen well you can take your Trinity hymnals again and turn to 484 number 484 will stand as we sing together yes you you can turn in your Bibles to second Timothy chapter four we're coming to an end of this particular epistle but that end is not tonight we'll have one more message from second Timothy for tonight we're going to take up vs 9 to 13 Paul sets forth a few personal requests for Timothy I think they teach us something concerning the apostle things that we ought to imitate in our own lives and in our own hearts this is certainly a biblical concept in first Corinthians 11 Paul says imitate me as i imitate Christ same sort of thing in Philippians chapter 3 at verse 17 and so far as Paul was a faithful man we ought to be imitators of him in that faithfulness but i do want to read the chapter and as i said will focus on versus nine to 13 but beginning in verse one I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom preach the word be ready in season and out of season convince rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and teaching for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires because they have itching ears they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables but you be watchful in all things endure afflictions do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry for I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought the good fight I have finished the race I have kept the faith finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day and not to me only but also to all who have loved is appearing be diligent to come to me quickly for dimas has forsaken me having loved this present world and has departed for thessalonica Christians for Galatia Titus for dalmatia only Luke is with me DET mark and bring him with you for he is useful to me for ministry and teach a kiss I have sent to Ephesus bring the cloak that I left with carpets at TRO as when you come and the books especially the parchments Alexander the coppersmith did me ma charm may the Lord repay him according to his works you also must beware of him for he has greatly resisted our words at my first defense no one stood with me but all forsook me may it not be charged against them but the Lord stood with me and strengthened me so that the message might be preached fully through me and that all the Gentiles might hear also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion and the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for his heavenly kingdom to him be glory forever and ever amen greet Prisca and Aquila and the household of anessa forests Erastus stayed in Corinth but trophy miss I have left in my lead is sick do your utmost to come before winter jubileus greets you as well as Putin's Linus Claudia and all the Brethren the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit grace be with you a man a lot of spray father we thank you for this epistle of Paul to Timothy and for the things that we have seen and learned from it we pray that you would guide us tonight by your spirit help us to learn practical lessons from the life of a godly man and may we indeed seek to put these things into practice in our own lives may we see in value and prized those things that are that are held forth in such a passage is this and we pray these things through Christ Jesus our Lord amen well just to give you a bit of an overview ER structure as to what Paul does in verses 9 2 22 he brings the letter to a conclusion obviously and remember this is the last letter of the Apostle Paul he's already declared he's already stated he's already asserted the fact that he is going to die verse 6 I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is at hand he can look back over his life and he can muse on the fact that he had fought the good fight he had finished the race and he had kept the faith and we saw the reason he was able to say that in his 11th hour is because he faithfully did that in hours 1 to 10 he was a man who fought a man who ran and a man who kept and as a result of that when he comes to die he's able to say he had done those particular things so in verses 9 to 13 he makes a specific request from Timothy in verses 14 and 15 he gives a warning concerning this man Alexander the coppersmith in verses 16 to 18 he updates Timothy on his present situation remember he's in a prison and he is going to die he updates Timothy on what's going on in terms of that prison sentence and then he ends with greetings and some personal words in verses 19 to 22 I want to look first tonight at the command given to Timothy in verses 9 to 12 and then secondly the request made of Timothy in verse 13 no the command in verse 9 he says be diligent to come to me quickly when we looked at second Timothy chapter 4 verse 2 I indicated that that was Paul's last official formal corporate command Paul tells Timothy representing the entirety of the church for all ages that he is to preach the word he is to be ready in season and out of season he is to convince and rebuke and exhort with all long-suffering and teaching that is a formal request or a formal command with reference to the entirety of the church verse 9 is personal in nature verse 9 is the heart of the Apostle verse 9 is an expression of a man who's coming close to death who's sitting in a prison cell and he wants Timothy to come to him he wants to visit with Timothy he wants to have fellowship he tells Timothy to come to him quickly the Apostle loved hit Timothy in acts 16 Paul hears about Timothy he hears what kind of a man that Timothy is he wants Timothy to accompany him on his missionary journeys look at Philippians chapter 2 where we see the heart of the Apostle Paul with reference to this man Timothy he loves Timothy he wants to see Timothy he wants to fellowship with Timothy notice in Philippians chapter 2 at verse 19 he says I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly that I also may be encouraged when I know your state for I have no one like minded who will sincerely care for your state did you ever stop to ponder that I mean Paul is a hero of the faith we would certainly include in a top 5 list you know the Apostle Paul as one of those persons we most want to be like we want to be with we want to meet we want to know we want to enjoy Communion and fellowship with well we should consider putting Timothy on that list because according to the Apostle Paul Timothy is like minded to the Apostle Paul he describes how this is the case in verse 21 for all seek their own but not the things which are of Christ Jesus but you know his proven character that is a son with his father he served with me in the gospel therefore I hope to send him at once as soon as I see how it goes with me but I trust in the Lord that I myself shall come shortly so you see back in second Timothy 49 when Paul says be diligent to come to me quickly now there's a necessity there's an urgency to be sure verse 21 Paul says calm before winter Timothy is to bring Paul's cloak hence there is a necessity and an urgency if Paul doesn't get his cloak before winter he's going to be very cold in that prison cell again the modern prisons with you know electric heat and air and all those sorts of things that's not the kind of prison that Paul was in at this particular time without a cloak in a dank musty cold cell he would be in straight so there is that necessity but there's a necessity for christian fellowship for what Calvin calls Christian conference John Calvin rights undoubtedly there must have been no trivial reason why Paul called Timothy away from a church over which he presided and that's so great a distance remember Timothy is ministering in Ephesus Paul is in Rome in a prison Calvin goes on to say hence we may infer how highly important our conferences between such persons now there is that personal element in terms of Paul needing the encouragement and the Fellowship of a Christian brother and Timothy but as well there is this conference in terms of Paul instructing Timothy further so that Timothy can carry on the the baton with reference to Christian ministry Calvin says hence we man for how highly important our conferences between such persons for what Timothy had learned in a short space of time would be profitable for a long period to all the churches so that the loss of half a year or even a whole year was trivial compared with the compensation gain and yet it appears from what follows that Paul called Timothy with a view to his own individual benefit likewise in other words Paul wanted to see Timothy Paul wanted fellowship Paul didn't want to be alone Paul didn't want to whine and snivel and grumble and complain and say oh nobody loves me nobody cares for me nobody visits me Paul writes to Timothy he says be diligent to come to me quickly I need you Timothy I need encouragement I need Christian con conversation I need Christian Fellowship he goes on although his own personal matters were not preferred by him to the advantage of the church but it was because it involved the cause of the gospel which was common to all believers for as he defended it from a prison so he needed the labors of others to aid in that defense that's Calvin on this particular situation but I want us to consider how important Christian Fellowship really is you know I wonder if we were sitting in a prison cell and we were all alone if we would look back with some degree of shame and all the times we missed opportunities for fellowship and all the times we didn't go to church or we were too tired or we wanted to be alone or we didn't want to be bothered but we didn't want to have somebody point out our flaws or bump into us or say something that was untoward how many times would we regret or would we regret how many times we had avoided christian fellowship and the ability to interact with one another this is something the New Testament puts a premium on notice in Acts chapter 2 the Apostle or what we find described by Luke is what happens when a bunch of people get converted in acts 2 40 it says in with many other words he testified and exerted them saying be saved from this perverse generation then those who gladly received his word were baptized and that day about three thousand souls were added to them and they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers we pointed this out this morning in our study of chapter 26 paragraph 12 and 13 god never intended for you as a Christian to go it alone god never intended for you as a christian to be a maverick for you to simply sit in your living room unaffected by any living human beings just piping in sermons via sermon audio which is a good thing but it ought not to cause you to absent yourself from the meeting with God's people the Lord never intended for that to be the case he meant for us to be in society with one another in local churches where we would have Christian Fellowship where we would have mutual edification where we would encourage one another and help one another and pray for one another where we would hold one another accountable and we would rebuke one another when we step out of line the Apostle valued Christian Fellowship we as God's people ought to value it likewise look at the book of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter three just a few specimen passages to underscore how important it is to engage in Christian Fellowship Paul in the eleventh hour Timothy to be diligent to come to him quickly Paul isn't content to sit in this cold prison so all alone pining away whining and grumbling and complaining no Timothy I want to see you Timothy come and visit me notice in Hebrews 312 beware brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God but exhort one another daily while it is called today last any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin this is not addressed to pastors this is an address to Deacons this is an address to to theologians it's addressed to brethren lest there be beware lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God what's a means what's a help what's an antidote to avoid such a thing but exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sins notice in Hebrews 10 whole idea of Christian Fellowship com robbery Brotherhood being with one another I've met persons before who've said I'll go once on a Sunday but i won't go again they're not going to take my time from me well first of all it's God's time because it's the Sabbath day and second of all don't we have the attitude of a David I was glad when they said unto me let us go to the house of the Lord yes for the Lord but for his people God loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob why because he looks down on his people gathered together corporately there is something beneficial in this for the people of God notice Hebrews 10 verse 24 and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the Day approaching let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works what's a means by which we can comply not forsaking the assembling of ourselves to get as is the manner of some brethren be appalled enjoy love desire crave Christian Fellowship now noting are back in second Timothy chapter 4 Paul gives reasons why Timothy is to come to him quickly that's what we find in verses 10 to 12 those reasons why Paul wants Timothy to come to see him exporters want to be alone and with the defection of dimas and the troop movements that he's going to describe Paul will be alone so Paul doesn't want to be alone so he tells Timothy very specifically to be diligent to come to me quickly notice in verse 10 for Venus has forsaken me having loved this present world and has departed for these'll and I got the reference to dimas as a faithful man can be seen in Colossians for you may turn there Colossians chapter 4 at verse 10 I'm sorry Colossians chapter 4 yes at verse 10 that's not it it's got to be 17 it's got to be actually 14 Luke the beloved physician and dimas greets you great the Brethren who are in Laodicea nympha sand the church that is in his house dimas is mentioned positively here in Colossae and the time frame is about AD 6262 Paul's first imprisonment turn over to Philemon that little book at the end of after Titus right before the book of Hebrews Philemon is written in the same contact Paul's in prison first in prison met ad 6262 Philemon 24 well 23 Apophis my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus greets you as do mark Aristarchus dimas Luke my fellow laborers so we see that in the span of a couple of years if we date second Timothy around 64 or 65 there's not a lot of time that's transpired between that first imprisonment and the second in second Timothy chapter 4 after telling Timothy to be diligent to come to him quickly he says for Dinah's has forsaken me having loved this present world and has departed for thessalonica this is not a good thing brethren calvin and gil both believed that he didn't commit apostasy I don't know that I could go that far the language certainly sounds like apostasy notice he has forsaken me Paul uses this language in 2nd Timothy one about persons who had forsaken or departed from him and it's certainly not in a favorable light dimas departed from Paul but it wasn't just that he have he has loved this present world and has departed for thessalonica the fact that dimas is mentioned with Aristarchus indicates that dimas may as well have hailed from thessalonica Aristarchus was from the Salonika the fact that Aristarchus and dimas are mentioned together leads one to conclude that dimas was from vessel and aika so he loved this present world he had forsaken Paul and he returns he he goes back to the life that he had before here's calvin he says and yet we must not suppose that he altogether denied Christ of or gave himself up either to ungodliness or to the allurements of the world but he merely preferred his private convenience or his safety to the life of Paul as I said gill goes the same way the language doesn't suggest that I don't want to you know stand against calvin and gil that's never a safe place to be but the language is stark he depart or his forsaken me and he has loved this present world now i agree with Tozier i'm not certain that he committed apostasy i'm not certain that he didn't commit apostasy but i am certain this is the last word concerning dimas in the entirety of the cannon and it's not a good word it's not a good description of a man it doesn't bode well I hope and I pray we'll see him at the marriage supper of the Lamb I hope and I pray it was just simply this you know what Calvin and Gil go on to explain in terms of of not wanting to be associated with a prisoner and not wanting sort of those things even then Paul tells Timothy he is to join with him and suffering for the testimony of the Lord this is the last word concerning dimas and we ought to take it to heart and we ought to realize that in 80 6262 dimas was looked upon favorably by the Apostle Paul we get to ad 64 65 and dimas has forsaken Paul having loved this present world the Apostle describes this present world in Galatians 14 as a present evil world or a present evil age and in Romans 12 2 he tells us not to be conformed to this world so it's not a good thing to love this world it's not a good thing to forsake the Apostle Paul it's not a good thing to cleave to the world and there is a contrast between verses 8 and 10 notice dimas has loved this present world look at the persons who receive the crown of righteousness they are described at the end of verse a Paul says and not to me only but also to all who have loved is appearing it's better to love the appearing of Jesus then to love this world it's better to love the appearing of Jesus than to love this present evil age so you see dimas defected and this necessitated Paul in telling Timothy to come to him quickly notice the departure of others the following names are not governed by the verb forsaken or by the participle having loved this present world rather they are governed by departed in other words these men left Paul not for some malicious reasons not because of anything evil it wasn't a forsaking because they loved the world but rather they had other ministry commitments and so they leave Paul note the first one is Christian's this is the only time that he is mentioned in the Bible we certainly don't know a whole lot about kreski but we do know that he was faithful to the Apostle Paul and because of his departure this necessitated Paul asking Timothy to come to him we notice next Titus Titus is a well-known fellow worker of Paul mentioned in second Corinthians and also obviously in the book of Titus next we have Luke Luke the beloved physician have you ever mused on the wisdom of the Apostle Paul have you ever considered just how smart the Apostle Paul was he goes on these missionary journeys into various places and who does he bring on his missionary team he brings a beloved physician Paul was smart brethren if you're going to go into places unknown it wouldn't hurt to have a man who knows his way around a stethoscope so Paul takes Luke Luke was his beloved physician his beloved friend Luke is mentioned favorably in Colossians Philemon and the wii sections in the book of Acts you'll know that Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke you should know that Luke wrote the book of Acts and there are sections in the book of Acts where the narrator describes it as we we went into such and such a place we witness such and such a thing that is when Luke is personally present with Paul on these particular journeys you can see those we sections in acts 16 10 to 17 x 25 to 21 18 and acts 27 to 28 16 so you see what Paul is saying Timothy come to me quickly because all these other men are leaving me and I don't want to be alone not that he had some fear of being alone but he wanted Christian Fellowship he wanted conversation now the next man is quite interesting as well get mark and bring him with you for he is useful to me for ministry want you to see something about this man mark turn to Acts chapter 12 Acts chapter 12 I think there's another practical lesson that jumps out at us here from second Timothy 4 concerning the heart of the Apostle Paul notice in Acts chapter 12 at verse 25 and Barnabas and Saul that's Paul the Apostle returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry and they also took with them John whose surname was mark this is the same mark that Paul refers to in second Timothy chapter 4 John Mark the author of the second gospel Matthew Mark Luke and John now notice in acts 13 Paul and Barnabas are separated by the spirit to be sent out on a missionary journey on a missionary enterprise notice in verse 4 so being sent out by the Holy Spirit they went down to solution and from there they sailed to Cyprus and when they arrived in solemn ease they preach the Word of God in the synagogue's of the Jews they also had John as their assistant that's John Mark the same one notice in verse 13 they are in the midst of this first missionary journey verse 13 now when Paul and his party set sail from paphos they came to purga and Pamphylia and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem so John Mark agreed to go with Paul and Barnabas on this first missionary journey whatever happens according to verse 13 John Mark cuts bait and he goes back to Jerusalem now notice in Acts chapter 15 Acts chapter 15 they're getting ready to go out on the second missionary journey saks 15 verse 36 then after some days Paul said the Barnabas let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called mark I really think this is an important lesson I know it may not seem like it but just try and stay with me for a moment this is the same John Mark that had departed from them on the first missionary journey Barnabas was his cousin Barnabas says to Paul let's take John Mark with us verse 38 Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work Paul says I don't want him to go with us I don't need a flake I don't need somebody who's committed to going until the going gets tough and then he returns back to Jerusalem Paul says I don't have time for such things I'm reading between the lines but I think this is something to the effect and then we see that this caused a rift between Paul and Barnabas verse 39 then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another and so Barnabas took mark and sailed to Cyprus but Paul chose Silas and departed being commanded by the Brethren to the grace of God and he went through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the churches now one more stop before we return to second Timothy look at Colossians chapter 4 here's the point here's the rub Paul didn't hold grudges paulding eternally write people off Paul didn't say you know you you turned against us or you departed from us in that first missionary journey you're done John Mark there's no more usefulness for you there's no more hope for ministry for you you're done it's over you showed yourself whether it was immature or or not ready or or not at the point where we could trust you Paul doesn't do that he is not a grudge bearer he is not a grudge holder noticing Colossians for ten Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you with mark the cousin of Barnabas notice the parenthesis about whom you received instructions if he comes to you welcome him don't keep him away don't hold him at arm's length don't say well you're the guy that departed from Paul and that first know Paul says don't do that welcome him we get to the end of Paul's life in the eleventh hour and we get this statement get mart and bring him with you for he is useful to me four minutes straight you see brethren at one particular point in time John Mark was not useful to Paul for ministry but over time with growth and maturation John Mark became useful for ministry Paul's not sitting in his prison so in the eleventh hour counting the grudge's that he has over people that have wronged him I think this is something that finds safe harbor in the hearts of some of God's people we look at everybody who's potentially ever done us anything wrong and we make a mental note and we keep them on the list and they'll never get off of that list to that place of freedom and liberty and full acceptance brethren do not be one who holds a grudge do not discount the power of the Holy Spirit in so working in a John Mark to bring him to a place of utter and complete usefulness such that when Paul is in the 11th hour he says get in and bring him to me because he's useful to me for ministry he became useful to the Apostle Peter 1st Peter chapter 5 verse 13 Peter refers favorably to john mark mark wrote the second gospel it was probably at the bidding of Peter John Mark had this eyewitness sort of an approach to his gospel because he was a good friend with Peter you see brethren if it's not a moral failure John Mark wasn't looking at porn he didn't have you know commit adultery he didn't send himself out of the ministry in that regard but perhaps it was an immaturity at one time but that ought not to serve as a means to keep a man out and from usefulness forever and ever no the Apostle has a large heart and he is of a forgiving spirit and then the last fellow mentioned is tickets it's literally took econ if you want a Greek it's easier to say ticha kiss I guess then to key con tu ki kon sounds like a bird in the tropics somewhere to me a little bit but two key con is mentioned in acts 20 at verse 4 Ephesians 6 Colossians for and in Titus and most likely he was the one that carried the letters from ball to Ephesus and to Calais a and note here the wisdom of the apostle pitch a kiss is going to go to FSS Timothy I've called for you to leave Ephesus and to come and have conference and fellowship with me but we're not going to leave the flock unprotected at a time where there's false teachers well there are men who are desiring to be teachers of the law man who are engaged in the study of you know all kinds of weird and wacky things we don't want to leave them under you know without a shepherd so he sends ticha guests to cover for the apostle for Timothy so that Timothy can come and visit with the Apostle Paul and this is the observation I want to make here before we move on Paul is not just wasting time I mean I gotta tell you the thought of getting thrown into prison you know what first pops into my head I'll get some time to sleep maybe that's not the best thing but he's just sleep sleep I hope it's a decent mat so I'm not tossing and turning too much but not that my dear wife doesn't let me sleep but there's a lot of time on your own sitting in a cell and probably you get a few extra hours of shut-eye during the week if you manage things properly and then I think Reed well we see that Paul has the same thought here do I imagine there's a lot of time to waste sitting in a prison cell but not Paul so you always have this vision on a military base there's usually a command post and the command post is where if something happens the base goes into battle array or goes into some contingency contingency plan the generals the high-ranking you know officers go to that command post and it's from the command post that they move the troops it's from the command post that they engage in the strategy send this one here send this battalion there send this flight there send this squadron here fly the b2 over there drop a payload there that's what the commander's doing in that in that command post that's what Paul's done with his prison cell he is strategizing for the advancement of the gospel he is strategizing in terms of his relationship with Timothy Timothy I want you to come to me so you can encourage me but I want to further teach you so that when you return to Ephesus you'll be more equipped and more able to instruct others will send tetrakis there to cover for you while you're gone I want you to bring mark too because he's useful for me administrate we might have a place for him here in I love Luke Luke is a proven dear brother he's got his hand in a particular pie and we've got to a Christians doing his thing Paul is moving troops Paul is the commander Paul has taken that prison cell and made it a command post for the Advancement of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ it's truly amazing learn from the Apostle in his 11th hour so that's the command notice finally the request verse 13 he says bring the cloak that I left with Karpis at trow ass when you come again notice in verse 21 do your utmost to come before winter we learned here Paul's not an ascetic he doesn't think it's somehow virtuous to suffer well I'm a minister I'm a minister of the gospel and I'm a prisoner of our Lord so I just need to be cold now I'll bring my cloak this was a large heavy garment was probably similar to a poncho it had a hole so you'd put it around your or over your head and it would rest on your neck and it was such that it was able to keep you warm both in you know travel and in sleep Paul's not an ascetic he doesn't think it's somehow virtuous to sit and freeze in a prison cell he says bring the cloak and hurry because winter's coming there is a common sense intrinsic in this section of scripture that we would do well to imbibe we're not somehow more holy and more virtuous if we suffer cold we are not somehow more holy and more virtuous if we go through hardships now certainly we do go through hardships for our Lord but brethren if we can get a cloak and have a cloak we ought to praise god for the cloak i shared with the the confession study a few weeks ago we were talking about paying pastors or paying ministers that the whole idea of pastoral remuneration and I shared a quip about Spurgeon and I qualified it there it may have actually happened to Spurgeon or it may be one of those sort of you know sudha graphical stories that have attached themselves to Spurgeon the Spurgeon was right a train and he was sitting in the front row or in the first class what imagine a train back in England and the day was similar to the airplanes of today you know they make us slobs walk by all those people you know lounging in the lap of luxury it's like here's what you don't get we walked right past those first-class persons to the coach where we you know move like cattle as we're wedged in there so it could have been perhaps similar to that suspense sitting in his front our first class seat and another minister comes onto the train and he notices mr. spurgeon sitting there in first class and this particular minister says I'm going to go back to coach to spare the Lord's money and Spurgeon says I'm going to stay right here in first class to spare the Lord's servant and I think that's wise not saying every pastor should fly first class but there is a principle here there's nothing intrinsically holy about being cold Paul wants his cloak Paul wants to put it around his head so he can snuggle up and not freeze to death in the prison cell it will be Nero who takes Paul's life not the cold learn from Paul and use your head and then notice Paul says and the books especially the parchments all the book lovers in the church going yeah this is great look at Paul I'm going to lean on two men here to describe what I think is going on here first of all the identity of the books and the parchments what are they Paul like a good mystery novel Paul light to pass the time with the latest romance is Paul about Sudoku or whatever you know puzzle game he cannot send you know that's necessarily evil but what does he mean by the books especially the parchments krueger says there is little doubt that the books is a reference to the books of the Old Testament most likely on Scrolls the term parchments is noteworthy because it is not a Greek word at all but a translate litter ated form of the Latin membrane the same word used by Marshall and quintillion to refer to parchment notebooks I've seen that elsewhere in the literature parchment notebooks why would Paul have parchment notebooks one even suggested that because of his trade is a tent maker perhaps he had a hand in developing such things well why would the Apostle Paul need parchment notebooks because you see when the Apostle Paul sat in a prison cell he didn't doodle he didn't waste his time he wrote letters to men like Timothy Kruger says thus we have a suggestion here that such notebooks were used alongside the books of the Old Testament what did these notebooks contain there are a number of possibilities such as excerpts of Jesus teachings or early Christian testimony ax these were old testament proof texts supporting messianic claims about Jesus or even copies of Paul's own letters maybe Paul wanted to study Romans while Paul was in a Roman prison he is subject to that word you can't say well Paul wrote it so he's Paul wrote it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Paul is as duty-bound to everything he penned as you and I are so that's the identity probably the Old Testament some sort of parchment notebook that had the sayings of Jesus comment on the Old Testament texts that that applied to the Lord Christ or even Paul's own writings now in terms of the necessity of such a request I lean on Spurgeon he says some of our very ultra Calvinistic brethren think that a minister who reads books and studies his sermon must be a very deplorable specimen of a preacher it's kind of interesting isn't it he says a man who comes up into the pulpit professes to take his text on the spot and talks any quantity of nonsense is the idol of many if he will speak without premeditation or pretend to do so and never produce what they call a dish of dead man's brains oh that is the preacher he says how rebuked are they by the Apostle he is inspired and yet he wants books he has been preaching at least for 30 years and yet he wants books he had seen the Lord and yet he wants books he had had a wider experience than most men and yet he wants books he had been caught up into the third heaven and had heard things which it was unlawful for a man to utter yet he wants books he had written a major part of the New Testament and yet he wants books the Apostle says to Timothy and so he says to every preacher give thyself unto reading he says the man who never reads will never be read he who never quotes will never be quoted he will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own brethren what is true of ministers is true of all our people you need to read renounce as much as you will all light literature but study as much as possible sound theological works especially the puritanic writers and expositions of the Bible we are quite persuaded that the very best way for you to be spending your leisure is to be either reading or praying you may get much instruction from books which afterwards you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master service Paul cries bring the books join in the cry amen well in conclusion we ought to take heed and light of dimas again I'm not so convinced he never committed apostasy I'm not convinced he did commit apostasy but he certainly according to 2nd Timothy 4 10 was not in a good place he had forsaken the Apostle Paul and he loved this present war all that is a terrible thing he departs for Thessalonica not that it's wrong for a man to return home but if it's because he has a love for the world that is something we need to take heed do we need to watch and pray we need to be careful we need to persevere and in that vein there are several things we need to consider with reference for T'Pol our desire for fellowship do we in the eleventh hour want to see a timothy our function in terms of the gospel are we such that we will sacrifice everything for the advancement of the cause of God in truth that's what Paul is doing that's what is indicative of the Apostle he is strategizing for the furtherance of the gospel we learned from Paul that he was not an aesthetic and ascetic is somebody who thinks that it's wrong to be comfortable strong to be too much comfortable it's wrong to worship comfort but it's not wrong to have a cloak when it's winter out get a cloak get dressed be worn as well we see in the Apostle Paul in this 11th hour man who has studied tirelessly nevertheless wants his books especially the parchments so it's much better to follow the example set for us here by Paul rather than Demuth's and never forget the reason that Paul was in that prison was for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ it was for the testimony of the Lord Himself that Paul found him self in this place will let us pray father we thank you for the word of God and we thank you for these lessons and pray that we would take heed to a man like dimas and we would seek by your grace to be careful and to be watchful and to be prayerful in our lives not to grow attached to this world not to grow in love with this world keep us to cause us to have a healthy healthy balance and to have a healthy pursuit of those things most most necessary in terms of your kingdom and your righteousness we ask that you would go with us now and watch over us in this coming week and cause us to bring glory and honor to you and we asked through Christ our Lord amen well why don't we stand and conclude our service by singing the doxology Oh you not a him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy the God our Savior who alone is wise the glory and Majesty Dominion and power both now and forever amen please be seated you