GRAB HOLD

2 Timothy 1:13-15

I don’t know about you, but I like to work on projects in phases. I get one phase finished before I get started in the next phase.

• Might be I have plans for the next phase and
• All phases are meant to come together to make complete project but
• Each phase has its own beginning, ending and completion

Writing is that way

• Sentences have a finish
• Paragraphs have a finish
• Chapters have a finish

I see chapter one of Second Timothy that way.

It is part of the unit but it also has a finish to it.

As Paul circles around to land Second Timothy chapter one, he has three thoughts, I think, that fit together:

There is first of all,

A statement

I. YOU ARE PLEDGED

2 Timothy 1:13 (KJV)

Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

According to Strong’s Concordance, the phrase “hold fast” is related to the principle of the marriage bond – its unbreakable.

Frankly, there has never been a time in history when marriages were so secure as to never become separated.

• Moses suffered divorce because of the hardness of men’s hearts
• Jesus acknowledged Moses’ work in the Gospels

He agreed with the reason Moses suffered divorce but then He said that wasn’t the will and plan of God.

When a couple gets married they are pledging themselves 

• to resist the hardness of the heart
• to fight to keep intact what God ordained from the beginning
• to hold fast onto something that the sin nature has made slippery

That’s the tenor of Paul’s exhortation to Timothy here.

Timothy has made a pledge not let these sound words slip away.

• Everything in the world is going to try to pull them away from him
• Satan will pressure him to let them slip even
• His own flesh will be tempted to let them slip away from his hands 

In effect, Paul reminded Timothy that he had pledged to hold them fast.

And then there is,

A command

II. YOU MUST PROTECT

2 Timothy 1:14 (KJV)

That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.

In the first case Paul said that Timothy had heard these things from Paul.

Here Paul says that he has committed them to Timothy.

• Paul has committed them to Timothy and
• Timothy has committed himself to keeping them

The word “keep” means, “to guard, watch or protect.”

• It’s one thing to make a promise
• It’s entirely a different thing to keep it

In my mind the illustration I have is that of WWII. 

America had become an ally with England.

We had promised to help her against German advances

• We had sent them supplies
• We had offered them some technical help

But then there came the day when America chose to bite the bullet and help England.

• We became as committed to defeating Germany as England was.
• We were not only helping England, we were fighting Germany

I wonder if, when America committed to helping England, they had any idea how much that promise was going to cost to keep?

It was one thing for Timothy to pledge himself to hold fast those sound words he had heard from Paul.

It was an entirely different thing to actually do it.

I think we see a lot of it in Christianity today where a person promises to be faithful to God and His Word but has a difficult time keeping the promise.

• Sometimes it is a preacher who compromises the doctrines he was taught and he promised to preach
• Sometimes it is a Sunday school teacher who doesn’t really put the effort into their class they should
• Sometimes it is the church member who lets everything under the sun prevent them from being faithful to the house of God

I think they are sincere in their promise.

They just didn’t expect it to be as big a deal to protect and keep as it turned out to be.

Finally he has for Timothy,

A warning

III. YOU SHOULD PERCEIVE

2 Timothy 1:15 (KJV)

This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

The word “knowest” means “to see or to perceive.”

The reason why Timothy had to hold fast and to keep what Paul had committed to him is because to do anything else would be to let things turn away.

Notice that Paul says, “all they which are in Asia be turned away.”

There were still some believers there

• The church in Ephesus was in Asia
• The church in Colosse was in Asia

There were still believers in Asia, but enough had turned away that Paul could fairly say they all had.

Timothy could not let down because to do so would, for all practical purposes, be an aide to the falling away.

Now listen,

You don’t have to be very bright to know that, for the most part, this world is turning away from the Lord.

• Christians you know very well are no longer practicing the faith that they once did.
• Christianity doesn’t mean what it did when any of us in this room first knew what Christianity was

It would not be difficult at all to say that “all they which are in America be turned away.”

The reason I want to challenge you to not let anything slip, 

• Not even little things you might think are not too important. 
• Not even things that cost you to hold on to

It because you know just like I do that the Christian faith is losing its savor in this world.

And someone needs to hold fast until their dying day.