"No Root in Themselves"
(No. 2846)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 1903.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 23, 1888.
"And have no root in themselves." Mark 4:17.
THESE rocky-ground hearers have occupied our thoughts twice recently.
[Sermon #2844, Volume 49–THESEED UPON A ROCK, and Sermon #2845, Volume
49–LACKING MOISTURE]. Or You remember that the first sermon concerning
them was upon the text, "They had no deepness of earth" and that, in
it, I tried to show the shallowness of some men's religious character,
how the pan of rock below the thin layer of earth had never been
broken, so the Seed could not really enter into them, but lay, for a
little while, in the soil, rapidly springing up and just as rapidly
perishing. The other discourse was upon the words, "It lacked
moisture," a very instructive little sentence full of meaning. Only
Luke tells us that the rocky-ground hearers "lacked moisture." This,
you probably remember, I explained as meaning dry doctrine without
gracious feeling, experience without humiliation, practice without
heart-love, belief without repentance, confidence without
self-diffidence, action without spirituality and zeal without
communion. I went somewhat deeply into that part of the subject and I
think that there must have been some who trembled as they thought that,
possibly, they were among the number of those who have no deepness of
earth and who lack moisture.
Now, my dear Hearers, I do feel intensely concerned that every work of
Grace supposed to be worked in this house should be real and,
therefore, permanent. We are thankful that we are constantly having
conversions, but we are very grieved that we also have some
perversions. It is a comparatively easy thing to increase the Church
roll, but it is only God's almighty Grace that can preserve to the end
those whose names are written in our Church records. Oh, for sure work!
It is better to have only one convert who will endure to the end than
20 who only endure for a while and in time of trial fall away. We have
so much of the superficial, the merely topsoil work, in these days,
that I feel that I am not laying too much stress upon one point if,
three times in succession, I preach on this same subject, taking these
three forms of expression indicating different phases of the same
evil–no depth of earth, no moisture and no root in themselves.
According to our Savior's interpretation, this is what happens to
people of this sort–"Afterward, when affliction or persecution arises
for the Word's sake, immediately they are offended."
I. Notice, first, that THEY WERE DEPENDENT UPON EXTERNALS. They had "no
root in themselves." Their religion did not spring from within and was
not fostered from within.
This reminds us of a class of persons who cause us much grief of heart,
though at the first they give us cause for much hope. I mean those
whose religion depends upon their parents. What a fearful calamity it
often seems to a family when the father is taken away just when the
boys are growing up! We have seen, in our own royal family, an example
of it. Wherever it happens, it is always a cause of very terrible
danger to the children. But do you not also think that there are many
lads and lasses who are, in the main, favorable to the things of God
simply because their father is an eminently devout man? Where that is
the case and where there is no true work of Grace in their hearts, the
death of their father will give them such a measure of liberty and
release from restraint as will afford them an opportunity of showing
that their religion was not real.
In another case it may be the influence the almost boundless influence
of a godly mother over her sons and daughters. Some women are queens at
home–they reign with a kind of imperial sway over their children and
those gracious matrons, by God's Grace, often lead their sons and
daughters in the way of Truth and righteousness. Yet sometimes it is
not so much a work of Grace within, as the work of the mother upon the
surface–and so, if the dear mother falls asleep– the family is never
again quite what it used to be. There is no longer that deep devotion,
that intense earnestness that there used to be in the religion of the
household, and one reason is that its members have no root in
themselves. Their root was in their mother, or their father.
Now, dear young Friends, any of you who are making a profession of
religion, I say nothing against the gracious influence of your parents.
God forbid that I should do so! I say everything in praise of it, but I
pray you not to let the influence of your parents be substituted for
the work of the Holy Spirit upon your own heart. The message to you, as
to all others, is, "You must be born-again." He only is the true
Christian who can say, "If my father and my mother were gone, it would
greatly grieve me and I would feel it to be a serious loss. Yet, if it
should happen, I would, by God's Grace, hold on to Christ with no less
intensity, but rather with even more, for I should feel it to be my
duty to help fill the great void which the loss of my parents had
occasioned. I should think that I heard them speaking to me from the
skies and bidding their son, their daughter, follow them even as they
followed Christ."
So, dear Friends, there are other cases in which the religious life is
very much dependent upon Christian association. That young lady was
governess in a pious family and she seemed to be everything that we
could wish and declared herself a Christian. But is she the same, now
that she has taken a position in a worldly household, perhaps in a
distant land where she never gets to hear the Word of God at all? If
she has root in herself, she will grow and be fruitful even in that
unkindly soil. That working man, when he was apprenticed, and when he
was a journeyman, had a godly employer and he worked with those who
feared the Lord and he became, confessedly, a Christian. I am not
speaking against the gracious influence of masters and of workmates.
God grant that it may always be exercised in the right way! But, still,
if any of you have a form of religion which is dependent upon the
position in which you live, you are without root in yourselves and it
will soon wither away. You must so know Christ, trust Him and love Him,
that you would be true to Him even if you were carried off into a
Muslim country, or if you were called to live in the midst of blasphemy
and infidelity! Do not rely upon somebody else's example! Be not
dependent upon external associations, but have root in yourselves.
I fear that in the case of a great many, their religion is dependent
upon externals in respect of a faithful and earnest ministry. I have
noticed, several times, that God has raised up different men to carry
on His cause in the earth. Just now, it appears to me to be the age of
the Judges, for God appears to call, first one Judge and then another
to deliver Israel. But we long for the time when King David will reign
on His Throne. It may be that we shall have antichrist first and Saul
will rule before David comes. But when Samuel is gone, where will the
people go? In many a place I have seen a good man raised up and he has
gathered a large congregation around him. Many of them seemed to be
truly converted and while he lived, their lives seemed to be all that
one could desire. But he died and then where were they? At this present
moment, I could put my finger upon many of the followers of dear Joseph
Irons. They are very aged people, but the Lord has preserved them
faithful until now. I could pick out, here and there, those who were
educated in Divine things under Harrington Evans. What a gracious man
of God he was! What sweet Christian people were fed at his table! If I
were to make further enquiry, I could find a very large number of those
who used to hear William Carey at the Victoria Theatre, but where are
they now? A large number of them had no root in themselves while,
happily, still a large number of them had root in themselves and are
here with us, or in other Churches of Christ to this very day.
I could name other equally good men who used to labor in London and of
whom I could say that when they were taken away, a considerable part of
their work seemed to go with them. It was no fault of theirs that their
hearers seemed to depend upon them and that their influence over them
was very great. I do not doubt that it is the same in my own case and
that, when I sleep with my fathers, there are some here who have been
unwise enough to hang upon me, who will go back again to the world
which they have never really left! And if so, when the man goes, their
religion will go, too. But, dear Friends, if you are vitally united to
the Lord, then, even if the scythe of death should cut off every
minister who now preaches in God's name–if every candle in the Lord's
house were put out–you would still cleave to your God with full
purpose of heart and cry to Him in the cloudy and dark day, to return
to bless His Beloved Zion. But, alas, there are
many professors who have no root in themselves–parents, associates,
and ministers supply them with all the root they have.
Then there are many more whose religion must be sustained by
enthusiastic surroundings. They seem to have been baptized in boiling
water and unless the temperature around them is kept up to that point,
they wither away. There are some persons, who, when they get thoroughly
excited so that they do not know what they are doing, generally do
right, but that is a poor kind of religion which always needs to have
the drums beating and the trumpets sounding–for the religion that is
born of mere excitement will die when the excitement is over. I am not
saying a word against genuine revivals, or even against excitement–and
I do not think that it is any argument against revivals that some of
those who profess to be converted at them go back to the world.
I am reminded of that very good story–a somewhat amusing one, which
Mr. Fullerton told us. He said that some persons find fault with
revivals because all the converts do not stay. "Why," he said, "they
remind me of the tale that is told of a countryman of mine who picked
up a sovereign. When he went to change it, they said that it was light
weight, and he only got 18 shillings for it. Still, you see, that was
all clear gain to him. However, another day, seeing a sovereign lying
on the ground, he said, 'No, I will not pick up another sovereign, for
I lost two shillings by the last one.'" That was very unwise, if it
ever happened. So, suppose that we do lose some of the converts of a
revival, suppose that we even lose two out of twenty, a very large
percentage, yet, still, the rest are all clear gain! Let us pick up
another sovereign, even though there may be a discount upon its value.
Yet I am sorry for those lost two shillings. I grudge the sovereign
being light weight–I would like to have the whole twenty shillings and
to have all those who profess to be converted–really converted to the
living God. So I speak to those of you who, after a while, go back.
When the cyclone of the revival is over, you drop to the earth like
dead things. May God renew you, by His Grace, and work a work in your
heart that will not be dependent upon any surroundings! May you have
root in yourselves!
For you see that this class of persons who were dependent upon their
surroundings, changed when their surroundings changed. Their parents
were gone, they were placed in ungodly families and they became
ungodly. They simply floated with the tide. It was said, a long while
ago, that someone was asking whether such-and-such a person, who was a
Quaker, was bathing in the Thames and the reply was, "How am I to know
a Quaker when he is in the river? He would not have his broad-brimmed
hat on, would he?" "No," said the other, "but you can distinguish him
without that, for he is sure to be swimming against the stream." That
is the way that we know a Christian–he is sure to be swimming against
the stream. Live fish always do that, but dead fish go floating down
the stream and are carried away with it. Dead fish just drift with the
tide. If the tide goes up, they go up, but if the tide goes out, they
go out. Whatever others do, they do. "Anything for an easy life," is
their motto. They profess to be Christians while they are with
Christians, but they are ungodly as soon as they are with the ungodly.
This will never do.
According to our Lord's parable, this is especially the case when they
have to endure affliction or persecution because of the Word. They fear
that they will be losers if they are Christians and they cannot afford
to suffer so. Somebody points the finger of scorn at them and laughs at
them, and they cannot stand that. They do not mind being thought
respectable for going to Chapel and taking a seat, but to be shouted at
in the streets, and to be made the subject of jest at private
parties–they cannot endure that, so away they go! Poor things,
dependent upon externals! God deliver you from that evil, that it may
be no more said of you, "They have no root in themselves"! May you be
straight, distinct, direct, thorough, true, solid, substantial,
enduring, rooted, grounded, settled, by the Grace of God!
II. Notice, next, that THEY WERE DEFICIENT IN ESSENTIALS. These grains
of wheat, when they fell upon the loose soil lying upon that pan of
rock, grew very fast. They grew all the faster because the soil was so
shallow and the sun so soon caused the seed to sprout–but it was only,
"for a time." Listen to the sad note in my text–"They have no root in
themselves, and so endure but for a time." They joined the Church "but
for a time." They taught in the Sunday school "but for a time." They
were zealous about religious matters "but for a time." These words seem
to me to sound like the tolling of a knell, the knell of all our hope
concerning them and of all their hope, too. Oh, what sorrow is hidden
in those words! How terrible it is to be converted "but for a time"–to
make a profession of religion "but for a time"! What innumerable curses
seem to hiss out of every syllable, "but for a time"!
The pity is that they were deficient in the essentials of vitality.
They were not deficient in blade, for they sprang up, but they were
deficient in root–and that was a fatal deficiency. For a plant to have
no root is much the same as for a
man to have no heart. There cannot be life in a plant, for any length
of time, at any rate, where such an essential thing as a root is
lacking.
What is meant by a root in such a case as this? First, it means hidden
Graces. You cannot see the roots, for they are underground. The best
part of the plant is out of sight. It does not strike every casual
observer, but I suppose that, as a rule, there is as much of a tree
underground as there is aboveground and that, in many cases, it needs
to be so in order that it may keep its hold upon the earth. Now, mark
this, with a genuine Christian, there is always as much underground as
there is aboveground. That underground work is often very much
neglected, but it is exceedingly important. Indeed, it is essential.
One of the roots of a true Christian is secret repentance–and secret
prayer is another–those are roots that run down far into the soil. He
who has not got them has no root. Secret communion with God, the
talking of the heart with the great Father. Secret love pouring itself
out in fervent fellowship and praise. The inside life, of which none of
our neighbors can see anything–all that is the most important part of
us. If you are a tradesman and have all your goods in your shop window,
you will fail before long. If you can show all your piety to anybody,
you have not much to show. Underground work is, however, absolutely
necessary. How many builders have had to prove this? They have "run up"
houses in a hurry without a good foundation and, by-and-by, down they
have come! Foundation-work is all-important, though nobody can see it
and, therefore, nobody will praise it and, perhaps, for a long time
nobody may discover that it is not there. O my dear Hearers, let us lay
a good foundation! Let our souls be really built in secret upon the
living Christ by a true and genuine faith, the faith of God's elect.
That is what a root is, then, a hidden thing. These rocky-ground
hearers had no root, that is, no hidden Graces.
In the next place, a root is a holdfast. When the winds of March come
tearing through the woods, the trees will fall if they have no roots.
Even the mighty oaks will be torn away from their places in the forest
if they have no roots. These are the anchors of those great vegetable
ships by which they are held fast in the earth! And it is essential to
a Christian to have a holdfast, to have hold of something that he is
sure of, something that he no longer questions, or, if he does question
it, he battles with the question and holds fast by the Truth! A
religion that may be true, or may not be true, is irreli-gion! The only
real religion is that of which you are absolutely sure, that which you
have tried, tested and proved in your very soul and know to be as true
as your own existence. Doubts yield nothing to you but continual fear
and trembling, starvation to your strength and restlessness to your
soul. Christ bids you come and believe in Him with a child-like faith,
for so will He give you rest.
Oh, how many Christians lack roots! Just look at them. They hear a
certain form of doctrine taught one day; and they say, "That is not
quite what I have been accustomed to hear, but still, it was prettily
put." They go and hear another kind of doctrine and the preacher is
such a clever man, as he had need to be to make that sort of stuff go
down, that they take in all he says just because he is so clever! I
believe that the devil is clever and if these people could only hear
him preach, I expect they would receive all he said, for they do not
know anything, they do not understand anything, they have no holdfast
of anything! They are like ships drifting at sea with no chart, no
compass, no captain, no rudder. They will probably end as derelicts–a
menace to all ships that sail over the seas–or they will strike on a
rock, or founder at sea. Only God knows what their end will be, but a
bad end it must be, for certain. O dear Friends, I want all of you to
have roots!
Truth understood is a grand holdfast. Resolution deliberately
formed–that is another root, another holdfast. Communion with God
continually enjoyed–that is another holdfast. A lady was once asked
why she was so sure that the Bible was true and she replied, "Because I
know the Author of it." And when you, Beloved, know the Author and know
how true He is, then your doubts concerning His Truth will fly away.
Confirmations continually experienced, such as answers to your prayers,
Providential deliverances and the like–these things become Infallible
proofs to you till you are as sure of your position as a mathematician
is about the rules of geometry. He cannot be convinced that they are
false, for he has tested, tried and proved them. When anybody says to
me, "God does not hear prayer," I never answer him. I laugh! The remark
is as false and as foolish as if he had said that I did not hear! Do
you say that God does not hear prayer, or that there is no God? Of
course there is no God to you who have no God and who never go to Him!
If He does not hear your prayers, how can you expect Him to hear such
prayers as yours, seeing that you do not "believe that He is, and that
He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him"? He never said that
He would hear such prayers as yours! But if you believe in Him and know
Him, and come to Him as a child comes to his father, He will as
certainly hear your
prayers as that you, being evil, give good gifts unto your children!
This is not a matter of supposition with us. It has become a matter of
fact because we have these holdfasts, these roots in ourselves. If you
do not have these, you will certainly wither.
A root, again, implies a means of continuance. The child who plucks the
flowers from his father's garden and sticks them in his own little
flowerbed, says, "Father, see how the dahlias have come up? My garden
is pretty." Yes, but in a couple of days they are all gone because they
had no roots in themselves. So, if you want to continue to be a
Christian, there is a secret something which only God can put into the
soul which ensures continuance–and where it once is, it will abide
forever! You remember how our Lord said to the woman of Samaria,
"Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst
but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water
springing up into everlasting life"? He also said to the Jews, "My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
pluck them out of My hand." That is what is meant by the root–the root
implies continuance.
And, once more, a root means living assimilation. A plant might be tied
to a stick that was stuck in the soil and it might continue there and
yet wither. But you know what a root does, it goes travelling about
until it finds the nourishment it needs. It is beautiful to take the
case of a fir tree, to see it growing high up upon a bare rock. I have
often seen, among the Alps, a huge rock standing all by itself with a
fine pine growing right up the rock–one root comes down this side and
another down the other side–till it looks as if it were a colossal
eagle's claws that had grasped the big rock! What are these great roots
doing? Why, there is some good soil down there and the roots have gone
travelling down that great rock till they have reached the earth!
By-and-by, these roots go to another rock, but, as there is nothing to
be got out of it, they turn deliberately to the right, and to the left,
and go in search of good soil and water just as if they had a kind of
intelligence, as I suppose they really have! It is wonderful how they
will wind and twist about for long distances. I have seen the roots of
some trees in the South of France, running along almost as far as the
entire length of the Tabernacle galleries–perhaps even further–right
on until they have found water and then they have brought it up to an
insignificant-looking tree, which was thus nourished. Such is the power
of a root.
For what purpose do we need roots? To be able to go after spiritual
food, to be feeling after it all through the Word of God, sending roots
into every text of Scripture that is likely to afford us spiritual
nutriment! What do the roots do for the trees and plants to which they
belong? They begin to suck up the materials by some strange living
chemistry which I cannot explain–and they convert it into the
life-blood of the plant or tree, selecting out of the soil this or
that, and rejecting the other and enabling the plant or tree to make
its leaves and its fruits with wondrous skill. No chemist could perform
this feat, but the chemistry of God accomplishes it by means of these
little roots. What you need is to have roots in yourselves, to be
constantly going after spiritual food and especially laying hold of
Christ to whom you are rooted, seeking from Him the nourishment of the
spiritual life that He has imparted to you–living because He lives,
feeding on Him and understanding these words of His, which, if you do
truly understand them, will assure you that you shall live
forever–"Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His
blood, you have no life in you. For My flesh is food indeed, and My
blood is drink indeed."
III. My time has gone, yet I must briefly tell you HOW THESE PEOPLE
WERE DESTROYED BY UNAVOIDABLE INFLUENCES. The sun shone–they could not
help that, the sun was made to shine. The sun was hot. It could not
help that, it was made to be hot. And this was quite sufficient to put
an end to all the greenness of these poor dwindling things. So the
common trials of life, the afflictions, the persecutions which are
inevitable to the Christian life, scorch those who are mere professors
and they, having no root in themselves, wither away.
First, they lost their original stamina. A seed, unless it is
absolutely dead, has some nutriment within itself. Almost every seed
contains a measure of nourishment for the life-germ. So, at first, this
seed that was sown sprang up by itself through the influence of the
heat. Thus do some people seem to begin to be religious with a few
right notions and a little good feeling–but they soon use all this up.
Next, when that stamina was all used up, they had no means of taking in
a fresh supply. A plant cannot live without roots, any more than you
and I can live without mouths with which to eat. These people, having
no root, could not go for anything more–they already had all they
could get. They had no Christ to go to, they had no eternal life, no
cove-
nant purpose, no principle of the Holy Spirit to fall back upon. And
when their little was all gone, they could not come to the great
All-in-All for more–they had no connection with Him.
To drop the figure and speak plainly, what does actually happen in the
case of such people? Sometimes there is holy conduct At other times
there is a departure from sound doctrine, which is just as great an
evil in the sight of God. In others, there is the losing of all their
former zealand, by-and-by, there comes the perishing altogether
I have upon my memory many cases of this sort, but some of the friends
of those persons are still alive–perhaps some of the persons,
themselves, are living, so that if I were to tell you about them, I
might do harm instead of good. I remember, however, a man who was the
terror of the village in which I preached in my early days. If ever
there was a bad fellow on the earth, it was Tom_. One afternoon, after
I had been preaching, I was told that he was in the right-hand gallery
of the Chapel. It was more than I could believe till my friends
described to me a man whom I had noticed during the service–and then I
was obliged to believe the evidence of my own eyes. He was a big rough
navy and oh, such a terribly bad fellow! He came to hear me preach
again and again–and he became to me very much what a faithful dog is
to his master. There was nothing that he would not have done to please
me if he could. He was broken down with deep repentance, as it seemed,
for just a very short time, indeed. And then he became boisterously
happy.
I often wished that his sorrow had lasted longer. Whenever I went out
to preach, no matter how far off it might be, he was always there. I
have seen him pull a barge, loaded with people, up the river Cam, that
they might go to hear me at an open-air service. He was full of zeal
and earnestness for a while, but, by-and-by, information reached me
that Tom was drunk–and when he was drunk, he was capable of any evil.
He remained drunk for months and we never saw anything of him all that
time. Then he came slinking back and professed repentance. We hoped it
was really so, but I never could make anything out of him. I think that
he was just one of those who have "no root in themselves." If I could
have lived with him in the house, always, he might have been as right
as possible, but when he went out into the field to work, and met with
other men, he was as wrong as possible, for he had no root in himself.
Strong as Samson, he was also as weak as Samson. I wonder if I am
addressing anyone here who is like he? Dear Friends, do not be
satisfied with following a minister and being earnestly in love with
any Christian man, but get to God and ask Him to give you a new heart
and a right spirit, or else it will only be a temporary reformation
and, good as that may be, it will never land you in Heaven!
There came to this House of Prayer a working-man whose father had
induced him to come. I will not indicate where he sat. He was in the
habit of wasting his week's wages on a Saturday night and his family
was, in consequence, miserable and poor. But he was brought here and
the change in him was very amazing. He had not been attending with us
long before there was an alteration, even in the rooms in which he
lived, and in the appearance of his wife and children. We all felt
glad, and his good old father, whom I know right well, was very happy
about his boy. He said, "Surely, he will be converted." He was such a
hopeful character that it was even arranged for him to come to see me
about joining the Church.
But, alas, he never comes now! Saturday night is just the same as it
used to be in his worst days and his family is just as unhappy. He had
no root in himself–and he is just a picture of so many who come in
here and get impressed–and are only benefited "for a time." They take
the pledge, but only to break it. God grant that they may not go so far
as to be baptized and yet go back to their sin, as the sow that was
washed goes again to wallow in the mire! Not long ago I was asked for
alms by one who begged me to help him to get a meal. I looked at him
and wanted to know who he was. And he said, at last, "Don't you know
me?" "No, I do not know you." He mentioned his name, but I did not
remember him. Then he told me some things about himself that brought
him to my recollection, how he had sat among us here and we had
esteemed and respected him, and he had been very zealous in all good
things, but, after a while, that "sipping and nipping," which is so
common among businessmen nowadays, led him astray–till he lost his
position and could not get another situation. He has gone down, down,
down, till, as he spoke to me and his breath reeked with spirits, I
could only say, "I could not recommend you to a situation. Nobody could
take you, you are not fit for it."
I gave him a little something to eat, but I could do no more for him.
It is an awful thing to think of the many of that sort, who have no
root in themselves and so, presently, wither away. Bad company in one
case, a wicked woman in another case, the wine cup in a third case–all
these things help to spoil the work which we had hoped had been a true
work of Grace. What, then, is to be done? Why, come along to Jesus
Christ and really trust Him! If you give yourselves to
Him, He will change you and you shall be truly changed. If you commit
your souls into His keeping, He will keep you forever and ever. Try to
save yourselves and you will surely be lost–but come to Christ that He
may save you, and you will be certainly and eternally saved! Oh, that
His Grace might lead you thoroughly to quit yourselves and wholly to
rest in Him, now and forevermore! And unto His name shall be all the
praise and glory. Amen and Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 2 TIMOTHY 1:1-8; 3; 4:1-6
2 Timothy 1:1, 2. Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
according to thepromise oflife which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my
dearly beloved son. There is the greatest possible affection between
the preacher and his convert. This is a relationship which even death
will not destroy. They neither marry nor are given in marriage in the
Heavenly Kingdom, but this fatherhood and sonship shall endure forever.
2. Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord. Is it not a little remarkable that when the Apostle writes to
Churches, he usually wishes them, "Grace and peace," but when he writes
to ministers, he generally prays for "Grace, mercy, and peace," as if
we needed more mercy than other Christians? Having so great a work to
do, and falling into such great sin if we are unfaithful in it, we may
well ask that we may have special mercy showed unto us by the God of
mercy.
3. I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience,
that without ceasing I have remembrance of you in my prayers night and
day. At that time Timothy was very specially laid upon the Apostle's
heart and he did not seem to think of anything without young Timothy's
image rising up before him "night and day."
4. Greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may
be filled with joy. Paul had seen Timothy's tears when he parted from
him. He remembered, perhaps, his tears when under conviction of sin,
his tears of joy when he found the Savior and the tears he shed in his
early preaching when the gracious youth touched the hearts of others
because he so evidently spoke out of his own heart.
5. When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in you, which
dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice; and I am
persuaded that is in you also. There is no transmigration of souls, but
there is a kind of transmigration of faith, as if the very form and
shape of faith, which was in Lois and Eunice, afterwards appeared in
Timothy. Truly, there are certain idiosyncrasies which may pass from
some Christian people to others. And when those idiosyncrasies are of a
high and noble kind, it is a great mercy to see them reproduced in
children and children's children. "I thought I heard your mother
speak," said one, when she heard a Christian woman talking of the
Savior, "you speak in just the way in which she used to tell of her
experience, and describe the love of Christ."
6. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you
by the putting on of my hands. The fire needs stirring every now and
then–it is apt to die out if it is not stirred.
7. 8. For Godhas not given us the spirit offear, but ofpower,
andoflove, andofa soundmind. Be notyou, therefore, ashamed of the
testimony of our Lord, nor of me, His prisoner: but be you partaker of
the affliction of the Gospel according to the power of God. Timothy,
never be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, and never be ashamed of Paul
when he is put in prison for the sake of the Gospel–but ask to
partake, not only of the Gospel, and of the power of it, but even of
the afflictions which come for its sake–for this is one of the highest
honors that can be put upon us, that we may suffer with God's saints
for the Truth's sake. Paul, in the 3rd Chapter, goes on to tell Timothy
of the danger of his times.
2 Timothy 3:1-7. This know also, that in the last days perilous times
shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady,
high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form
of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away. For of
this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women
laden with sin, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never
able to come to the knowledge of the Truth This is the photograph of
the present age and I do not doubt that Paul spoke of it when thus the
Spirit of Prophecy was upon him. This is the very motto of the present
age, "Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the
Truth." It glories in knowing nothing and its great boast is in its
continual progress, "never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth."
8, 9. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also
resist the Truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest
unto all men, as theirs also was. For, when God was with Moses and
Aaron, Jannes and Jambres were soon, by the power and wisdom of God,
proved to be fools.
10-12. But you have fully known my doctrine, manner oflife, purpose,
faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions,
which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecution
I endured: but out of them all, the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The
world does not love Christ or His Gospel an atom more, today, than it
did in Paul's day. "The carnal mind is" still "enmity against God."
13. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and
being deceived. We may look for even worse days and darker days than we
have at present.
14-17. But continue you in the things which you have learned and have
been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them; and that from a
child you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you
wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All
Scripture is given by Inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished
unto all good works.
2 Timothy 4:1-6. I charge you therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His
Kingdom, preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove,
rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. 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. But watch you in all things, endure afflictions, do the
work of an evangelist, make full proof of your ministry. For I am now
ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.