‘That Day’ and Its Disclosure”

'That Day' and Its Disclosure"

(No. 3531)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1916.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
FEBRUARY 15, 1872.

"The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that
day." 2 Timothy 1:18.

[The original title was "The Day"…]

GRATITUDE is never failing in Christians. When they have received a
benefit, they are sure to acknowledge it. When Paul was at Rome,
Onesiphorus found him out very diligently, and was not ashamed of his
chains, but ministered to his necessities and, therefore, Paul felt
bound to him and to his family in perpetual thankfulness. Let none of
us ever be accused of ingratitude–it is one of the worst of sins.
Paul, no doubt, would have done all he could for Onesiphorus in other
ways, but he added to all other ways of showing his gratitude, that of
praying for him–praying the prayer which we have here put on record in
the Book of Inspiration. Learn hence that if we can do nothing else for
our benefactors, we can bless them by our prayers. Let us be abundant
in pouring out supplications before the Throne of God for all those who
in any way have done us a service. We also learn from the text that the
best of men have need to be prayed for. I cannot doubt but that
Onesiphorus was saved. He seems to have been a most decided follower of
Christ, for when others did not know Paul because he was a prisoner,
Onesiphorus knew him. He sought him out–he sought him out diligently–
even into the poorest quarters of that great city of Rome. He hunted
him out, though probably the population at that time was not less, but
perhaps far more than four millions of people. He found the Apostle and
he ministered unto his need. He was a good man and yet Paul prayed for
him–prayed for him a prayer which would be appropriate for a bad man,
too, "The Lord grant that he may find mercy from the Lord in that day!"
The best of us needs to be prayed for! Let us be thankful if we have
anybody to pray for us. Let us count the prayers of the faithful to be
our truest riches. He is the happiest man who shall have the most of
God's people lift up their hearts in prayer for him!

I call your attention, tonight, however, to none of these surrounding
particulars. I want to fix your minds upon one thing. I desire,
anxiously desire, that we may all be led to look forward to that day of
which the Apostle here speaks. And our first point shall be that day.
Then our second point shall be the mercy of that day. First, then–

I. "THAT DAY."

Paul speaks of the Day of Judgment here. He does not specify it,
because it was so commonly believed in and expected among Christians,
that it was quite sufficient for him to say, "that day." From the
earliest times, wherever there has been Divine Light, that day has been
expected. Enoch, also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied concerning the
coming of the Lord. And his prophecy, though very early, was so clear
that the Jew, who almost closes the Book of Inspiration, quotes
it–feeling, I suppose, that he could not use words mode expressive
than those which came from that ancient Prophet. All along the pages of
Scriptural history you read of men raised up to tell of "that day."
Asaph, in the Psalm we read just now, gave a most accurate description
of that day when the Lord shall judge His people. And Daniel, when he
saw the Throne of God set and the Ancient of Days come, perceived that
day for which we also are now looking. Nothing, perhaps, is more often
spoken of in Scripture than "that day." The New Testament teems with
allusions to that Day of Judgment, when the Lord shall be revealed with
flaming fire. I say it was so commonly understood that Paul had no need
to say anything except, "that day." Questions will be asked tonight by
some, "When will that day come?" to which I would answer, it were
better for us to be prepared for it, come when it may, than to be
anxious to fix its date! We can give you no information, because "of
that day and of that hour knows no man–no, not even the angels of
Heaven." After trying to discover what I can of the future, I arrive at
this conclusion from Scripture, that the Lord would have us be in a
state of perpetual vigilance and expectancy and, therefore, He has
studded the Scriptures with phrases to the effect that He comes
quickly. Truly His, "quickly," will not be the same as ours, but I
think the noontide of the world may have

passed and these are the latter days–and we might to be looking for
and hastening unto the coming of the Son of Man. He may come tomorrow!
He may come tonight! He may delay His coming, but He shall come at such
an hour as the mass of men think not, and at an hour when they are not
aware! That day shall overtake them as a thief in the night, and come
upon them as pain upon a woman in childbirth. Some may curiously ask
whether the Day of Judgment will be a natural day or not. Will it be a
day of 24 hours? To which we again reply, we have no information–but
we know that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day. It will be a definite period. Whatever its
length or brevity, it will suffice for an accurate judgment and a
judgment of all mankind! Whether it shall occupy a thousand years or a
single day, the work will be done–done thoroughly, done effectually,
done forever–for all the race of Adam. Let us rest assured of that.

It is far more important for us to know these things about that
day–first, that it will be ushered in as no other day has been. The
day began in Eden with the rising sun. And when the sun's first beams
had lit up the sky, the birds began to sing right joyously among the
trees. But "that day" shall be ushered in, not by the rising sun, but
by the Sun of Righteousness Himself! He shall arise with all the Glory
of His Father and the holy angels shall come with Him. There will be
sights and sounds on that tremendous morning such as never were seen or
heard by mortal men before! Even Sinai's tremendous pomp, which made
Moses fear and quake, shall be outdone in that dread day when the Lord
shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the trumpet of the
archangel, and with the voice of God. It will be a day of days. Its
dreadful surroundings are spoken of in Scripture, but, after all, words
can but feebly describe them. It will be a day especially notable for
the Revelation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! As yet He is
hidden among the sons of men. He was as one concealed incognito. He
traveled through this world and they counted Him a Man of Sorrows and
acquainted with grief. He has gone into His Glory, but He is concealed
at the right hand of God from the gaze of men below. They see Him not.
They know Him not!

But in that day He shall sit upon the clouds of Heaven and every eye
shall see Him–and they, also, who crucified Him. Then shall they say
that He is Divine, and no longer shall they dare to dispute it! Then
shall the Jew see that He is the Messiah who was to come and then shall
the Gentile perceive that He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords! The
flashings of His Glory shall convince all mankind–and the wicked shall
stand speechless before His Judgment Seat! Pilate then shall not ask
Him, "What is truth?" for he, alas, too late, shall perceive it! They
shall bring no accusation against Him, then, for to their confusion
they shall see that He was no traitor, but a King! Judas shall not sell
Him, then, for he shall perceive, then, that he who sold Him was the
son of perdition, to perish forever! Oh, what a day shall that be when,
coming out of His chamber, rejoicing like a strong man to run a race,
the Bridegroom of the Church shall appear, and all His saints shall
appear with Him! It will be a day remarkable for its wonderful
convictions. There will be a general assembly held on that day such as
never has been held before! For, first, the Son of God shall be the
center of all eyes, and around Him shall be His Father's angels. Heaven
shall send her pomp to swell His train. He shall come and His saints,
also, shall come with Him. The glorified shall come to sit with Him and
then, as in a moment, the dead shall arise. I shall go into no minute
questions or particulars, now, but certainly at that moment there shall
stand upon the earth all the dead, both small and great–they that were
on the earth buried in it and they that were in the sea shall all
arise–and as the trumpet rings out clear and loud, the whole multitude
of men that lived and died shall start up from their tombs to see their
God upon His Throne! And those who are alive at that time–all shall
come and live again–and the raised bodies of men and the spirits of
the just! There shall come up from the infernal pit of Hell, lost
spirits, too, and the chief foe of God and man, long scarred by
Jehovah's lightning–he shall come and lift his brazen front once more,
and the saints shall judge the fallen angel who long had persecuted
them! He shall receive his final sentence and begin the utmost Hell
which God had reserved for the devil and his angels, so that there on
this poor planet, little compared with greater stars, and yet in God's
sight most glorious of them all, there shall be a convocation of the
three worlds! Heaven, Earth and Hell shall meet together, and Christ,
in the midst of them all, shall judge the world in righteousness and
the people with equity. Oh, what a day will that day be!

And it will be a day, in addition to the general convocation, of
universal excitement. Next week the day of thanksgiving will move
London from end to end, but there will be tens of thousands to whom it
will be no day of thanksgiving, but perhaps of bitter sorrow. There
will be nothing that could make them thankful in the pageantry of that
day. So of all the days that have ever happened to the sons of men,
there have been some unmoved thereby. Let us speak as though our soul
were in every word–some of our Hearers will slumber, or their minds
will wander. But on that day there will be no indifferent spectators of
that tremendous pomp! The wicked shall wake up–their indifference
shall have gone and they shall be filled with dismay and despair! They
shall long for annihilation! They shall ask the rocks to cover them,
and the

mountains to conceal them. The righteous shall not be listless, either,
for theirs shall be boldness in the Day of Judgment, and joy, and
triumph, and acclamations of welcome with which they shall hail the
King of Kings sitting upon His Throne! There will be a general
excitement. Hell will howl its loudest howl and Heaven will resound
with its loftiest songs on that closing day of the drama of time, that
day of which the Apostle speaks!

And that will be a day of wondrous revelations. On that day we shall
detect the hypocrite. See him yonder? The mask has fallen. See the
leprosy on his brow? Then shall we see the men who were misrepresented,
who were counted the offscouring of all things, though of them the
world was not worthy! The filth with which men pelted them in the
pillory of scorn shall fall off and their garments shall be whiter than
any fuller can make them in the Glory of the Righteousness which Christ
shall put upon them! There will be a resurrection of reputations in
that day. And at the same time there will be the judgment of mere
profession. Perhaps in that hour we shall understand the Providence of
God infinitely better than we do now. Then we shall see the evil of
men's hearts as we never saw it, for every idle word that man has
spoken shall be published there, and transgressions of midnight that
were covered up with curtains of lies shall suddenly stand revealed as
in the noonday sun–and the men who scorned the righteous and were
themselves guilty of abominable sin! Oh, what a revealing day! The
housetops, then, shall ring with secrets that have been hidden in the
closet, and men shall read the writing, as it were, upon the sky, the
dark sayings and the hidden things which were of old.

And then when the revealing shall have come, it will be a day of final
judgment. From almost any court on earth there is an appeal. Even after
the judge puts on the black cap and condemns the criminal, he yet
appeals to public opinion and to the mercy from the nation, and perhaps
an unworthy life may yet be spared. But from that Judgment Seat there
shall be no appeal! Forever and forever fixed is the fate of men whom
Christ has judged. "He that is filthy, let him be filthy, still, and he
that is unrighteous let him be unrighteous still." No change can take
place, and no appeal can ever be made. 'Tis done, 'tis sealed, 'tis
inevitable. 'Tis over forever and forever–forever saved, or forever
lost! That day, then, ought to be a matter of personal interest to
everyone of my Hearers, yes, and to everyone beneath the sun. It will
be the last day of time! Then there will be no more counting of rising
and setting suns, no reckoning by waxing and waning moons. Then there
will be no revolutions of the year to mark the period of time, nor will
men count by centuries. It shall be eternity–one ocean of eternity
without landmarks by which to say, "Thus far have we gone, and thus far
have we yet to go." Oh, wondrous day! Oh! marvelous day! The last day
of time, a day forever to be remembered–remembered by the wicked in
Hell, to whom it shall be said, "Son, remember," and remembered, I
think, by the righteous in Heaven forever, for they shall look back to
that day when Christ appeared and they were declared to be the blessed
of the Father to inherit the Kingdom prepared for them from before the
foundation of the world! Oh, how I blame my tongue and chide myself
that I cannot speak upon this theme as I would, but nevertheless may
the solemn facts make up for my lack of speech and may they tell upon
your souls! Now I must turn to the second point, and speak upon– II.
THE MERCY OF THAT DAY.

The mercy which is prayed for in this verse, "The Lord grant unto him
that he may find mercy from the Lord in that day." Will that prayer be
heard? Will that prayer be heard for me, for you, each one of you in
this area, in these galleries? Will God have mercy on you in that day?
I will tell you–

First, He will have no mercy in that day upon those who had no mercy
upon others. If you cannot forgive, neither shall you be forgiven! If
you cannot kneel down and sincerely pray, "Forgive us our debts as we
forgive them that are indebted to us," then the gates of Heaven are
fast barred against you! If you take your brother by the throat and
say, "Pay me what you owe me," the great Master of us all will commit
you to the tormentors, because your great debt has not been paid!
Relentless, malicious, revengeful men, take heed of that! Lay it on
your pillow tonight and let it pierce your heart–if you forgive not
every man his brother, your heavenly Father will not forgive you!

Next, God will have no mercy in that day upon those who lived and died
in wickedness. Here is the proof of it, "The wicked shall be turned
into Hell," and Hell means not mercy, but misery! The men that have
lied in the breaking of God's Law from day to day, from childhood to
manhood, perhaps from manhood to old age, and have died still
sinning–for them there shall be no mercy whatever! There shall be no
mercy for those who neglect salvation. Again I give you God's words for
it, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" These
people had not done any particular mischief to anybody else. They had
not persecuted Christ. They had not reviled His Gospel. They had not
been heretics–they simply neglected the matter. "How shall you escape
if you neglect so great a salvation?" You shall not escape at all! If
you neglect His mercy, here, mercy will neglect you forever!

Then, again, they shall have no mercy who said they needed none. Are
there not some here who fancy that they need no mercy from God? They do
their best. They are excellent in character. They are well deserving
and they expect to enter

into Heaven through their good deeds. You seek no mercy, you shall have
none! You proudly reject it. You trust to your own righteousness–you
seek to have what you merit–you shall have what you merit–but that
will be to be driven forever from the Presence of God! There cannot be
mercy to those who will not confess that they need mercy. There shall
be no mercy in that day for those who sought no mercy here. Prayerless
souls? You are graceless souls and mercy shall be denied you then! You
will pray loudly enough then! Oh, how they pray in Hell! What tears and
groans send they up to Heaven! They would gladly have mercy there, but
Mercy's day is over–Justice has turned the key and hurled that key
into the abyss where it can never be found! They are prisoners forever
beneath the wrath of God! They who will not ask for it deserve not to
have it. When mercy is to be had for the asking, if man turns upon his
heels and refuses to ask, what shall God do but say, "Because I called
and you refused–I stretched out My hand and no man regarded–I also
will mock at your calamity. I will laugh when your fear comes"? There
shall be no mercy for those who ask no mercy.

Further, there shall in that day be no mercy for those that scoffed at
Christ, denied His dignity, railed at His people, broke His Sabbath and
altogether abhorred His Gospel. Oh, Sirs, you fight a desperate battle
against Him who made the heavens and the earth and who is the darling
Son of God! In fighting against Christ, you dash yourselves upon the
bosses of Jehovah's buckler! You cast yourselves upon the point of His
spear! Be wise and stop your rebellion. "Kiss the Son lest He be angry,
and you perish from the way when His wrath is kindled but a little."
How shall the wax contend with the fire, or the thistles wage war with
the flames? Yet you are doing this, O you that rebel against Christ!
You shall either break or bow. Bow, I pray you, for if not, He shall
break you with a rod of iron! He shall break you in pieces like a
potter's vessel. Beware, you that despise Him, lest in the day of His
coming He despises your image and you utterly perish.

There shall in that day be no mercy for those who refuse the Gospel.
And I am sorry to say there are some here of that sort. Those cannot be
said to refuse the Gospel who do not know it, but most of you do know
it. I was thinking this afternoon, as I prayed God to let this subject
get into my own soul, about some of you who do not lack for light and
instruction, who do not need to know more about the way of salvation,
or about the penalty of neglecting it. What you need is a new heart and
a right spirit! You need your will subdued! You need decision of
character! You need to be made thoughtful–you need to be made
prayerful! I cannot do this for you, but I can warn you over and over
and over again that they who go to Hell from under the shadow of the
pulpit wherein there is an earnest ministry, go there with an emphasis!
They that fall from the heights of privilege fall, indeed, into the
Lake of Fire! God grant that not a solitary one of the many hearers who
gather here may know what it is to have it said, "It shall be more
tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the Day of Judgment than for you. They
would have repented had they heard the Gospel, but you heard it and
repented

not."

I must add to all this that there shall be no mercy in that day for
those who have sold their Lord. "Where are they?" you ask. "Does there
live on this earth a miscreant who has sold his Lord?" God have mercy
on the man–he not only lives on earth, but he is here! He was once a
professor, but he found it more profitable to cease from religion, and
he has done so. He once came to the Communion Table, but he fell into
lustful habits and he is no member of Christ. He has defiled the Temple
of God–and God shall destroy him! He could sometimes pray in
public–at the Prayer Meeting, but he dares not pray now–he has enough
conscience left to let him cede from such hypocrisy! He sold his Lord
for pleasure. He sold his Lord for money. He sold his Lord for the fear
of man. "Verily I say unto you, he who is ashamed of Me and My Word, of
him will I be ashamed when I shall come in the Glory of My Father and
all My holy angels with Me." You know who spoke those words! They were
spoken by Him whose hands were pierced! He has said it, and oh, note,
you apostates, note it well, "He that denies Me before men, him will I
deny before My Father who is in Heaven. Verily I say unto you, I never
knew you! Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity." Oh, where is this
unhappy man? May God have mercy on him, tonight, for He will have no
mercy upon him in that day if he dies as he now is!

And I shall close that list by saying in that day God will have no
mercy for false professors. He will have no mercy upon preachers who
could talk glibly, but whose lives were not consistent with their own
teaching. What a condemnation shall await me if I am not found in
Christ after having preached so continuously to so many thousands! Oh,
whatever a man shall be in Hell, may God grant he may never be an
unfaithful minister of Christ, condemned out of his own mouth! But what
shall I say of unfaithful deacons and Elders, and Church members? Their
condemnation will be as just as it is terrible! Why needed they to add
to their other sins the sin of a false profession? If they loved not
Christ they need not have been traitors. There was no necessity for
them to come forward and be baptized into the Triune name! There was no
demand upon them to come to the Table in remembrance of Christ's death
if they were not His! They voluntarily thrust themselves into a
profession which was a lie and into the midst of a Church with which
they were not akin. Surely if He begins first at the House of God, His
judgments will be most terrible upon false professors! For this chaff
there shall

be the unquenchable fire, for it was once upon the Lord's threshing
floor! For this dross there shall be consuming flames, for it was once
in alliance with the precious gold which the King calls His own. I feel
inclined to stop preaching and to pray for myself. The Lord have mercy
upon me in that day! And then to take you all by name, if I could know
you all, one by one, and kneel here and say, "The Lord have mercy upon
this man–this woman–this child–in that day." But I beg you pray it
for yourselves! Now, in the silence of your souls, let this prayer go
up vehemently to Heaven, "O God, have mercy upon me! Have mercy upon me
in that day and to that end have mercy upon me now."

I close, but I never like to close a sermon when it looks like
Jeremiah's roll–written inside and outside with lamentations. Let us
have a sweet word or two to finish with. We spoke of that day–for a
moment let me speak of thisday– of this day! You have not come to that
day yet. Today it is not judgment, but love that rules the hour. Now
the Great White Throne is not yet set, neither is there a trumpet that
rings in your ears, but it is an affectionate voice which speaks to you
and says, "Mercy is still to be had! Mercy is to be had by false
professors! Mercy is to be had by apostates! Mercy is to be had by the
very chief of sinners!" This is a night, this very night, in which
prayer will be answered! God has said, "Seek and you shall find." This
is a night in which Christ waits to be gracious! He is exalted on high
on purpose to give repentance unto Israel, and remission of sins. This
is a night in which sin may be forgiven! You are on praying ground–
you are still on pleading terms! The sentence is not passed. The wax is
still melted and it is not stamped and cold. There is hope for you!
Better than that, there are kind invitations for you–there are loving
exhortations! How long these may stand good, I cannot tell. As far as
any one of us may be concerned, the Judgment Day may come tomorrow. It
may come to all mankind–but as far as the practical fact is
concerned–it may come in death to any one of us tonight. I look round
me, now, and I remember a month ago certain seats in this place that
were occupied by those that are now gone– gone to their account. If it
were right, I think I could point my finger to some of you that are
sitting in the places of dead men. They were their seats. They used to
sit there, some of them, and they rejoiced in every word they heard! Is
a sinner filling a saint's place?

There are some, again, that are gone out of this company who gave us no
evidence of Grace. Alas, is there no sinner sitting in the place where
one sat before him who forgot God? You are all passing away–I am
passing with you. We are all shadows. We fly like an arrow through the
air. We are a wind that passes and it is not. Oh, make sure of eternal
things, Brothers and Sisters! Whatever you lose, lose not Christ!
Whatever you miss, miss not salvation! May God impress you with this
thought. May He impress you, moreover, with this thought–that, "today
is the accepted time; today is the day of salvation"–and may some of
you be unable to sleep tonight until you have found the Savior–

"For should swift death this night overtake you, And your couch become
your tomb," then tomorrow, if unregenerate and unforgiven, you would be
shut up where hope can never come to you! Oh, seek His face tonight!
Dare not permit yourselves to feel the image of death upon you in sleep
unless you have felt the scepter of Christ, touched by faith,
communicate life and pardon to you! Seek Him! Oh, seek Him! Seek Him
while He may be found! Call upon Him while He is near! The Lord bless
you, everyone of you, and may we meet in Heaven without exception, for
Christ's sake! Amen and Amen!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 2 TIMOTHY 1:1-18.

Verse 1. Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according
to thepromise oflife which is in Christ Jesus. Paul takes high ground.
He is not an Apostle by the will of the Church, but an Apostle by the
will of God! God's will is the great motive power in the Church of God.
Some talk a great deal about man's will. What do you think of God's
will, the will of the Almighty? Surely that shall stand! Paul felt that
he had that at the back of him. "Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by
the will of God." Hence he always speaks very boldly. He never asks
leave of anybody. If he is an Apostle by the will of God, he exercises
his office without fear!

2. To Timothy, my dearly beloved son Son in the faith. When all the
ties of natural descent shall be forgotten, son-ship in Christ will
continue. I do not doubt that in Heaven Timothy is still Paul's
son–Paul is still father to Timothy, for the relation is of the
Spirit.

2. Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord. I think I have called upon you to notice that when Paul writes to
a Church, it is, "Grace and peace." Whenever he writes to a minister,
it is, "Grace, mercy, and peace." I have sometimes wondered whether we
ministers need mercy more than other people, and I suppose that we do,
or else the Apostle would not have said, "Grace, mercy, and peace." Oh,
if a minister gets to Heaven, it will be a wonder!

His responsibilities are so great. "Who is sufficient for these
things?" It will be a marvelous display of mercy if any of us shall be
able to say at last, "I am clear of the blood of all men," for we have
not only our own blood, but the blood of others to look to in this
matter.

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
dayFor this Paul thanks God. He never forgot to pray for Timothy, and
it is a matter of thankfulness. When we feel moved to pray, though it
is for another, the spirit of prayer is essentially the same, whatever
its object–and we ought to be thankful when we feel continually able
to pray for a friend. "I thank God," he says, and he says that he had
served God with a pure conscience all his days. So he had, but it was a
blind conscience. At first, when he was a Pharisee, he still served
God, though he then ignorantly persecuted the people of God! Oh, but it
is a good thing sincerely to follow after God. May we be helped to do
so. "I have remembrance of you in my prayers night and day."

4. Greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may
be filled with joy. What were those tears? Tears of holy men and women
are as precious as diamonds! Paul had noticed the tears twinkling in
brother Timothy's eyes–the tears of repentance, the tears of
gratitude, the tears of fervent desire. He had noticed that and, being
mindful of all this, he wished to see that dear face again!
Christianity does not make us unsociable. It gives us new ties of love,
fresh brothers, fresh sons.

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 in you, also. Happy son who has grandmother and mother
before him in the faith! Unhappy young man who has quit the faith of
his fathers and has turned aside altogether. If such are here, we would
remember them in our prayers, but we cannot say that we can remember
them with joy.

6. Therefore I put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God
which is in you by the putting on of my hands.Stir up your gifts like a
fire. It will not burn without sometimes poking. Stir it up! And every
now and then it is a good thing to have the heart stirred up, awakened,
quickened, brought to a higher diligence. We must try to do this.
Perhaps there are some dear friends here who have a large measure of
latent gifts, dormant faculties. Stir up the gift that is in you!

7. For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind. Neither Paul nor Timothy had a cowardly
spirit. They were, neither of them, afraid. God had taught them His
Truths and they knew them, and they held them, defying all opposition.

8. Be not you, therefore, ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of
me, His prisoner. What? Were people ashamed of Paul? Oh, yes, dear
Friends. The great Apostle, because he was persecuted, found himself
despised by some of the very people who owed their souls to him! It is
the lot of those who are faithful to Christ to find even good men
sometimes turning against them. But what of that? They are responsible
to their Master, not to their fellow servants! Yet it is a hard thing
when any come to be ashamed of you–ashamed of you, though you know
that you have done right. I do not wonder that he puts it even to
Timothy, "Be not you, therefore, ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me, His prisoner." Some of us know what it is to have trained
and brought up those about us, who were to us what Timothy was to
Paul–who have been ashamed of us and of the testimony of our Lord.

8. But be you partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to
the power of God. You will need the power of God to do it, and mind you
do it. Take your full share in whatever affliction the Gospel brings
upon Christians. "According to the power of God."

9. Who has saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and Grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. How plain it is that
he earnestly believed in the eternal Election of Believers–in their
being in Christ and in their possession of Grace in Christ. "Grace
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." God's love
to His people is not a thing of yesterday! He loved them before the
world was made and He will love them when the world has ceased to be.
"It was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."

10-12. But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus
Christ who has abolished death, and has brought life and immortality to
light through the Gospel Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an
Apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. Indeed, for this cause I also
suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for Iknow whom I
have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I
have committed unto Him against that day. Paul knew that Grace could
keep his soul, but I think that he here means that he could keep his
own Gospel. Paul had kept it, kept the faith, but he committed it now
into the hands of the Greater One, who would keep it when every Apostle
was

dead, and every faithful witness had passed away. "He is able to keep
that which I have committed unto Him against that day."

13. Holdfast thee form of sound words. Many say they have no creeds,
and there is hardly an Epistle in which there is not a distinct mention
of a creed.

13. Which you have heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ
Jesus. Hold fast the Truth of God. Hold fast the very form and shape of
it! If you are to keep the life that is in an egg, you must not break
the shell. Take care of it all, and take care of it all the more when,
with specious reasoning they say, "We will hold the same Truth of God,
only in a different form." Why a different form at all, if they do not
wish to hold a different Doctrine altogether? No, my Brothers,
especially you that are like young Timothy, take this passage to heart.
"Hold fast the form of sound words, which you have heard of me in faith
and love which is in Christ Jesus."

14. That good thing which was committed unto you keep by the Holy
Spirit which dwells in us. This is what we need! If the Holy Spirit is
in us, we shall never trifle with the Truth. He is the lover and
revealer of Truth, and we shall press the Doctrines of the Word of God
and the Word of God, itself, nearer and nearer to our hearts in
proportion as the Holy Spirit dwells in us!

15. This you know, that all they who are in Asia have turned away from
me; What? Turned away from Paul? Some people think it is an awful thing
because certain people turn away from a minister of Christ. It is not
an awful thing at all, except for them! Paul stands fast–even he, the
bravest of the brave–and they all turn aside from him. What of that?
Does Paul flinch? No, not he! "This you know, that all they who are in
Asia have turned away from me."

15. Of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. Two men who ought to have
known better! Paul evidently fixed his eyes upon them–more bitter than
others, more perverse, more cruel, more willfully guilty in turning
aside from him.

16, 17. The Lord grant mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he
often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he was
in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. You could not
tell in Rome where a prisoner was. The registers were not open to
investigation. You had to go from prison to prison, and pay the guards
to get admission, or to be told who might be there, but Onesiphorus was
determined to find Paul. I suppose that he went to the Mamertine, a
dungeon in which some of us have been–one dungeon under the bottom of
another. The first one has no light, except through a round hole at the
top. And the second has a round hole through which you drop into the
lower one. We think that Paul was there. It is a tradition that he was.
And then there is the Palatine prison, which was at the guard house of
the Praetorian guards, near the palace on the Palatine Hill. There Paul
certainly was, and Onesiphorus went from one jail to another. "Have you
seen a little Jew with weak eyes?" I daresay that was his description
of him. "He is a friend of mine. I want to speak with him." "What? That
Paul?–the man that is chained to one or another of us every morning?
We have twelve hours of it and he preaches to us most of the time! And
we know it by the time we are let go again!" "Oh, that is the man,"
said Onesiphorus. "That is the man! Does he talk about Jesus Christ?"
"Oh, nothing else but that. He will not let any soldier go from being
bound to him without hearing about Jesus Christ." "That is my man,"
said Onesiphorus. He sought him out very diligently, and he found him!

18. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy from the Lord in
that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, you
know very well.