Not Being Ashamed of Christ, Part 3 B

He never does say to Timothy, what group do you want to be in? He doesn't need to.

He just divides so clearly and you say to yourself, boy, I want to be like Onesiphorus, I don't want to be like Phagellus and Hermogenes. Choose your associates, folks. You want to be among the courageous who name the name of Christ and pay the price, or do you want to be among the cowards who deny Him?

It's your choice. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. If you're a Christian, I trust you've had opportunities to tell nonbelievers what it means to follow Christ. Perhaps a co-worker tells you about his struggles with depression and hopelessness, and you know the truth that can set him free from his fears. Or maybe a neighbor tells you a loved one has passed away, and the family is looking to you for answers. In that moment, everything you know compels you to point them toward Christ and biblical truth, but you're afraid to speak.

What's the antidote to those crippling fears? How can you faithfully and boldly proclaim Christ in any situation? Well, today on Grace to You, John MacArthur will show you how to live with fearless commitment to Christ in his study titled, Unashamed. Here's John with today's lesson.

John MacArthur Paul says, I minister unashamedly. I suffer unashamedly because I trust my security. So he says, I trust my security.

He'll be able to keep me. Now notice this marvelous truth, the end of verse 12. Until that day...what day is that day? Look at verse 18. The Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day.

What day is that day? Chapter 4, verse 8. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on...what? That day and not to me but also to all who have loved His appearing.

All believers. All believers are going to have a day when they receive the crown of righteousness on that day. What day is that? That's the day when the Lord comes to reward His church. That day, the day of rewards, the day of the judgment seat of Christ. Romans 14, 10 talks about the judgment seat of Christ. Second Corinthians 5, 9 and 10 talks about the judgment seat of Christ. There's coming a day when Jesus will come to reward us. Revelation 22, 12, Behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be.

So the Lord Jesus, I believe, takes the church up in the rapture and right after that we come to what's called the bema and we receive rewards. That's what Paul is saying. I know that the Lord is able to hold on to my life until I stand that day to receive my eternal reward.

That's confidence, isn't it? I trust my security. I don't need to preserve my life. I believe in Him who is able to keep me from falling and present me blameless before His throne, Jude 24 says. I believe in the God out of whose hands I can never be plucked, John 10. I believe in the words of Jesus that all that the Father gives to me shall come to me and I have lost none of them but will raise Him up at the last day. Paul is saying, I'm going to go and give my life and abandon my life to the cause of Christ because I trust my security and my security is the Lord Himself. So what is there to preserve? Does He need me to do that?

Does He need me to make sure everything works out right? No, we have supreme assurance. Oh, what a marvelous thing. Just imagine if that one doctrine wasn't true. Just imagine if everything in the gospel was true except the fact that the Lord kept you saved.

How would you like that? What a horrible, horrible, fearful omission that would be. But you can trust your life to the Lord and not all the demons in hell can touch you.

Great truth. So, you want to be courageous? Renew your gift. Consider your resources. Accept your suffering. Remember your God.

Realize your duty and trust your security. Number seven, affirm your doctrine. Affirm your doctrine.

Boy, this is so important. He says to Timothy, look now, retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you. He just talked about...Paul just talked about his life being entrusted to God. Now he talks about God entrusting the treasure to Timothy.

It goes both ways. What's he talking about? He's talking about doctrine. Go back to verse 13. Retain means to hold tightly or firmly to grasp. Hold tightly to the standard. It means the structure, the outline, the model, the pattern of sound words, healthy, wholesome, life-giving words, true doctrine, truth. That term is used in 1 Timothy, the strength of calling this young man to hold to truth and sound doctrine. So much at the heart of everything that Paul instructed him. So he is saying, guard the truth, verse 14.

Retain the standard of sound, wholesome, life-giving words. Be committed to the proper theological structure, the proper interpretation of Scripture, the proper outline of the truth that produces spiritual growth, spiritual maturity. Have a theology.

Let me put it to you very simply, folks. The reason most people don't have the courage of their convictions is because they don't have convictions. Before you can put your life on the line for what you believe, you have to believe it. We live in a time in the Christian church when the church is ah-theological. In fact, if you hold firmly strong doctrine, people think you're unloving and antagonistic and sermonettes for Christianettes and pious platitudes and ah-theological kind of sort of pablum stuff that's being passed off as Bible teaching is woefully lacking in building backbone into Christian people because it has no sense of conviction.

People want to hear fair speeches and words that tickle their ears and make them feel good about themselves. So he says, hold to the truth. And beloved, I'm just telling you this, part of courage in ministry comes because you have such strong convictions.

People with strong convictions tend to be bold. But notice the balance of it in verse 13. While you're retaining this structure and pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, that's the apostolic doctrine that Paul had passed to Timothy under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, he says the things that you have heard that you're holding on to retain in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

What does he mean by that? He means you hold them first with a right attitude toward God, that is, trustingly in faith. Don't hold your theology with doubt. Hold your theology with faith. Don't have a theology that is a theology of doubt. Well, I think I know what I believe, but I'm not sure.

I was sure a few weeks ago before I read this. Now I don't know if I know anymore. Don't hold your theology in doubt. Hold it in faith and hold it in love. Speak the truth in love, it says in Ephesians 4.15.

Speak the truth in love. So you hold it in faith, not wavering. As James says, if anybody wavers, he's like a man who's tossed and driven by the sea, unstable soul.

Don't be like that. Don't have doubt. Be assured that what you believe is true. Don't have a doubting orthodoxy and don't have a dead orthodoxy, a loveless, cold, insensitive orthodoxy. So retain it but hold it with faith toward God and love toward man and that way you'll be doing it in the Spirit of Christ Jesus who provides that faith and provides that love.

And then verse 14, he says the same thing another way. Guard, keep safe it means, preserve from corruption or destruction. He sees Timothy as a defender of the faith. Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Romans 8 and 9 says that every Christian has the Holy Spirit. If any man have not the Holy Spirit, he's none of his. So everyone has the Holy Spirit who knows Christ. And he says the Spirit is in us, then through His power guard...what? The treasure, that's that paratheke which has been entrusted to you.

And what is the treasure? Truth, the Word of God. First Timothy 6, 20 and 21, we are as a church the guardians of the truth. That's our primary mission. We are to guard the truth. We are to secure the truth. We are to hold to the truth.

That's the issue. What a challenge. Now the deposit of my life with God is secure. How secure is the deposit of God's Word with me? Boy, I tell you, those people who defect, those colleges and seminaries and churches and so forth that deviate from the Word of God will indeed have a day of accounting to face because they have done the one thing that God warned not to do and that is they have failed to retain the truth.

They have failed to guard the truth. The treasure, the deposit that was entrusted to you. God has entrusted His Word to me. This is the most solemn responsibility that I have in my life. And I have a solemn responsibility for the trust of my wonderful wife. I have a solemn responsibility for the trust of my dear children, but they combined do not come to the level of the trust that I have to maintain the integrity of the Word of God. That's the most sacred trust I have. I am more than anything a guardian of the truth and so are you. All of us are. So he says, look Timothy, hold on to your sound doctrine.

If you're going to have courage, you have to have convictions to have courage about. And you ought to thank God if you have a solid conviction in your heart about the truths of God's Word. You're rare. You know what?

You're a rare person. In fact, when your other Christian relatives come to visit, you may even have arguments because you believe some things so strongly that they don't believe and they vacillate, but you don't. Thank God that you have a strong understanding of Scripture and stand for your convictions and hold your doctrine in faith toward God not doubting and in love toward men not abusing. Lastly, choose your associates. Boy, this is so important. I couldn't figure out how this last section fit in and I was going over it and over it and over it in my little study and I just didn't see how it all fit in. And all of a sudden it just hit me like a bull. I know how this fits in. He's throwing in this little deal at the end here to crystallize into two groups those that are ashamed and those that aren't. You say, I read that once and that was obvious to me. Well, I'm a little thick.

It took me about a whole afternoon to land on that one. And that's what he's saying. Choose your associates. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, 33, bad company corrupts good morals. Who you run around with is very important. You get around courageous people and guess what? You start feeling courageous. You get around weak, spineless people and you'll begin to feel like they feel. One's boldness and one's courage has a lot to do with one's associates.

You ever think about that? The way you live your Christian life identifies with a whole wide group of people who choose to live that way. I don't know what group you want to be in. I'd sort of like to identify with the Hebrews 11 group if I had my choice.

Or with the group that Paul was in. I'd like to be in that group. Or the group that the great missionaries and faithful saints of God through the centuries are in. That's the group I'd like to be identified with. So choose your group.

And so he gives two options. Group one, verse 15, you are aware of the fact that all...boy, what a word...all who are in Asia, Asia Minor, where Ephesus was a leading city, turned away from me, among whom are Phagellus and Hermogenes. You're aware. Why was Timothy aware? Because these people were in Asia where Timothy had been for several years ministering in Ephesus. You're aware that when I was taken prisoner and the persecution came against the Christians that all those people who are in that area of Asia Minor turned away from me.

They didn't want anything to do with me. They were ashamed of me because once I became a prisoner, they didn't want to be identified with me at all because they feared that they too would be imprisoned. That's what he means when he says, don't be ashamed of the Lord or of me His prisoner. You see, being identified with Paul was a dead giveaway about what you believed.

And if they had put Paul in prison, there was every reason to put you in prison if you were associated with Paul. And so what happened in Asia Minor was many of the teachers and those who had gone along with Paul, as soon as Paul was incarcerated, clammed up, wanted nothing to do with Paul and wanted no one to know they had anything to do with Paul. They were very much like Peter standing by the fireside at the trial of Christ saying, I never knew the man and cursing with an oath. They were ashamed.

They were cowardly, trying to protect themselves. And he says, all who were in Asia repudiated, or literally deserted me. That's the Greek word in its literal sense, deserted me.

And then he names two, Phagellus and Hermogenes. We don't know anything about them, but Paul certainly didn't sweep this under the rug. I mean he tells the whole wide world for every generation yet to come that these two guys were well-known defectors. Maybe they were leaders, pastors, elders in one of the churches in Asia Minor, maybe even in Ephesus. Maybe they went around saying how much they were enchanted with the proclamation of the gospel. Maybe they sought to do that, but once the persecution started, they were not interested in being identified with Paul at all. I'll tell you, the pain of ministry, disloyal people who when the going gets difficult disappear very fast and get critical and start picking at you the people that you have spent your life feeding and nurturing and that's a heartbreaker.

It's a heartbreaker for Paul and for anyone. They weren't even willing to identify with Paul at all, though they had gained everything he had to give. They had literally taken his life. He had spent himself to get them the message of Christ to save them. He had given himself to teach them. He had carried the burden of their defections and their spiritual failures and longed as a woman bringing birth to a child that Christ would be formed in them. And here they are denying they even know the man. Sad, no wonder he was lonely as verse 4 of chapter 1 indicates, sitting in that dungeon. And so he says to Timothy, you're aware of the fact, not speculation, but the fact that all are in Asia turned away from me. Paul doesn't let them off the hook. He doesn't in the name of quote, unquote, love slide it under the carpet and deny it. He articulates their names for the whole wide world to hear because they are defectors. He doesn't have some loving obligation to hide that. In fact, in his own teaching in 1 Timothy he said, the elders that sin rebuke before what?

All that others may fear. It may well be that these were two elders. Let the church know who they are. Let the church know of their spiritual defection and cowardice. I want to label that group, that ashamed group, that cowardly group, that defector group. So Timothy, if that's your group, then go on over to that group of the Phagellus Hermogenes Association.

That's the Hall of Shame, not the Hall of Fame. That's for people who deny Christ. Choose your group, Timothy.

Choose your group. And then in verse 16, the Lord, here's the second group, the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me. The Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day.

That's that day of rewards, that day when we see the Lord Jesus. And you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus. Now he identifies another guy that Timothy knows. Timothy knew Phagellus and Hermogenes, otherwise Paul would have explained who they were. Likely they were elders in the church. He also knew Onesiphorus and his whole household were godly people. The gospel had come to that household and the whole family had embraced Christ and no doubt deserve commendation because of their love. In fact, in chapter 4 verse 19, he encourages Timothy to greet the household of Onesiphorus.

So they lived in Ephesus. They weren't ashamed of Paul. And he says in that day when they faced Jesus Christ, I pray that he'll give them mercy, that he'll give them reward, in other words, because they were never ashamed of me. It says in verse 16, he often refreshed me...often...often.

Eager to come alongside the inspired apostle, eager to provide some encouraging personal ministry, not fearing the identification or association at all. He was not even ashamed of his chains. Literally that means handcuffs or manacles, but it broadens to mean his imprisonment in general. This didn't deter the man. In fact, when he came to Rome, he searched eagerly for me until he found me. He searched all over the city trying to find where he was and found him in that dungeon. He had lived in Ephesus and come to Rome maybe on business or maybe specifically to minister to Paul.

He pursued the location of Paul and he was a man who was unashamed. And so he says also in the end of verse 18, you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus. You know his ministry there.

He probably was...very well could be an elder or pastor also. And you know the kind of service he did there. You know the kind of man he is and the implication of these two groups. And he never does say to Timothy, what group do you want to be in?

He doesn't need to. He just divides so clearly and you say to yourself, boy, I want to be like Onesiphorus, I don't want to be like Phagellus and Hermogenes. Choose your associates, folks. You want to be among the courageous who name the name of Christ and pay the price, or do you want to be among the cowards who deny Him?

It's your choice. You want to be with those who are loyal, courageous, steadfast, faithful, bold, unashamed, those who renew their spiritual gift in usefulness, those who understand their spiritual resources for any situation, those who accept and anticipate the possibility and reality of suffering, those who remember the power of their God and His great grace, those who recognize their duty, those who totally trust their life into the hands of their Savior and are secure, those who live to defend the truth. If you do, then choose your group. Your group is the household of Onesiphorus.

That's your group. See, courage is demanded of any servant of God, moral courage and sometimes even physical courage. Martin Luther, the great instrument of God in the Reformation in the 1500s possessed this tremendous quality of courage.

He stood against the whole Roman Catholic system, in fact the whole political system which was embraced in Catholicism. It has been asserted that he was perhaps as fearless a man as ever has lived. When he set out on his momentous journey to the city of Worms, he said, you can expect from me everything except fear or recantation.

You can expect from me everything except fear or recantation. Then he said, I shall not flee, much less recant. They wanted him to deny salvation by grace through faith. His friends warning him, writes the biographer of the grave dangers he faced, sought to dissuade him. But Luther would not be dissuaded.

Not go to Worms, he said, I shall go to Worms though there were as many devils as tiles on the roofs. And when Luther appeared before the emperor, he was called on to recant. They insisted that he should say in a word whether he would recant or no. Unless convinced by the Holy Scripture or by clear reasons from other sources, I cannot recant, he declared. To councils or pope, I cannot defer for they have often erred my conscience as a prisoner to God's Word.

When again given an opportunity to recant, he folded his hands. Here I stand. I can do no other.

God, help me. Recalling that incident, Luther described his feelings. I was afraid of nothing. God can make one so desperately bold. Wonderful testimony.

How is it that we can be desperately bold? Listen to this testimony. Second Chronicles chapter 32.

The people of Judah face the enemy of Assyria. Listen to this. Here comes the exhortation.

It's wonderful. This is it from Hezekiah the king. Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria, nor because of all the multitude which is with him.

Then this, for the one with us is greater than the one with them. With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. Tremendous confidence, tremendous courage when we understand who He is who has equipped us and is with us.

Let's bow in prayer. Gracious Father, how thankful we are for the exhilarating power of this passage that comes and breaks on our hearts, flooding us with a new sense of devotion, a new encouragement to be bold for the sake of Christ. Oh, help us, Lord, not to preserve our own lives but to give ourselves away under proper motivation and with a pervasive attitude of courage. May we go forth in the name of Christ, confident, confident that what we have committed into your care is safe until the day we see Jesus, that day to receive the reward for our service done. Father, I pray that every one of us will renew that commitment in our hearts for the Savior's glory.

Amen. That's John MacArthur, chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, showing you what it looks like to live fearlessly for Christ. His current study on grace to you is titled Unashamed. Well, John, if there's one takeaway from today's concluding lesson, it's this. Find someone who is courageous, who has biblical convictions, and learn from him or her.

Talk a little bit about what that has looked like in your life. Who modeled courage for you? I think from my earliest years as a Christian, it was the Apostle Paul, really, who showed me what courage looked like. I think he became my hero in every sense as I followed his life through the book of Acts and through all of his epistles. He had such immovable convictions, and he is the one of all the writers of the New Testament who chronicles everything that happened to him because of his convictions. If you go through 2 Corinthians, it just continually going through there. He talks about what he endured, how he was abused, how he was mistreated, how he was maligned, how he was criticized.

I mean, he just never stopped. In chapter 11 of 2 Corinthians, he lists all these things about being beaten and shipwrecked and stoned and mistreated. He's the man of courage that has always been my personal hero. Obviously, my dad was a pastor, and he was faithful to the end. I had professors in my life who were faithful, and I know Christian men in ministry today that are faithful and courageous and bold, and they're my friends.

But none of us has ever had to go to jail, certainly not go to jail in every city we visit, but that was Paul. So he's the one who showed me what it really is to be unashamed. So this study has looked at the Apostle Paul's words of encouragement and exhortation about this issue given to Timothy and through Timothy given to all of us.

You couldn't learn from someone better. Paul is the premier illustration of how to be unashamed of Christ and take the suffering that comes in a triumphant way. We've seen that a believer devoted to Christ embraces sound doctrine, discipleship, self-sacrifice, suffering, and spiritual gifts. That's a great study for someone who, like Timothy, is struggling spiritually and needs to be reminded of the courage and power God promises his children. Well, the series Unashamed is available on four MP3 downloads at gty.org free of charge.

And if you'd like a CD album, if that's best for you, we can get that to you for a reasonable price. And remember the companion study guide for the series titled Unashamed, brand new. Pick up the Unashamed series in the new study guide today.

Yes, and thank you, John. Friend, if this series has strengthened your boldness, consider sharing it with a friend or family member who might benefit from it as well. To download the series titled Unashamed or to get the companion study guide by the same name, contact us today. You can download all four messages free of charge in MP3 and transcript format from our website, gty.org.

Or as John mentioned, the series is reasonably priced on a four CD album if that's best for you. And for the Unashamed study guide, the price is $7 and shipping is free. To order, go to gty.org or call 800-55-GRACE.

That number translates to 800-55-47223. Well friend, we receive letters from people around the world letting us know how thankful they are for this ministry. So keep in mind, it's a listener supported ministry and it's people like you who make this daily broadcast possible. To partner with us and take part in ministering to people in communities like yours, near and far, mail your tax-deductible donation to Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California 91412. You can also donate online at gty.org or when you call 800-55-GRACE. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Be sure to watch Grace To You television Sundays on DirecTV channel 378 or watch anytime at gty.org and be back tomorrow to learn what it takes to evangelize effectively. Don't miss the next half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace To You.