Hold Fast and Keep

Thank you, pastor. Turn your Bibles to Second Timothy chapter 1. Second Timothy chapter 1. If you don't mind, I want to pray before we get into God's word tonight. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the opportunity that we have to come together to worship you and be able to fellowship with other believers and then now to open your word so that you may speak to us. And I do ask that you would um use me tonight uh as a mouthpiece to be able to um just clearly state what your word says. And if father would you speak to our hearts, open our eyes and our ears to you. And would you help us to be challenged by what Paul is writing to Timothy?

Father, we love you so much. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Second Timothy chapter 1. If you remember, we left off on verse number 12 last week. And so tonight, we're going to pick up verse number 13 and 14. But before I get into our text, I wanted to kind of set up uh what is happening. And I wanted to set up um what I feel is Paul's tone as he's speaking to Timothy. So when I was in elementary uh my school uh the Catholic school that I had mentioned I had gone to uh was holding a um a race day and so my school was divided up into different teams. Uh I was I believe I was on the red team and so there was a blue team, yellow team and a and a green team as well.

And we went uh we had a field trip. We went, it's a race day, so we were got on the bus, everybody in their colors, red, blue, and all these. And we went to the field that was the only field on island that could hold our school. And so we went to the field and we had our own sections. And I remember it came to the relay race time. And I that was the race that I was going to run. Um, at that time I was a chubby little kid. Uh it was about second grade or so, but I uh I had uh I I enjoyed rice and therefore uh the evidence was clear. Uh but I was I was on the field and uh it was my turn to to be able to race in on this relay race.

So relay race is pretty much there's about four runners and there's batons and the first runner they go they're challenging other competitors that are on that line on that field around that track. And so there's four that are on the on the line right there because there's four teams there. Um I was going to be third in line. So I had two other teammates in front of me. They were running their races. And uh I had the first one. He ran um he I believe he was second on that first round around that track. And then the second guy ran uh he came in I believe second as well. And it was my turn. So as soon as they ran we went up and we got ready.

And I was getting ready too because this was my moment. and I had two weeks to train and I was ready to do this race. And so I was like I was just waiting for my my partner to pass that baton. And so I don't remember if I went backwards or forward. I believe I went forward just to get extra some extra steps. I went forward a little bit and then got my hand in the back just to be ready. And as soon as my my friend or my um teammate passed that baton, I I I held on to that baton and I ran as fast as I could. Um, two people passed me. I was like, "It's okay. I'm still going." But you know what was in my mind?

There was another guy that was racing by me. That was my goal. My goal was to beat this guy. I don't care if I lose. I'm just going to beat this guy. Um, and I actually I actually did beat the guy. I came in third place and I actually got a prize for that. I'll tell you what the prize is at the end. But the reason why I'm using this illustration of a race, a relay race, Paul uses this imagery to um explain or to kind of encourage Christians that you are in fact in a race. Um we're not we're not challenging each other. We're not uh trying to out compete somebody else, but we are in a race for Jesus Christ.

And you know the Bible says at the end of it um it uses uh these words of a person that has done their best and the Lord would say well done thou good and faithful servant. And just think about that imagery of a race because a race requires us to actually compete. And it does require us to not just cruise and not just kind of think, oh, I'll just go to church and everything will be okay. Um, I'll do a little bit here and there. The Bible says that as Christians, we are to do our best. Um, do all to the glory of God. And so, here's a couple verses that Paul uses this im imagery. In 1 Corinthians chapter number 9 verse number 24 down to 26 the Bible says this.

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize. So run that you may obtain and every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it uh to obtain a corruptible crown. But we and incorruptible I therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight so fight I not as one that beatth the air. Um, we are to run to obtain um the the all all things around us are temperate. We're we're to be temperate in all things or to be controlled, self-controlled in all things. In Galatians chapter number 5:7, Paul also says this, "Ye did run well. Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth?"

And this is Paul challenging a church that where there's these leaders that are coming in and they're perverting the gospel. And Paul is amazed that what you were doing so well, why are you so soon turn away unto another gospel. And then he says it in Philippians chapter number two verse number 16. He says, "Holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain neither labored in vain." He also says it later on in this letter to Timothy in chapter 4:7. He says, "I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."

If you hear the tone of Paul's voice, he is at the end of his ministry. He doesn't know it. But from history, we understand that after this, Paul is executed. This is the end of Paul's ministry. This is the end of all his faithfulness to Jesus Christ. And he's writing this letter and the urgency of this letter to this servant, Timothy, a young servant. It it it's so evident that Paul really wants Timothy to understand that it's now his turn. that it that Paul has done his best, but Timothy now needs to take that baton and he needs to run and he needs to run with it. Paul's in prison as as he's writing this letter.

As we've when we introduce the letter, this is uh the context of it. Paul is in a dungeon. Uh in fact, it's a cold dungeon because later on he talks about bringing his coat. But Paul is encouraging Timothy as a father but also as a coach here. And um we see in 2 Timothy chapter number one verse number six and verse number 7. It seems that Timothy has slowed down a little bit. And the reason why I say that is because in verse number six, Paul says this. He says, "Stir up the gift of God which is in thee." That phrase there just means to rekindle the fire. Don't let your zeal fade. Is what Paul is telling Timothy here in verse number seven.

He says, "For God had not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." That phrase sound mind here can also be translated as self-disipline. And so what Paul the I mean the very fact that Paul is encouraging Timothy to kind of stir up the passion that he had gotten in the beginning shows that Timothy must have strayed a little bit. Now he's he's the pastor at Ephesus. He's he's going through these dramas and troubles that that are being caused in Ephesus. But here Paul is writing to Timothy and it seems that maybe Paul heard that Timothy must have gotten or lost his zeal a little bit.

And the fact that he's telling telling him to not be fearful but that God has given us a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline shows that maybe Timothy was fearful. I mean, if you consider the context of of this letter, Christians are being persecuted. And then in verse number eight, Paul says, "Don't be ashamed not only of the gospel, but also of me." And we we'll actually see this in the next time that we we read this, but we're going to read about uh Figilus and Hermilius, which is in verse number 15. I just butchered that name. You can read it yourself. But there's these two guys who are from this church in Asia.

And the Bible says or Paul says that all of these people have left me. And maybe it's because they've been ashamed of Paul. And maybe it's because they've been ashamed of the gospel of Christ. And so you see as you re you're reading this letter that Paul is writing, you just see that Paul is pulling these people like I'm by myself. I just I wish I could see you right now. And he's saying like, I I I look forward to the day that I can see you again, Timothy. We see that in the beginning of this letter as well. But we see that Paul is challenging Timothy to focus. You're not you're not supposed to just be cruise uh on cruise control.

If you don't know how to drive, that just means that, you know, you're just it's just kind of going it's not necessarily going faster or slower. That's we're not I I I'm sorry if I um I heard this um but somebody said that somebody had a question about the Bible and nobody was able to respond back. And the challenge was like, come on, we should do better. Like if we were to have a pop quiz right now about scripture, would you know your Bible? Like, would you actually know what the Bible says? Um, it's NFL season. Uh, I love my team, Patriots. It's going to the top. Um, but some of us are more excited about our our sports teams.

We're more excited about um who we represent. We're more excited about pop culture and the idols that maybe we listen to than we are about the Bible. And if that's ever the case, that's a problem cuz we're not we're in a race and we're not meant to just kind of, oh, it's okay, fly by. We are have been given the baton of the gospel, and as a church, we're meant to run with it. And are we doing that? Now, I'm kind of skipping ahead, but let's just get to the the passage here. 2 Timothy chapter number one, verse number 13. [snorts] The Bible says this, "Hold fast the form of sound words which thou has heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."

The f the phrase hold fast here means to grip firmly or to cling to something and not let go. It carries the idea of holding possession of the mind, keeping your convictions firm in your heart even under pressure or fear. What Paul is saying is Timothy, don't loosen your grip on the truth. It's like running a relay and you don't hold you don't hold the baton loosely. You have to hold firm on that baton. You grip it tightly so you don't drop it. Paul goes on to say the form or hold fast the form of sound words. The phrase form of sound words here means um the word f uh form it's a pattern of healthy teaching.

So form here in the Greek carries the idea of the idea of a pattern or a blueprint um or a model. It's something to trace your life after. Um and then the word sound here comes from the Greek word which which is where we get our word hygiene. And so the word sound is hygiene and it means healthy, whole, clean and free from corruption. And so what Paul is saying is hold fast or hold on tight unto these um truths pattern of truths that will make you healthy, that will make you clean, that will make you strong. And uh he doesn't specify what those words were, but we understand that this is most likely referring to the gospel.

This is referring to the teachings of Jesus Christ as as Paul has learned. This is most likely referring back to scripture. itself. Um, you have to understand that Timothy didn't have the Bible like we do in today. Like we are so privileged to have scripture in entire in its entirety. Like we have all 66 books and we don't need to go seeking out what letter who what letter Paul wrote to what church because we actually have it. Like we don't even just have it here. It's on our phones. We we can't escape it cuz we we can seek it out and it's there. Timothy didn't have that. So the pattern or the the blueprint that Paul is talking about is just it's truth.

It's Timothy has spent time with Paul going uh house to house, city to city, preaching the gospel, preaching truth to the people. Timothy was there. And so Paul is saying remember those truths, the truths that I taught to those people. Remember the truths that I taught to you. Remember it. Hold fast onto those truths and don't don't let let go of them. Sound doctrine is is healthy teaching. It it strengthens rather than weakens. It heals rather than harms. A church that teaches sound doctrine is a strong church. If you find a church that doesn't teach sound doctrine, just run away from that church cuz you're not going to grow.

You need a church that will teach you what the word of God says. You need a church that will teach you what the gospel is. And the gospel is very clear. I mean the fact that Paul writes to Galatia, the Galatian Christians and say, "I am so amazed that you would turn away from this gospel. You're so easily swayed by this person that comes in and knows how to speak and knows how to teach and yet they are perverting the gospel and what they are saying." If if there was a false teacher that came to Hana Baptist Church, would you understand that that is actually false? Like would you identify that? How much of the Bible do you know for you to actually know, wait a minute, I am not going to listen to this guy because this guy is is preaching heresy.

This guy is preaching falsely. That's the danger of just getting by. That's the danger of of just being okay with being spoonfed instead of actually eating God's word. I I was reading uh the letter to the Corinthians and Paul in chapter 1 2 or it's somewhere in the early chapters but Paul is writing to these Christians there's a lot these are baby Christians in a sense and he's like I want to give you more of God's truth but because you're so carnal I cannot I want to teach you more Bible but because you're so immature in the faith I just cannot and I guess the question for you would be like, "Where are you?

Have you just been cruising by? Are you just okay with going to church on Sundays and then the rest of the days you're not even going to worship God? It's not even going to spend time in in scripture. [snorts] It's a reminder that this is a race." And the fact that Paul is telling Timothy to hold fast means that it's it's it's an active thing that needs to happen. It's not something that you just kind it just happens. It's something that you actually have to do. Hold fast. While Paul doesn't specify the sound word, it's clear that he is referring to the core truths about God, about scripture, and the gospel itself.

But notice though how Paul tells Timothy how to hold it. He says it. He says it in this verse again verse 13. He says in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Faith and love are the two hands that hold truth tight uh rightly. Faith here carries the idea of the truth that I've been taught from scripture. the gospel, I am to hold it fully believing that it is true. That is what faith is. Is actually trusting that this is in fact the word of God and this is in fact from God himself. That is what faith. But I think it also carries the idea of of hope because we're not just carrying this hopelessly.

Yeah, persecution might come and and and no doubt I mean Paul has been persecuted. He's in prison as as he's writing this. And maybe there will come a day when America does get into persecution. We're we're privileged in the time that we live in right now. But having the hope that what I'm holding on to is for the Lord. And regardless of what happens to me, to my body, to my life, I know that to be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord. And so it's it's faith. it's holding it truly believing that this is this is in fact true. And then he says in love. Um this carries the idea of a Christlike attitude that handles truth with humility, gentleness, and care for others.

Um Paul's instruction shows that holding fast to truth isn't just about accuracy, but about our attitude as well. How we're carrying the truth. The same truth that guards our doctrine should also shape our demeanor. Paul is saying, Timothy, hold truth tightly, but hold it tenderly. Truth must be gripped firmly so it isn't lost, but handled lovingly so it isn't weaponized. I think sometimes when uh we know truth we can get arrogant and we we can it can actually cause us to look down on people and sometimes we get so frustrated some sometimes it's not even with the world but it's with our brothers and sisters and so we we we get frustrated with them and and why why they're not holding it listening to that truth and we can weaponize that truth that we have that we were commanded to hold on to.

It's possible to be right in doctrine but wrong in spirit. And that's why Paul ties faith and love to sound words because sound doctrine must always produce sound living. It must always produce sound living. Let me take you to a couple verses here. 1 Timothy chapter number one. Paul wrote this to Timothy in the in his first letter. He says uh holding faith uh he says holding faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck. Um holding faith isn't just believing it's staying steady when others drift. In Hebrews chapter number 10 verse 23 the Bible says this let it let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that

promised our faith isn't doesn't rest on the faith or our our faith in actually rest on the faithfulness of God and it's not on our own strength in 1 Corinthians chapter number 13 verse number two the Bible says this and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. Faith [snorts] without love is empty, and knowledge without love is cold. Ephesians 4:15 says this, "But speaking the truth in love may grow up in may [clears throat] grow, excuse me, may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ." Truth and love are not opposites. They are partners in Christlike maturity.

Colossians, Paul wrote this to the Colossian Christians. He said, "And above all things, Colossians 3:14, put on charity, which is the bond of perfection. Love [clears throat] ties everything together, even doctrine, into a complete whole." So, as we're holding this truth, as we're holding fast to the truth, we need to hold it in faith and in love, which is in Christ Jesus. Then obviously you can only get in enter this race if you have Jesus Christ. If you don't have Jesus Christ and this race you're not even running it. You're not even part of the race. And so in order to be in this race you have to accept Christ as savior.

And then when you are running this race understand that you're not running this alone. You have Jesus Christ. And as you're running it you need to rely on Christ to run it. So the question tonight is this. [snorts] Are we holding fast to the truth? It's hard to hold on to something that we actually do not believe in. So if you don't believe in the truth, it's going to be hard for you to run that race. That's actually a challenge for Christians because you might be a Christian Christian and you're running this race, but you're you're like not confident on what you're actually holding on to. Why is that though?

Why aren't you confident in the truth that you have been given? If you're not, then you need to seek the Lord out and ask for uh wisdom or ask for clarity or ask for knowledge so he can give you that clarity that you need. So you can get that knowledge and be confident in it. There's that phrase knowledge is power and what you know there's you just have confident in. The Bible says this in Galatians chapter 5 verse number 6 he says um faith at the end of that he says faith which workketh by love genuine faith always expresses itself through love and then 1 Thessalonians 5'8 says this putting on the breastplate of faith and love and both of these faith and love protect the heart against doubt and bitterness and so we need faith and love as we're running this race and so that's verse number Just like in a relay race, it's not enough to grab the baton.

You have to guard it until the finish line. And so as you're if you're running it, um if you're not if you're not holding on to it, uh tightly, it's going to fall. I was looking up statist actually pastor uh gave me this interesting statistics. Uh the US the Olympics US has dropped the baton or had made some kind of error uh 11 times since 1995. And so those are 11 times that they um either lost the race or had some kind of error and so they they either lost the baton or just didn't hold on to it tightly. In our faith, we need you to hold on to that baton. Because this faith isn't just about us holding on to it until the end so we could be rewarded.

This is about us holding on to it so we can pass it on to that next generation, to that next Christian that is still uh in the weak in the faith that needs you to carry it on for him too. But in verse number 14, we see this Bible says this, that good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. Paul now moves from holding to keeping. And the word keep here actually has the idea of guard or to protect or preserve from corruption or loss. It's an active word. It's not it's not meant to be passive. It means to watch carefully over a treasure entrusted to your care.

And we have been entrusted [snorts] with with scripture with the gospel with the truths with the doctrines that we have learned through scripture. [snorts] That good thing here refers to the sacred trust of sound doctrine and ministry responsibility that God had placed in Timothy's hands. Paul is at the end of his ministry and he's telling Timothy, "These are the things that God has given to you. Run with those things." Paul used similar language in his first letter. He said it at the end of his first letter. 1 Timothy chapter number 6 verse number 20. He says, "Oh Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust."

And Timothy's job wasn't to improve the gospel. It was to protect it. It wasn't to uh preserve it, but it was to pass it on unchanged. And sometimes we feel like we receive the gospel, let's edit it a little bit, and then we'll pass it on. That's not our job. Our job is not to to edit or change whatever it is that we've been given. Our job is to simply hold it and then pass it on and to keep it and to protect it. As Paul would later say in in 2 Timothy chapter number two in verse number two, we use this as our disciplehip um verse theme verse, Paul said this, "And the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also."

And I think Paul's concern here is generational faithfulness. It's just keep passing it on. Keep passing it on. The gospel baton must be passed unbroken. In u like I said, it's uh it's NFL season and we all know that the Patriots are going to the top, but in NFL there's uh different positions and there's the running back and there's the quarterback obviously, but when you're on offense, you are to hold the ball and you are to protect that ball. um our our Patriots running backs uh Raman Ramandre Stevenson, he's had a rough two seasons in the past the past two seasons. He's dropped the ball nine times.

Nine times he's dropped the ball and that's not good. That's not good for NFL player. Um but he he just couldn't protect it. Um although he did really good in today's game against the Titans. Titans lost. Um but he like he actually held on to that ball. And so the idea here of keeping or protecting or guarding is making sure that you're actually playing offense. So if there is if there are people that are coming into the into our church, into your family, into your workplace, wherever it is, and they're choosing to spread false heresy or false doctrine or telling you that this is what the Bible says, when in fact it's not true, you'd be able to say, "No, that's you'd be able to to push back because you know, and you're guarding the truth.

This is the truth and this is what the gospel actually is. [snorts] Notice though Paul says he doesn't just say keep it by your own strength but he says um that good thing which uh thou has been committed. He says keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. If we can go back to verse number seven in this passage, uh it's Paul said, "For God had not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind." You want to know how you can be fearless and have the power and the love and the sound mind, which is in fact self-discipline. The only way to do that is by the Holy Ghost. You cannot do this by yourself.

You can try your best to do it, but you will not be able to attain it because these are things that are only possible through the power of the Holy Ghost. And we know this because Paul also wrote to the church in Galatia and he says that we are to walk in the spirit so we don't fulfill the lust of the flesh. The only way to live this faith or to guard this thing that's been entrusted to us is by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, there's a verse that goes, I didn't write it down, but it says, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, sayeth the Lord." We used to sing a song here at Ohana that was from that passage.

But it is not by our our power that we're able to do this. But here's here's the thing though that we miss out on. you know, athletes, they use energy drink so they can be, you know, they can last in a sport or they use um whatever kind of supplement so they can be strong in in the sport. But as Christians, we miss out on the power of the Holy Ghost because we don't even rely on [clears throat] him. We we go to church doing our ministries in the flesh. We we wake up every day doing our devotions sometimes in the flesh and we just check it off. A lot of it is not done by the Holy Spirit because Paul made a Paul is claiming that we if you're fearful that means you're not actually trusting in the Holy Spirit.

If you don't have power that's probably because you're not trusting in the Holy Spirit. If you lack love, you're not trusting in the Holy Spirit. If you lack discipline and what Paul means by self uh by sound mind discipline by the way it's the discipline to be able to handle whatever situation comes my way whether it's good or bad I'm able to be constant through it out through through all of it. And so the only way that we can keep or guard what has been entrusted to us is by relying on the Holy Spirit. And Paul says he he includes himself in this. He says which dwelleth in us. And this is not just Timothy's responsibility.

This is not just one person's responsibility. This isn't just pastor's responsibility as he leads our church. This is the church's responsibility to hold on to this to hold fast and to keep. 1 Corinthians chapter number four verse number two. The Bible says this. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. We [snorts] are not owners of the gospel or of these truths or of the Bible. We're simply stewards. Philippians chapter number 1 16-1 17 says this uh or Paul says uh he is set for the defense of the gospel. It's it's active. It's not meant for us just to uh kind of be lack about it.

In 2 Thessalonians chapter number 2:15, the Bible says this, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught." Guarding truth means standing firm in what has already been revealed to us. And then John chapter number 14 verse number 26, Jesus promised this. He said, "But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost," and then he later on he says, "shall teach you all things." Now this was specifically written to the disciples so they can rewrite the scriptures that we have or to write down the scriptures. But this is also for us because Jesus is also giving this command to us.

The same spirit who inspired the word the that the writers of scripture wrote helps us to understand and preserve that same word. We have been given the Holy Ghost to to help us in this race and we cannot do it by ourselves. When [snorts] a runner receives the baton, their task is isn't to make it shinier or lighter. It's simply to carry it faithfully to the next runner. And that is our calling in the gospel. We don't edit it. We don't water it down to make it more appealing. We guard it and we keep it and we pass it on through the power of the Holy Ghost. When I ran that relay race when I was in elementary, I was so excited to be the person that was next to me and I actually got a prize and that prize was a bag of ramen and uh a small bag of powdered detergent.

Um I was so happy cuz in my in my culture that was like that was gold to get ramen for yourself. That was really gold. But what was what made me happy was to get the the powder detergent for my mom so that she could keep that. Um, but [clears throat] as Christians running in this faith, we're not meant to be challenging each other, we're just meant to run the race that God has set before us and run it faithfully. The challenge that Paul is giving Timothy is not necessarily to be number one. It's to be faithful. And the words that you have received from Paul, which is that baton that we now is now being passed on, that same word is being passed on to us.

And and what an encouragement that what Paul is writing to Timothy is actually true for us too because we are also to hold fast to the same form or pattern of sound words. We are also to keep and protect that good thing which was has been entrusted to us as believers. And so we're in the same race. The same race that we're running today was the same race that Paul, Timothy, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and all the other ones that came before us that have ran their race. We now get to run it. But I I hope we don't give up in it because until Jesus Christ comes, it needs to keep going and the next generation that comes after us needs to be able to receive that as well.

So I hope this is an encouragement to not only those who are young in the faith, but those who have been running your race faithfully. God bless you. Thank you for being at Ohana Baptist Church so we can learn from your own testimonies. but then also to our pastor and the ones that have that are continuing to run that race. Let's pray. Father, we love you so much. We thank you for being so good. Thank you for all that you have done for us. Thank you just for the fact of sending your son Jesus Christ to die for us so that we could have access to your grace and that we could have access to your word and be able to have fellowship with you, but then also with our brothers and sisters in you, Father.

Father, we thank you for tonight. Thank you for allowing us just to be able to learn from your truth. We ask that you'd help our time of discussions to be fruitful. Father, we love you and we give you all the praise and honor and glory. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. At this time, we're going to break up into our discussion groups. Um I have a couple questions I put on the screen here and so if I could have our discussion leaders stand [snorts] um and then once they stand and get to the their locations, then you guys are welcome to divide up and be in your discussion group. Thank you for being here tonight.