The Lord’s Servant
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The Lord’s Servant

 (ID: 3047)

The apostle Paul’s public letter to Timothy identifies qualifications for pastors that remain true today. Alistair Begg reviews the grave responsibilities for leaders who must rightly divide the Word of Truth. Pastors, Paul instructed, must be committed, clear, morally clean, and courteous. While some leaders may be tempted into foolish controversies and quarrels, godly teachers are called to defend the truth and correct false teaching without a combative spirit.

Series Containing This Sermon

A Study in 2 Timothy, Volume 2

A Portrait of the Christian Soldier 2 Timothy 2:3–26 Series ID: 15503


Sermon Transcript: Print

We’re going to read from 2 Timothy and from chapter 2, and we’re just going to read the three verses that conclude the chapter. Two Timothy 2:24:

“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”

Amen.

Well, we pray together now:

Heavenly Father, how desperately we require the work of the Holy Spirit to settle our minds and to train them in the direction of your truth. And for this we humbly plead. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Well, the verses to which we draw our attention are, as I say, the concluding verses of chapter 2, a chapter in which we have—those of us who have been here for the entire time—have been discovering really the nature of what it means to be a gospel minister. We noted at the very outset of our studies that this letter is on the one hand personal, inasmuch as it is addressed directly to Timothy, Paul’s colleague in the gospel, but that it is not only personal; it is also public, inasmuch as it would have been read not only in the hearing of Timothy but also in the hearing of Timothy’s congregation, thus making it possible for the people in the church in Ephesus to discover just exactly what it is that God was looking for in a pastor and a teacher, who, in their case, was Timothy.

It is that, of course, which would have made it quite daunting for him. There was no escape for him. He was going to be made aware of the fact that everybody knew what he was supposed to be. And, of course, that is exactly the same vulnerability that attaches to our study together in 2 Timothy in these days. Because it is virtually impossible for me or for any of my colleagues to seek to expound, for example, the second chapter of 2 Timothy, which has so much to say about the nature of a pastor, without recognizing that the congregation is inevitably going to say, “Well, let’s see now. This is what it says, and this is what it is. Now, how close is what it is to what it says?” Of course, that remains the case whether we’re studying Timothy together or not.

And so, there is an inevitable vulnerability about it, because, as you will see here in verse 24, the focus is on “the Lord’s servant.” And I take it that Paul is using that in a more technical sense than simply “Everybody is a servant of the Lord”—which, of course, is true. It’s a phrase that is used, for example, classically, the “servant” of the Lord,[1] as revealed in Isaiah the prophet; and then the Lord’s “servant,”[2] as Paul uses it concerning himself at the beginning of Romans; concerning Titus as well;[3] and now also here, in relationship to Timothy. It is this “servant of the Lord”—if you like, the pastor and the teacher—primarily in view in the entire chapter in what is being said. And when you allow your eye to scan the chapter, if you rehearse it in your mind, it quickly becomes apparent that to be called to such a task is on the one hand an immense privilege and yet, on the other hand, or alongside it, a grave responsibility.

I mean, think about what he said to Timothy. He said to him, “Timothy, if you’re going to serve the people in Ephesus effectively, number one, you have to be completely committed. You need to be sold out.” And he reinforces that spirit of dedication or commitment by using the pictures of a soldier who obeys his commanding officer, of an athlete who competes according to the rules, and of a farmer who isn’t lazy but gets up when others are asleep and is still up when others have gone to their beds.[4] And so people would justifiably say, “Well, we’ve seen Timothy around Ephesus. Is he looking tired at all? Does he display that kind of commitment?”

Not only committed but also clear. Timothy and others like him are to be workers who are “rightly dividing the word of truth.”[5] In other words, they’re not using the pulpit as an opportunity for them to establish their own ideas or convictions that they may have or to try and influence people in some direction of their own contriving, but that they are very clearly engaged in cutting a straight path—the straight path that the Bible cuts—to the truth of the gospel itself. And Timothy, if he’s going to be this kind of worker or “workman” (King James Version)—“a workman” who “rightly divid[es] the word of truth,” a worker who is unashamed in his testimony—then he needs not only to be committed; he needs also to be clear.

And then it gets even more daunting, because he says he has to be clean. He has to be a clean vessel; not a dirty vessel; not one for ignoble purposes but one for noble purposes.[6]

And then, perhaps most dauntingly of all, depending on one’s personality, committed and clear and clean and courteous. Courteous. God’s servant must not be argumentative but a gentle listener, a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey.

Anybody like the job? Step forward if you’re ready.

Small wonder that the opening of the chapter reminds Timothy that he’s not going to be able to do this on his own. Look back to the beginning of the chapter and you’ll see: “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”[7] “The only way this is going to be possible, Timothy… You will not be committed, clear, clean, and courteous apart from the strength that is in Christ Jesus, the grace that is provided for you in Jesus.”

We sometimes sing that little song about “every mountain we [may] climb” and “every ray of hope we shine.” It’s kind of touchy-feely, but it’s good. But it has the refrain, “Only by his grace,” and that devastating line:

Every [kindly] word we say
[And] every tear we wipe away
[And] every sorrow turned to praise
Is only by his grace.[8]

Well, of course, that’s true for all of us, isn’t it?

And it’s also true for your pastoral team. I think that’s the wonderful thing about this study, because it allows us to say, “Well, isn’t it remarkable that God chooses the likes of these characters to do this?” After all, in some cases, the members of our pastoral team are surrounded in the congregation by their siblings, or by their mom and dad, who have known them since infancy, know their personalities entirely; in other cases, of course, by our spouses, who know us in an intimate way as well.

Don’t Be Quarrelsome

Well, let’s think about it, then, in relationship to what the text says, first of all by noticing that Paul is reminding Timothy of what he, first of all, must not be. He first of all starts negatively: “This is what you mustn’t be: the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome. He must know how to teach, but he must resist the temptation to quarrel.”

It’s therefore imperative that he doesn’t dive into the quarrelsome speculations that he’s just referred to in verse 23. There’s an inherent logic in this, isn’t there? “Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies.” Why? “Because you know they breed quarrels. And since the Lord’s servant is not to be quarrelsome, that wouldn’t be a good thing to get yourself involved with. So when people try and trap you, Timothy, when they try and engage you in this way, make sure that you are not succumbing to that temptation.”

It’s not a call to theological vagueness. It’s worth reiterating that. We don’t need to keep saying it. It’s not a blanket negation of controversy on any front. Because Paul is very clear in the Pastorals that Timothy, and Titus like him, are going to have to wage the warfare. They’re going to have to be convinced and committed and hold true to the deposit[9] and make sure that they live for it bravely and they guard it correctly and they preach it boldly and so on. So he’s not all of a sudden, at the end of chapter 2, saying, “And by the way, I didn’t really mean all of that. You don’t have to worry about that.” No, it’s not that. It clearly is not that.

What it means is that Timothy, in the execution of that ministry, must steer clear from silly and ill-informed discussions. Silly and ill-informed discussions—things that are speculative, the kind of investigative approach which takes immense delight in trying to answer questions or conceive of things that we cannot answer with any conviction at all from the Bible.

Now, there’s no indication that Paul is saying this to Timothy because of Timothy’s perceived character or personality—at least none that I can find. Because when you think about what we know of Timothy, or Paul’s concern for Timothy, he’s concerned for his youthfulness (“Let no one despise … your youth”);[10] he’s concerned that when he goes to represent him in other places, that the people in those other places will put Timothy at his ease,[11] so he’s clearly not the fellow that just walks in the room and jumps up on the table and takes charge of everything; and also that he is not necessarily the most robust of individuals physically, hence the exhortation to Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach’s sake.[12] It’s not a comment on his palate or on his eating habits, but it is an expression of the fact that these things are known to be true of Timothy. So, if the exhortation is a necessary exhortation, which it obviously is, and it’s not an exhortation that is directly tied to the character of Timothy, it clearly must be tied to the character of the congregation in Ephesus—to the context in Ephesus. And actually, I believe it is.

If you turn back two pages to 1 Timothy chapter 6, you find that Paul is ending his first letter in a very similar fashion. He urges upon Timothy, of course, again, to “teach and [to] urge these things”[13]—the importance of service in the framework of their everyday routine and not being disrespectful individuals and so on.[14] And then he says in 1 Timothy 6:3, “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does[n’t] agree with the sound words”—that is, the healthy words—“of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.”

Okay? So when Paul says, “I want you to be kind to everyone,” his kindness includes the kind of clarity which he provides here, where he doesn’t name an individual, but he names a type of individual—a type of individual who’s got a fat head, a big mouth, and a small brain, and he’s an absolute menace to everyone around him. That individual “has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words.” That’s this kind of individual that he has in mind—that nothing they like better than a kind of theological argument, or an argument about the genealogies of Matthew’s Gospel, or an argument about the ten toes on the beast in Daniel, or an argument about the seven churches of Revelation, or an argument about the millennium, or whatever else it might be. They’re never happier than when they get to that material. And he says, “This is not going to be good.” Because those kinds of quarrels about words “produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of truth.”

Okay, I think we got the point, Paul. I think we hear you very, very clearly. “So what you’re saying is this: that since I, Timothy, have to speak the truth in love”—Ephesians 4[15]—“I have to guard against the temptation of actually forgetting the love part, getting so stirred up about the truth part, that I actually become fond of the kind of argumentation and the aggressive posture that you’re saying shouldn’t mark my ministry.” To which Paul, I think, would add, “Yes, that’s right.” In other words, Timothy may be convincing, but he mustn’t be combative. It’s okay for Timothy, in his teaching, to be persuasive, but he mustn’t be pugilistic. You don’t want to find Timothy off with his boxing gloves on, just always looking for someone that he can fight.

No, as the pastor of the church in Ephesus, he’s to be able to teach, but he mustn’t be quick to quarrel. Apt to teach, not quick to quarrel, and certainly not over issues of speculation rather than issues of revelation. I think that’s probably what Paul has in mind. Calvin suggests it, and who am I to disagree with Calvin? But the idea of discussions that are not really about revelation, ultimately, but they’re about speculation. So, you can’t really address them from the Scriptures in the end. There’s no definitive answer in the end, so it’s just entirely unhelpful. It just goes crazy with relative speed. “Timothy, you need to be very, very careful about this.”

Now, let me just say a word to you concerning how this works out in pastoral ministry, take you a little behind the scenes, as it were, at least for me. I don’t speak for all of my colleagues in this. Most of my colleagues are far better at this than I am. But the danger of getting involved in this stuff I don’t find comes with, you know, an email that says, “I’d like to have a meeting” and so on. No, the greatest danger, I would say, is two minutes after the benediction—two minutes after the benediction, when the people immediately begin to descend upon you, if you let them. Which is one of the reasons I don’t let you: not because I don’t like you or because I don’t want to talk to you but because I can’t trust myself.

So, the same preparation that I give to the first service, which is, I come from isolation to my task, I need largely to give to the second service. Because at the end of the first service—and I can say this to you, because you’re second-service people. There’s some really weird people in the first service! (Of course, you know that I’m going to mention you in the third service, right?) And these people come, and they’ll either commend you and appeal to your ego, which is a very dangerous thing, or they will come up with something which immediately has the potential to knock you sideways. And when you finish doing this—and some of you know this; you’re teachers or in other areas—your adrenaline drops, your energy level drops, you’re somewhat tired, and you’re actually immediately vulnerable.

In order to correct with gentleness, we’re going to need to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

And I would say that if I reflect on the years of ministry, the most dangerous periods for me in becoming argumentative and quarrelsome have been little three-minute periods right at the end of services. And so I’ve tried to learn from people who are really good at this. And Dick Lucas, who’s been here with us in the past—he’s now an octogenarian, but on his toes—I’ve watched him when I’ve been at services with him. He’s a far more able fellow than me, and so he does actually mingle. He is present, but not necessarily engaged. He’s masterful at this. He has a coffee. He carries it around. And people just come up to him and say things like, “Mr. Lucas?”

“Yes.”

“Um, I noticed this morning that you had a baptism.”

“Yes.”

“I noticed that you baptized a baby, Mr. Lucas.”

“Yes.”

“Well, Mr. Lucas, I don’t believe that baptizing babies is the kind of thing that should be done. In fact…”

And as the person goes on to sentence two and three, Dick says, “That is very helpful. Thank you for mentioning that.” And the person’s still standing there with an unfinished speech.

He comes over here, and another young, boisterous fellow comes up and says, “Mr. Lucas? I’ve been attending a conference this past weekend, and there was a very, very wonderful speaker, a terrific speaker, and he explained that if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you immediately speak in tongues. And I was wondering what you think about that, Mr. Lucas.”

“Well, that is a wonderful insight. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you.”

At first I thought, “What’s up with Lucas?” Then I realized: he’s not going to start quarreling over that stuff. He’s got a view on all of that, I can tell you. And he holds it firmly. But he’s not going to be sucked into one of those conversations five minutes after the benediction.

Be Kind to Everyone

First of all, then, “Timothy, this is what you mustn’t be. Secondly, this is what you need to be.” And it gets even worse. Now we go into the positive side. The servant’s disposition, which is what is really being described here—the prevailing tendency, the default mechanism of Timothy as the pastor, the characteristic attitude of Timothy—is in essence to be Christlike. Christlike.

Just look at it. We don’t need to work heavily on it. It’s straightforward: “kind.” But not just “kind”; “kind to everyone.” Why does it have to say “everyone”? Why can’t it just be “kind to whoever I want to be kind to”? After all, they’re not all kind to me. Why don’t I just be kind… No! “Kind to everyone.”

This is Jesus, isn’t it? That you will love your enemies, that you will do good to those who treat you poorly[16]—“kind even to those who oppose you, Timothy.” And then he says again—and I find this quite interesting; I wonder, do you? Once again, he says, “[And] able to teach.” “Apt to teach.”[17] Well, when Timothy teaches, he’s going to have to not only affirm what is true, but he’s also going to have to correct what is false, and in affirming what is true and correcting what is false, it’s important that he doesn’t become argumentative in the process. I think that’s probably why he mentions it. Because it then immediately goes on to say that he is “able to teach” and “patiently enduring evil.”

“You mean you endure evil when you teach?” Yeah! How is he going to absorb the unkindnesses of those who oppose him, who question his motives, who complain about his style, whatever it might be? Well, he has to do so with patient endurance. He must at the same time be able to handle the foolishness of people without becoming resentful and without bearing grudges.

Then he goes on: “correcting his opponents with gentleness.” Now, it doesn’t say he should just be gentle to them, and therefore, there should be no correction. That would be easy enough. I mean, frankly, gentleness that just says nothing matters, you walk away (which is not what Dick was doing) or a kind of corrective, argumentative, combative approach (’cause that’s relatively easy as well)… But to correct with gentleness, we’re going to need to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

And Paul, of course, was able to say this because he lived it. When he writes to the Thessalonian church, he’s able to say that he and Timothy and—is it Silas? I don’t recall. But he and his colleagues, when they ministered amongst the church in Thessalonica, they treated them the way a father treats his children,[18] but more strikingly, he was able to say to them, “We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.”[19] He doesn’t say, “We were like those kind people in the nursery.” They are very kind people. But unless they happen to be the actual parent of the child they care for, they ain’t the nursing mother. And everybody knows that there is something about the capacity and the engagement of a nursing mother that cannot be duplicated—can’t be duplicated by the grandmother, by your best friend, or by your husband. It’s a unique relationship, which makes this all the more striking, that Paul says, “When we engaged with you Thessalonians, we were actually engaged with you the way a mother, a nursing mother, treats her own children.” And so he says, “Timothy, I want you to do the same.”

Become Increasingly Like Jesus

Well, in other words, as I said at the beginning—and we’ll come to the third point now—but at the beginning, that this is nothing other than Christlikeness; that when Jesus in Matthew 12 describes himself, he reaches back into the Servant Songs of Isaiah, and he says, “This is in fulfillment of all that the prophet spoke concerning the servant of the Lord.” And essentially, he’s saying, “If you’re looking for the one who doesn’t snuff out the smoking wicks, who doesn’t break the broken reeds, who doesn’t shout out in the street,[20] who submits his back to the smiters,[21] who when he’s reviled does not revile in return,”[22] and so on, he says, “if you’re looking for that individual, you don’t need to look any further, because I am that individual.” Jesus is that individual. And so what Paul is saying to Timothy is, “Timothy, strengthened by the grace that is in Jesus, make sure that you are increasingly becoming like Jesus.”

Now, why is this so important? Well, it is for a number of reasons: not only for the development of Timothy’s character but also on account of Timothy’s influence in the congregation. Because as we saw a couple of weeks ago in the letter that Thornton wrote to Simeon, the pastor in Cambridge for fifty-four years, Thornton, as a businessman, writes to Simeon, his pastor, and he says, “Simeon, watch yourself. Watch yourself! Don’t let your ego run away with you! Make sure that you don’t become this and this and this. Because,” he says, “remember that as it goes for the minister, so it largely goes for the congregation.”[23]

So Paul, he says to the readers of Titus, “[Titus, make sure that you] remind [your congregation]”—and I’m quoting from the beginning of Titus 3—“to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, … to show perfect courtesy toward[s] all people.”[24] Now, here’s the point—and it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? If you have in your pulpit a pastor who is constantly argumentative, combative, quarrelsome, dealing in the minutia of questions that are largely unanswerable, then you will eventually have a congregation that becomes like that—if there’s any congregation left! So they will either go away and say, “I’ve got to find somebody who’s cutting the truth straight,” or they’re going to become just like that. That’s why it’s so important. Because the way that the father is around the breakfast table is largely having an impact on the way his children will be when they ride the school bus or when they play with their friends.

So the Lord’s servant—in this case, Timothy—is to provide this kind of instruction from this kind of disposition because “God may perhaps grant them repentance.” The sentence begins halfway through verse 25 there. The NIV I find more helpful in this. I had it in my mind. I thought I’d made it up, but I went, and it’s actually in the NIV: “in the hope that…” So, “This is what you mustn’t be, this is what you need to be, and finally, this is what you can’t be.” “This is what you can’t be. Because you’re exercising this ministry, strengthened by the grace of God, in the hope that through the exercise of this ministry, Timothy, God may grant repentance—a change of heart and of mind and of direction—leading to a knowledge of the truth, thereby setting people free from the ensnaring, deceptive activities of the Evil One.”

So, again, the reason for all of this is gospel in its orientation. It’s not just in order that Timothy might be a better kind of pastor, which he needs to be, and we all do. It’s not that the congregation in Ephesus needs to get ahold of this so that they might be better lights in the wilderness of the world, which, of course, they must be. But it is in order, ultimately, that God may do what only God does, and that is grant repentance and a knowledge of the truth. In other words, that he might bring men and women to saving faith; that men and women might be converted. I take it that that’s what Paul has in mind here. I’ve read the commentaries, and I’ve had the discussions, and some people think this is an esoteric little group of people with a peculiar problem. Well, there are all kinds of people like that, but I don’t think so. I think what he’s saying here is that “as you exercise this ministry, there are those who oppose the gospel, there are those who want to argue about all things that are supplemental to the gospel, and you shouldn’t be upset by the fact that there are those who oppose you. But just make sure that you don’t succumb to the temptation to fight with them. Just continue to do what you’re being asked to do, and hey, who knows? You do it in the hope that God may grant them repentance.”

The role of the pastor and the teacher is to point away from himself to Christ Jesus, to the one who calls men and women to repentance and to faith.

See, that’s what men and women need. That’s what we all need. We need God to grant us a change of heart, mind, and direction, because we’re going in the wrong direction, and our hearts are bad and opposed to him, and our minds are all messed up, by nature. We’re in error, and we’re actually evil. Well, people don’t like to hear that! Better to say, “Well, you know, you haven’t been having a very good week, and perhaps next week you could have a good week. And maybe you hadn’t had a good Friday. Maybe next Friday will be a great Friday! And, you know, I just want to encourage you to go out and do your best.” Some of you have been pulling your socks up like that for ages. In fact, you pull your socks up any more, there’s no elastic left. Your socks can’t even stay up! Metaphorically, your socks are finished. There’s no way. And yet you’re unchanged. Religion hasn’t changed you. Philosophy hasn’t changed you. Self-help books haven’t changed you. Why not? Because the problem is that you are by nature evil, and you are in error. And until God shows you that, no amount of talk from me or from any of my colleagues will disavow you of your present position.

So you see how wonderfully liberating this is! “Now, Timothy, by the grace that is in Jesus, this is what you mustn’t be: don’t be a combative quarreler. Now, this is what you need to be, strengthened by the grace that’s in Christ Jesus. But just remember what you can’t be. You’re not going to be able to open blind eyes. You’re not going to be able to grant repentance. But God may grant repentance.”

You see, behind the scenes—behind the scenes in this encounter and in every time that the gospel is preached (and I owe this insight to John Stott)—behind the scenes, what can’t be seen here or is observed out there is the unseen reality which Paul refers to as an encounter and an engagement not in a fight against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places;[25] that by our nature, we are actually enslaved; we are not thinking properly; we’re not going to be able to escape from the snare of the devil, who captures us to do his will, unless we cry out to God to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves.[26]

So, the role of the pastor and the teacher, “strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,” is to point away from himself to Christ Jesus, to the one who calls men and women to repentance and to faith. That is the very heart of God.

“I urge that supplications, [and] prayers, [and] intercessions, and [thanksgiving] be made for all people”—for President Obama and all who are in high positions; for David Cameron, the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Pray for all of them, that they “may lead a peaceful and [a] quiet life …. This is good, … it[’s] pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”[27]

You can’t come to a knowledge of the truth without being saved. And until you come to a knowledge of the truth, you won’t be saved. And the only way that you can come to a knowledge of the truth is when God taps you on the shoulder and says, “Young man,” “Young woman,” “Mr. Businessman.” Has he tapped you? Have you responded? He doesn’t bluster into your life. He’s lovely. He’s gentle. He’s a shepherd. You can trust him.

Well, the invitation comes from Christ himself, the Shepherd who knows the sheep, who calls them by name.[28] And if you’ve never called out to Christ, then I urge you to do so today. No special language involved; just the cry of a sinner for a Savior.

In the letters that I read this week that came to me from Truth For Life, I noticed one where a lady said, “I was in church, and I listened to the service, and at the end of it, the lady next to me just said, ‘And are you a believer?’” And says the letter writer, “I said, ‘Oh, yes. Oh, yes, I am.’” She said, “But I went home, and I knew that I wasn’t. Then when I got home, I asked Christ to be my Savior and my Friend.” Well, I hope that story will be duplicated today.

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you his peace, today and forevermore. Amen.


[1] Isaiah 42:1 (ESV).

[2] Romans 1:1 (ESV).

[3] See Titus 1:1.

[4] See 2 Timothy 2:4–6.

[5] 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV).

[6] See 2 Timothy 2:21.

[7] 2 Timothy 2:1 (ESV).

[8] Scott Wesley Brown and Jeff Nelson, “Grace Alone” (1998).

[9] See 2 Timothy 1:14.

[10] 1 Timothy 4:12 (ESV).

[11] See 1 Corinthians 16:10.

[12] See 1 Timothy 5:23.

[13] 1 Timothy 6:2 (ESV).

[14] See 1 Timothy 6:1–2.

[15] See Ephesians 4:15.

[16] See Luke 6:27–28.

[17] 2 Timothy 2:24 (KJV).

[18] See 1 Thessalonians 2:11.

[19] 1 Thessalonians 2:7 (ESV).

[20] Matthew 12:17, 19–20 (paraphrased).

[21] See Isaiah 50:6.

[22] See 1 Peter 2:23.

[23] John Thornton to Charles Simeon, Clapham, November 13, 1782, in H. C. G. Moule, Charles Simeon (London: Methuen, 1892), 41. Paraphrased.

[24] Titus 3:2 (ESV).

[25] See Ephesians 6:12.

[26] John R. W. Stott, The Message of 2 Timothy: Guard the Gospel, The Bibles Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1973), 80.

[27] 1 Timothy 2:1–4 (ESV).

[28] See John 10:3.

Copyright © 2025, Alistair Begg. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations for sermons preached on or after November 6, 2011 are taken from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

For sermons preached before November 6, 2011, unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® (NIV®), copyright © 1973 1978 1984 by Biblica, Inc.TM Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Alistair Begg
Alistair Begg is Senior Pastor at Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Bible teacher on Truth For Life, which is heard on the radio and online around the world.