Timothy: A Man of Unfeigned Faith

And so that’s what we see in first Timothy is it’s directed toward a spiritual leader but it’s it’s just the as well applicable to anyone that is being led that is not in a place of spiritual leadership because that’s the example being provided to everyone. And hopefully, if you’re not in a place where you can be a spiritual leader in your life now, hopefully there will be a time as you grow and move forward, there will be a time where you will be a spiritual leader to another and you will have people who are following you. If you have children, you’re there. If you get married, you’re there, right? Whether you like it or not, you’re thrust into that.

And so there’s something in first Timothy for every one of us. And as I was looking at the different aspects of this book, read it through a few times and just without just kind of without stopping and the thing that came to mind is the idea of a blacksmith. And because in Timothy you have a bunch of things that are related to that, you have a mention of workmen, you have the mention of hardship is in first and second Timothy. You have the mention of the idea of Timothy working to do something for God to create something for the Lord in the church.

And so he has directions in that way, but you also have this idea of a black smith starts out as an apprentice like you have the Timothy, the Paul, Timothy relationship is all related to that and so kind of what’s in my mind is a is a blacksmith and then you also have a mention of of strength. Timothy, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and a blacksmith if you wield a hammer, you know, you have to be strong, you wield that hammer over and over and over and then the iron itself is strong. And so those kind of that’s kind of my idea behind it.

But before we get into a verse by verse study of first Timothy, I I feel like it’s necessary to do some background information, do a background study of Timothy, and I wanna sow, I wanna start in first Timothy chapter one, of course, and I want to also look at second Timothy, so we’ll be right there, as well as Acts chapter 16. So we’ll we’ll go in that order. First Timothy chapter one to begin, and then we’ll go to second Timothy chapter one, and then we’ll go to Acts 16.

First Timothy chapter one to start. First Timothy chapter one verse number one, the Bible says this, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of god, our savior, and lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope. Now, notice in verse number one, you you the mention of Paul, he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. Now, I won’t spend a lot of time on this but just note that that is a very specific and limited office and to be an apostle Jesus Christ meant that you were personally selected in person by the lord Jesus Christ and that applied to only 13 men in history.

And Judas, of course, we know betrayed Christ was never a true believer but then later it was Paul because Paul met Christ on the road to Damascus and Christ specifically called him to this office. And of course, there are other requirements as well. You had to be a personal witness to the resurrected, the resurrection of Christ. That’s one. And then along with that goes all kinds of other authority, but this period of time when they were apostles of Jesus Christ has passed. That’s over because they died, that period died with the apostles. No one else is selected for that office and so Paul himself was and with that office comes a great deal of authority, a a great deal of power. In other words, he’s Paul and the other apostles which is why their names are in the at the at the heads of these various books as in the New Testament, he had special and a special revelation from god that we don’t have, that he that the Lord gave to him for us to be recorded in scripture.

And so, and so that all... I want you to understand that the fact that Paul was an apostle is important to us because there is a direct line from the Lord Jesus Christ through the apostles to the scripture to us and that line has ceased. That line is no more because the apostles are no more and so that’s what we read in verse number one and then in verse number two, the Bible says, unto Timothy, my own son in the faith.

Grace, mercy, and peace from god our father and Jesus Christ our lord. Let’s pray together. Our father in in heaven, we come to you now. First, lord, we would just want to take a moment to give you thanks for these two books and for, the words that you have recorded for us. Lord, this is the word of God and we wanna take it seriously with gravity and sobriety like you have, told us to.

And also, Lord, we want to ask as we start this study of 10 chapters in these two books that we ask for your help and your grace. We ask that these these two books by your spirit would absolutely come alive to us. That they would be they would be integrated and woven into our very our very thinking as a believer, part of our spiritual and Christian walk.

And that you would you would be our teacher as we go through each verse, each passage. Help us to see the trees, but help us to see the forest. Help us to see every leaf, but help us to see the big picture as well. Lord, guide me as I try to instruct and help your people. Lord, give them, I pray the help that they need from these two books as we continue to try to encourage one another to grow.

And so I pray that through this period that you would help your people to grow. I pray that each one of us would mature, that we each one of us would, through your prompting would make decisions to step in your direction that we might at the end of it, be more conformed to the image of Christ. And so Lord, we ask for your help and your grace.

We ask for your help not only upon us personally, but also upon our church that the the church related truths in these two books would help our church get established to be unified, to be full of love and compassion and and mission into to do the will of God that you would have us to do together. So help us in all of these ways and other ways that you you alone know that we need.

For we ask in Jesus name, amen. Now, see in verse number two, you see a hint of something we’ll see later and I I love as as we’ve gone through the different books in the school of scripture, as we went through the New Testament survey, and we we you look at a book kind of from the air. You know, they say from 30,000 feet, you see all kinds of things you wouldn’t see if you’re standing on the ground, and that’s true in first Timothy and second Timothy and and one of those things that you see and and we’ll cover one tonight as well. One of those things you see is the tenderness between Paul and Timothy, and the the love and affection not only from Paul to Timothy but also Timothy to Paul. That’s as evident in the book as well And he calls him his own son. Now, when you go to the book of Titus, which is also a pastoral epistle, Titus himself is also a pastor, but there’s not there’s not that personal touch like you see in Timothy. It is unique in first Tim... First and second Timothy. This relationship and I I want you to know that we know the end of the story with Timothy because not only did he meet did he meet Timothy on his missionary journeys in Acts 16 but Timothy was faithful to Paul all the way into his imprisonment, his being sent to Rome. As far as we know, he was faithful all the way to Paul’s death and that cost Timothy something, which is why he says in second Timothy, be not thou therefore ashamed of the gospel. He... What... You know what he’s talking about in that context? He’s talking about being ashamed of the chain that Paul wore for the gospel’s sake and many had forsaken him but Timothy did not. All the way to the end. Timothy was loyal.

Timothy was faithful and man, we need do we not we need that kind of loyalty. We have developed in our society even among Christians, we have developed the kind of they they used to call it sunshine patriotism. Anybody know what that means? Am I... Brother Jim’s the only one. Alright. What we... What I mean by that is is we’ve developed a sense of loyalty when things are good. That’s not loyalty. And when things are hard, we’re looking for an out, we’re looking for an escape, we’re looking for the exit.

And but we need a sense of loyalty like this because I wanna tell you something. In the relationship between Paul and Timothy, as long as that lasted, there were some difficult times, no doubt between the two. Because anytime you have two human beings that are together, there’s gonna be difficulty and there’s gonna be disagreement. And that... And so let let’s take this to it to the church.

Therefore, we should not be surprised when that happens even among the body of Christ. There are going to be times when there’s disagreement and that’s just of that’s that doesn’t mean one is right and one is wrong necessarily either. I know we like to we like to boil it down to that but sometimes that’s not the case. Sometimes, it’s just we have different views, different priorities, and sometimes, listen, sometimes we just walk in the flesh. Do we not? Can I get a can I just get a nod? Sometimes, we just act out.

That’s just a that’s just a truth. But when that happens, what we should not be looking for is the escape. The lord has put us together so that we might grow in those things and sometimes in those difficulties in our relationships is how we grow. That is the method which we sort short circuit when we bail. But the Lord wants us to grow. The Lord wants us to grow together.

And so so no doubt Paul and Timothy had times in their long relationship that there were there were difficulties, but not only personally, but also as it related to Paul’s ministry. It was hard to be loyal to Paul.

Now think about it, I mean, if you don’t quite have a broad kind of understanding of what Paul went through in the book of Acts, there were Christians who didn’t like Paul. You think what? There were Christians who didn’t like Paul. There were sex of Christian Jews who thought that you had to be baptized and that’s false teaching but they were thought that and they actually led persecutions against Paul because Paul refused to bow to that doctrine.

And not only that, but once Paul got arrested, now anybody attached to Paul is gonna have a hard time. And Timothy was one who knew what that was. And there were others who, as I said, forsook Paul. Timothy did not. So, loyalty, good biblical loyalty is vital, is vital. Because I wanna I wanna promise you something, Satan will absolutely in yours and I’m I’m speaking our spiritual life, Satan will absolutely send temptation in our way to test that.

And that you know that’s true in your marriage too, is it not? It’s true in every relationship. It takes a high level of this kind of, you might call it, Timothy loyalty. And that’s what that’s what Timothy had. So there’s a tenderness between Paul and Timothy. Now if you would go to second Timothy chapter one. Second Timothy chapter one.

Second Timothy chapter one verse number one, the Bible says this, Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing, have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day.

Notice this, he remembered, Timothy is on his mind. This is... I’m just showing you the relationship here. Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears that I may be filled with joy. So not only would Paul long to see Timothy, but Timothy longed to see Paul. Timothy’s tears are what’s described in verse four. So that shows you the the tenderness between both of them, both directions.

Verse five, when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice or Eunice, depending on how you want to pronounce it. And I am persuaded that in thee also. Notice a few things here, when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice and am persuaded that in thee also.

Now, go if you would to Acts chapter number 16. We’re gonna come back to two Timothy in a minute, but we need to park in Acts 16 for a little bit. Acts 16 verse number one.

Acts 16 verse one, the Bible says this, Then came he, this is Paul, to Derbe and Lystra and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman which was a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Greek, which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul have to go forth with him and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in all which were in those quarters for they all knew for they knew all rather that his father was a Greek.

So here you have Timothy. Now I want you I want you to see a little bit about Timothy’s personal family history. So Timothy had a mother and a grandmother that’s mentioned in second Timothy that we saw already. And then you see in verse number one that his mother was a Jew and believed but his father was a Greek. Now, it’s interesting it says in verse number one there, Acts six sixteen one, that it says, and believed.

Because the next phrase says, but his father was a Greek and then his father being a Greek in verse number three is mentioned again and so there’s this contrast. So, you have his mother, we know his mother and his grandmother were believers and it says it here plainly but then by contrast, we see that that’s pointed out to show that his father was likely not a believer.

His father was not a believer. As far as we can tell from the scripture. We know his mother, we know his grandmother, but Paul does not mention his father by name at least. In the in first or second Timothy, he’s he’s not mentioned at all. He is mentioned by Luke here in Acts and it does raise a question. It does raise a question. So, you have the you have Timothy who’s a a young man. He’s not not an old man. He’s a young man. I don’t know how old he was. I assume he was a young adult.

Maybe maybe in his twenties, maybe in his thirties perhaps. We don’t know for certain but Timothy was a younger man and he has, now remember, he has a grandmother and he has a mother but his father is at least spiritually, we don’t know if his father is just not there or if his father is there but he’s just not a believer but spiritually speaking, his father is not there, okay? In a in a spiritual sense because his father is not a believer.

Now, we don’t know how this situation arose because the automatic question I had was, well, what about how did Timothy’s mother get into a relationship with a man who wasn’t a believer if her mother was a believer? Now, it could be that it could be that that Lois and Eunicey both had had gotten saved after they had after they were adults and they got saved at the same time or something like that and then, of course, she was maybe she was Timothy’s mother and father already married and so you know, Timothy came along and you know, then you had that you know, mom’s saved, dad’s not saved and that’s some that could be the case. Or it could be that that Timothy’s grandmother was a believer and then Timothy’s mother was a believer and she got out of the will of god and married somebody she should not have married, right? Somebody who wasn’t a believer which is not scriptural and in either case, we don’t know but we do know that Timothy came along and dad is still not a believer. Let just let just stop here and say this, one thing I love about about the book of first Timothy and the story behind it which is why it’s so important to not to know is this is real.

This is real life. Here is a young man who is named in scripture, right? Who is a a feature character, a book, two books of the Bible have his name at the top and you know what he had? He had family members that weren’t believers. Close family members that did not know Christ. You know what that is? That is real life. Timothy is no different than you and no different than me.

I mean, he was a man who served God, who was faithful, right? Despite all of that, and he he felt the burden. He knew the burden of praying for a close, loved one for years. He knew what that meant. Just like you know what that means. Because that was his life. So, we can all see ourselves in Timothy’s life here. Not only in the situation with his with his father and and being an unbeliever and all of that, but we can see that Timothy’s his his life is not really ideal as far as his family situation, is it not?

What you do not... Here’s what here’s what Timothy’s life was not. Timothy’s life was not grandmother is a believer and has gone to church her whole life and then and then she has grandmother has mom and mom is a believer and gets saved at a young age and then Mary is a believer and they get there they get married and they live happily ever after and they have Timothy and they raise him right. That’s not Timothy’s life.

You know what? That that life might be the life of some of us. But it’s also not the life of some of us. Again, it’s just real. In in a lot of ways, these people in scripture are not that much different than we are.

So, we don’t know the way this situation came about. But it does raise, it does raise an another point regarding his family history. You know, when you when you think about, when you think about who’s in your church. Right? We think about the people that are in the church. Who is our church looking for? Right? If we pray, Lord, would you help our church to grow? And of course, growth is... There’s multiple ways that you can grow. Right? It’d be sad if the church grew and they exist, grew in numbers and were bursting at the seams and people weren’t growing spiritually. That would not be a good situation.

We wanna grow spiritually and we wanna grow in a healthy way. We wanna grow numerically if that if that’s what the lord wants to do but that has to be a healthy growth and usually that means it’s slow. That’s just the way plants grow slowly, humans grow slowly. What doesn’t grow slowly? Cancer.

So, right? So, and scripture talks about cankers growing. Right? And so, we want growth. We want that. But when we look at that, what what are we looking for? Here... Now think about it. What are we looking for? Are we looking for someone who has it all together? Are we looking for, you know, this kind of ideal, you know, mom and dad and two point, you know, 2.3 children, you know, and you know, the statistical normal Christian family and if you had to listen, I want that.

I mean, I I got the children thing off now but but I mean, I want, I wanted the Christian family where mom and dad are believers and they’re trying to serve god together and I know you want that if you’re in that stage of life, you want that but who are we looking for?

Because the reality is, if we’re and and that’s fine and good and and truthfully, we call it an ideal because that is the ideal written in scriptures or not? That young man is serving god, young lady serving god, they get together, they get married, and they have kids, and raise those kids for the lord. Is that the ideal or not? That’s the idea. That’s what the lord wants us. That’s what we’re aiming at. All of you who are newly married and and and listen, that’s what the lord wants you to do. You should do that. You shouldn’t you shouldn’t slack. You should do that but the truth is that not everybody in the world is like that and if we are trying to actually reach the people who are around us outside of these walls, listen, it’s... We’re gonna get all kinds.

Are we not? We’re gonna get people who have who have all kind of baggage, sinful baggage, who have kids with multiple fathers and who have family members who aren’t saved or hostile to the gospel, who they might be the only believer in their family. Or a million other things that, you know, it’s it’s just listen, if we’re going out to where people live, just ask yourself, what is this world like? Because that’s where the, that’s what, if they get saved, they’re gonna come into our church and that’s what their life is like, just like Timothy.

So we’re not just looking for people with ideal circumstances, are we? We’re looking for people who will put their faith in Christ and and you know, sometimes it is those who the lord uses to show his grace and his power in lives that aren’t ideal.

And sometimes, you know, in the first century among among the Greek people, which is what we see here, There was world just like it is now and that world and that sin and all those things had touched Christians before they became believers, right? Just like it does in our day. We see it the same, people who had drinking problems, people who have drug problems, people who have criminal history, people got in trouble with the law. Listen, if we’re trying to reach everybody, that’s who we’re gonna have in our church.

Right? And they’re they’re... But we’re we’re moving toward the ideal, are we not? But listen, this is what we have. This is New Testament Christianity. When Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel, effect. That when they come in, it’s gonna be all kinds and the grace of God is gonna work. Just like the grace of God worked in the life of a man who had who had a family situation that was not ideal.

Timothy. Timothy. Look at... Take a peek at real quick at first Corinthians chapter six. First Corinthians chapter six verse number 11. Verse 11 says this, and such were some of you, but ye, believers now, Christians, are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. Now you look at verse 11 and you’re familiar with that verse no doubt, and such were some of you but the question is, what is the such?

You know, in other words, in our crowd, you used to be a bunch of stuff. You know, everyone in here used to be something, right? And that’s what this is describing. So, look at look at the verses above it. Verse number nine. It says, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind. You know what that is? That’s sodomy. That’s homosexuality, which is a a grave sin in the sight of God. You know what? They used to be that. It says, and such were some of you.

So those who can can repent and trust in Christ and be transformed. Verse number verse number 10, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And then it goes on to say, and such were some of you. This list of people, you know you know what it is? It’s everything the world was before they heard Christ, heard heard of Christ. And they trusted in Christ, and Christ washed and justified them, and now they’re a part of the church. Remember, Paul is writing to the church at Corinth and he says, this is you.

This was you before. Now, not now, was. Such were some of you. But let me ask you a question. As you just think, as you think think spiritually. If they were that and they came into the church, do do all of these things in verse nine and ten, do they have negative effects on the life? Negative effects on the family, negative effects on the mind, negative effects on memories, negative effects on their children, negative effects on their relationships, negative effects on their criminal history?

Absolutely. And they were they were brought in. Listen, they were washed and they were a part of the church now. They were that. And in some way, having how do I say that? I say want this carefully.

You know in some way having a church where you have people in the church that don’t have ideal lives, right? Where everything’s not just cookie cutter the way it’s, you know the ideal way, the the way we’re all striving for. In some way a church having people without that is actually a sign of health.

That’s because that’s who’s out there. And that means that’s who we’re trying to reach, right? We’re not trying to just witness to people who are who have all their all their all their life together. No, we’re trying to reach the nines, the verses nine and the verses verse tens of the world. And with that comes a lot of baggage just like in Timothy. Timothy was a man who lived with that kind of effect and yet God used him greatly.

God used him greatly. I think of my own life. I mean, my life could be characterized by nine and ten before I knew Christ. I mean so how could I look down or stick my nose up at someone who was me, right, before I knew the Lord because everything was all divorced family situation and stepdads and all that, look, that’s just the way it goes. You know what, that’s the way it went with Timothy too.

Man, I just think that’s a great blessing. Our church should be healthy in that way. Not not filled with everybody like that because we’re all moving in the right direction. We’re not getting distracted by that. We still have the idea. We know what the scripture says and we’re heading in that direction, but man, the health of reaching out to people who, who have been affected by sin.

If you would go back to, to second Timothy now. Second Timothy chapter one. As we think about Timothy, look at this description again in first and second Timothy. He says, verse number five, just Timothy is a great man. He’s well recommended by the church in Lister and Derby. Remember? He was he was he was well known, he had proven himself faithful though a young man. Even though he had circumstances that weren’t ideal with his family, verse five, he says, Paul says to Timothy, now when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee.

Now so to unfeigned, we’re gonna come back to this word feigned in just a minute, but just remember the word feigned just means fake. It just means fake. So unfeigned means sincere. So, Timothy, Paul saying, Timothy, all these years, Timothy has demonstrated his faith was real, it’s true, it was sincere, not faultless, but it was it was a real faith. It was a faith in public like in private.

But here’s what want you to see about Timothy’s unfeigned faith, that the source of that faith was not just Timothy. It says in verse number five, which that faith dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice. You see this? So the faith that Timothy had, the unfeigned, the sincere faith that Timothy had was a faith that had been passed to him. Do you see that? He had that faith because there were people in his life who had that same unfeigned sincere faith. You see it?

Now we know all faith comes from the scripture, we get that. But there wasn’t a pattern and an example that had been passed from his mother from his grandmother. Now here’s what want you to see.

As I said, as far as we know, his father had no influence on his faith. And yet his faith is really the faith of his grandmother and his mother. Right? Same description, same characterization. And I thought to myself, my, what a powerful effect to women’s faith had upon a servant of God.

Now we know, again, I back up and I’ll say this again because we don’t want to take our eye off the ball. We know that the ideal is that dad, a husband leads his wife and has unfeigned faith, and his wife has a pattern to follow, and then they too with unfeigned faith lead their children. That’s the ideal. That’s what God commands, right? But we know that’s not what real that’s not what happens all the time.

And even though that didn’t happen in this situation, nevertheless, the faith of these ladies even absent his father produced a faith in him that was real and true and he became if I if I could say it like a premier servant of god and and helper of Paul. Because two ladies in his life were faithful despite the family turmoil. They were... The fact that the family dynamic did not did not distract them and didn’t derail them from following from following Jesus, they still did and the effect is Timothy.

Now think about you know, think about the effect that you, I’m talking to the ladies now, think about the effect that you as a lady can have. That effect is real. Even if the man’s not around. You are... Listen, you are a member of the body of Christ. The Bible says in the body of Christ there is neither male nor female. Is that is that what the scripture says in Galatians?

And so that means that you are as an individual accountable to the Lord yourself regardless of what the men in your life do or have done. And with that comes the effect that that can have on those under your leadership. Timothy was the man he was from a human perspective because ladies were faithful to Jesus. That’s why.

That’s a powerful testimony. That’s a powerful testimony. He had the same character of faith that his mother and his grandmother did. And so again, a less than ideal family and faith circumstance, though that is less than ideal, the grace of God abounded and prevailed in the life of a man named Timothy to make him what first Corinthians six eleven, first Timothy rather six eleven says, he he was made a man of God.

That’s not a light term. That is a that is a term that is used of the Old Testament prophet. And twice Paul refers to Timothy, his junior now, he refers to him as a man of God like Elijah. You know what? Don’t look lightly ladies. Don’t look lightly ladies upon the influence and effect that your unfeigned faith can have on those around you. Especially your children, your grandchildren. It’s real.

It’s real. And it was... It bore fruit in the life of Timothy. So here’s what we’ve seen so far and this is the last point I want to get to. Here’s what we’ve seen so far. So Timothy grew up in a life where things weren’t ideal, right? Things weren’t ideal and yet through the good influence of his mother and through the sincere faith of his mother and his grandmother, he actually lived for God despite the fact that his dad didn’t help in that and wasn’t there, you know, in the spiritual sense. You see it? You see, everybody see that? Now let me flip it flip it around.

Look at second Timothy second Timothy one verse number five. When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and and thy mother Eunice, I am persuaded that in thee also.

Now, Second Timothy also describes how that, look at chapter three verse 15, just a couple chapters over. Speaking of Timothy again, chapter three verse 15, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. So this is this is Timothy’s history. Here’s now, I’m gonna take the story of Timothy, I’m gonna turn it around because it’s true both ways.

Yes, Timothy came came up in a less than ideal spiritual and family situation and yet still served the Lord. But he also came up in a Christian home. Did he not? It says, first of all, both his mother and grandmother had unfeigned faith and that his mother and his grandmother both taught him the scripture. He said, here’s the irony.

Here’s the irony, is that in in one way Timothy was raised in a Christian home. And sometimes being raised in a Christian home, in a believing home, can be a hindrance to some young people.

And by hindrance, don’t mean that in the true sense, I mean an excuse. An excuse. And those of you that came up into a Christian home, came up in a Christian home where, you know, faith was there. You know what I’m talking about. It’s a struggle for many who come up in Christian homes. And that’s Timothy’s life as well.

He came up in a home where he saw sincere faith in his mother and his grandmother. And he came up in a home where he learned the scriptures from his mother and his grandmother. And that’s actually hard on some, you know why? Because hearing the scripture from a child like we read here, actually can can actually dull the mind. And actually make someone so they don’t they don’t they’re not responsive to it anymore. It is a danger.

Being raised in a Christian home can be a great danger. Be... Not because of the home, but because of the numbness that our wicked mind develops toward something we hear all the time, all the time, and it has no value to us. And that’s the life that Timothy came up in. He heard the scriptures from a child, but what does his life prove? His life proves that even though you come come up hearing the scripture and seeing your parents faith, does not mean you have to turn away from it.

Because he didn’t. Timothy served the lord even though he came up in a Christian home and heard the scripture. He took that and he ran with it. So, being raised in a Christian home, I know in our society, it’s people are coming up in in Christian homes and they’re going to college or they’re coming into high school and they’re totally departing from it. That is very that is very very common.

But that’s not happened with Timothy. So, that’s not that’s not baked in. Now look at first Timothy chapter or second Timothy rather chapter one, I wanna draw your attention to one word. Second Timothy one verse number five, When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which first dwelleth in thy mother grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice, and am persuaded that in thee also is the word unfeigned.

We should not dismiss the adjective unfeigned in this description of his mother’s and his grandmother’s faith or in his own faith, but especially in his mother’s and his grandmother’s. Now think about it, we we know what the word feign means. Feign just means to make a show of, to put on the appearance of, to put on or to pretend. It’s a sham. That’s what the word feign means.

And so they had his mother and his grandmother had unfeigned faith that wasn’t a sham. Their faith was not a faith that was that was just for others, you know, using spiritual words and religious words, but in private it was different, or or when they were at church had one face and then at home was a different face. No. It was the same in both cases. It was a sincere faith. It wasn’t a show. It wasn’t a sham and it wasn’t fake. It was real.

And Timothy saw that. He saw his parents were one way out in public at the church house and he saw his parents the same way at home. His his his mom and his grandmother. So he knew what real faith looked like, sincere faith looked like.

And this alone could have played a crucial role in how Timothy perceived and responded to faith in Christ when he came up in a home where he heard the scriptures from a child.

So I want to ask you, what does feigned faith look like in home? What does feigned faith? Feigned faith is the appearance of faith and the talk of faith outwardly and publicly, but privately and inwardly, there’s no substance, there’s no reality, and there’s no application. Feigned faith is religious fakery.

And maybe I would just want to propose to this, maybe the reason why a boy who heard the scripture from a child and saw the faith of his mother and grandmother, maybe the reason that he didn’t turn away from it and didn’t get tired of it or bored of it was maybe the whole crux, maybe the whole thing hinges on this one fact of that adjective unfeigned.

He saw something that was real in his mother and grandmother. He saw somebody who was the same at church as they were at home, the same faith they said they had, they tried to live.

Maybe that little adjective is the difference between a kid who comes up in church and then departs. Maybe that alone is the difference. As we read in first Timothy one five, he he from a child, he was taught the scripture and that reminds us of a couple of things. First of all, it is the duty of of of all of us as parents to teach our children and to teach our grandchildren the word of god.

And by that, I mean, not just not just not just Bible stories. He didn’t just know Bible stories. He was taught the scripture. Listen, it would be a crying shame if if we had children that grew up in our home and when they leave our home they were still scripturally ignorant. That’s a crying shame. You see the fact that they did this is an admonition to us.

We should absolutely instruct our children in the word of God, read it to him, explain it to him, apply it to them, use it in their lives so that they know the Bible, not just as a matter of knowledge, but as a matter of application.

But it also shows us, Timothy’s example shows us that just because a young person knows the Bible from a child does not mean that he must get tired of it and get bored with it, that doesn’t have to happen.

And as we see in our society, in our time, so much rejection of our parents’ faith and religious instruction, I think there’s more to that story. You you look at the statistics, right? The number of, you know, Baptist teenagers, Baptist college students, and how many leave the faith. They started out, you know, sixty percent, they end up at thirty percent. What’s happening?

What’s happening? I think it’s this. I think it’s very often kids are not taught the Bible. They’re brought to church and the preacher’s expected to do the teaching. It’s not right. And that is not what happened with Timothy. Grandma and mama taught Timothy at the house, that’s number one. I think many times kids are not taught the Bible by their parents.

And even if they are, there is some sort of religious instruction, it’s not the Bible that they’re taught, but they’re taught religion. They’re taught religion. And very often that religion that the parents teach the children, sometimes it’s on purpose, sometimes it’s by accident. Very often that religion is mixed with feigned faith, not sincere faith. Because the parents themselves often aren’t converted, even though they are religious. And so what does the kid see?

You know what he sees? He sees someone that talks about religion and God and the church all the time. But he sees someone whose personal private life at the house is not consistent with what they’re saying. In other words, they’re seeing someone who talks faith, but in private has no resurrection power of Christ in their life that’s affecting the way they actually are in private.

And so these kids get the perception that it’s just talk, it’s just dogma, it’s just exercise and there’s nothing to it, there’s no substance at all, it’s just talk. Because they’ve never seen in their own parents, they’ve never seen the power of the resurrection of Christ at work in a human being. They hear talk and they see they see the facade but they don’t see power and that’s what Timothy saw.

He saw unfeigned faith. So I wanna say to you, if you’re a parent or grandparent, your children, those under your care, need your unfeigned faith. They desperately need you to teach them the words of the living God, And they desperately need you to pair that with a life that is actually that is actually affected by the power of God, where our faith is not just talk, but is actually sincere, that you are the real deal at home.

That’s what they need to see and that is what is what helps a kid who comes up in the church, who comes up in a Christian family to see, I know what the real thing looks like.

And I know it’s not just smoke and mirrors clouds without water, I know that it’s real. Now where they end up on that, how they respond to that at some point becomes a decision of theirs. But let not that decision of theirs be negatively influenced because they don’t see any real life in the home. I want to tell you something, Timothy’s personal history shows us that two ladies, two ladies had a life that had the power of the Lord Jesus Christ active in their life.

They had the real thing and it affected Timothy. In fact, it affected him to such a degree that his faith was their faith passed down to him. Man, what a challenge, what a challenge to each of us. Let’s pray together.