Ron Dunn Podcast - The View From The Pit (Ron Dunn Podcast)

Episode Date: July 21, 2021

Ron Dunn begins a new sermon series "The View From The Pit"

I want you to open your Bibles tonight to 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4. I find myself, I seem to be stuck on Paul and him in prison. But Paul was in prison twice that we know of certain, in Rome, and that was when he wrote Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, and Philemon. But he was also in prison in Rome, his final imprisonment, when he wrote what we call the pastoral epistles. And these are some of what I consider to be the more personal letters of the apostle when he gives us a glimpse into his personal life that perhaps none of the other letters do.

And this is the imprisonment from which he does not escape alive. And tonight I want to read some verses found in the fourth chapter as Paul draws this letter to young Timothy to a close. Verses 16 through 18. 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 16 through 18. Paul is describing his situation, and he says, At my first defense no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work

and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. I'm always happy to discover that I have something in common with great people. You know, we like to be identified that I have something in common with great people. You know, we like to be identified with well-known people, successful people, and we'll grasp at anything, you know, that we might have in common. And I was happy to discover that Billy Graham and I wear the same brand of socks.

And it's nice to have something in common with great people, you know. And I discovered some while ago that I have something in common with the Apostle Paul. And it's that both of us have been prisoners. Paul served in a prison in Rome, and I have also been a prisoner, not behind the bars of steel and walls of stone, but I've been a prisoner nonetheless. As a matter of fact, all of us tonight could say that we have something in common with the great apostle, that we have been prisoners. Of of course we immediately think about the prison of sin in which we found ourselves and one of the great things of the gospel is that he

has set us free that's why i like romans 8 1 where it says there is therefore now no condemnation ff bruce translates that uh there is now therefore no prison sentence. That's what the word means. And it is the serving of time after you've been sentenced. And what he's saying is that now that we are in Christ Jesus, we no longer have to be confined to a cell. We have been set free. The doors have been swung open by the grace of God, and we're free to walk out.

But I'm talking about another kind of prison tonight, various kinds of prisons, in which you and I are deprived of our freedom. We are deprived of our mobility. We're deprived of carrying out our ambitions. We are hindered in our movements and in our activity. In short, we are in a prison that is confining us and keeping us from doing the things that we feel like we ought to be free to do. It may be a prison of illness

in which we're confined and unable to do and operate the way that we think we ought to. It may be a prison of loneliness. It may be a prison of depression. I've been reading a very interesting book in the last few weeks. The name of it is simply Depression, and it's published by Multnomah Press. And if you've not read it, I would highly recommend it. It's simply depression, and it's published by Multnomah Press. And if you've not read it, I would highly recommend it. It's written by a pastor and a psychologist. And he talks about this black hole in which he lives. And as I read that, I thought to myself, he's as much a prisoner and was as much a prisoner of that depression

because it would incapacitate him and cripple him where he was unable to do the things that he ought to do. We may be in a prison of offense. Someone has offended us or someone has abandoned us, but there are various points in our lives when I think that we find ourselves incarcerated behind bars of emotion and bars of circumstance and situation, bars of heartache, and we just cannot function as we feel like we ought to. Things just haven't worked out the way we thought they would. Things just haven't come together the way we anticipated they would.

I don't so much call it prison as I do call it the pits. And what I would like to do tonight is just to talk to you about what I'm going to title, A View from the Pits. Paul might have called it A View from My Prison Cell, but I prefer to just simply call it A View from the Pits. For to be honest and very frank with you, and I might as well be, there's no one here but us tonight. I do know what it means to be in the pits. And I realize that once in a while you run across some super saint

who seems to give you the idea that their lives are always lived on the mountaintops and they're always in the clouds and they never touch ground because they're so full of God. I'm sorry that I haven't accomplished that yet. I'm sorry that I've not reached that plateau yet. I still have my various times in the pits, don't you?

I think if we were honest tonight, we would admit that. And Paul is in the pits. Here he is in prison. You might say that it doesn't really seem fair of God. As one man said, it's no wonder that God doesn't have any more friends than he has, the way he treats the few that he's got. You would think that Paul deserved better from the Lord. I mean, here is a man who is a highly educated man, and the world opened up before him like a blossom, and he could have picked any flower that he wanted and lived a great and luxurious life. And yet he gave it all up for the Lord Jesus, and his was not an easy lot. And he lived in and out of jail. He lived in and out of misery. He was often in the pits. You would think that God would treat him better than that.

And yet here is Paul as he comes to the climax of his life. He is not being waited upon by noble people and by caring hands and physicians. He's in the hands of those who could care less about him, who hate him, and who are bent on taking his life from him. What an end for a man who has so faithfully served the Lord. And I've been intrigued in the last few weeks by these closing words, probably the last words that Paul ever wrote, and I'd like to examine them with you tonight for a few moments and just see what is the view from the pit.

What do you learn when you're in prison? What do you learn? Does God have anything to teach you from the pit? What do you learn when you're in prison? What do you learn? Does God have anything to teach you from the pit? Does God have anything to say to us? Is there anything profitable that we can gain from this? Let me just suggest three things. Number one, the view from the pit, I think the first thing you might discover is that people are fickle and their loyalty is often fleeting. I think those are some of the saddest words that Paul ever wrote in verse 16 when he says, at my first defense, and here he's talking probably about the preliminary hearing that he had in the Roman court of law, which was customary. And he said,

at my first defense, no man stood with me. He has just said up in verse 10, he's asking Timothy to do all diligence to come unto me, for he says, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. And I was noticing over in the other epistle, he says that all men have forsaken me. Again and again, that refrain comes through these two letters. Here is Paul, the greatest Christian who ever lived. If there was ever anybody who should have been surrounded by friends, supported by comrades in his hour of need,

and yet he writes and says, at my first defense, when I stood there at that preliminary hearing, there was no man stood with me, for all had forsaken me. Now I think that what Paul is primarily talking about here are influential people in Rome. He says earlier that Luke is still with him. I think there were some faithful and steadfast companions who stood with Paul to the very last, but I think what Paul is referring to here is that there were some folks in Rome, people of stature, because he writes to the Philippians and says

that the gospel has been spread throughout the Praetorian Guard, that Caesar's household has converts in it. There were those who had the ear of Caesar who had become Christians. There were those of influence and who had power and prestige in the court who could have stood by Paul and served as a character reverence. And yet Paul has to write and say, When I made my first appearance at the court of Rome, nobody stood with me. Everybody seemed to find business elsewhere.

It seemed that everybody had something else to do that day. And after all, it's not always safe to show yourself as the friend of someone who is the enemy of Caesar and his own trial for his life. And I think those are very sad words. Here is a man who was greatly beloved. Here is a man who when he left Ephesus, you remember the Ephesian elders wrapped their arms around his neck and nearly choked the life out of him for love. And they wept sorely because

they were afraid that they would never see Paul again. And when the Spirit had bidden him to go up to Rome, to Jerusalem, there were those who warned him about it, and there were those who warned him about going to Rome. Here was a man who had accumulated so many converts, so many friends. He was the great mouthpiece for the gospel. And yet you discover something when you're in the pit that you may not have as many friends as you thought you had, and you discover that people are often fickle and their loyalty fleeting. Let me just say three very brief things. Number one, we need one another. We need one another. I don't know that I will ever become, nor you will ever become,

so spiritually strong and so cognizant of the Lord's presence that you don't need the human touch. After all, it was God first who said it's not good that man should be alone. And I don't think the Lord ever intended us to live the Christian life all by ourselves. Franklin over a while ago when all of these missionary candidates were up here, and this always blesses me. I come, you thank me for coming, but I thank you for letting me come because it does my heart good to see. I envy the way that you do this because it gives you a personal contact with these folks. In our church, we just give to an impersonal fund, and we never see the missionaries, and we don't have any personal contact.

And sometimes you forget that people need your help. But I want you to know that no man lives or dies unto himself, not even the greatest of Christians. And we need one another. We need one another. We need their support. And we need their encouragement. You say, Preacher, do you really need to be encouraged?

You'd better believe it. Even as old as I am, even as long as I've been preaching, I still need encouragement. You never get beyond that. That's the first thing I would say. Second thing I would say is this. I believe it's a sin for you to abandon Christians when they're in need. I think it is a sin for us to turn a negligent eye and a non-caring heart to those who are in need. You notice Paul says, I pray that it may not be laid to their charge. And he's using a bookkeeping term here, and he pictures God as

perhaps a bookkeeper, and there is a ledger there. And here are these people who could have come and supported Paul. Here were some folks who could have come and given a character reference. That's the least they could have done, but they found it more convenient to be elsewhere on that day. At his greatest need, Demas forsook him, been with him all these years. And when Paul really needed him the most, Demas forsook him. And Paul says, I pray that it may not be laid to their charge.

In other words, there was a good possibility that God was going to reckon that against them, for that's what the word means. And I believe that he's saying by implication, it is a sin for you and for me to abandon those of our brethren who are in need Paul says that if one be overtaken in the fall you that are spiritual criticizing bury him get rid of him that's not what he says? He says, if one be overtaken in a fault, you that are spiritual, restore such a one. And he uses a word there that means like mending a broken arm.

Because, you see, when one member of my body hurts, every member of my body hurts. One of them became, what do they call call that dry socket or something anyway and oh I was in pain and I found a dentist here in in Chattanooga Mormon by the way but anyway he gave me free service and I'd go I'd go to him and he had packed that thing but I started out that night driving back to Dallas I do crazy things like this start out at night about 11 o'clock driving back to Dallas that tooth began to hurt that tooth began I want to say something just that it was just that tooth and that tooth wasn't even there and it was hurting But do you know something when I hurt in one spot it hurts all over I mean it was up here that the pain, but my feet didn't want to do anything.

It was my jaw that was hurting, but my hands didn't want to do anything. It was my jaw that was hurting, but my ears didn't want to hear anything. My eyes didn't want to see. I hurt all over. And Paul says into the Ephesians, you ought not to lie one to another. Why? Seeing that you're lying to yourself. You see, when you harm another member of the body of Christ,

you're really in fact harming yourself. And when you abandon another, brother, you are truly abandoning you, your own self. It is a sin for us to abandon one another. I was sitting here a moment ago when he was talking about making faith promises. I don't know how you define faith promises at your church, but when I was pastor, I told my folks, I believe a faith promise is making a promise so great that it's going to take faith in order to pay it.

That you're going to have to trust God. I mean, you're going to have to trust God. I don't think you ought to get out your pencil and paper and figure out, now what can I easily manage? I think if it's going to be by faith, you're going to say, I'm going to have to make such a commitment, and I'm going to have to trust God in order to make this thing true. But I believe if we take seriously the teaching of the Scripture,

we have to understand, friend friend we cannot abandon those who have needs whether it's emotional or physical or financial or whatever it is third thing I'd say about it is this while it is a sin for us to abandon those who are in need it's also a sin for us to get bitter about it if we have been abandoned notice Paul's spirit comes through here he says I pray God that it not may not be laid to their charge what a magnificent spirit what a Christ-like spirit if if there was ever a fellow who had a right to get upset it was the apostle and yet he comes to pray and he says, no man stood with me. All men forsook me. And this is my attitude. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. You know,

it's very easy for us to get bitter when people don't understand. And I've talked to several people even this week. And you know, there's one thing that folks in the pit have in common. Nobody outside the pit ever understands. They really don't. I discovered, oh it's been two or three weeks ago, I was visiting with a friend and I amazed myself sometimes at how insensitive I can be to the needs of others. And we had a light, casual, silly talk about things that didn't really matter.

And later on, after my visit, I was with somebody else and discovered that that person was going through a terribly trying time and really needed some comfort and really needed some ministering too. And I felt so bad. I felt like I had failed. I thought, well, I am such an insensitive clod that here I was talking about mundane, senseless things. And this person probably, when I came to visit them,

they were hoping maybe he'll have something to say, and I didn't pick up on it. And many a time, people don't minister to us, not because they're unconcerned. It may be because they're not aware of it. People don't understand. And they may not think our problem is all that serious. They say, my goodness, you're worrying about this little thing.

You ought to have my problem. Oh, that's nothing. You're just a crybaby. But I want to tell you something. Whatever you're going through at the time, it's the worst thing. It may not be as bad as somebody else has gone through, but your cross is your cross, whatever it is. And not everybody will understand that. And if you're not careful, you'll let yourself get bitter. and you'll say, here is a time when I need it. I've taught Sunday school in this church for 20 years and I've given my money and I've given my support and now when my heart's breaking, nobody comes to see me, nobody picks up on it. And you know, it can make you very cynical and fill you with bitterness and spoil your heart and sour your life.

And so from the pit, the view is that sometimes people are fickle and their loyalty is fleeting, but you ought not to let it make you bitter. Paul says, I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Now, folks, y'all are going to have to listen a whole lot faster than you're listening for me to get through this. I mean, I may be done, but I'm not finished. Number two, the view from the pit. Number two is what?

Well, you see that not only people are fickle, but that the Lord is faithful. That's what you learn from the pit. And I think sometimes you never learn that until you get in the pit of just how faithful the Lord is. Notice what Paul says. And one of these days I'm going to do a sermon on neverthelesses. But I want to make sure I do it in the King James because they don't have them in the RSV.

They took them out. That's true. A friend of mine prepared a sermon out of the King James on neverthelesses. And when he went up to preach, he just happened to pick up the RSV, and the RSV changed it. They don't have nevertheless. It would ruin your sermon. But nevertheless, I'm going to preach on it.

Notice what Paul says. In verse 16, he gives the bad news. In verse 17, it's the good news. Notwithstanding, notwithstanding, that's as good as nevertheless, notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me. Isn't that wonderful? Paul said, the Lord stood with me. Now that word stood really is a technical term for an advocate who would come and stand beside the accused and would whisper things in his ear, giving him advice on how to answer. You see what Paul is saying, while I had no one

to speak for me, I did have someone to speak to me. The Lord stood by me, and He strengthened me. If I were to translate that word into American, I would put it like this. The Lord not only stood by me, but He kept me on my feet. Well, that's what the word means. He strengthened me. He poured strength into me. When I was feeling weak in the knees and didn't know if I could take it any longer, being forsaken by all my friends, the Lord stood by me and He strengthened me. He

kept me on my feet. And when I became a hollow man, He poured more of that strength into me. That's what the Lord does. How many times I've said, Lord, I don't think I can take any more, and surely in your goodness you'll not put any more on me. I mean, after all, I've got enough on me now. And God says, oh, you haven't even touched the hem of the garment as far as my grace is concerned. Here, let's dump a bunch more on you, and you'll discover something....that it might be removed, and that means not just three times. That's a Greek idiom that means he prayed repeatedly. And he just prayed over and over and over and over again. And God said, no, it sort of encourages me to know that even Paul couldn't get all these prayers answered. And he said, Lord, I could be

so much more faithful. I could be so much more effective if you'd remove this thorn. And God said, no, you wouldn't. No, you wouldn't. He said, I've got something better. He said, I'm going to give you more grace. You think the solution is the absence of the thorn. The real solution is an abundance of grace, you see. And so Paul says, the Lord stood by me and strengthened me. And the view from the pit is you discover that the Lord is faithful even when no one else is. And then he says something else, and I just want to point this out before I finish.

In verse 18, And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work. Now it says in verse 17, And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion, probably referring there to the emperor, for he was usually called the lion. In that first hearing, Paul escaped with his life. But Paul had no doubt about the outcome. He knew he was usually called the lion. In that first hearing, Paul escaped with his life. But Paul had no doubt about the outcome. He knew he was for it.

He knew he was going to get it. There was no doubt in Paul's mind he was going to die. But notice what he says. The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work. Now, wait just a minute, Paul. You say that they're going to take you out one day and chop your head off? Yes, sir. And that's going to kill you. Well, yes, more than likely. Yes. Sir Walter Raleigh said, sharp medicine, but it's a sure cure for every headache.

And he said, yes. Well, I thought you just wrote to Timothy. I thought you just wrote to Timothy that the Lord would deliver you from every evil work. Oh, he is. But you're going to have your head cut off. He said, if the Lord doesn't deliver me from it, it must not be evil.

Now, do you understand what I'm getting at? I want to tell you something, folks. The Bible says, No good thing will he withhold from those that walk uprightly with him. Do you believe that? Then why do we complain when he withholds certain things from us? You see, if he withholds something from us, then it must not be good for us, right? And here He says, He will deliver me from every evil work, but He hasn't delivered me from this sickness. He hasn't delivered me from this infirmity. He hasn't delivered me from this situation.

Well, then evidently it must not be evil as far as God is concerned. Evidently it may be one of those strange ministers that God is sending your way to do you good. Now one last word. A view from the pit, you find that people are fickle but the Lord is faithful. And the third thing is you find that the pit itself can be mighty fruitful. I believe something.

I believe, and I've said it here before, I know. I believe that the Lord never wastes time or experience. And I believe that in the life of the Christian, that nothing is either incidental nor accidental. I believe that God takes even our failures and turns them into our good and to His glory. And even the pit can be fruitful. Now, Paul says an amazing thing here.

He says in verse 17, Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear." In other words, the pit can be fruitful in that it many a time fulfills in our lives the purpose of God. Now when God called Paul, he called him for a particular ministry. You remember what that ministry was? His ministry was to the Gentiles. Peter and the other apostles, their ministry was to the Jews, but Paul was an apostle born out of season. His ministry was peculiarly to the

Gentiles. That's why he changed his name from Saul to Paul, from the Hebrew way to the Greek way, so he would better communicate with the Gentiles. That was his particular calling. And here's what Paul is saying. He's saying, I was in prison, and nobody stood with me at my first defense. Nevertheless, the Lord stood by me and strengthened me in order that, that's a purpose clause, in order that the preaching of the Gentiles or to the Gentiles might be fulfilled, is the idea, might be fully accomplished. Do you know what he's saying? He's saying that had I not been put in this pit, my ministry would never have been fulfilled. I mean, I had to come by this way.

I had to come through the prison in order to fulfill my ministry. You say, preacher, what are you getting at? Just this. I believe that once you commit your life to Jesus Christ, to serve Him, and say, Lord, here is my life. It's yours to do with as you please. I believe then you have the right to assume that whatever comes your way, it's a part of God fulfilling the ministry in your life.

I don't believe God ever puts you on a sidetrack. I don't believe God ever puts you on a detour. I don't believe He ever sets you off on a siding and says, well, now this doesn't have anything to do with your ministry. I'm sorry, but I didn't foresee that you were going to have this problem and so it has nothing to do. I don't believe that. I think that once I commit my life to Jesus Christ and I give over myself to him and say,

Lord, this is your body. Take it and use it as you please. I think then that I have the right to assume that whatever comes my way, good or bad, fair or ill, sickness or health, joy or sorrow, I believe I have the right to assume this is a part of God fulfilling His ministry in my life. To me, it encourages me to know that there is nothing, there is nothing in heaven and earth or hell that can defeat the purpose of God in my life. But there's one word more. I think in the pit we discover how to praise the Lord. I talked about that this morning, so I'll just say a brief word about it. You'll notice he ends

up this passage in verse 18. He says, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Oh my, what a way to end it. And may I just say this to you. If you cannot walk through this life with a doxology in your heart,

then you have an inadequate understanding of your God. If you cannot walk through this life with doxology in your heart, then you just don't know God as you ought to know Him. And I pray that you'll come to know Him. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification,

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