2 Timothy 1:1-8

2 Timothy 1:1. Paul, an 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:

There is the greatest possible affection between the preacher and his convert. This is a relationship which even death will not destroy. They neither marry nor are given in marriage in the Heavenly Kingdom, but this fatherhood and sonship shall endure for ever.

2 Timothy 1:2. Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

It is not a little remarkable that, when the apostle writes to churches, he usually wishes them «Grace and peace»; but when he writes to a minister, he generally prays for «Grace, mercy, and peace», as if we needed more mercy than other Christians. Having so great a work to do, and falling into such great sin if we are unfaithful in it, we may well ask that we may have special mercy showed unto us by the God of mercy.

2 Timothy 1:3. I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;

At that time, Timothy was very specially laid upon the apostle's heart and he did not seem to think of anything without young Timothy's image rising up before him «night and day.»

2 Timothy 1:4. Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;

Paul had seen Timothy's tears when he parted from him. He remembered, perhaps, his tears when under conviction of sin, his tears of joy when he found the Saviour, and the tears he shed in his early preaching, when the gracious youth touched the hearts of others because he so evidently spoke out of his own heart.

2 Timothy 1:5. When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.

There is no transmigration of souls, but there is a kind of transmigration of faith, as if the very form and shape of faith, which was in Lois and Eunice, afterwards appeared in Timothy. Truly, there are certain idiosyncrasies which may pass from some Christian people to others; and when those idiosyncrasies are of a high and noble kind, it is a great mercy to see them reproduced in children and children's children. «I thought I heard your mother speak,» said one, when she heard a Christian woman talking of the Saviour, «you speak in just the way in which she used to tell out her experience, and describe the love of Christ.»

2 Timothy 1:6. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

The fire needs stirring every now and then; it is apt to die out if it is not stirred.

2 Timothy 1:7. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God;

Timothy, never be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, and never be ashamed of Paul when he is put in prison for the sake of the gospel; but ask to partake, not only of the gospel, and of the power of it, but even of the afflictions which come for its sake, for this is one of the highest honours that can be put upon us, that we may suffer with God's saints for the truth's sake. Paul, in the 3 rd chapter, goes on to tell Timothy of the danger of his times.

This exposition consisted of readings from 2 Timothy 1:1; 2 Timothy 3:1; and 2 Timothy 4:1