This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

We want to invite you to one of our weekend services. Visit us online at
saddleback. com for locations and service times in your area.

Please visit us this weekend. I want to welcome you to day four of our look
through Second Timothy chapter four, the last chapter of Second Timothy. In many
ways, these words that we looked at from Paul yesterday were the high point.

But from that, Paul begins to talk in a more personal way to Timothy. And there
is something very powerful about that as well. In verses nine to 17, Paul just
begins to pour out some things in his heart about people, about life, the
realities of life.

What he said yesterday to us about fighting the fight, about finishing the race,
you have to read it in light of what we're going to read today about the
realities of life and relationships and some that disappoint you and some that
somehow overjoy you. Let me read for you verses nine to 17. Paul writes to
Timothy, "Do your best to come to me quickly.

For Demas, because he loved the world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.
Crescans has gone to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me.

Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. I
sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus
at Troas and my scrolls, especially the parchments.

Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him
for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he
strongly opposed our message.

At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it
not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so
that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles
might hear it.

And I was delivered from the lion's mouth. " These are amazing verses to me,
very personal verses from the apostle Paul. He's facing death.

It's fascinating. He says, "I want you to bring my cloak. Make sure you bring
the books.

Bring the parchments. " In many ways, in these verses, Paul is telling us what
to do when you face an uncertain future. Often what do you do when you face an
uncertain future?

Often you do the same things you do if you didn't think you were facing an
uncertain future. Because the truth of the matter is, whether you know it or
not, you're facing an uncertain future every day. There are some days when we
think, "I can see all the way through for the next 50 years of my life.

" But you don't have that guaranteed. You know it's uncertain. There are other
days when we feel like, "I think I may not live another day.

" Everything feels uncertain. What do you do? In many ways, you do the same.

That was the faith of Paul. He realized his life might soon be lost, but he
didn't know what plan God had. So he said, "I'm cold.

I want you to bring the cloak. I like reading books. I want you to bring the
scrolls, because they comfort me.

" Both of these things comforted Paul in this time, a cloak to warm him, his
books to encourage him. What do you do when you're facing an uncertain future?
You keep looking to the future.

You keep walking toward whatever God has. Paul talks about these certain things
that he wanted from Timothy. He was hoping Timothy could come and visit him.

And then he also begins to talk about some people. And there's just this list
that he goes through that teaches you and I some things about life. He talks
about a friend by the name of Demas.

And he said, "Demas has deserted me because he loved the world. " Paul was
facing death because of his belief. That meant that visiting Paul in prison was
just not a safe thing to do.

Somebody who, because they have a certain belief is going to be put to death.
You go and visit them because you have the same belief. You could be right
beside him in prison at any minute.

And Demas loved the world more than he loved the Lord. And so he deserted Paul.
And Paul saw that.

He recognized that. He had to live in his life with the disappointment of that.
If you've ever had someone desert you, Paul did.

He knows what it feels like. If you've ever had someone desert you, Jesus did. A
man by the name of Judas.

Jesus knows what it feels like. And we often take it personally and we think
it's just because of me. What should I do?

What could I change? Paul had the wisdom to see it's because he loved the world.
It's because he didn't have the strength in this moment to love the Lord.

If someone's deserted you, recognize the need that's in their life. Instead of
responding with guilt for what you might have done or anger at who they are,
respond with compassion. The reason they deserted you may be because they loved
the world.

Paul goes on and he writes, "Only Luke. " That's the writer of the Gospel of
Luke. Luke the doctor.

Luke is with me. Paul and Luke were great friends we know from the book of Acts.
Luke may have been with Paul because he needed a doctor.

Very cold prison cells and lots of sickness there. He had the courage to be
there even though it threatened his life. Luke is with me and then Paul says,
amazingly, he says in verse 11, "Get Mark and bring him with you.

" This is John Mark. If you've read the book of Acts, you know this is an
amazing verse in scripture. In the book of Acts, there was a young man by the
name of John Mark that went on Paul and Barnabas' first missionary journey.

And he, for whatever reason, lost faith, lost energy. He went home early.
Barnabas wanted to take John Mark on the second missionary journey and Paul
said, "No, not him.

He let us down the first time. He's going to let us down this time. We're not
taking John Mark.

" Barnabas said, "We are taking John Mark. " They had such an argument about it
that they split. Barnabas went on a missionary journey with John Mark.

Paul went with some others. And here we have Paul towards the end of his life
saying, "John Mark, make sure you bring him because he is helpful to me in my
ministry. " There's incredible redemption in this verse.

You see in this verse, Paul's willingness to grow and change. The Bible's all
about that. You see God's great leaders, they are willing to grow and change.

David, King David learned from a moral failure. Moses learned from a leadership
failure. Peter learned from a faith failure when he denied the Lord.

And Paul learned from a relational failure. And instead of writing John Mark off
for the rest of his life, here he is at the end of his life saying, "I want him
here. " He does good ministry.

I've seen his growth, but it's not just John Mark who grew. Paul also grew to be
able to accept the ministry of John Mark. And instead of pridefully having to
hold on to an opinion the rest of his life, he was able to see growth.

Amazing verse about what God does. And then Paul goes on to talk about
Alexander, a different story than John Mark. He says, "Alexander did me a great
deal of harm," and he warns Timothy against him.

It's interesting, Paul is writing this passage, this letter just to Timothy. As
far as Paul knows, when he writes this, only Timothy is going to read this. Paul
didn't know that the Holy Spirit was inspiring him as he wrote.

I don't believe he knew. And so he sends this letter just to Timothy, but the
Holy Spirit's inspired it, which means 2,000 years of Christians have read about
Alexander who failed Paul. The Lord will repay him for what he has done.

And we read these words to Timothy, and some of us think, "Well, isn't that
judgmental? " How could Paul say something like that? Well, first of all, he
wasn't saying it to everyone, he was saying it just to Timothy.

But secondly, he was warning Timothy about someone who could hurt him. You
always have to remember there's a difference between forgiveness and trust. I
believe, because Paul wrote so often about forgiveness, that he had forgiven
Alexander, but he's telling Timothy, "Do not trust Alexander.

He did me a great deal of harm. He strongly opposed our message. " How do you
handle in your life, how do I handle in my life the reality of imperfect people?

The people who let you down, Demas, who deserted me, the people who oppose you,
even oppose the good things that God wants to do in life because of their own
selfishness, because they want to be noticed instead of you being noticed. How
do you handle the reality of Paul's going to say in just a minute, "No one was
there at my first defense"? How do you handle the reality of being all alone?

Not because someone deserted you or wanted to do evil against you, just because
they were doing their own thing. They just didn't have time for you that day.
How do you handle the reality of imperfect people?

Two things. First, you choose forgiveness over bitterness. You could choose
bitterness, but Paul didn't.

Paul said in verse 16, "May it not be held against them. " He's echoing in his
last days the words of Jesus in his last day on the cross, "Father, forgive
them. They don't know what they're doing.

" May it not be held against them. Choose forgiveness over bitterness.
Bitterness is just going to eat you up.

Bitterness can ruin the last days of your life, the days that should be filled
with The days that should be filled with the joy of crossing the finish line,
the days that should be filled with God doing things in and through you, whether
you know it or not. Even in your sickness, even in your illness, God working
through your life in ways that change your family, that change eternity. Number
one, you choose forgiveness over bitterness.

And number two, you choose to focus on what you have and not on what you didn't
have. Paul says, "No one came to my support. " And he doesn't say, "I'll never
forgive them for it.

For the rest of my life, I only have a few months to live. I'm going to remember
that no one was there with me. " No, he doesn't say that at all.

Instead, he says, "May it not be held against them. " And here's what I did
have. No one was there, but the Lord was there.

The Lord stood at my side. I sensed him. I felt him.

And because of that, he says, "I was delivered from the lion's mouth. " Now
that's literally, we use that as a phrase of, you know, I didn't have to go to
court. I didn't have to suffer some penalty, some little penalty.

Paul was going to be delivered into a lion's mouth. That's how they persecuted
Christians in that day. He was delivered.

The Lord stood by my side. When people let you down, Jesus never will. I am
disappointed in myself and the ways I've let people down over the years.

And I'm disappointed at the ways people have let me down. I recognize that we
are imperfect people, but I see in our imperfections, Jesus never fails us. He
is always there.

So you focus. You focus on what you do have. The Lord stood.

He was there. You focus on what you do have. I was delivered.

The Lord worked. He was there. How do you handle the reality of imperfect
people?

Choose forgiveness over bitterness. Choose to focus on what you have and not
what you didn't have. And for some of you, as we pray today, this may be an
incredibly important moment in your life.

Because bitterness has been tugging at the edges of your heart. And it's eating
away at your hope. It's eating away at your energy.

It's eating away at your faith. Today, would you ask Jesus Christ for the grace
to choose forgiveness? As I said earlier, forgiveness doesn't mean trust.

Paul wasn't trusting Alexander. He was going to have to rebuild that trust if it
was ever going to come again. But it means you let go of the hurt.

You put it in the hands of God. You choose forgiveness over bitterness. And
right now, would you also choose to focus on what you do have?

God standing at your side, Jesus being faithful to you, him delivering you from
your sin. Focus on what you have and ask God to do a new work in your heart, in
your life. Thank you, Jesus, that we can trust you to do something new.

In your name, amen. And I'll see you tomorrow. We're going to close our look
together at the book of 2 Timothy.