No Buyer's Remorse

2 Timothy 1:1-12 10/15/23 A.M.

Have you ever second guessed yourself? Have you ever thought, “Man I messed up”? Have you ever had BUYER’S REMORSE? I have. “What in the world was I thinking when I bought that?” or “I should have shopped around a little more before I spent the money.” Have you ever been there? I have.

ILLUS: I was reading about a young feller who was a city boy and moved to the country. He wanted to be a farmer but he didn’t have much money. But one day he saw an ad for a MULE. It was just $40. He went and looked at it and it was old and worn out, but .. for $40, he could be a farmer. So he bought the mule with the agreement that the farmer would deliver it the next day. So early the next morning the farmer showed up and opened the tailgate of the trailer and there lay the mule DEAD. The old farmer felt bad and said he was sorry that he guessed it died on the way over. The young feller said “Well, just give me my money back.” The farmer said he couldn’t because he had already spent it. So he tied a rope around the mules legs and then around a tree and told the farmer to pull it out. The farmer said “OK, but I don’t know what you’re gonna do with it.” A week later the farmer saw the feller in town and asked him what he did with it. He said, “Oh, I raffled it off. I sold 100 tickets for a dollar a piece and made $100.” The farmer said, “Didn’t somebody complain?” He said, Yeah, the guy who won but I gave him his dollar back.” Folks, THAT’S how you keep from having BUYER’S REMORSE!!!

Paul wrote this second letter to Timothy somewhere around 64 or 65 A.D. Just a little over 30 years after Jesus was crucified. I think it’s really important to understand what was going on in Paul’s life at this time. He was right around my age. Late 50’s. It’s really hard to know but Paul had started somewhere between 14 and 20 churches. He wrote at least 13 books of the New Testament. And here he is writing his last book. His last letter to Timothy. You see, as Paul wrote this he is setting on Death Row in a prison cell in Rome, Italy. In Verse 6 of Chapter 4 of this book he says,

“For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.”

So here’s my question for you, do you think this OLD APOSTLE had any regrets? You see, Paul had BOUGHT IN to this Jesus Movement. All the way from the Road to Damascus to this PRISON CELL he had kept on preaching the Gospel. Do you think he had buyers regret? To answer that question let’s look at the first Chapter of 2 Timothy. We’ll read Verses 1-12.

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

2 To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

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;

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

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.

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.

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

8 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;

9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:

11 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.

12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”