2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 8. Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel. Wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying, for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. and thus far we read the Word of God. And our theme this evening is Encouragements to Endurance. Encouragements to Endurance. The Apostle has been exhorting Timothy to endure afflictions for the Gospel and in the preaching of that Gospel that he must preach and teach the Word of God and stand for the truth of God irrespective of afflictions coming upon him, all the more so as the Apostle himself is soon to leave this world. But the Apostle now gives encouragements to this. First of all, a glorious Saviour, a glorious Saviour. Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my Gospel. He says, remember the idea of keeping in mind that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead or that Jesus Christ remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David raised from the dead. In other words, the remember may actually relate to the person rather than to the raising. Remember him as raised from the dead. Timothy is to remember the Lord Jesus Christ. We might foolishly say, well how could we not remember? But we don't always remember. We do not live as if Christ is at the right hand of the Father. If we did, we would never sin. So we do forget and we must remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead, that he is at God's right hand, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured such contradiction of sinners. Set your affections on things which are above, and not on things below, where Christ is sat down at the right hand of God. But then he says, remember Jesus Christ, Sometimes the apostle uses Jesus Christ, sometimes Christ Jesus, and it's not always evident that there is a particular reason for one rather than the other. But it is noticeable that in other places in this letter He uses Christ Jesus, for example, in verse 13 of chapter 1 and a number of other places, except for here and also in verse 10 of chapter 1, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to life through the Gospel. It's the two places where he's particularly dealing with Christ's accomplishing redemption is coming into this world and it is possible that it's meant to emphasise Jesus first as the historical figure that he actually was a man in this world, the historical figure who is the Christ of God. This is emphasised also by the phrase of the seed of David, emphasising his true humanity and his fulfilment of prophecy in history, the actual factualness that he did come, he did live and die and rise again. He was born of the seed of David. And this is the one genealogy that is of supreme importance in 1 Timothy 1.4, the apostle mentions the heretics and their endless genealogies, but this genealogy is to be studied, that he was of the seed of David. And it says, remember that Jesus Christ was of the seed of David, was raised from the dead, that he is raised, that he is now exalted at the right hand of God. and governing all things for the good of the church. The emphasis here is not simply on the fact of the resurrection but that he is risen and remains so, that he is risen and exalted. But then he says, according to my gospel. According to my gospel. Why my gospel? Why not the gospel? Why not according to God's gospel. Why in this place my gospel? Well, not my in the sense that Paul's mind was the source of this gospel. The apostle utterly rejected the role of an original thinker as if his mind was a source of truth, but he acted as a herald of a God-given message. That's why in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 Corinthians 2 verse 1, And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. The apostle there is contrasting himself with the kind of philosophers that the Corinthians were in danger of being somewhat dazzled by. And he says, well, I'm not a philosopher. I didn't come with some idea that has its origin in my own mind. I came as a herald of a God-given message. So when he calls it my gospel, he's not saying that it doesn't come from God but it was, he could say my gospel in the sense that it was the gospel he had received and preached and now believes as he faces death but it is especially this that this was the gospel that he had preached and suffered for and was still suffering for And it is this Gospel, my Gospel, that I am suffering for, this Gospel that I have preached and for which I now suffer, that Timothy must be prepared to suffer for. That's why in chapter 1 verse 8, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. It was Paul's Gospel in the sense that If Timothy was ashamed of Paul and of his shame, then it was this Gospel that Timothy was ashamed of. Because it was for this Gospel that Paul was in prison. And he couldn't be ashamed of Paul and his trouble, his imprisonment, without being ashamed of this Gospel. And that's why he says, according to my Gospel, And, but he's also saying, remember that my gospel, lest you're tempted to be ashamed of my gospel for which I am now a prisoner, that it is according to my gospel that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead. So there's no need to be ashamed of it because it's a glorious gospel. Yes, this gospel has got me into prison. But it's worth it and it's worth it for you too, Timothy. That's what he's saying. A glorious gospel. A gospel pertaining to him who is at the right hand of God and who is governing everything for the good of his church. But then secondly, a glorious purpose. A glorious purpose. Verse 9 to verse 10. wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." A glorious purpose. Notice first of all here, Paul is doing what Timothy must be willing to do. He's told him earlier in this chapter that he must endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And here the Apostle says, I suffer trouble, the word trouble is basically the same word as hardness in the earlier verse. He is saying, I'm suffering hardness, I'm suffering trouble, you must be prepared to do the same. and he suffers as an evil-doer, that is, as an alleged evil-doer, not an actual evil-doer. We referred previously to 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 16. Having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you, as of evil-doers, They may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. They speak evil of you as of evildoers. That's what was happening to the Apostle Paul. He wasn't an actual evildoer but they spoke of him as one. So in chapter 4 of 1 Peter But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. but let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf." Don't suffer as an actual evil-doer, but be willing to suffer as an alleged evil-doer for the gospel, even for following that which is good, as we sang in the psalm earlier on. And so it was that the apostles suffered as an evildoer, even as the Lord Jesus, they hated me without a cause, they accused him of having a devil, they accused him of blasphemy, and they accused the Son of God of blasphemy. and the servant is not above his master. And so he suffers as an evildoer, even unto bonds, to imprisonment. And that brings us onto this heading, Assure Purpose. Assure Purpose, he says, even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. a sure purpose. Notice here that though Paul is now bound, the Word of God is not bound. The enemy cannot kill off the Word of God. Paul has preached it in prison, he is still bearing testimony to it within the limits of his situation and he still writing letters and urging Timothy to preach it. Others who have believed through the Apostles' ministry, they are preaching it, men like Timothy. And so the Word of God was not bound. The Word of God cannot be obliterated by the enemies, by the devil and his angels and wicked men. The Word of the Lord endureth forever. The content of it endure it forever. And also the spread of it and the effect of it in Isaiah 55 and verse 11 of verse 10. For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and birth, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. And so in his first imprisonment in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 11 and 12, or verse 12, But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places and many of the brethren in the Lord, who, acting confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." The apostle had been imprisoned there and in the palace, his being imprisoned for the gospel's sake is well known. and others who had been rather timid became bold on account of his example so that the apostles arrest on that occasion resulted in the gospel being made more widely known. And you see the enemy cannot obliterate the gospel. They cannot obliterate the truth of God from off the face of the earth. Truly they would like to as in Psalm 83 where the enemies combined together and said let us blot out the name of Israel that it be no more mentioned. They wanted to get rid of the church of God and the truth of God with it. But it didn't happen and it never will happen. Because the exalted Redeemer at the right hand of the Father as Acts 1, 1 and 2 tells us he is doing and teaching. You remember in Acts 1, 1 and 2 where the inspired writer Luke describes how in his first In his first epistle he had spoken of what Jesus began to do and to teach until his exaltation, his earthly ministry. And the book of Acts is about what he continues to do and to teach from the right hand of the Father by the Spirit. And so Christ is exalted and his word shall accomplish that where to it was sent. So the Word of God is not bound. And there is an elect seed to be gathered in. The Apostle says, Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. For the elect's sake. He sees the and the sufferings he engages in for Christ's sake as also being for the elect's sake. Notice how his belief in the doctrine of election spurs him to evangelistic zeal. Contrary to popular assumption, the doctrine of election is a great spur to evangelistic endeavour. His suffering in his ministry of the gospel is a divinely appointed instrument of the in-gathering of God's elect. And the apostle, far from seeing election, the truth of election, as a discouragement to a family, sees it as the exact opposite. That as he preaches and as he suffers for preaching, He knows that God has an elect people who will be called into the fellowship of his son and built up and rooted and built up and grow in the knowledge of him until they are perfected in glory, a multitude which no man can number. Until that calling takes place he doesn't know who they are, but he preaches the gospel in the certain knowledge that God has an elect people who will be gathered in. and he is an instrument in the gathering of God's elect so that they obtain salvation and with eternal glory. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13 and 14 we've looked at this verse many times but 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." So there you see election in eternity, sanctification of the Spirit, no doubt in mind the the beginning of sanctification, the new birth, the change in principle and the renewing of the will and belief of the truth. But how do they believe the truth if the truth isn't there? But it is there, whereunto he called you by our gospel. It was as the gospel was preached that elect sinners were wrought upon by the Spirit and brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, God has ordained all the means. The God of election has appointed the means whereby the elect will hear the gospel and their hearts shall be renewed so that they believe it, they obey the truth. And so election isn't in a vacuum. God's election means that he has predestinated all the means to the end. that is the obtaining of eternal glory. So they are called, the God who has chosen the elect has appointed when and by what means they will be called, that is through the preaching of the gospel. So Titus 1 verse 1 and 2 Paul a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. He says an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. is saying that he was an instrument whereby elect sinners were brought to faith in Christ and the acknowledgement of the truth which leads to godliness. So God having chosen, he has appointed that some of those elect will hear the gospel through the Apostle Paul in that particular time and that elect sinners will hear Paul's preaching and believe on Christ and acknowledge the truth and this will lead to godliness of life. And notice the scope of the salvation to be bestowed upon God's elect. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It begins with calling and justification, that is, deliverance from the guilt of sin, but it doesn't end there, it reaches to eternal glory. That's why in 2 Thessalonians 2 that we read earlier, 13 and 14, it is a calling unto his eternal kingdom and glory because the call of God in this world though it brings justification immediately, its ultimate reach is eternal glory. Those who are called are justified and glorified. They will be perfected in holiness in the presence of Christ, beholding His glory and they will be glorified with Him and their bodies will be raised to glory at the last day so shall they be forever with the Lord. And so the God who has elected in Christ has foreordained the means, such as Paul's ministry, persevered in through much affliction for the conversion and sanctification of God's elect in this world. What a stimulus! This is. The Apostle saw his afflictions in the work of preaching the Gospel as instrumental in the gathering and of building of the elect of God. What a stimulus. Whether public preaching or the individual testimony in word and deed of every Christian. These things are instrumental in the in-gathering of God's elect. In Colossians 1.24 we find a rather startling phrase, Colossians 1.24, Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the church. Now he's not saying there was anything lacking in the atonement of Christ and Christ's atoning sufferings and death. But he is saying that Christ died to accomplish redemption and in the application of redemption he has appointed instrumentally that the Apostle Paul in pursuing his ministry should suffer The Apostle Paul's suffering in the work of the ministry was divinely ordained and therefore that ministry in the midst of affliction was a divinely ordained instrument for the good, for the building up of the Church of God. And that's why that rather startling thing, it does startle us when we read it. Only an inspired writer would dare say it. Anyone with reverence for God would need to be inspired by the Spirit to say such a thing, filling up the measure of that which is behind the sufferings of Christ. It is not atonement that he is talking about, but he is saying, yes, Christ died to accomplish redemption, but in the application it is through the testimony of his servants in the affliction that God has appointed this instrument for the building up of the Church of Christ. And he doesn't see his sufferings in the work of the Gospel as simply an incidental. He sees it part of that which God has ordained in the fulfilling of his ministry for the good of the Church of God. The servants of God suffer for the elect's sake. Joseph did in the Old Testament. Joseph's sufferings in Egypt. What was it all about? It was for the preservation of the Church of God in the house of Jacob. And we ought to see our afflictions, yes, as instrumental in our own sanctification, but when we glorify God in the midst of affliction, that testimony to divine grace is something that God uses for the building up of his church, for the encouragement of those who are already in the kingdom, and it may please him also for the awakening and conversion of some elect sinners who are not yet called. But thirdly, a glorious prospect. a glorious prospect, verse 11 to 13, it is a faithful saying, for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we believe not, yet he abides faithful, he cannot deny himself. Here we have another one of these faithful sayings and this faithful saying is poetic in form. Now it may be a quotation, it doesn't have to be. The assumption by some people that the Apostle Paul couldn't simply change into a more poetic or rhythmic form of speech is quite uncalled for. The Apostle Paul's style does vary. In Romans 11 he breaks out in adoration in a style that is quite striking and startling and which comes quite suddenly so we needn't assume that he's quoting something. But it may be that he is quoting a memorizable doctrinal formula that these faithful saints were known among the Christians to sum up some aspect of truth in a way that could be remembered. But there is absolutely no ground whatsoever for the assertion made by some that this is an early hymn. There is no basis for that and it is a purely imposed assumption which has no basis in fact whatsoever. Those who engage in this supposed finding of hymnic fragments in the New Testament, they don't agree among themselves and the degree to which they find them or imagine they found them is in proportion to their zeal and determination to find them. And so someone like R.P. Martin, you may or may not have heard of, he finds them all over the place. And anything remotely poetic, informal, rhythmic, he decides it's a fragment of a hymn. Strange to say, we find none of these supposed hymns anywhere else. There are no manuscripts of all these hymns that are supposed to be quoted in the New Testament. The thing is wishful thinking. It's a figment and ought to be dismissed. But let's look at the actual content. For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. Some apply the dying here to the dying to sin in general. others to physical death but I think the most reasonable sense is that we die with him in the sense of being prepared to leave this world, dying to this present life, no longer hanging on to this present life. If we die with him, the apostle wasn't yet dead but he envisaged he soon would be and He was ready to depart as a Christian and those who thus die with him, they live with him. They have life everlasting in their souls in this world and perfected in the world to come. So the Apostle 1 Corinthians 15 31 says, I die daily. or in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 10. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. We are delivered all the way to death for Jesus' sake. There is in the Christian a severance of the love of this present world and a dying to this present world and the prospect of glory and that prospect, that hope, that expectation will not be disappointed. But then the second phrase, if we suffer we shall also reign with him. The word suffer there means suffer enduringly and he is saying if we suffer we shall also reign with him. Suffering for Christ's sake is normal for a Christian. No wonder Peter says think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which shall come upon him. And yet in our generation when Christians have to make the slightest sacrifice for the gospel, we're surprised. Why are we surprised? It's normal. It's normal. Suffering for Christ is normal for a Christian. Why do we imagine that being a Christian should be painless and following Christ should be painless? Christ says, take up the cross and follow after me. The imagery is is in a sense awe-inspiring. Take up the cross. What did it mean? Christ took the cross. He suffered as we will never suffer. But in measure we must bear affliction for his sake. And so the apostle goes on. If we suffer we shall also reign with him If we deny Him, He also will deny us. Mark 8, 38. Mark 8, 38. Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed. when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." If we deny him, he will deny us, and he will. And willingness to suffer for Christ is the mark of a true Christian. In the parable of the sower, the stony ground hearers who had not rooted themselves in When persecution for the Word came by and by, they were offended. They weren't real believers. And the Apostle goes on in verse 13, If we believe not, yet he abides faithful, he cannot deny himself. If we are faithless, he will be faithful to his threat as well as his promise. If we believe not, he abides faithful. That doesn't mean if we believe not, everything will be alright anyway. It's not saying that, because it said the opposite in the previous verse. If we deny him, he also will deny us. There are no promises to the unbelieving. If we believe not, yet he abides faithful. If we deny the truth, He won't deny the truth. And what is the truth? Well, the truth is that yes, those who are His and who are evidently His because they persevere, they will reign with Him. That's true. But also, what we read in Mark 8.38, that's true. He will be faithful to that Word. we might disbelieve what he says and deny the truth but he won't deny it he won't change it at the judgment day he will not alter or abandon one word of his truth he will fulfill it he will own it he will be faithful to it what does he say he will do to those who deny him he will deny them and he will he'll be true to all that he has said. The true believers will not deny him. I don't mean that they'll perfectly own him, but they will not ultimately deny him because they know the gospel is worth suffering for. They know Christ is glorious and that he is worthy and that they know that It is right to suffer for his sake. They know the gospel is glorious because Christ is glorious. They know the content of the gospel is glorious. It's about an exalted, accomplished redeemer. They know that it is glorious in its purposes, that that gospel for which they suffer, scorn and reproach, that it is through that gospel that an elect multitude will be gathered in. and that all the elect of God will be brought to the completion of salvation in eternal glory. And so the people of God in all their fluctuations in faithfulness, yet they are kept faithful, they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed at the last time. I'm sure all of us sometimes think What is following Christ going to demand of us? When we see how things are in this part of the world, we think, what's it going to cost? It's been relatively easy to own Christ. But in many ways it's getting harder because the tide is against the Gospel. And we sometimes get apprehensive. How will it work out? How will I respond? We don't know what the future holds. No, we don't know. That's true. We don't know. We don't know what it might yet cost to be loyal to Christ in this day and generation. We don't know. I don't know. You don't know. But we do know that our Lord Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God. And we do know that he will not forsake his people, and we do know that he will not forsake his own word to them, nor falsify it, and that he will perform his word, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.