Turns out there's a lot I do right when I come and start preaching, like starting a recording that I often forget to do, so I'm trying to remember all the things I'm supposed to do when I come up here. Okay, so this morning we're gonna continue going on in 2 Timothy, where we left off last week, but before we start, let's go to the word in prayer. Father, we rejoice in the song that we just sung, that we are complete in Christ. Father, that is our hope and our joy, that we would find everything that we need in Christ. Father, he has become our life and our salvation. He has become our joy and our purpose. Father, he has become our surety and our righteousness. He has become our place before you and our eternal inheritance. Father, he has become our glory and our praise. And Father, we stand in awe of that. Father, we stand in awe of all that Christ has done to win that for us, and we stand in awe of everything that he has given to us. Father, we say with Mary that you, Lord, have done great things for us, and mighty is your name. And so, Father, we want to come, and we want to see more, and we want to rejoice more in what Christ has done for us. And so, Father, that's why we turn to your word this morning, is to get a clearer vision of Christ. So Father, I pray that you would give us that vision. Father, open our eyes to see Christ in your word. Father, change our hearts that as we see Christ in your word, that our hearts would rejoice in who he is and what he has done. Father, change our wills and our spirit that as we hear who Christ is, that we would desire to submit to him and follow as he leads. Father, I pray that that would come through your spirit. Father, we do admit that on our own we cannot do that. And so, Father, we rely on your spirit. We rely on your promise that your spirit would be here in our midst as we gather this morning. Father, I pray that your spirit would open our eyes. Father, that he would soften our hearts, that we would see the light of the glory of God displayed in the face of Christ. So Father, I pray that for our time this morning in your word, and I pray for myself, particularly that as I come to open your word, I pray that you would guard my words. Father, I pray that you would make them true and glorious with Christ. Make them faithful to what you have displayed in your word. Father, I pray that you would make them helpful and beneficial to those who are here listening, that they might rejoice in Christ more as well. Father, it is in Christ's name that we pray these things, amen. So this morning we're going to continue on in 2 Timothy, which means we're going to be in 2 Timothy 2, verses 8 through 13. But before we start, as always, I want to go back and remind ourselves where we've been. And so start with our summary statement. What is the book of 2 Timothy about? So this is my summary statement that I gave for the book of 2 Timothy. It's that 2 Timothy tells us that serving the gospel will be hard. That's kind of at the core of 2 Timothy. Serving the gospel will be hard, but it's always worth it. So keep pressing into Christ. So that's gonna be the overarching theme of 2 Timothy. And we gave this outline of 2 Timothy. We broke it up into kind of two halves. In the first half, we said there were three main charges that made up this first half of the book, this first exhortation. And all those charges have something to do with Timothy being strong in the gospel. Timothy, the work is hard, and here's where your strength is going to come from. Your strength is going to come from the gospel. Then the second half of the book is going to look at that and then challenge or exhort Timothy, therefore be strong with the gospel or be a servant of the gospel. Once you have been strengthened by the gospel, then go be strong in the gospel. Like I said, there's going to be three major charges. There's lots of exhortation. We go through and list all the exhortations in 2 Timothy. There's lots. But they kind of fit into three groups in each half. And so we had the first set of exhortations, which is what we've been in so far. We've looked at how Timothy is to be strong in the gospel. We saw that there's a first charge. He says, therefore, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands. We thought about that, how Timothy was in one way burnt out, but Paul says, no, remember what God has done and use that to fan into flame your passion for serving the gospel. Then we saw there was a second charge. The second charge was, therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel. And so we saw that there's that second exhortation, do not be ashamed of the gospel. And then we had, wrapped up in that, we had those examples of people who were ashamed and people who were not ashamed. And then we came to the third charge, and I said, the third charge in each section is gonna be kind of the chief or top charge of the section. So he's been building up to this, and so in 2 Timothy 2.1, he says, you then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And so that's the charge that we're in right now, is that be strengthened by grace. We've gone through actually two weeks already. We thought about the first two verses, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and trust of faithful men who will be able to teach others also. And then last week we thought about the examples. Twice he looks at soldiers and then he looks at athletes and then at farmers and says these are the sorts of attitudes and patterns in life that will help you find grace in Christ. We're going to continue in there. We're not done with that section. I thought there was a lot to mine out of that exhortation to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. So we'll be in verses 8-13, which is still underneath this heading. So if you have your Bible, go ahead and open it to 2 Timothy 2, verses 8-13. Or, as always, I will have the text up here on the screen. So 2 Timothy 2, starting in verse 8. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for if we have died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. So as we look at these few verses this morning, this is gonna be my proposition, my main point for this morning. It's gonna be this. We're still using that same core main point. Paul tells Timothy that the only way to persevere in ministry is to be strengthened by grace. That's been the start of our proposition for the last three weeks. We're still there. That's still what Paul's talking about. But now Paul's gonna add one more thing on. Paul's gonna remind Timothy that the gospel of Jesus gives purpose, gives hope, and gives reward to suffering. Paul reminds Timothy that the gospel of Jesus gives purpose, hope, and reward to suffering. And I'll give five points this morning, five things that I think we should see out of this passage. Then we're gonna start with remember, because our passage starts with remember, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. The offspring of David is preached in my gospel. So we'll start by remembering the message. Paul's gonna look at Timothy and say, you gotta remember what the message is. Then he's gonna tell Timothy, remember the Savior, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David. Remember the power of the message. Remember the outcome of the message, and remember the promise. So we'll go through those five things briefly. Remember the message, the Savior, the power, the outcome, and the promise. So let's start with the first one, remember the message. So we'll come to 2 Timothy and I'm gonna be in verse eight. So it says this, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel. And so he's gonna say, remember, and actually that's a word we've heard before, remember Jesus Christ, the risen from the dead, the offspring of David. It calls us back to look at, and he'd said this before, he's actually kind of bookending the sections. He started this section, the first set of exhortations, With the same exhortation, we went back to 2 Timothy 1, verses 3 through 7. He started with this word. I thank God whom I served as did my ancestors with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you that I may be filled with joy. I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God gave the spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control." So he started this book and he started this section by telling Timothy, there's things you need to remember. You need to remember what God has done for you. We went through that, but now he's coming back and he's closing this section, and he gives that same command. He says, remember. Finding grace in Christ is all about remembering. So we come back and he says, remember, bookending this section, but now he's going to add to it. He's going to say, what are we remembering? We're remembering Jesus Christ. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel. And so we could put that together and say that what Paul is telling Timothy to remember is to remember the message, remember the gospel. Timothy, that's what you're about, that's what you're gonna preach, but that's also gonna be your hope as well. As you go out and serve the gospel, don't forget about Jesus Christ who's for you as well. Don't forget that the gospel is for you as well. Remember Jesus Christ. Don't go out and serve and forget that. And so actually, I think he's tying it back to the verses that have come before, 2 Timothy 2, 1-7. He said, What he's saying is, remember Jesus Christ. If you want to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, then first you need to know the message about Jesus Christ. What is it that you're going to be strengthened by? So he says, that's where your meditation and your heart should be. Remember Jesus Christ. But then he continues, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Sharon's suffering is a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. And so he says, here, first, you're going to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, but there's also something that we're aiming at. There's a purpose that, Timothy, you need to fulfill, because your aim is to please the one who enlisted you. So when we come back to 2 Timothy 8, where he finishes that section and then says, Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, has preached in my gospel. I think he's saying at least two things as we get there. First, he's saying this is the message that is going to be your strength. Timothy, if you need strength, go to the gospel. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, is preached in my gospel. But then he's also, again, defining the focus. Timothy, that's going to be your strength, but that's also going to be your purpose, your aim. This is the message that's going to be both your strength and must be your focus. If you forget the message and you become about serving Christ, but you've forgotten what you're serving and how you're serving, then you're going to find that it's too hard. And so Timothy, go back, remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead. Remember the core aspects of the gospel and let that be your strength. So that's the first thing Paul calls Timothy to remember. But then second, he calls Timothy to remember the Savior. Remember Jesus Christ. Actually, I don't want to jump out of verse 8 yet, because I think there's a lot more to mine out of this one verse. Because he says, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel. So on the one hand, we could take that statement and say, well, here, I'm talking about the gospel message. And I'm pulling a couple of important points out of the gospel message to represent the gospel message. And to some degree, that's true. Paul does that a lot. He pulls out points, says, well, this point is important to the gospel. This point is important to the gospel. I'm not going to go exhaustively, because Timothy, I imagine you know the gospel, and I don't need to go through a point by point of all the things that go into the gospel. But also the way he phrases it sounds like maybe that's not what he's doing, because he says, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel. As Paul's taking out points to represent the gospel, I think he's not just taking two random points to represent the whole of the gospel, but he's picked out two important points that he wants Timothy to remember. He says this is central to the gospel, maybe not the whole gospel message, but these two points are going to be really important. So I think we ought to think about the two things that he says. He says, remember Jesus Christ. He's risen from the dead. and remember Jesus Christ, he's the offspring of David. He's gonna say those two things are really important for you to remember, Timothy. And so these are two things that Paul often puts together. And in fact, we're going to see other places where Paul takes these and puts them together and uses them kind of as a bookender or representation of the whole gospel message. For example, Romans 1, verses 1 through 6, Paul's introduction to the book of Romans, he says this, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets and the holy scriptures, concerning his son who is descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. And so we see that actually both those thoughts are thought about there. Paul says that, here's the gospel that I'm going to preach to the Romans, or here's the gospel I'm going to remind the church in Rome about. It's the gospel that starts with, Jesus Christ is descended from David according to the flesh, and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. But also I think we start to hear what's on Paul's mind when he pulls those two things out of the gospel. And I think we see it most clearly in the resurrection from the dead. He was declared to be the son of God in power. according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. When Paul looks at the resurrection of Christ, he's saying, this shows the power of Christ. In fact, we could look at it and step back and say, to say that Christ is risen from the dead first means we must acknowledge that he went to suffering and death. He went to suffering and death, but that did not defeat him. He defeated death and rose back to life again. And then he also tags on, he's descended from David according to the flesh. I'm going to think about that one in a second. But as we come back to 2 Timothy 2.8, think about that first one, remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead. I think he's looking at Timothy and saying something like this, Timothy, remember that Jesus rose from the dead. He went to suffering. You're not the first and you weren't the ultimate sufferer, neither am I. Christ went to suffering all the way to death. And it didn't stop him. He rose from the dead, and that's the guy you're serving, Timothy. Remember Jesus Christ. That's the guy that you're following. That's the guy that you're serving. That's your master that you're aiming to please. So when you're suffering, don't give up. When it seems hard, remember it was hard for Christ, much harder, and yet he conquered and won, and that's who you're serving. So he's looking at Timothy, he said, remember Jesus Christ. Remember he suffered, but out of his suffering came the ultimate conquering. So Timothy, when you're suffering, don't let it push you off course. We see this over and over again throughout the Bible, the fact that through Christ's suffering, he triumphed, he conquered. Good place to go is Colossians 2, 13 through 15. Paul speaking to the Colossians, he says this, and you who are dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of death that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. That's what it took to win the battle, but when he did that, he did triumph. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open chain by triumphing over them in him. So when Paul looks at Timothy and says, Timothy, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. And I think he's telling Timothy, remember, you're not the ultimate sufferer, and you're serving the ultimate sufferer who went through suffering, passed through death, and rose to life again. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. But then he tags on this, he says, not only is Jesus Christ risen from the dead, he went to suffering and death and yet rose again. So Timothy, you have hope. But then he says, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel. He looks at that and he says, what is Paul talking about when he says he's the offspring of David? He's saying something like, this is the eternal king. Go back to 2 Samuel 7, this is the one who will sit on the throne forever. This is the one who sits enthroned above the cherubim and the seraphim. This is the one who, and he had triumphed, he sat down at the right hand of God on high. This is the king of all eternity. So Timothy, remember who you're serving. You're serving somebody who was willing to suffer even to death and yet triumphed. And through that, rose again from the dead and now is seated and enthroned over all creation. So Timothy, when you look at it in that light, your suffering just isn't that much. And you've got a lot of hope in the midst of it. So we see the offspring of David being the eternal king all over the place. I think a glorious place is Revelation 5, 5. One of the elders said to me, weep no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. that's right at the start of the visions of Revelation and declares that Christ is the conquering king. He is the root of David. He sits on David's throne forever. And Timothy, that's who you're serving. So don't let the temporal circumstances that are knocking you down right now get the best of you. Remember Jesus Christ. He's the offspring of David. He's the one who rose in power through death. So come back to 2nd Timothy 2.8, he suffered in order to conquer and he reigns as the eternal king. So we could say something like this. Jesus is the ultimate example of suffering and he's the ultimate hope for suffering. Look at what Jesus did. He went to death, but he rose again. So look at that as your example and your hope because he reigns now eternally and you have nothing to fear. And so I think, like I said, I think this is a part of the main command in 2 Timothy 2.1, because he comes back and he said, you then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. He's coming back, he tells him, abide in Christ at the first, get other people to serve with you, and then he talked about the examples of how you're supposed to live in order to be in a place where you could be strengthened by grace. Then he comes back and he says this, be strengthened by Christ. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David. Remember who he is. To use the language from Revelation, the Lamb, the Lamb who is slain, the Lamb who went to suffering and death, yet is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. That's what Paul's saying to Timothy. Don't forget that. It might be hard now, Timothy, but remember Jesus Christ. He's already passed through it. You don't need to worry. So remember the message. Timothy, the gospel ought to be your strength and your focus. He says, remember the Savior. Look at what Jesus did when you think things are getting hard. But then he's gonna say, remember the power. Remember the power. So now we're gonna move forward a little bit. We've been in verse eight. I wanna move forward into verse nine. It says, Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound. So this verse nine starts to add something to it. He says, this is the message that I'm about, Timothy, and this is the message that you're about, Timothy. The gospel, and guess what? As I serve the gospel, it turns out that it's been pretty poor, Temporally for me. I've suffered a lot by serving the gospel. In fact, right now, Timothy, I'm suffering for the gospel. I'm bound with chains as a criminal. But then he makes a contrast. Verse nine is all about the contrast. He says, this is where I am. I'm bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound. So he looks and he says, this is my temporal circumstances. of my temporal circumstances aren't affecting the eternal power of the gospel." So he's going to look at himself and he's going to say, I'm suffering right now. And the background of that is, Timothy, probably you're suffering as well. We're suffering together. We're suffering because we serve the gospel. But suffering doesn't lessen the power of the gospel. Suffering doesn't take away its power. I might be suffering. I might even be bound with chains as a criminal and with worldly eyes it might have looked like I'm losing. Rome seems to have won. I'm thrown in this jail, and I'm bound in chains, probably chained to literally a Roman soldier, and he's pretty sure he's going to die pretty soon by the hand of the Roman emperor. He says, that's my circumstances, and in worldly eyes, it looks like I lost. I'm dead. But, guess what? That doesn't change the power of what I serve. The word of God is not bound. In fact, Paul's gonna turn down its head in other passages. One of the reasons we were at 2 Corinthians 4 this morning is to say, actually, when it looks like I have no power and I've lost, that actually serves to emphasize the power of the gospel. So Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 4, starting in verse seven. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God. and not to us. Paul says, when it looks like we've failed, when it looks like we're suffering and the world has won, when with worldly eyes it looks like there's no path forward, that's where the gospel shines out the brightest. We have this treasure in jars of clay, breakable, fragile, not very decorative, to show that the power, surpassing power, belongs to God, not to us. And to make sure we understand what he's saying, he says, we're afflicted in every way. That belongs to us, but we're not crushed because the power wasn't ever with us. We're perplexed. We're confused. We're thrown out for a loop, but we're not driven to despair. We're persecuted but not forsaken. We're struck down, but we're not destroyed. Yes, we're always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, but through that the life of Jesus is also going to be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. So he looks at the Corinthians and he's defending his ministry. He says to the Corinthians, very similar to what he says to Timothy, yeah, I'm suffering. And it looked maybe like from a worldly perspective, I've lost. I mean, if you started to list all the things that have happened to me, it looks like I signed up for a really bad gig. But that is actually serving to display the power that belongs to God, the power that belongs to Christ. So in Romans, they'll say this, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Why? Because it is the power of God. I'm not the power of God. And if it looks like I've failed, that doesn't matter. The gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. To the Jew first and also to the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. So we come back to 2 Timothy verse 9. It says, yeah, I'm suffering. I'm bound with chains as a criminal. But guess what? The Word of God is not bound. Your suffering isn't going to stop the power of the Gospel going forward. In fact, if we look at the whole of Scripture, we're going to get this picture that the suffering of His servants is used by Christ to send the Gospel forward. So Paul's not even saying, I'm bound, but the word of God is not, like those are separate. He's saying, I'm bound, but in my binding, the word of God is not bound. I've been given chances to declare the gospel message, and the gospel is still going forward through me and my suffering. In fact, we could go look at Philippians, where Paul's in prison in another situation. He says, you know what? Even though I've been in prison, I've gotten to share with some of the guards, so that's good. But he says, it's the power of God. The word of God is not bound. And so as we look at this, he says, I'm suffering, I'm suffering, but I just told you, remember Jesus Christ, he suffered too. And what did he suffer for? He suffered to bring about salvation. He's the one who suffered and he rose from the dead. So in my suffering, I shouldn't think that the gospel is being cast down or that my work, my effort to serve Christ has been worthless because Christ suffered too and his suffering was intensely worthwhile. my suffering will be worthwhile as well. Remember the power of the gospel. Whatever happens to you isn't going to stop the gospel going forward. So remember the message. Remember your Savior. Remember the power of your message. The word of God is not going to be bound. So that's going to bring us to our fourth point. Remember the outcome. So we'll move forward one more verse. We've been in verse eight, verse nine. He says, I am suffering bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. So he says this, he says, I'm suffering. I'm bound with chains as a criminal. I know the word of God is not bound. My suffering isn't drawing away from the gospel. If anything, my suffering is highlighting the power of the gospel. So what am I gonna keep doing? I'm going to keep enduring. I'll endure anything that it takes because there is an outcome. I'm serving a greater purpose. I will endure everything for the sake of the elect that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." He looks and says, I believe my suffering has purpose. I've looked at my Savior and He suffered for a reason, He brought about salvation. Paul would never be able to say that about himself, he would never even pretend to say that about himself, but he would say, I get to join in that in the smallest way, and therefore in my suffering, push forward the gospel of Christ. My suffering is like Christ's suffering, not in its maximum or its intensity, but it's like it because I get to join Him in it, and through that I'm going to get to push the gospel forward a little bit more. And so as I suffer, I remember the purpose and I remember the outcome of my suffering and there will be those who obtain salvation because I was willing to suffer for the gospel and keep going. In fact, that's the same thing he's gonna tell the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 4. I think 2 Corinthians 4 and these verses in 2 Timothy are very parallel. So we come to verse 13, we left off in verse 12. He says in verse 13, since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, I believed and so I spoke. We also believe and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that his grace extends to more and more people and may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God. Paul said, I have this treasure in jars of clay. That's what we are. We're fragile and we're not pretty, but we come and bear a treasure even though we're fragile and we're not pretty and it shows that the power belongs to the treasure and not to us. And he says, therefore we end up afflicted, we end up persecuted, perplexed, struck down, always carrying the body of the breath of Jesus. And he says, you know why we do it? It's all for your sake. It's all for your sake. Because we want to see grace extend to more and more people. Paul said, I see the outcome of my suffering. Even if it's not right now, even if I don't see it immediately, I know that this is the outcome of my suffering. As I suffer to share the gospel message, it will continue to extend to more and more people. But we come back and we have to... We come back and we have to ask, why is Paul so sure that it's going to extend to more and more people? He only says this, I endure everything I enjoy everything for the sake of the elect. Paul says, I know that God has chosen people to come to salvation in Christ. This might be a side note to this passage, but it's a really important side note to this passage. Paul was completely reformed. Paul believed that God had chosen people to come to salvation in Christ. And he said, because I'm sure that God has chosen people to come to salvation in Christ, I can be sure that my suffering isn't worthless. When I suffer, even if I don't see them come, I know that they will. I know that they're elect. And so I'm going to suffer for the sake of the elect, so that they also may obtain salvation that is in Christ Jesus. And he says, when that happens, there's an eternal glory that happens. He says, that's not a small thing. That's a great thing. That's what Jesus says when he looks out. He says, I have sheep that are in other flocks as well. People are gonna go look for those sheep and they're gonna hear my voice and they're gonna come follow after me. And Paul says, yeah, that's me. And I'm willing to suffer whatever it takes because I know that there are elect in this world that are gonna come and follow after Christ. So I'm willing to endure anything that it takes. I'm willing to join Christ in his suffering to help his salvation that he has earned through his suffering continue to go forward and find all of the elect. And so as we start to pull this out, he says, I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound. So we start with, therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect. He says, I know that the word of God isn't gonna be stopped by whatever suffering gets thrown in my way. And so I'm willing to keep going through any type of suffering because the word of God will not be bound. And why is the Word of God, or what's gonna happen when I endure? When I endure, the elect are also gonna find salvation. There's going to be an outcome. And why can I be sure of that? Again, we go back to the start. Why? Because Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus won salvation through suffering, and he rose from the dead. His suffering wasn't in vain. So he said, our suffering isn't gonna be in vain either. Remember, the word of God is full of power, and if you keep serving the word of God, even through the midst of suffering, you're gonna be like Christ, a little like Christ, but you're gonna be like Christ, and you're gonna suffer to bring salvation to the nations. So he says, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David. What does that mean for me? I'm going to endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Then Paul's gonna close this section. This is gonna be his last words for this last exhortation in the first half of the book. We're gonna look at remembering the promise. Remembering the promise. So we'll come and look at verses 11 through 13. It says this. The saying is trustworthy, for if we have died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. So we get this, maybe a song, or Poe calls it a trustworthy saying. It's obviously something that was circulating around the church at that time, and he imagined that people had heard that, and he comes back and says, actually, think about this, maybe hymn that you guys sing together, or this saying that you guys have heard over and over again, think about it and apply it to this situation. So he's gonna take the four little stanzas of this verse, And he's going to go through it. And so what I want to do is look at how each of these is a promise that calls Timothy to say, yes, I'm going to keep suffering for the gospel. So we're going to pull each of these out. I want to make this little chart, the if-then chart. And so we'll start with an if we, then, and think about what it means. So he starts with the first one. He says, if we have died with him, we also will live with him. If we have died with him, then we will live with him. So, you know, we could think about that, and there's lots of ways in which that's true, and a lot of people will go back and look at the start of salvation, because Paul would use those types of terms in initial justification, that in justification, we come and die with Christ, and therefore, we are raised up to life again in Christ, and that is absolutely true. And I don't want to deny that. And actually, I think, as a trustworthy saying, that's partially behind what this is saying. But I think Paul's looking at Timothy and saying, Timothy, apply this to yourself. If we have died with him, we also will live with him. He says something like, even if you suffer to the final extreme, if you die with him, guess what? You also will live with him. I think he's saying something like this. There is no loss in serving Christ. There is never any loss in serving Christ, only giving. even if it's through suffering. Suffer even to the point of death, and it won't take anything away from you. You will live with Him eternally. So he holds that out as a promise for Timothy. Timothy, you think it's hard now? He's gonna say in a couple of chapters, he's gonna say, it's hard for me now too. And in fact, I think that I'm about here, I'm about to die for Christ, and yet I'm sure that I will live with Christ. And so I don't, maybe don't care is too strong of a word, but he says that I can walk past the fact that I'm going to die soon for Christ, because I'm sure that I will live with Christ and there is no loss. They can take my life away, but they can't take Christ away. So that's the first promise. Timothy, even if you go all the way to dying with him, you're sure that you're going to live with him, so it is no loss. Then he tags on a second. If we've died with him, we'll also live with him if we endure. Oh, sorry, Philippians 1, 19 through 21. So thinking about dying with him, therefore we'll also live with him. It's the spirit, I think, that happens in Philippians 1, verses 19 through 21. Paul says this about another time that he was suffering. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. He says, I'm in prison right now, but I think that I'm gonna be delivered, and it's gonna be partially through your prayers and the grace of Christ. So he says, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now, as always, Christ will be honored in my body. And he tags this line. He says, I'm hoping that, whether it's in life or in death. And he says this, for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. He says, that's where I've come to, that as long as I get to live, I get to serve Christ in this world. And guess what? If I go to suffering and death, all I've done is gain. I get to go and be with Christ. And in Philippians, he's going to say, I know which one's better, actually. I would rather go and be with Christ, but it's probably more necessary for me to come and continue to serve you. And that's the same thing that Paul's telling Timothy. Guess what, if you suffer even to the point of dying with Christ, then you will live with Christ. For me to live as Christ, to die as Daniel. So he says that if we have died with him, we will also live with him. And he takes a second stanza, if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we endure, then we will reign with him. So there's a lot of similarities between that and the first. If we have died with him, we will also live with him. But that's like the ultimate extreme, and he uses that to emphasize that Timothy, it doesn't matter how much suffering, even to the end of suffering, you will never lose anything. But now he's coming back down and he says, you know what? Whatever you endure for Christ. you will get a reward for that as well. Every suffering is preparing for us eternal glory and reigning with Christ. And so he says, Timothy, let's go to the end. Let's make it as bad as it could be, and you're going to die with Christ. Guess what? You're still going to live with Christ. You can't lose anything. So, Timothy, endure. Endure whatever suffering comes your way, because every suffering is going to prepare you to reign with Christ. And so coming back to 2 Corinthians 4, this is where Paul goes in 2 Corinthians 4 as well. So we do not lose hope. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." That's where he ends in 2 Corinthians 4. He says, we're not going to lose hope because we know that every affliction, every affliction is going to be preparing for us a weight of eternal glory. If we endure, we know that we will reign with him. You might notice that I put a plus sign after both of those. The plus sign is there because that's a positive promise. Timothy, remember the positive promises. If you die with Christ, it's not going to take anything away from you because you know you're going to live with Christ. Timothy, if you endure whatever suffering comes your way, it's not gonna hurt you because you know at the end, you will reign with Christ. In fact, that suffering is preparing that for you. So he gives two positive promises, but then he also turns around and gives two negative promises. He's gonna say, let's look at the other side, Timothy, as well. So he says, if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. So, so far it's been a positive. Timothy, if you go all the way through suffering to the point of dying for Christ, you can be sure that you're going to live with Him. Timothy, whatever you have to endure to serve Christ, you know that's preparing that you will reign with Him. But now let's look at the other side. Timothy, if you turn away from that, if you say, you know what, this is too hard, and I'd rather not go through it, and I'd rather run away and hide so that I don't get tagged with the gospel, and you deny Christ, There's also a promise for that. If you deny him, he also will deny us. So we could say something like this, being ashamed of the gospel and suffering will cause us to lose everything. A negative promise, but a promise saying, Timothy, if you go the other way, it's not going to turn out well. If you go this way, it's always going to turn out well. If you go that way, it's never going to turn out well. And it turns out, this one is a direct promise from Christ. Come to Matthew 10, 26-33, actually applied to a servant's suffering to display the gospel. Jesus says this, have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops, and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father? But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore. You are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my father who is in heaven. I love Jesus' gentle tone, almost even sarcastic in a way, you're worth more than a lot of sparrows. Take sparrows, you, you're worth more than sparrows. And God cares about the sparrows, so he also cares about you. So he says, don't fear whatever comes, don't fear even if it comes to death, don't fear. As long as you just keep acknowledging me and say, my purpose is to serve Christ and I'm going to acknowledge his name before anyone who comes after me, then I'll acknowledge you at the end. But if you go the other way and say it gets too hard, I'd rather hide my association with Christ and walk away and not suffer. Jesus says, if you deny me, if you say I'm not involved with this, then I'm also gonna say to you, I'm not involved with you. So if we deny him, he also will deny us. If we're ashamed and run away from suffering, we'll lose everything in the end. But then finally there's a four stanza that says this. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful. It's not the mic. I can talk loud. We didn't have a mic for a lot of years. We were fine. It says, if we deny him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. And so our last point is, if we are faithless, he remains faithful. Now, a lot of people, and you can go to commentaries, and they're gonna use this as a drawing back. They're gonna say, Paul tells Timothy, remember, the worst outcome that could happen is that you deny Christ, and then he's gonna deny you as well. But then he pulls back and says, but you know what? You can rest in Christ because he's always gonna be faithful. They use this as a positive promise. And I understand, in fact, I want to agree with them, but I don't think that's what he's saying. I think he's saying something like this. We cannot imagine that we can live faithlessly, believing that God will forget. He says, you know what? If you go out and hide your association with Christ and run away from Christ, you can't believe that Christ is gonna forget about that. Christ is gonna be faithful, even when we aren't faithful. And part of faithfulness is to hold both sides of his promise. He's gonna be faithful so that if we die with him, we also will live with him and we can bank on that. He's going to be faithful so that if we endure, we will also reign with Him. We can bank on that. But guess what? You can also bank on if we deny Him, He will deny us. There's never going to be a place where He is not faithful to His promise. So he says, you know what, Timothy, don't imagine that your faithlessness is gonna nullify the faithfulness of God. In fact, that's something that Paul said in other places, Romans 3, one through three. Then what advantage has the Jew or what value, or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? by no means. Let God be true, though everyone were a liar, as it is written, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you're judged." So he looks and he says, no, even if, oh my. What's going on here? Thank you. People should tell me if I'm wrong. So, he says, you know what? Our faithlessness does not nullify the faithfulness of God. And our faithlessness, far from nullifying the faithfulness of God, is going to emphasize the rightness of God when he justifies. I'm sorry, when he judges. Also when he justifies. But when he judges us. So when he says, If we are faithless, he remains faithful. I think that's a negative promise. Timothy, don't imagine that you can sneak away from the gospel and sneak away from suffering and Christ is going to forget that. That Christ is somehow like you. Has God a man that he should forget? He's going to say no. And the reason that I'm pretty sure that's what he says is because he comes back, he says, if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. He ties it to the last one. He says, if we deny him, he will deny us. And don't think that because you're faithless, and you didn't keep what you said you would do, don't believe that Christ is gonna be faithless, because he's never gonna deny himself. Which means that if you deny him, he can't change who he is. If you deny him, he's gonna remember that. And he also will deny you. So he holds up two positive and two negative promises. It says, Timothy, if you're suffering in Christ, there is no loss, there is only gain. Timothy, your suffering is producing for you a weight of eternal glory. You are going to reign with Christ if you endure. So Timothy, keep those positive things before your eyes and say, I'm going to keep going. And he says this, and if you go the other way, Timothy, if you deny him, Christ will deny you. If you run away from the gospel because it gets too hard, it's not gonna turn out well. Timothy, don't think that God is like you and that if you could turn away that he's gonna forget. If we're faithless, he's going to remain faithful. He's gonna remain faithful to himself. He cannot deny himself. So he says, Thomas, hear these promises. Remember, remember first the message, that's where your strength is. Remember Jesus Christ, He's the one who went to suffering and He rose again in order to provide salvation. Timothy, remember the power of that message. Even if you're bound, the Word of God is not gonna be bound. Remember the outcome, as you suffer, you are making for the elect a pathway for them to obtain salvation. And Timothy, remember the promise, if you keep going, you will gain a reward, and if you turn back, then my soul has no pleasure in him. So that's gonna be our passage this morning. Paul tells Timothy that the only way to persevere in ministry is to be strengthened by grace. So Paul reminds Timothy that the gospel of Jesus gives purpose. Timothy, when you suffer, you're joining Christ in suffering, and you're making the gospel give forth. It gives hope. Look at what happened in Christ's suffering. You have hope because he went to suffering and rose from the dead and now is enthroned at the right hand of God, the Father. You're serving him, he's not gonna forget you. And there's reward. Timothy, if you suffer, you will live with him. If you endure, you will reign with him. So the gospel of Jesus gives purpose, hope, and reward to suffering. So kids, here's your kids' question for this morning. How can we keep serving Christ through suffering? Starting to realize that all my kids' questions out of 2 Timothy are sounding almost the same, especially the questions. That's because there's really kind of one point in 2 Timothy. How can we keep serving Christ through suffering? The answer is this. Remember that Christ suffered first, and that out of his suffering he conquered and won salvation. Christ suffered first, and he conquered and won salvation. So when we suffer, we get to suffer to carry his salvation to the world. We can look at Christ and say, look at Christ's suffering. It gives me hope. and it gives me purpose. I'm gonna suffer to bring his message to the nations. Let's close in prayer. Father, we're grateful for this encouragement from Paul. Father, to help us focus our eyes on Christ. Remember what he has done. Father, that he suffered far more than any of us could ever suffer. And he triumphed in a way far greater than any of us could ever triumph. Father, I pray that that truth would warm its way down into our soul, that as we abide in Christ, as we dive into Christ and find her strength, that we would not only know that truth, but we would experience that truth, that we would know that Christ is the conquering and reigning one. Father, I pray that that would give us boldness through whatever might come our way. Father, whatever suffering may enter our congregation or even our personal lives, Father, I pray that we would grasp onto Christ in that way and keep going. Father, I pray that we would hear those promises. Father, I pray that you would bring those positive promises before our eyes and give us hope in those. Cause us to desire those things and therefore to endure following after Christ. Father, I pray that you would help us hear the negative promises. Father, I pray in hearing those promises that they will be to guard us from those. Father, let none of us here turn away from Christ, deny our association with him in order to escape what might happen. Father, I pray that you would give us each boldness and continued desire to associate ourselves with Christ through whatever might come in this world. In Christ's name we pray, amen.