Christ Keeps His CHurch

Good morning. Normally, our primary preaching elder, Keith, preaches through a book of the Bible. But this summer, five of our other elders are taking turns preaching through some of the passages that the Apostle Paul calls trustworthy sayings in his letters to Timothy and to Titus. Two weeks ago, Ben explained to us from 1 Timothy 1 that Christ saves sinners. Last week, Andrew showed us from 1 Timothy 3 how Christ leads his church. This week, we're going to hear from God's Word, how he promises believers that Christ keeps his church. Think about the most important and most meaningful things that you have accomplished in life. Were they easy? Do you do your best work when the challenges are light and the payoff is small? What is your most important and best work that requires great effort and great endurance and great patience, but has a tremendously high reward? For many of us, the greatest challenge of our life is raising children. Even if you do not have children, you have most certainly been one yourself. You know the pains and joys of growing up, and you know the struggles that your parents faced. Raising children is demanding. It is constantly demanding everything that you have. It keeps parents awake at night. It requires us to do chores we don't want to do and to overcome obstacles that we didn't think that we could. And just when we think that we have one stage of a child's development mastered, the child moves on to a different phase with a different set of challenges. but the reward of seeing your children grow up to become independent adults and admirable people and faithful believers, all these blessings make it worth all the effort, all the pain, and all the difficulty. Turn with me now to 2 Timothy chapter two. That is on page 995 in the Pew Bible in front of you. If you do not have a Bible at home, I beg you to take that one as our gift to you. We believe it is the special revelation of God in which he offers us knowledge of himself and of the good news of the eternal salvation through his son, Jesus Christ. Second Timothy is a book about suffering and about God's promises of ultimate reward after enduring suffering. Paul is at the end of his life looking to pass on and entrust the gospel to the next generation. Chapter four even tells us he is facing death and has been abandoned by many of those who had previously been helping him. Here in chapter two at the beginning in verses one through seven, Paul talks about the need for believers to preserve the gospel. And part of what that includes is enduring suffering while waiting for the reward that comes at the end. Just as preaching the gospel and believing the gospel entail hard work and trials, they also entail a reward. Paul gives us the examples of the soldier, the athlete, and the farmer who each work, work very hard, and sweat, and follow the rules, and do what is required of them. Anything to work through the challenges which have been given to them by their masters. These were very grueling jobs in the first century just as they are today. Yet these workers are promised that their strenuous effort will lead to great rewards, pleasing their masters and sharing in the fruit of their labors. The work necessary to be a true child of God, to become holy like Christ and to be qualified to spend eternity in the presence of the Lord is not only difficult and challenging, it is impossible. This is something our labors cannot obtain. This reward cannot be ours without the Father's calling, the Spirit's regeneration, and Christ's work upon the cross. Yet scripture is clear that God calls us to endure and labor in this effort. For example, in 1 Corinthians 15, 58, Paul writes, therefore my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain. Although our labor will not be in vain if it is in the Lord, we will fail. We will sin, we will tire, there will be times when we lack faith. But Christ, but Christ never fails. Christ never sins, Christ never tires, and Christ is never faithless. We are focusing today on verses 8 through 13. Here Paul writes to us, 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. As we've already said, today's passage helps teach us that Christ keeps his church. More specifically, we are told, remember Jesus, who remains faithful to save his people. This text can be divided into three parts. First, we have verse eight, remember Jesus. Then in verses nine through 10, we have Jesus provides salvation. And finally in verses 11 through 13, we have Jesus remains faithful. 11 through 13 is the actual trustworthy saying, and this is where we're going to be spending most of our time today. First in verse eight, we have remember Jesus. This phrase, remember Jesus, could be the basis of an entire sermon. Could spend the entire afternoon talking about remembering Jesus and all that he has done for us. But here specifically, Paul calls us to remember that he is Jesus. He was a man who lived and died. He wants us to remember that he is Christ. He's the Messiah, the anointed one sent by God to save his people. We are to remember he is risen from the dead, not temporarily, but eternally. His resurrection was the father's way of vindicating that Jesus was indeed who he said he was, the sinless son of God sent to die for sinners. We are to remember that he is the offspring of David. He is the promised king of God's people. And we are to remember that these truths are at the core of the gospel preached by the apostles. Jesus is the resurrected Messiah. He is our great hope of resurrection and our promised king. He is God and man through whom sinful men and women can be reconciled with God. All that we endure or suffer is to be done with him and his glory in mind. This fundamental gospel statement that Jesus is man and Messiah, risen from the dead, and God and King, is the only basis upon which the rest of the passage makes any sense at all. It tells us that we need a savior. It tells us who the savior is, and it tells us that he's eternally faithful in keeping his promise of salvation for his people. Secondly, in verses nine through 10, we are told that Jesus provides salvation. In these verses, we see a literary device that helps us focus on Paul's main point. We see a contrast between suffering and enduring and between being bound and being unbound. First, we are told that Paul is suffering for the gospel. Then we are told that he is bound because of the gospel. Then we are told, however, that God's word is unbound. And finally, we read that Paul will endure his suffering for the sake of the salvation of the elect. By the world's standards, Paul is an utter failure. He is foolishly trying to convince people that a poor, uneducated carpenter's son who was executed as a convicted criminal was the son of God. Not only is his story crazy, but his cost Paul everything. And he was a successful and important leader in the religious community in which he had trained up from a young age. He was doing what he had wanted to do his entire life. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees and people looked up to him. But he suffered the loss of everything for Christ. In his discussion of suffering, he was not writing about hypotheticals, but he was writing about his own life. In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul tells us, Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea. On frequent journeys in danger from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers from false brothers. In toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And apart from other things, there's the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is made to fall and I am not indignant? In 2 Timothy, Paul is actually writing to Timothy from prison, chained up because of his proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ. However, Paul may be bound but the word of God is unbound. The world's religious authorities cannot constrain its power, and the world's governments cannot lock it up. God's messenger may be slowed or even killed, but God's message is unstoppable. In fact, in God's providence, imprisonment of Christ's messengers can even further the gospel. In Philippians 1, Paul writes, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." When God's word is attacked, it comes back even more strongly. And we should know that as we suffer for the cause of Christ, that suffering as a Christian brings glory to God. The Apostle Peter writes in his first letter, in chapter four, but let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. When people call you a Christian and they do it as an insult or with sarcasm, is it because you've done something that deserves condemnation? Or is it something that you have done that is glorifying to God? If you are suffering for the gospel of Jesus Christ, God is greatly glorified. If you suffer because you have profaned the name of Christ, then God is grieved. Paul was willing to endure all that he faced in order to play his appointed role as the means to bring the word to the elect, who received salvation from Christ and the promise of eternal glory, being with him in a glorified state forever. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as an animal die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. We can apply Paul's example in our own lives. He shows us the importance of the faithful ministry of believers. Even though salvation is the sovereign act of God, of his own will and of his own work, we see that Paul suffers and works and labors for the sake of the elect. We are also called to minister, to evangelize, to proclaim the gospel to the lost, trusting that God's powerful unbound word will convert other sinners as it so gloriously converted us. We are called to gather in local bodies to study and disciple and rebuke and encourage and serve. These are the means that God has chosen to use to bring people to himself. These are wonderful God-given opportunities to be involved in his holy work. But we are also reminded that this kingdom work is not easy and may well involve suffering. Notice even when Paul sets aside the myriad physical trials he faced, he says, and apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Those who engage in Christian ministry have a very heavy burden that is placed upon them. Not just elders and deacons, but teachers and those who serve, those who evangelize, those who help one another. We are all to labor for both the lost and for the save. We are to be as hardworking and faithful in pursuing the conversion and discipling of others as in any of our personal spiritual disciplines, our personal striving for holiness, and in our acts of grace and mercy. The third section of this text is verses 11 through 13, where we are told that Jesus remains faithful. On the basis of verses eight through 10, Paul declares a trustworthy saying in verses 11 through 13. In most modern Bibles, you'll see that these verses are set apart off in stanzas as if it were poetry or music. It's easy to see that it is a series of parallel statements with a consistent length and a rhythm or a cadence. Many scholars believe, in fact, that this represents an early Christian hymn. used in the same way that we use hymns, to teach the truth of scripture with thankfulness in our hearts to God, as Paul puts it in Colossians 3.16. It is composed of four if-then stanzas. Each begins with an if, followed by the action of a believer. It's then followed up with a then statement, followed up with a action by Christ, or a joint action with Christ and the believer. The first two statements we hear have a positive message, pointing to the believer's spiritual riches in Christ. The last two phrases have a negative focus, however, pointing to the failure of both non-believers and believers in doing what Christ really expects of them. The first two lines describe the rewards associated with the believer's identification with Christ in his death and suffering. If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him. Romans 6 tells us that baptism is a symbol of our death in Christ. We die with Him, and it's a symbol of our resurrection in Christ, as we are raised with Him. Through His death, we live. Through Christ's sacrificial death in our place, we receive newness of life and freedom from sin in this world, in addition to a sinless eternal life with Christ to come. Romans 6 says, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. If we in faith receive Christ's death as payment for our sin, we die with him. If we die with him, we obtain the salvation that is in Christ with eternal glory. Paul next says, if we endure, we will also reign or rule with Him. Endure here is the same word used in verse 10 for what Paul does as he suffers for the gospel. Just as Paul labored and suffered for the goal that the elect would be saved, so the elect, all believers, are expected to labor and endure for the sake of their salvation. Just as Christ suffered for God's kingdom, his co-heirs to that kingdom must suffer as well. Romans 8 makes this promise clear. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. The writer of Hebrews, who is often challenging believers about the fine line between their faith and endurance, and apostatizing against the gospel, writes in chapter 10, for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. The promise is clear. Those who do endure will reign. They will rule as kings with Christ. We see this very clearly in the book of Revelation. In chapter 20, verse 4, in John's vision he writes, Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. These are the saints who endured to the end. They suffered for Christ. They did not reject him. They did not follow after the devil, but remain committed to the Word of God. And whatever your view of the millennium is, the reign of the saints doesn't stop when that period ends. They reign alongside the Lord in eternity. Revelation 22.5 tells us, They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. So after the positive rewards described in the first two lines, Paul goes on in the next two to describe the consequences of the failure to trust in Christ, either in outright denying him or in showing a lack of faith. First, he tells us in verse 12, if we deny him, he will also deny us. Denying Christ means a failure to acknowledge who he is, or worse, an actual repudiation of who he is. For one who denies Christ, there is no endurance. For one who denies Christ, dies in his own sin, rather than in the righteousness of Christ. One who denies Christ does not obtain a heavenly reward, but suffers eternally in just payment for his sins. Please understand, if you are a non-believer here today, please understand that your chance to acknowledge Christ as Lord and Savior is an earthly offer. Jesus is clear in the gospels that at his coming, when all humanity is presented to his father in heaven for judgment, the die has already been cast. In Matthew 10.33 he says, but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my father who is in heaven. In Mark 38, excuse me, in Mark 8.38, Jesus says, for whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the son of man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels. Although it is very clear to us as believers that those who have denied Christ and said that they do not believe, who have denied Christ and said He is not the Son of God, who have denied Christ and said they don't need a Savior, are outside God's protection and God's salvation. There's also a challenge here to the believer. Right before that verse in Mark 8, where Jesus talks about being ashamed of those who are ashamed of Him. We have Mark 7, where Peter is the first of the disciples to acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is the Messiah. Yet when Jesus tells him that being Messiah means he must die for his people, Peter rebukes him and says, no, Jesus, you don't get it. You don't understand. And Jesus calls him Satan and tells him to get behind him. Later, we see that Peter literally denies Christ in three separate times in one night. That Christ is faithful. And we also see in that same gospel that Christ restores Peter. restores him and gives him a great charge to bring even more to know God's people. Even those who are truly gods face a very real temptation to deny Christ and must be on guard against it. Finally, we are told in the last line, If we are faithless, he will also be, no wait, there is no also in this line. All the others talk about something that we do, and then there's an also statement about Christ. But here, there is no also. If we are faithless, he remains faithful. We have that glorious twist of grace where God intervenes in the life of sinners and gives them everything they need, even though it is completely undeserved. Although we fail to perfectly keep the faith, we are able to endure to the end because Christ is faithful. We may fail in our promises and intentions, Actually, we will fail in our promises and intentions, but Christ will not. John captures the tension of the believer called to faithfulness in his first letter. He tells us that believers are those who do not sin. In 1 John 3, it says, You know that he, meaning Jesus, appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or knows him. Yet at the same time, in the same letter, John tells us that believers who think they do not sin are deluding themselves. In chapter one, he tells us, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, however, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Even after we have been saved by the grace of God, we will continue to sin, and we show our faithfulness, we show our endurance by continuing to depend on Him for sanctification, to reduce our sin, and for forgiveness of the sins that we continue to commit. Paul made clear earlier in 2 Timothy that it is not our works, it is not our perfection, but it is God's grace that is given to us from before the foundation of the world that saves us. In 2 Timothy 1, beginning in verse 8, Paul wrote, therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in the suffering for the gospel. by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced, I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. We entrust our salvation to Christ. Christ remains faithful. He cannot deny himself. As he has promised, he is faithful. And as he has promised, he is powerful enough to guard and keep us until his return. As I've already noted, the first two elements of this hymn are positive, and the second two are negative. Note also the order in which they are given. The first talks about dying with Christ and living with him, describing the work of Christ. It is only because of Christ's death that we may live. Only after Christ has died in our place and thereby given us new life is there an opportunity for us to undergo earthly endurance leading to reigning in the resurrection. Likewise, note the order of the two negative statements. First is the denial. If you deny Christ, it's over. If you don't accept Christ, it's over. You do not get the opportunity to attempt to express your faith, to attempt to be faithful, to try to work to prove your salvation. It is only once you've gotten past the point where you have called upon the name of Christ, when you have responded to the call of God in faith, that you get to the next step. You are called in faith to endure, to suffer in patience, to struggle to seek after holiness, but you will always fail. You will never be fully faithful, And if you depended upon your faithfulness to hold fast to perfection, you would be as bad off as someone who had never acknowledged Christ to begin with, someone who had never professed faith at all. With Christ, on the other hand, there is the assurance that even when your faith falters, even when your holiness falters, even when you continue to not deserve the great gift that has been given, Christ continues to be faithful and true and to uphold you and to keep you. Nothing can snatch you from the Father's hand. Why is this? How can this be? Because Christ cannot deny his own nature. It is a sophomoric trick of philosophy to try to convince us that God cannot be God if he cannot do things that are not of his nature, like create a boulder so heavy that even he cannot pick it up. But God is not a trickster or a magician who is designed to entertain us. Part of God's omnipotence is his sovereign will. God is all powerful, but in his sovereignty, he has a very specific purpose. And in his sovereign grace, he chose a people. He made a promise, and he gave his son a purpose. God doesn't need us, but he chose us. Christ's nature is that of a savior. Christ's nature is that of a sacrifice. If you were called out to be one of God's chosen people, Christ will save you. If you were called out to be one of God's chosen people, Christ is the atoning sacrifice for your sin. In the Father's plan, the Son can do no other. It is not just that Christ will not be unfaithful, it's that he cannot be unfaithful. We saw this in Genesis 15, which we read earlier. God's covenant is unilateral. God did it all. Abraham was asleep. He couldn't add anything to the promises of God. God made his promise, and in the traditions of the time, performed a covenant ceremony and showed that he was willing to die to make sure that the covenant was fulfilled. In God's plan, he kept that covenant by having Jesus die for us. He has given us his word and his life. He is utterly trustworthy. This is an encouraging source of assurance for the suffering, struggling believer. However, it is also a great warning for the unbeliever, and it is a challenge even to the believer. This is a warning for the non-believer. If you deny Christ, if you refuse to acknowledge your need for a Savior, if you refuse to acknowledge that you have sinned and refuse to accept that you cannot earn God's favor apart from Christ, you have to know that at the end of time, He will deny you. And He will refuse to acknowledge you in the same way that you refuse to acknowledge Him. There is no second chance. There is no universal get-out-of-jail-free card God does not have to save you. If you're an unbeliever here today, please listen to the words of the gospel. Please understand what you need to do. God is holy in perfect righteousness. People are sinful. So you are eternally separated from God by your sin. But there is a solution. Repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ, who was sent to die on the cross for your sins, to reconcile you to God and give you eternal life. If you have any questions about the gospel, repentance or belief, I beg you not to leave here today without talking to any one of the many believers around you who will be able to tell you more. At the same time, this call to endurance reminds us that we too can be tempted to deny Christ, even if we are believers. We should be challenged. How can we forsake God when He does not forsake us? But look at what happened to Peter. Even dear, bold Peter. I'm ready to die for you, Lord! I'll die tonight! Yet when faced with the challenge of a lowly servant girl who asked him, weren't you one of those folks with Jesus? He suddenly becomes timid and denies that he knows Christ. Just think about how easy it is for some of us to not live for Christ in a culture where there's really not all that much suffering for being a Christian. Think about our brothers and sisters around the world who face imprisonment and death day by day for their bold proclamation of the faith. We should be challenged to remind ourselves of the great faithfulness that is called upon for us With the promise of endurance, there comes the danger of denial. And we must remember that our great hope is ultimately not in our own faithfulness, but in the faithfulness of Christ. This should be an encouragement for the believer. Even though we continue to fail, even though we continue to struggle, even though we suffer, Christ remains faithful to his people. He remains a savior to his people. So what does assurance look like in your life? As Sam and I were having an email conversation about my sermon draft, he pointed out that there is an eternity between what may seem like two very similar responses to Christ, faithfulness and denial. In one there's life, in the other there's death. So what does assurance look like in your life? If you seek after the things of God, if your failures lead you to grieve and repent, if you are working out your salvation with fear and trembling, it is a great assurance that you are indeed called by God. Paul in Philippians 2 tells us, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Pay close attention to verse 13, which tells us it is God's very will and work that empowers the believer's efforts. If you seek to be in God's house, with God's people, reading God's word, you should be comforted. You should fear, however, if you feel that you have done all that you need to do. If you have professed faith once long ago and yet your life has remained unchanged, if you don't seek after the things of God, if sin does not grieve you, if you see no need for ongoing repentance, then you have completely misunderstood God's grace. You are not showing signs of a true saving faith. So what does endurance look like in a believer's life? Endurance does not mean dwelling on past sin. It means repenting and asking for forgiveness and seeking with one's whole heart to follow after God's will. By the Spirit's power of sanctification, the believer is able to sin less without being sinless. Through God's grace, even though we are not sinless when we die, we will be sinless when we rise in Him. Christ's death enables us to live. Although it can be painful at times, enduring well should not lead to despair, it should lead to joy. It should not lead to loneliness and hiding, fearful of our sin, but it should lead to joyful celebration, living with brothers and sisters with openness and honesty about our lives. In 1 Peter 5, the apostle promises, And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. This passage of scripture ends in the same place it began, with Christ. It is his work that gives us life, and it is his nature that keeps us till the end. At the end of 2 Timothy, Paul is discouraged. It's actually a very sad ending to what was probably Paul's last writing. He's discouraged. He's describing the various people who have deserted him in his time of need as he faces a sentence of death from the Roman government. Yet he writes in chapter four beginning in verse 16, excuse me, verse six. For I'm already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. He continues in verse 17. But the Lord stood by me, and strengthen me so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Let us pray. Father, we deserve nothing from the creator king of the universe. We have done nothing to deserve your love, but we have only rebelled and fought against you and your goodness. Yet you have given us your son of your very own self. You have bled and died that we might live. Father, we thank you for the good news that even in the face of our faithlessness, you are always faithful. Father, I pray boldly that your word here today will bring many to yourself. Father, I pray boldly here today that your word will encourage the believers here to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and to work to raise up and edify, and equip, and encourage the saints. Father, we thank you that you are God, and that you cannot deny yourself, your greatness, and your goodness. We pray all this in the name of our dear Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.