Gospel Strength

Good morning. It has been 10 full years now, and I want to acknowledge there's no way a pastor is able to stay for that kind of time without the grace of God, as we're going to look at today. That's really the theme of the whole text. Also, without the patience, kindness, and forgiveness of a body, and without a courageous, faithful wife. So thank you. Today is Reformation Sunday, as we mentioned earlier. Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg, and he was really asking for a debate regarding indulgences. Tetzel had been commissioned by the papacy to sell indulgences, which were, in short, payments for sin. And all bad theology has catchy lyrics and slogans. His was, as soon as the gold in the casket rings, the rescued soul to heaven springs. Number 27 and 28 of the 95 theses directly attack this particular practice. Luther says, they preach only human doctrines. who say that as soon as the money clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory. Number 28, it is certain that when money clinks in the money chest, greed and avarice can be increased. But when the church intercedes, the result is in the hands of God alone. And I thought this was really not the Protestant Reformation. That was merely challenging a particular practice that Many had challenged before and had actually been murdered for before. This was not the first challenge to indulgences. But when Luther was brought to the papacy, they asked for the monastery, the actual, the Augustinian order that he was part of to pursue and understand exactly what his teaching was. And really the Reformation began in 1518 with the Heidelberg Disputation. This is where his peers and mentors and overseers demanded that Luther tell them the emphasis of his own theology. And there we come across what's known as the theologian of the cross. Luther says true theologians see God in his manifestation in the way God reveals himself in the suffering on the cross. This is in contrast to the theologians who produce human doctrines that take what we think and just escalate it to a divine order. This is the core of Luther's doctrine. This is the core of Luther's confrontation in that we don't think our thoughts and elevate them to God. No, we receive what God has revealed. A word, power, is important. When you think about power, what do you picture? Somebody flexing big muscles? Military might, a tank, a jet fighter? Someone who's able to outmaneuver with skill and ability and wisdom? The world knew power, the new Roman power. That's the way the world thinks of power. Luther says we wanna think about power, we gotta think about the most powerful event in human history, and that is the cross. What appears the weakest moment of God dying, That is the most powerful declaration. The most powerful event because it sets sinners free from sin. We don't know what power is, we looked at the cross where God has revealed what power is and what it looks like. What did God reveal in the cross? There's two things we must see when we look at the cross. First, God is just. He will punish every sin. We also see what we owe God for sin. We deserve death, but we now see how he purchased us. Jesus Christ died on our behalf. We see perfect justice on the cross. The second thing we see is perfect love. God died for us. Jesus suffered for us. The cross must remain central to the Christian life. Jesus suffered, and now we as little Christ, Christians, are called to share in that suffering with his strength. If you're new with us, we're walking through 2 Timothy. We try to walk through books of the Bible at a time. We finished chapter one last week, which is about courage in Christ. Now we're looking at strength. So if you're looking for one sentence for the whole sermon to write down, The call is strength for endurance and faithfulness in suffering. Strength for endurance and faithfulness in suffering. We are called to put on this strength. There are three points. One, the source of strength. Two, the need for strength. And three, the purpose for strength. If you look through 2 Timothy, we are constantly seeing commands. Paul is telling a young man how to pastor, how to lead, how to use what God has given him. And so the structure of this is the commands, and we see there at the very beginning. You then, my child. Paul cared for Timothy. They had done mission work together. He had sent him to Ephesus to plant that church. You then, my child, be strengthened. That's our first point. The source of strength, the command is to be strengthened. Well, what is that source? By the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Now last week we looked at do not fear, and the reality is there's something frightening. We need to put on Christ. Be strengthened, but the reality is there's a weakness. We just sang a mighty fortress that spoke of the enemy that we cannot defeat Satan sin death We're weak We need strength now if you're an athlete you want to get stronger. What do you do? You exercise you practice you lift weights you run you you you get endurance you do hard work sweat and routine and And the gospel work does have hard work, sweat, and routine, but this is different. It's be strengthened by God's grace. We need to make sure we understand grace. Grace is a gift. Grace is something that comes from outside of us, from God, and given to us. One of my favorite things is to get or make a checklist. Because there's something wonderful about a checklist. Because you get to think, all right, how am I going to do this? How am I competency? How in my way, how in my order am I going to check off the boxes and get it done? Competence makes us very comfortable. But competence can be confusing for Christians. Because we'll also just want to remain in our competence and never do anything that would really require relying upon the strength of God. If we're merely doing what we can do in our own strength, is that in any way living out the grace that strengthens us in Christ? Grace in Christ must be our strength, and that begins in salvation. The way we find strength first is by looking at God and realizing there's nothing I can do to save myself from sin. There's nothing I can do to wash my own sin. So I look to God and I see that in the power of the cross, Jesus saves me. Then we look to Jesus and realize he's also given us victory over sin. He saved me from death and judgment. He gave me victory over sin. There's a strength that comes from Jesus that lets me say no to sin when I used to not be able to say no. And then we see Jesus gives strength so that we can endure trials. So grace is God's gift. But we haven't actually said everything we need to say about grace yet. What is the gift? What is God's gift to us? What does he really give us? Himself. The Father sent his Son to die for us. The Son, when He finished His work, sat at the right hand of the Father and sent His Holy Spirit to indwell us. If we want to know what kind of strength and gift and grace we have from God, it's God Himself. God is for us. God is near to us. God is with us. And so here, brothers and sisters, there's a reliance here that the God who saves us is also the God who has the strength to sustain and strengthen us. You want to think of a passage to really meditate upon, to focus here, write down Isaiah 40, verses 28 to 31. The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint. And to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even youth shall faint and be weary, and young men shall be exhausted. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, for they shall walk and not faint. God doesn't just give us strength to save us from sin. He gives us strength to fight sin. He gives us strength to endure suffering. There's a really bad, like I quoted Tetzel earlier. Most bad theology has really catchy slogans. One of those is let go and let God. The idea behind that particular teaching on the Christian life is you just wait upon God to do something. You wait upon the Holy Spirit to give you a whole new blessing so you can fight sin in a whole new way. That isn't biblical at all. We're gonna practice and practice. Be obedient and be faithful. Make every effort to add every virtue, 2 Peter says. We don't just wait for God. That's not what dependence really is. No, we exercise faith and obedience. We work out our salvation, not by just waiting for God to act and then we'll be obedient. No, we're obedient, trusting the grace of God to empower that obedience. Well, how do we grow stronger? So to be strengthened by God's grace, it's a grace that is given to us. It's strength from outside. It's necessary for Timothy to do his work as a pastor. It's necessary for us to do our work as church members and as Christian witnesses. How do we do it? We're gonna drop down. We're gonna come back to all the text, but we're gonna jump down to verse seven and eight. Look at this. Two more commands. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Remember Jesus Christ from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel. So think and remember. Friends, there's a dangerous false profession that is merely intellectual. merely saying Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins and rose again, that isn't, it's merely just an intellectual assent, it's not faith, it's not saving faith. Saving faith is amen. It is so. Amen, this is true and I wanna align my whole life with it. There's a danger of recognizing that we can grow in our head knowledge and not really grow in true faith. And my real concern is that many use that as an excuse to be lazy and remain ignorant of all the things God has said and done. There's a fear of using this kind of, I don't want to just know head knowledge. No, you cannot grow to have a full heart with an empty head. God has spoken. Here we have a command, think over what I say. God has given us minds. Think over these things. Meditate upon them. Read my word. Meditate upon it. Consume it. Here's the invitation. God is inviting us to think his own thoughts. What else would we want to think about? God is inviting us, think my own thoughts. I have spoken to you, I've told you what my will is, I've told you what pleases me, I've told you how you can know me. What an invitation. Think. Give your mind to God. You can see the importance of this in Romans 12, one. Be transformed in your mind. We can see the importance of this in first Peter one, where before he says, be holy for I'm holy, he says, gird up your loin. There was an American sailing a ship, and that ship started taking on water. So the American, in danger, cries, Mayday, Mayday, sinking. On the other side is a German soldier whose English isn't that good, but he says, hello? And the American says, Mayday, Mayday, sinking. The German says, hello? And the American says again, Mayday, Mayday, sinking, and the German says, What are you thinking about? That has nothing to do with what we're talking about, so let's just get back to what we're doing. Think about what I've said to you in public, the teaching. Think about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at this promise. Look at the promise. For the Lord will give you understanding in everything. What else would you study that has that promise? What else are you pursuing to know and meditate upon that carries that same promise? That's incredible. We just need to step back. Our God speaks. Our God created us to know us, to be known by us. God created us to love us, to be loved by us. This is a unique promise. Now, in contrast, you know, there's geometry, physics, biology. I could meditate upon those things. I don't think I would ever learn them. I'm not going to give my time to them. Thankfully, I have intelligent folks who know those things here in the church. I'll just ask you questions if I ever have one. But those subjects are important, but they don't have that promise. If you pursue knowledge of me, I'll grant it. This is God saying, think about what I have said. Yeah, Paul's saying, think about what I've said, but this is God's Spirit using him to say, think about all the words that God has given to us. Jesus will give you understanding. One of the great truths God is the most competent communicator. He desires to be known. He longs for us to perk up our ears, to hear him, to listen to him, to meditate upon him, so that he can make himself known. What are we thinking about? Verse eight, he gets very specific. Remember, there's a need to remember, that's a key word throughout it. Paul is not writing to a new pastor, it's somebody he knows, he's reminding him of the things he's heard. Remember Jesus Christ. What a helpful warning that is, as to here he's talking to a pastor, and even there, don't forget Jesus. In the struggles, in the confusion, in the busyness, Remember Jesus Christ. And then we have one of those simple summaries of the gospel. Risen from the dead. He died on the cross. He's risen. He's victorious. We herald that good news. He's the offspring of David. He was promised from long ago. And now he's been proclaimed to you the good news. We need to remember that Christ is risen and he is victorious. So the source of our strength is the grace of God. The God who makes himself known, the God who rose Christ from the dead, the God who proves he has all power. That's our source of strength. What's our need for strength? Well, it's endurance. The need for strength is endurance. Look at verse three. Share in suffering. cultural commentators say one of the great lies that goes around college campuses now is whatever doesn't kill you only makes you weaker. There's a disdain for any kind of suffering or any kind of difficulty or any kind of pain. There's this idea, a lie that says that you should never have to go through difficulty. Any kind of suffering should be avoided. And if you are suffering, it must be somebody else's fault. Christian, we're commanded. Not to pursue suffering, but to share in suffering. Endure in suffering. It will come if you actually are trying to live out the Christian life. I'll explain why here in a moment. We saw this in chapter one, verse eight. Share in the sufferings for the gospel. It's in Romans 8, 14. It's in Philippians 3, 10. Share in the suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Again, 1-8 has already made it clear there's a gospel that we are sharing in the suffering for that gospel. That gospel emphasized a savior who suffered for our sin. We are called into that same suffering in Christ for one another. Now, I wanna back out here and make it very clear, we do not add to our salvation by sharing in suffering. Jesus' suffering was perfect. His death has perfectly forgiven us for all our sin. He paid it all. There's nothing we do to help complete His work of salvation. We simply receive it by faith. Whenever we believe in Jesus, God makes a grand declaration, not guilty. There's a legal exchange. If we're to stand before God in our own sin without Jesus, we stand before God and He declares guilty because we're really guilty. But we believe in Jesus, His death takes our sin guilt away from us and puts it in His account, His righteousness in our account, and the Father declares forever not guilty. That is a legal standing that is ours forever. Our suffering does not add to that standing, but it does help us grow to enjoy and delight in that standing. Following Jesus, who accomplished salvation through suffering, he calls us to participate in that suffering. So why do we still have suffering if Jesus paid it all? We're still waiting for enemies to be fully and finally defeated. There are three enemies, Christian, that we have. There's the world, that is the worldly order, that is the order of sin, the system of sin that is against the church. We read from Psalm 46, the nation's rage. There's a system that hates Jesus and his church. Then there's our own flesh. That's an internal problem. Our old self still exists, and it's going to continue to cause suffering and frustration. And there's Satan, who himself is the leader of the world, who knows how to prick at our own flesh. We have three enemies. Yes, Jesus has conquered them all, but we're not yet finally in victory. Fighting, which is what we do, will lead to real suffering. Paul gives this example of a good soldier. You're gonna share it as a good soldier in Christ Jesus, and then he explains, and we have some pictures of what good suffering looks like. We see here a soldier whose pursuit is to please the one who enlisted him, that is Jesus for us. And notice suffering is in contrast to not getting entangled. We then see an athlete whose pursuit is a crown and knows that he has to obey the rules. And then we see a hardworking farmer who gets the first fruit. Let's look at each of these in turn. How is Paul teaching us to share in suffering with these different pictures? Well, you need strength like the soldier. And notice the strength the soldier needs is to not get distracted. The kind of suffering that the soldier needs to go through is one where he stands firm, stands duty, and does not get distracted with some kind of other earthly pursuit. And that could be farming. It could be something good. A soldier's job isn't to produce food. A soldier's job is to protect. If the soldier leaves his duty because he thinks, no, I need to go produce food, he's not trusting the way God has ordered things. A soldier is someone who stands firm. As Paul makes very clear in Ephesians 6. In our battle, we stand firm. We don't try to take on duties or responsibilities outside of what God has said. We stand firm, being watchful and on guard. So the question there is what kinds of things distract us from being on guard, committed to our duty? What kinds of other things or pursuits would distract us from being a good soldier who wants to please Jesus? We need strength like an athlete. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The key there is you can't cheat and win. never win. And we think of the sport here, if the athlete doesn't compete according to the rules, he doesn't receive a crown. The crown for the Christian is, well done, good and faithful servant. No matter what we did, if we do not do it, relying upon God's strength, trusting His power, obeying His commands, we're not going to hear that. You train in the rules. We don't find loopholes. One of the most important things is being committed to the training. You can't be a consumer and a committed athlete. I'm always impressed by the people like on a today. You know, the rain is just coming down. It's disgusting outside. And people were running in my neighborhood. That's incredible to me. The kind of commitment to physical exercise, to run, even on a day like today, And I'm looking at a full church to praise God, but how many people use that excuse to not go to church? How many of us are fair-weathered consumers, rather than committed to the rules, longing for a crown? It's a call for discipline. We need strength like a farmer. I do find it interesting, it says hardworking farmer. There's no other kind of farmer. A starving farmer. A former farmer. Where's toil? It's sweaty. A little bloody sometimes. It's dirty. It's hard work. You get the first fruits. It's laborious. But that farmer, there's not a day you take off as a farmer. You labor, you labor, you labor, looking forward to what God will provide. Paul actually gives us one more example here. Verse 9, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. For 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. Paul's a prisoner. He himself uses himself as an example here. I have been put to shame, but I am still I am bound, but the word of God is not bound. Think about these. There's real fears. If you're going to be a soldier, there's real danger. Are we afraid of the danger? There's real fears. Are you gonna compete and not get the crown? There's real fear. Are you gonna labor for all that food and get nothing? These are real fears. And in our own strength, they are real fears, but remember, We're trusting God and His strength. We're trusting God and His promises. We're trusting God and looking to say, what is my duty as a soldier? What are the rules as an athlete? What is the work you want me to do? And we trust Him to provide. Something I remember very quickly, but I wanna come back to, verse nine. Paul says, I am bound with chains. This is one of the promises. All right, we have the command, Why? Because Jesus will give understanding. Remember Jesus. Why? Because even though I'm in chains, the word of God is not bound. That's worthy of memorization. Let's say it together. But the word of God is not bound. Let's say that again. But the word of God is not bound. As Isaiah says, it doesn't return void. It goes out with power to save sinners. It goes out with power to encourage the church. It goes out with power to do what God wants to do. One of my favorite passages is Exodus 3. Moses is commanded to go to Pharaoh after he's already had to flee Egypt because he murdered somebody. He's then told by God, go to Pharaoh and I want you to tell him to let my people go. Remember what Moses says? But I can't really talk right. God doesn't give him a speech or a motivation about his own strength. He doesn't say, no Moses, you got this, you're good. What does he say? I am with you. I am with you. When God gives us a task, he says, I'm with you. We say, but God, I'm weak. I'm with you. God, I can't do it. I'm with you. God, I'm terrified. I'm with you. That's the promise that Jesus still gives us. Our third point, the purpose of strength. Strength comes from above. It comes in Jesus Christ. It comes because we must endure suffering, we must share in the suffering, and here we see the purpose of strength, it is salvation. Let me read again verses one and two. You then my child, that is Timothy who's called already to be fanning in the flame the gift of God. He's called to have a spirit of power and love and self-control. Here he says something very similar, be strengthened. by the grace of God that is in Christ Jesus, that is so that you will do the task that's before you. And then look at verse two. And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, another command, entrust. Entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Timothy, be strong because you have a job to do. Timothy, you need to be strong and you need to be deep and dependent upon God so that you can do the task and You've got to entrust it. Because it's not just how well you're going to pastor, it's how well this church will be pastored after you're gone. Paul has entrusted this to Timothy. Timothy now is called to entrust it to other men. Entrust to faithful men. These appear to be elders. Why? Because they're able to teach, verse two. We can actually look down to verse 24 and see some other qualifications for what kind of men he should be looking for, but the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness." So the purpose here is for the sake of the church to have a long-standing ministry. And then in chapter 2, verse 10, we have another purpose. Therefore, under everything, for the sake of the elect, that is God's people, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. Paul suffers, knowing the word of God is not bound and it will go out to the people who need to hear it so they may be saved. And Timothy needs to entrust this for the longevity. First, let's look at this in verse two, entrust. It's pretty wonderful what this actually means. A church needs a pastor who will preach God's truth faithfully and clearly. And at the same time, no one pastor is essential. Everyone is dispensable and replaceable. Praise God. Because it's his gospel that's not bound. It's his word that goes out with great power to save sinners. It's him who strengthens and gives anybody who he desires to give that blessing. This church isn't Timothy's church, it's Jesus Christ's church. As I think about this, to share with you the way I think about it as a pastor, my first job as a pastor is this service. My number one goal is to make sure that this service is orderly and good with scripture readings and songs and Lord willing, a sermon that will proclaim the one truth of God that we can all think about together. I say on average about 30 to 50% of my time each week is committed to this. hour and a half to five hours, depending on how it goes. It's not how long it is, it's how long it feels. The next priority would be prayer. And thinking about ministry, there's the preaching and the teaching and the worship service, and then there's just prayer for the church, because that's where I would really express the trust in God's strength that I would need to. And then teaching and equipping. according to this passage. This is an important priority, and it needs to be an important priority for us as a church. We need to long to make sure that whoever we're handing this church over to next has been trained and equipped to continue the same ministry. Notice what Paul says. What you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses is that there's not a secret Gnostic knowledge. It's the gospel truth proclaimed at all times for all people. Church, we should be praying for future elders and future deacons. We should be praying and longing to see young men, especially trained up to be pastors, missionaries, elders. Here's the difficulty. Notice what the call is, it's to entrust faithful men. You can't produce faithful men. God produces faithful men. The church and the elders, they recognize faithful men and entrust it to them. The question is, are you available as a faithful, reliable man to have this entrusted? Now you may say, well, I don't have any desire to be an elder. Well, you should look at 1 Timothy where it says that actually is a noble desire. I don't think I've got the gift. Yeah, but God will be with you. God calls people with speech impediments to be his teachers. It's not about our strengths of communication. It's about the Word of God that's not bound. And so I asked young men, men, are you faithful? Are you reliable? Are you putting yourself in a place where God would be able to use you by building you up and teaching you? Here are some suggestions for being faithful. One, presence. This is really the first step for anything. You can't do something unless you're actually present. Regular presence. There's a priority. There's things you put in pen on your calendar. Let me suggest, if you want to be a faithful, reliable man, pen in Sunday morning worship, Wednesday night prayer. Pen it in. Put it in pen. Write it down and make sure. And why those two things? Because there's where we're building up each other in the truths of Christ and there we're depending upon Christ in prayer. That's the meat and potatoes of our church life. Presence. Number two, like it. Get rid of the word maybe. Die to it. Make commitments. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. You cannot be dependable or reliable if no one trusts what you say. Say yes and do it. If you say yes, do it. Look down at verse 22. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness. Put away the ways of desiring fleshly lust and put on the righteousness of Christ. Number one, presence. Number two, make commitments. Number three, flee youthful passions. Number four, you need to be open. Isolation is unhealthy. A godly life requires an openness, an openness that will confess sin to find forgiveness and reconciliation and restoration among mature believers. An openness to talk about struggles. Everybody in this room, everybody who's watching, everybody who's ever claimed Christ has some struggle. Just because we're not gonna come up and talk about it every Sunday morning doesn't mean there's not a real struggle. You have to be open. You have to be ready to share one another's burdens. Number five, think. Think about the things God has said. Study. Read God's word. Find somebody who will help you think about God's word well. And finally, pray. Pray. Learn to pray with others. Pray that God would open your mind, would open your heart, would give you gifts, would make you usable, would teach you, would do a good work in and through you. A real practical thing, we just started today a study for young men. Nine o'clock, right below us, David's leading us through this book, Thoughts for Young Men, there in the back. Here's a wonderful challenge to think about how to be reliable. This is page nine if you're using this copy. Young men, do not be deceived. Think not you can at will serve lust and pleasures in your beginning and then go and serve God with ease at your latter end. Think not you can live with Esau and then die with Jacob. It is a mockery to deal with God and your souls in such a fashion. It is an awful mockery to suppose you can give the flower of your strength to the world and the devil and then put off the king of kings with the scraps and leaving of your hearts. the rack and remnant of your powers. It is an awful mockery, and you may find to cost you, and you may find to your cost the thing cannot be done. Do not think I'll put off what God is commanding of me today. Commit today to growing up to be a young man, a young man of God. As we think about this passage, entrust these things to young men. Church, I'm gonna say it again, Seminaries do not train pastors, they teach them. Churches train pastors. The church is a place where we should be seeing and young men should be able to see how we live in conflict as we endure with one another, as we pursue and promote a unity that is in Christ. Verse eight through 10. Paul's suffering makes it clear I endure for the purpose of salvation of others. This is pretty incredible. He realizes he's in chains. The word of God is still gonna go out. The word of God still has, the power of God is safe and he's going to endure and he's gonna keep proclaiming the gospel because he knows that those who are in Christ will obtain if they hear. This is Romans 10. There's gonna be suffering if you proclaim Christ. Romans 10, how will they hear if someone doesn't preach? How does someone hear if someone doesn't proclaim? Paul realizes he is a necessary instrument. The word of God needs an instrument. God has involved us into his ministry of saving sinners by letting us proclaim the gospel. We step back. We should always be amazed. One, God saved us while we're still sinners. the strength of God to save somebody like me and like you. It's incredible. That's the power of his grace. If you're not amazed by that, repent. Or believe in Jesus for the first time. Number two, he gifts us as his children to participate in that ministry of salvation. We cannot participate if we're not amazed he saves sinners. And then he empowers us to do the work. It's all of grace. Okay, he is talking to a pastor. He's speaking to a pastor who's supposed to be doing a specific gift of preaching and teaching. But if we go to Ephesians 4, Paul makes it very clear. That is a letter to Timothy's own church. The pastors equip the saints for the work of the ministry, and then Paul says, when every member does his work, the whole body grows up together. We all have work to do. For the glory of God, for the salvation of others, for the building up of Christ's church. Lastly, we see this trustworthy saying, verses 11 to 13. This is what you should memorize. This is a summary of gospel truths. It's most likely, this is a early hymn. This is one of the earliest Christian creeds and hymns we would have. Notice the structure. There's four important declarations, and they have a similarity. If we have died with him, we will also live with him. There's the past tense, the truth of what we do, and then what he will also do for the first three. If we've died with Him, we will also live with Him. If we endure, we will also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He will also deny us. And then this fourth one, if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. If you look at these four lines, the first refers to conversion. If we've died with Christ, this is union with Christ. If we have died with Christ on the cross, if he at that moment was dying for our sin to take away the guilt, to take away death, we will also live with him. If we've had a renewed heart, if we've been given new life in the death of Christ, if we die with him, if we consider ourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ, if we have died with him, the promise is we will also live with him. That's conversion. The second one is endurance. If we endure, we will also reign with Him. That is going through the sharing in the sufferings. That is going through the process of regular, progressive sanctification. If we endure, we'll reign with Him in the glory of God forever. But if we do not endure, this is a warning, apostasy. If we deny him, he will also deny us. If we refuse Jesus, when the Holy Spirit convicts us, when the Spirit of Christ convicts us of sin, and we say, no, Jesus, I still want that sin, that's denying him. If there's a powerful government that's gonna come and say, deny Christ, or we're gonna put you to the flame, you deny him, he will deny you. What's actually interesting in Timothy, the greatest danger isn't outside persecution in the world and in nations, it's from within the church, from false teaching. There's a great warning. Do not deny him who died for your sins. It's a warning. And listen, the gospel is always an invitation. That's the one thing God always does, he invites sinners to repent. Verse 13, if we are faithless, he remains faithful. If you're guilt stricken, I've denied him, I've forsaken him, I've refused to live the life, I've refused to repent of sin, I've been persecuted and I've stepped back. This is your promise. Even when we're faithless, he is faithful. What's he faithful to do? Forgive if you confess your sin. Restore you if you confess your sin. Be reconciled to you if you confess your sin. The warning leads to the invitation. It's encouragement. When we're faithless, He is still faithful. The invitation this morning. If you're not a Christian, come out of the sin that will destroy you. to bear the sin and believe in Jesus who died on the cross so that you could be forgiven and given life. Invitation to Christian is to recognize we are faithless. Praise God, he is faithful to forgive. Will you pray with me?