Well, good morning to everyone. Good to see you all this morning and a special welcome to our guests. Several guests are here this morning. We're working through 2nd Timothy, the pastoral epistles. We finished 1st Timothy and are going into 2nd Timothy now.

I really want to hone in on 2nd Timothy 2:1 on the phrase "strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Timothy needed strength; he needed to put his trust in Christ and depend on Him. Paul really captures that in this phrase "strong in grace." So that's what I've titled the message this morning, and I'd like to talk about that, kind of cruise off on that little phrase maybe a little bit.

In our Thursday night studies, we've been working through 2nd Corinthians chapter 3. This is one of my favorite chapters in the Scriptures because Paul put such strong emphasis on the distinction between the old and the new covenants. This distinction is perhaps the most important thing that we can understand if we're going to understand the new covenant Christian life, understand who we are and what we have in Christ, and why it is that we can live a new life that brings glory to God and men to Christ. 

There's so much confusion about these truths in the church, and this is something that's very rarely taught or understood biblically. So often Christians try to live some sort of hybrid life attempting to combine the old with the new. I believe this is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 9. You remember that passage? The disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?" Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast."

"No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth in an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

My brothers and sisters, in the New Covenant time, Jesus, the bridegroom, is with us. He lives in us, and mixing the old with the new is a persistent effort in the Christian world. The book of Hebrews is all about this. The book of Galatians addresses this. We see this in mainline denominations even for justification, salvation, mixing of the law and grace. We see this in reformed churches where they teach that the law is still binding on the believer. 

In these systems, we see a great effort to marry the old and the new, to draw a continuity between the two, rather than a distinction, and this leads to tremendous confusion in the Christian life. A major point here in our text this morning from Paul to Timothy is that he, in order to carry out his ministry effectively, to fulfill the plan and purposes that God has for him in Christ, must be strong, but be strong in grace. 

We're going to attempt to understand exactly what this means and how important a truth it is in the study of our text this morning. But by way of introduction, I'd like for you to look at that passage with me in 2nd Corinthians 3. 

2nd Corinthians 3:1 says, "Do we begin again to commend ourselves, or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men. Clearly, you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh, that is of the heart."

"And we have such trust through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

"But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect because of the glory that excels.”

“For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech, unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away, but their minds were blinded. For until this day, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 

Notice Paul's words speaking of being a minister not of the Old Covenant, but of the new. He says, "We have such trust through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient." Nothing comes from us, but it's all the work, the power, the grace of God who has made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter. He says, "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, thinking of anything as coming from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. This is a profound statement. As ministers of the New Covenant, our sufficiency is by the grace of God, not of works, not of self-effort, not of law, but only by the sufficient grace of God are we able to live the life we have been called to live, to work out our ministry as God has gifted us and intended us, only by God's grace, only through faith. 

Paul goes on to make so abundantly clear that the old and the new are exclusive, not working together, but distinct from one another in dispensation, in purpose, in provision. He calls the Old Covenant law the letter. He says, "the letter kills." He calls it the ministration of death. He calls it the ministry of condemnation — this law engraved on stones. 

But the New Covenant life is abundance, is righteousness, is a life of liberty lived out by the power of the Spirit. Grace is the love of God demonstrated in Christ at the cross. It’s the power of God that makes us sufficient for the New Covenant life — not anything from us, but solely by His power, by His grace, by His Spirit living in me, by the very life of Jesus Christ living in and out through me by faith. This is the only way, and that's what Paul wants Timothy to understand in our passage this morning. 

He wants him to understand grace. He wants him to understand the power that comes from grace, and we will trust, my friends, not by my wisdom, not by my fine-sounding speech or human ideas this morning, but we will trust in the Holy Spirit through the word preached to make these vital truths clear to us here. 

Let's look at our text, 2nd Timothy 2:1. We're not going to get through all 13 verses; kind of hang together here. We'll probably only get to verse 6 this morning. I'll read those first six verses. 

"You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also, if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things." 

Well, I have five points for you this morning. First, strong in grace; second, simple plan; third, soldier of Christ; fourth, sportsman's crown; and fifth, sustenance supplied. 

A great part of Timothy's ability to fulfill his ministry would come by understanding God's plan, power, and provision for him by grace through faith. This was Paul's example. He was wholly dependent on the grace of God each day of his life. He did not see the Christian life as one of striving to live up to a standard, to keep some law in order to please God or to make himself acceptable. 

He saw the Christian life as one of a willing slave, a bond slave, one who loved his master, his Lord, and this because of who Christ is and what He has done for us, His promises for us. Paul lived in thankfulness. That's so important. We see that through the Scriptures again and again and again — be thankful. 

Paul lived in thankfulness; that was his motive. His life was one of dedication to his Lord, but also dependence on His grace. It was not a striving to please God, but knowing that in Christ, God is pleased with us, that our relationship is secure in the grace in which we stand, not because of what we have done, but because of what Christ did. 

So Paul believed with his whole heart that it was God who worked in and through him by His grace, His power, to accomplish His will. The greatest driving desire of his heart, his inmost being, was to live for Him who died for him. He died that we might live for Him, he said in 2nd Corinthians 5. He wanted more than anything to be an effective minister of the New Covenant so that God would be glorified and men would be saved. This was his life. This is what he did. 

My friends, this is what he most wanted to do. So important to think about that — this isn't a burden; it's not an obligation. This is what I want for my life. 

Now, as he was ready to go out to be with his Lord, to go out of this life, as his life and ministry had been fulfilled, and he was ready to be poured out as a drink offering, as he says in chapter 4, this life of thankfulness, of willing service, of dedication, and dependence on Jesus Christ was what he wanted most for Timothy as well.

And so we've been seeing throughout 1st Timothy now into 2nd Timothy that Paul continually comes back to the grace of God, to the power of the Holy Spirit, to Christ in you, the hope of glory, to the word, to the truth of God and His grace and power in our lives. He keeps bringing Timothy back to his calling, which he received from God, and he keeps encouraging him to trust not in himself and his works and his wisdom to solve all the problems before him in Ephesus, but in God and His amazing grace.

We find Paul's most succinct understanding of the New Covenant Christian life in Galatians 2:19. You're all familiar with this passage: "For I, through the law, died to the law in order that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." 

Listen to verse 21: "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness, righteous holy living, comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." 

My brothers and sisters, the law has no place in producing fruit in my life and making me like Christ, or causing me to live in righteousness. This is not the purpose of the law; this is not why the law was given, and we see this so clearly throughout the New Testament Scriptures. 

Romans 3:19: "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law." Why? "That every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin." 

Galatians 3:19: "What purpose then does the law serve? It was given, it was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come. It was like a tutor, like a schoolmaster to show us our sin, to lead us to faith in Christ. But once faith has come, we are no longer under the tutor." 

Paul said in Romans 2 that the law brings only wrath, and Galatians 3 says that anyone who's under the law is under a curse. But Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. In Romans 7, he said that which he thought was to bring him life when he was a Jewish Pharisee, that which he thought was to bring him life, speaking of the law, brought death to him. 

Romans 6 and 7 tell us that we've died to the law; we're no longer under the law, but under grace. And what law is Paul talking about? It's the whole law of Moses. In Romans 7, he highlights the law; he's talking about covetousness, "Thou shalt not covet." 

In 2nd Corinthians 3, Paul refers to the law as that engraved on stones – administration of death, of condemnation. I want to be clear here. I'm not saying, nor did Paul, that the law is bad. In fact, he said it's holy and righteous and good. It reflects the character and nature of God. It was given for an express purpose.

Once you go back to 1st Timothy chapter 1, and I want to remind ourselves of Paul's clear statement there. In 1st Timothy 1:8, he makes a tremendous helpful statement: "But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully." What a profound statement. The law is good if one uses it lawfully, for its intended purpose, for the reason that God gave it. 

The law is good, verse 9, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly, for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers, murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, sodomites, kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there's any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. 

The law is good if we use it lawfully. Hebrews 8 tells us that the old covenant has vanished away in Christ, that the new has come, the old is gone. The old covenant law was not bad; it was not wrong; it was given for a purpose, and it's fulfilled by using it for that purpose. 2nd Corinthians 3 says it had glory in accomplishing that purpose. Isn't it great to have the law bring death to you, to realize you're a sinner in need of a Savior? 

But once faith has come, we're no longer under the tutor. The new covenant is the fulfillment of God's salvation plan; it results in a death, burial, and subsequent resurrection to new life with Christ for the one who believes in Jesus. We find the promises of the new covenant in passages like Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 — a new heart, a new spirit, the Holy Spirit permanently indwelling and sealing us. 

We are new creations in Christ; our relationship to law, sin, and death has drastically changed forever. We now live under grace, righteousness, and life. And our life now is one of abiding in Christ, as a branch abides in the vine to bear fruit, to produce holiness. 

All of these truths must be understood, must be renewed in our minds, must be reckoned as so if we are to understand the new covenant life in Christ and if we are to be fruitful in the ministries that God has given us. And this was so very true for Timothy. Paul wanted him to know it, and he wanted him to get it and get it good because, my friends, there are always false teachers around trying to undermine these truths, trying to point believers back to the law, to works, and to themselves. 

But Paul wants Timothy to know that the strength that he so desperately needed to meet the great challenges of life and ministry could only come by the grace of God, not anything from himself. "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 

But first, we see strong in grace. Next, we see God's simple plan. If we are to minister solely and fully by the grace of God, how are we to do this? What is God's plan for the church? In verse 2, we see God's simple plan of dependence on His Word, His grace for the church. 

He writes, "And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." I'm not sure really where to begin with this or if there's a place to end. This is the simplicity; this is the perfect plan of God, His means for accomplishing His will in the church and the great theme of these pastoral epistles. 

The things you have heard from me among many witnesses — what things? The words of God, the Apostle's doctrine being formed in this time. The Word of God is what Paul's talking about. Take the Word, take these great truths of who Christ is, what He has done, the salvation He provides, and the provision of grace and power to accomplish His will, who we are and what we have in Him, the hope of His calling, the promise of eternal life. 

Take these things, Timothy, which you have heard from me again and again among many witnesses as we traveled and preached and equipped the believers. Take these things and commit them to faithful men who will be able to teach others. This is the pattern; this is the plan for the church. 

This is what Jesus did with the twelve. This is what the twelve did with so many. This is what Paul did with Timothy and Titus. He poured out his life into them to be an example, to teach them, to encourage them, and to equip them for the ministry. And now they were to take these truths, the words of God, the doctrine of Paul, and commit them to other faithful men who could teach and preach and pass these words on to others also. 

I can't help but think about how God has done this very thing through the life and ministry of Pastor Krenz. All the young men he's met with over the last sixty plus years, even as he's met with me every week for the last twenty years — to do what? To teach by example and word the simplicity of Christ, the new covenant truths of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, our union with Him, His life in us through faith. 

This is the great emphasis that has been passed to me and that I now strive to teach you — that the Christian life is Christ in me, living His life out through me. Not striving by law and works to live up to some standard to please God, not a focus on self and performance, but on Christ, looking unto Him, trusting Him, believing Him, abiding in Him, holding fast one day at a time by faith. 

This is God's simple plan for the church, and it's what we must be doing in these last days. We see next in our text that this is not something that comes naturally, this abiding in Christ, this living by the Spirit and not by the letter. It requires focus and discipline and a choice to reckon, to believe, to abide. 

We see strong in grace, we see simple plan; next we see the soldier of Christ, and this is so full, so rich, my brothers and sisters. 

"You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life in order that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier. Paul has made clear that the Christian life is not one of law and works, but it is one of grace and faith. 

Here he gives us three illustrations of how this works out practically in our lives. First, he compares the Christian life to that of a soldier. What is to be expected for the one who identifies himself with Christ, who stands boldly for the truths of God's Word, and is strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus? 

Well, first, we see that he should expect hardships. Just as a military soldier would experience all kinds of hardships and challenges, in circumstance, and physical and mental stress in training and in battle, so the soldier of Christ should expect hardship and personal struggle in living by grace and trusting in Jesus alone, and standing boldly for the truth of the Word of God and even persecution such as Paul finds himself in here and perhaps Timothy will as well. 

It's no easy life, no stress-free life, but a life of hardships of many kinds to be a follower, a minister of Christ. So we are soldiers of Jesus, and look at verse 4: "No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier." 

I have to tell you, this is a tough verse. This is a very convicting verse, but I think it's so important in our time, in our church, and in our personal lives. The wording here suggests that a soldier, when he's called to battle, must quickly get his worldly affairs in order. Then he must leave all of that behind in order to focus on his role, his job in the battle plan, serving his commander, focused solely on the warfare that's at hand. 

The word "entangle" literally means to intertwine or to combine, to weave together. This is a tough one, my friends, on a couple of levels. First, let's talk about the church, particularly the evangelical church in America. Let me ask you: from your knowledge of the Scriptures, what is the warfare that we are fighting in our time on this earth? What is the essence of the battle? What is the victory won? What exactly is it that our commander has enlisted us to do in the church? 

Is it to fix the problems of this world, the injustices, the inequities? Are we here to end poverty, to bring world peace, to institute Christian values on the world, to bring social justice to our culture? Are these the orders we have been given by our Lord and His Word? 

I'm afraid that many believers have been distracted from the battle plan, from the great warfare that we are to be fighting by many worldly pursuits, whether good or bad. We have been given our marching orders clearly in the Word of God, to go into all the world and preach the gospel, to lead men to faith in Christ, and to disciple them to go out and do the same. 

A church is to be the place of training for believers to equip and prepare through the preaching of the Word and trust in the grace of God in order to prepare them to go out into the world and preach the gospel truth. This is the battle plan: preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified that through the foolishness of the message preached, God might save those who believe. 

We don't see any call to fix this old world, to eliminate poverty, to bring social justice to men. We are not, as the church, to entangle ourselves in the things of the world, to intertwine the social gospel with the true gospel. Rather, our gospel is one of deliverance from eternal death and torment in the lake of fire through faith in Jesus Christ. It's one of deliverance from sin and judgment and a calling to a high purpose of being good news preachers in this world. 

And there's a more personal application here as well — a hard one in my estimation. The wording suggests also the personal pursuits or aspirations of wealth and success in this world as a distraction from our calling to preach the gospel, to encourage the brethren, to have an eternal, not temporal, focus. 

Paul made tents, but tents were not his passion, not his fulfillment, not his purpose, not his calling. We may have to make a living in this world, meet our obligations in this life, to family, to providing for our own. This is good. This is profitable. And it's part of our witness. 

In all things, we can bring glory to God. But this is not our life; it's not our passion; it's not why we're here. This is not the most important thing. Our work, and even our hobbies, can contribute to our purpose, facilitate our ministries. But they can't become our purpose, our life. Our mission, our battle, our warfare must be centered on pleasing the One who enlisted us and trusting His battle plan in obedience and service to Him. This is how we can be good soldiers of Jesus Christ. 

Next, we see the Christian life is likened to an athlete competing for the prize, the sportsman's crown. "And also, if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules." I'm fascinated by the phrase here, "according to the rules." 

We could talk about concerning an athlete personal dedication, training, discipline, focus, and all these things would be applicable to the Christian life, and perhaps to Paul's illustration here. You know, he wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:24, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things, has self-control. They do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown." 

“Therefore, I run thus, not with uncertainty; thus I fight, not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified." The Christian life requires all these things: self-control, focus, purpose, discipline. 

But all these things must be applied to abiding, to reckoning, to being strong in grace, not in self-effort and works righteousness and self-focus. Paul says that the Christian life is like an athlete in this sense — this is what our verse says — it says that he's not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. What are the rules? The guidelines, the commands that God has given us for living the Christian life. 

Turn over to John 15, please. John 15 at verse 1. Jesus talking to His disciples says, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me." 

"I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing." What are the rules of the Christian life? Faith, abiding, looking to Jesus, reckoning the truths of our salvation, the promises of the Word of God, depending on Him by His power and will and grace to work out His will in our lives. 

John says that the commands of the New Covenant are to believe Jesus and love one another. Jesus said that the will of God is this: to believe on the one whom He sent. If we're going to be fruitful, if we're going to win the crown, the prize, we must play by the rules — the rules that God has set up and prescribed for the Christian life. 

What was the danger in Ephesus where Timothy was pastor? False teachers. What did they teach? Law, works, religious babbling, a lot of words, a focus on self. It's always the same, my friends. And Paul wants Timothy and us to know that the rule of the game and the way for us to win the crown, to be fruitful for God's glory, is by abiding in Jesus one day at a time in faith. This is the way. 

"Abide in Me, and My words abide in you, and you'll bear much fruit." Last, in our text, we see the illustration of a farmer — sustenance supplied. Again, we see God's grace here as well. Be strong in grace. 

I read several commentaries on this verse, and almost everyone related this to living by the gospel. If you preach the gospel, you should live by the gospel. We know this is true from many passages we've studied. But I find this to be foreign to the context here. I believe what Paul is telling Timothy is that he first must labor, must agonize, must work hard and partake of the words of God Himself in order to see fruit, to see abundance from his ministry. 

Clearly, the emphasis here is on hard work, and the word means to labor to exhaustion. Boy, can I relate to this in the sense of farming. What does the farmer do? He works hard. He labors to exhaustion in order to till, to plant, to weed, to cultivate, to fertilize, and then he waits and trusts the Lord to produce the fruit. He trusts in the Lord for sunshine and timely rain. Yes, he labors; he works hard, but it is the grace of God that he trusts in to give him health and strength and to give him a harvest. 

So Timothy and each one of us must labor and agonize over the word of God — to study, to prepare, to renew our minds, to seek to trust God, and to believe Him. Think about that in the context of a pastor of a church: he should be laboring, should be agonizing to teach and preach the word, to make it clear, to cut it straight. 

Then what does he have to do? Be patient, wait for the fruit, right? We depend on His grace to bring the fruit through our lives: holiness, Christlikeness, truth spoken in love, and salvation of lost souls. This is true for every Christian. Labor in the word, trust in the grace of God, and patience — waiting for God to produce the fruit.

So we see in this tremendous text, these words of Paul to Timothy, that he must be strong in grace. He must trust God's simple plan for his life and ministry, and that like a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer, his life must be one of focus and discipline on the battle plan, the rules of the game, and hard work and patience in the ministry. At the end of the day, he might know and understand that without Jesus, he can do nothing. 

We're going to pick it up here next time, but as you go through this coming week, remember this great truth of the Christian life: he who abides in me and my words abide in him will produce much fruit. The secret to the new covenant Christian life, my friends, is Christ. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful for your word, your truth. We're so thankful that you continue to teach us, that you're patient with us. Father, thank you for this place, for these believers who are so committed to the word, to the truth, and come here to hear it preached and taught, to fellowship, to sing the great doctrines of the word of God through the hymns. 

Father, we thank you for your grace, your grace — superabounding grace every day, sufficient for every need. Help us to look to you, to trust you, to believe you, and to be strong in grace. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.