Good morning to everyone, having some beautiful weather this weekend, praise God for that. We made the last of old second crop hay yesterday, so it's nice to get that in.

For those that are visiting, we've been working through 2 Timothy, 1 Timothy, and then 2 Timothy through the pastoral epistles. In this epistle, just to set a little context, Paul is writing from prison in Rome facing martyrdom. He is writing to Timothy to encourage him and the church in Ephesus to set things in order, to continue the good fight that Paul had fought, to carry on the ministry, sort of passing the torch to Timothy. 

But it's a time of great persecution under Nero, and there's a lot of fear in the church. Timothy, of course, has a spirit of fear, as Paul says, timid by nature. Paul is trying to strengthen him, to encourage him, and he gives him, as we saw last time in our text in verses 1 to 7, some reasons for that—some truth and doctrine to strengthen and encourage him.

Today, we're going to look more at kind of a motive as to why to serve. We come to a very interesting and important text this morning in 2 Timothy 2. Paul has been exhorting Timothy to stand fast in his faith, to be bold, and to persevere in fulfilling the ministry that God has called him to, as well as to exercise the gift that God has given him.

I want to read those first seven verses that we looked at last week as we begin, 2 Timothy 2:1-7. Paul writes, "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 the one 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 hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things."

Paul encouraged Timothy to be strong in grace. The power and provision for his ministry, the fruitfulness that God desired, would come only by God's grace. Be strong in grace, that's what we looked at last week. 

With this ministry would come hardship, difficulty, and persecution—perhaps even imprisonment and death, as Paul was facing. It would take a firm grip on the grace of God, a discipline and hard work seen in the examples of verses 4 to 6, in order to persevere and maintain his ministry by the grace of God.

The Christian life is a life of discipline, of focus and dependence on the grace of God, on the person and the face of Jesus Christ. If we lose sight of this truth, if we turn our gaze from Jesus as we run this race, then we will stumble. We will be distracted and rendered useless to the cause of Christ. The only way that we can fulfill our ministries and be fruitful for the glory of God is by setting our hearts and minds on Jesus, looking unto Him, abiding in Him, depending wholly on the grace of God. 

So these are the exhortations to Timothy in the first part of chapter 2, encouraging him to be strong in grace for the sake of his ministry. In our text today, in verses 8 to 13, we shift more toward why—the call that we have been given is a worthy call, the reasoning, perhaps the motive, as to why the ministry that God has given us is worth all of this trouble, hardship, and endurance—even in the face of continual trouble, discouragement, and persecution such as they were facing in the time of Timothy.

Paul wants to remind Timothy of the example of Jesus Christ in these things, in His humanity, and in His resurrection. And he also wants to remind Timothy who it is that he is suffering for, who he is serving, and why it is the highest calling to serve Jesus Christ and His saving purpose on this earth.

Well, let's look at our text together, verse 8. 2 Timothy 2:8, "Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains, but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This is a faithful saying, for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself."

Well, I've given you three points on your outline this morning: first, the preeminence of Christ; second, the power of the Word; third, the promise of life.

Well, verse 8 is a loaded verse, full of tremendous meaning. It says, "Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel." This verse summarizes what Paul has been teaching Timothy because it is Jesus who was born of the seed of David, who took on flesh, who suffered and died, and was raised from the dead, was glorified after His suffering, according to the gospel, Paul says.

Timothy, in facing opposition and perhaps persecution, the hardships of ministry and pastoring the church in Ephesus, standing for sound doctrine, especially against those who were attacking and undermining him with false teaching, needed to remember Jesus—His life, His ministry, His suffering, the continuous opposition against Him, the ultimate death, His burial, and the resurrection from the dead.

I'd like for you to turn over to Hebrews 2 with me, please. Hebrews 2:9 is a passage that explains this in more detail. 

Hebrews 2:9, "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He by the grace of God might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, 'I will declare Your name to My brethren. In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You,' and again, 'Here am I, and the children whom God has given Me.'"

And as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 

For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. For in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted."

The text tells us that Jesus was made perfect, complete, through sufferings. He was the prototokos, the preeminent one, the forerunner, the captain of our salvation. He led the way, He became the perfect Savior, satisfying the wrath of God in our place for our sins, through sufferings. 

Listen to those words again. "Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is also able to aid those who are tempted."

Jesus accomplished His high calling, His great commission from God, His saving work through sufferings. What a lesson for Timothy and for us. 

Turn over to 1 Peter 2, I want to look at one other passage that makes this point. 1 Peter 2:15, "For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bond-servants of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the King. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps."

Peter tells us that Jesus set an example of suffering for us, that we were called to suffer—not for the sake of suffering, but for the sake of the gospel and the salvation of men in the glory of God. Because here is the truth: when we faithfully preach the Word, when we bring clear truth of the sin and condemnation of all men to this world and offer them salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, through faith in Him alone, Satan and his whole world system, and the sons of Satan, the lost men and Adam, will fight against this truth, will persecute and attack those who stand for Christ. 

Because the world hates Jesus, and therefore will hate the one who stands for the truth of Jesus in an uncompromising way. Jesus said, or John said in 1 John 3:13, "Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you." In 1 Peter 4:12, Peter said, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing has happened to you."

You know, those who preach a self-help, best-life-now kind of Jesus in the church today, who have a man-centered social gospel where Jesus is going to fix all your problems and bring you health and wealth and prosperity, think it a strange thing when they are persecuted for their identification with Christ, when they find opposition. 

But we must know and remember that our union with Christ, our faithful preaching of the gospel, our unwillingness to compromise doctrine and duty—and how we live and the things we will approve—will bring opposition from the world, will bring hatred directed at Jesus but taken out on those who stand for Him.

In Galatians 6:17, Paul says, "From now on, let no one trouble me." I was thinking on it, I just kind of remembered this verse and put it in here and I read that. "From now on, let no one trouble me. Leave me alone. For I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." 

What's Paul saying in this verse? He's saying look at the scars from the whips, from the rods, from the stones. Look at the marks. These are the marks of the Lord Jesus. These beatings and stonings were meant for Him. But I stand in His place as His ambassador. He's not here, so they attack me.

Remember, as Paul writes these words, he sits in the Mamertine prison awaiting his martyrdom because of his preaching of Christ. He would be taken from that dungeon by Nero and have his head removed from his body by the axe. We've not known persecution in our country. We've lived a life of freedom and peace and relative ease, and we're thankful for God's grace in this. 

But this has not been the case historically or even in the world today. This was the life and ministry of Paul. This was how he suffered. We could read that in 2 Corinthians 11, that long list. "And above all these things, what troubles me daily is my care for the church."

But Paul and his ministry remembered the preeminence of Christ. Turn over to Colossians 1 with me, please, Colossians 1:8. Paul, writing to the Colossian believers, says, "Who also declared to us your love in the Spirit, for this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."

If I could just have verse 10 for my life. "Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, fruitful in every good work, increasing in the knowledge of God," strengthened with all might according to His glorious power for all patience and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. In these words, Paul gives us our high calling. The prayers for fruitfulness are for every good work, for the cause of Christ, for the glory of God, and this is based on who Jesus is and what He has called us to—His grand purpose in this world. 

But please listen and follow along in your Bible considering these words, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence."

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. 

Think about those words, having made peace. How would you like it if God were your enemy? It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. While we were yet sinners, while we were against Him, Christ died for us. He made peace. We've come back into a right relationship with God. We have peace with God. We stand in grace. 

Why is it worth it to suffer, to be persecuted, to die for the cause of Christ? It's because He is the preeminent one. He is God in the flesh, the very image, the exact representation of God. There is no one higher, none greater; He is God of God. In Him all the fullness dwells. 

So if He is the preeminent one, if His is the name above all names, if He's King of kings and Lord of lords, God incarnate, then His cause, His purpose is the greatest purpose. And what is that purpose? For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself. 

His purpose is to bring reconciliation, to bring salvation to every man who will believe and to reconcile all things in this world. And how He has designed to bring purpose, His purpose and will to pass through His people, through believers, is through the preaching of the Word of God—the preaching of the message about Christ. We are His ambassadors. 

This is the heart of our ministry, of our calling. Second Corinthians 5:14 says, "The love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that one died for all, then all died. And He died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." 

So we no longer look at men according to the flesh, right? We look at men according to their spiritual state. If anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. And it says that we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

Listen to this great truth, this great promise: "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, in order that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Jesus is the preeminent one. He's the first one. He's above all. And His calling, His purpose is the highest purpose—to bring salvation through the preaching of the message about Jesus. 

And we are His messengers. We are His heralds, proclaiming the clear truth of the gospel. Yes, there will be false teachers undermining that message. Yes, they will hate us. Yes, they will attack and persecute us. But the purpose and ministry we have been given is so important, so high, so glorious, that all of these things are insignificant because they are temporal. They are passing away. 

And the eternal weight of glory will cause them all to fade into complete meaninglessness. And you see, Jesus is our example of temporal suffering resulting in eternal glory and power. 

Verse 8 of our text, "Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel." Timothy needed to look at Jesus. He needed to remember who He is and why He had called and gifted Timothy and given him this ministry. 

And he needed to remember the example of Christ, who "for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame." So we see the preeminence of Christ as a motivation for faithful ministry. 

And next we see the powerful Word. Look at our text again, verse 8, "Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains. But the Word of God is not chained; therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." 

Paul had been a faithful witness for Christ. He had suffered great persecution along with experiencing amazing fruit in his life. And now he found himself chained in that prison, awaiting his martyrdom. But he makes a truly amazing statement in verse 9. He writes, "I may be in chains. I may be considered a malefactor, an evildoer because of preaching Christ. But the Word of God—the Word which I preach—cannot be chained. The Word of God is not bound."

This is truly a profound revelation for us especially, I think. As I studied this passage, this verse in particular, I was greatly challenged about my thinking. And I'd like to bring that challenge to you as well this morning. 

It's my personal experience, and I think the common experience of the church in America for a long time now, that we have a belief, a pervasive idea that we share, and the belief is this: it is vital that we maintain our freedom in America in order that we might take the gospel to the world. 

And so we have seen in the church in America an amazing allocation of time, effort, and the Lord's money and resources, all set toward and focused on maintaining political freedom to worship, to gather, to study, to preach, to teach the Bible so that we might be able to further the gospel and bring the gospel to the world. 

I don't misunderstand me; I appreciate these freedoms. And I'm greatly disturbed at the possibility of their passing away. But here's the challenge to our thinking: Does the going forth of the Word of God depend on the freedom to preach the gospel without persecution? 

And I would add that if we look at history and we look at the world now, we would have to admit that we are doing less in America with our freedoms and our many Bibles and endless resources than many who hide and suffer persecution and take the gospel to their world under threat of death. 

I think of the church in Iran or in China. I read this week that the church in China in 1949 was made up of about 700,000 people. The communist revolution that occurred in the 50s killed most of those believers along with millions of others. And biblical Christianity has been outlawed, persecuted, rooted out ever since, but today it is estimated that there are over 30 million—some say as many as 100 million—believers in China. The Word of God is not bound. 

I wonder if we took all of our resources—all that money, all that time and focus that has been applied to political action in our country—and just used it to go out and preach the gospel, how much more fruit we would have seen. We enjoy a great freedom, and we should use it. 

But Paul enjoyed no such freedom in his time, at least on many occasions and many places. One of my favorite passages concerning this is Philippians 1. Turn over to Philippians 1 at verse 12 with me, please. 

Philippians 1:12, "But I want you to know, brethren," Paul is sitting in prison. The believers are worried about him, worried about the gospel. "I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happen to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard and all the rest that my chains are in Christ. And most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear."

This was Paul's first imprisonment in a rented house in Rome where he was chained to a Roman soldier. And we often think of what it might be like in this context to be sitting there chained to a Roman soldier, but do we think of what it might be like to be a Roman soldier chained to Paul? 

My friends, Paul was chained, but the word of God is not chained. It cannot be bound. And those soldiers were getting saved shift by shift, and the whole palace guard knew that Paul's chains were because of Christ. What a testimony! What a truth to ponder!

The men and authorities of this world can beat us, can chain us, can even kill us, but they cannot chain the word of God. Men—preachers, witnesses, martyrs—come and go, but the word of God remains, and the power of the word of God unleashed on this world through faithful witnesses to lost souls cannot be measured except by the witness of changed lives for eternity. 

There's no greater power. The dunamis—the gospel—is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, and no man can chain it. No man can bind it. So many have tried such great efforts by the kings of the earth to destroy, to rid themselves of this truth, this word, the Bible. But they're all dead and buried, and the word goes forth by the power of God. 

Remember Jesus, the preeminent one. Remember the power of the word. It cannot be chained. And Timothy, remember the promise of life. 

Verse 11 in our text: "This is a faithful saying, for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself." 

Well, here we have the promise of life now and life eternal. Since we died with Him, the Greek here indicates an accomplished fact, not implying any doubt. Since we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. The text is reminiscent of Romans 6. 

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? For do you not know, do you not know, my brethren, that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection."

Just as Christ was raised from the dead, even so we also should walk in newness of life. This is a promise—just as, even so. Our new life, our resurrection is just as certain as the resurrection life of Christ. This is the truth of regeneration, of the new birth and the new covenant. 

Our old man was crucified with Christ so that the body controlled by sin might be rendered powerless. We're dead to sin; we're dead to the law. We have new life in Christ, and not only do we have life now, but we have the hope of eternal life with Him, and we will reign with Him in His kingdom. 

"If we endure, we shall also reign with Him." Revelation 5:10, "And have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth." It’s hard to imagine. Timothy had great promises to encourage and strengthen Him. We died with Christ, and so now we live and forever will live with Him. 

We live by Him now. He is the source. He is our life. He lives in us and through us and works out His will in our lives. We endure hardships and persecutions in this world, but we shall reign with Him. 

These last words are interesting; I struggled with these last words in this text—what He was trying to say. He says, "If we deny Him," the word here speaks of not a temporary denial under duress such as Peter had, but a permanent choice to reject, to deny who Jesus is and what He has done. If we deny Him, if we reject Him, do not believe and trust in Him as Savior and Lord, then He will deny us. 

The words mean that He cannot claim us as His own if we are unwilling to submit to the gospel, to faith in Christ alone. And that's really the meaning of the next verse, "If we are unfaithful, He is still faithful. He cannot deny Himself." 

The message of Timothy is this: we as believers must recognize who we are. We must recognize what has been done through us in regeneration—salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. We must reckon ourselves dead indeed to sin, but alive to God. We must also know that the righteous will endure hardships in this world, and those who endure this life will have the promise of reigning in the next.

Timothy must quit focusing on the temporal, on the fear, on the persecution, on the false teachers, and he must focus on the eternal. Remember his calling. Remember his Savior, his example in suffering and exaltation—Jesus Christ. And he must choose to believe the promises of God concerning life today in Christ and life eternal with Him. This is the only way that he can have a fruitful ministry for the glory of God.

Timothy needed encouragement; he needed to be strengthened, and my friends, this can only come by looking to Jesus. And this is just as true for us today in this world in which we live. If we are going to carry out our ministry to which God has called us and equipped us and empowered us to do, we must find our encouragement, our steadfastness, our rock in Christ. 

There's no other answer in this world for this life. The secret of the Christian life, my brothers and sisters, is Christ. This was the explanation of Paul's faithful life and ministry, and if Timothy was to succeed Paul to carry the torch, this would have to be the explanation of his life as well. Our life is Christ.

It's so easy to become discouraged in this world with all that's happening in our time. And we see the spirit of hostility toward the truth, toward Christ. There are threats against the cause of Christ, the gospel, and those who stand for the truth. 

But my brothers and sisters, remember: the Word of God is not bound. God will accomplish His purposes. His Word will not return void, and it's our privilege to preach this good news message of salvation, to bring the love of Christ to men, to show them the goodness of God, the hope in Jesus for everyone who will believe.

It's the only hope. Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for Your Word, for Your truth. Thank You that we have Jesus. Jesus is all that we need, but thank You that we have Jesus. We have the promises, and in Him all the promises are yes. Thank You that we can trust You, believe You, depend on You, and know that by Your power and grace, You will work out Your will in our lives for Your glory. Thank You for that privilege of serving You. In Jesus' name, amen.