SPEAKER_00: Hello, Pastor Thomas Geer of here, First Baptist Church of El Daredo, Europe.
SPEAKER_00: Joined us today in a series called A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus, which is a study in 2 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: Throughout this series, we're going to learn a lot about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus who makes disciples of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're going to run this race as we walk through 2 Timothy 2.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm so thankful that you've chosen to join us today, and I hope you are encouraged by God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Would you open up with me to 2 Timothy chapter 2 as we continue a series through 2 Timothy?
SPEAKER_00: We're going to be today in verses 8 through 13.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Timothy 2, verses 8 through 13, and I'll read those verses now.
SPEAKER_00: Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, and the offspring of David as preached in my gospel, for which I'm suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound.
SPEAKER_00: And 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.
SPEAKER_00: The saying is trustworthy, for if we have died with him, we will also live with him.
SPEAKER_00: If we endure, we will also reign with him.
SPEAKER_00: If we deny him, he also will deny us.
SPEAKER_00: If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, what a gift it is to open your word.
SPEAKER_00: What a privilege to read your word and consider your word.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, by your spirit in these moments, would you teach us through your word?
SPEAKER_00: Only you can do that, and we ask that you would, in Christ's name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Well, as we're spending the summer in 2 Timothy chapter 2, this letter from Paul to his disciple and ministry partner Timothy, we've seen a few things over the last couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_00: In verses 1 and 2, Paul reminding him, as he will again, to remember the gospel, be strengthened in the grace of Christ, and then showing him really Jesus' discipleship method, what you've heard from me, and trust to others who will teach others this generational discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we talked about the Christian's call to live as a soldier, as an athlete, as a farmer.
SPEAKER_00: Paul gives us these illustrations for how to live out the Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: And today, as we come to verse 8, Paul takes us in a new direction.
SPEAKER_00: In one sense, it's the same direction, but just a new couple verses about what it means to live out the Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: And so the first thing I want to see this morning out of four things is simply this the gospel is true.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is true.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that point this morning isn't catching anybody by too much surprise.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is true.
SPEAKER_00: If that does catch you by surprise, you're in the right place this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Because you can learn more about that gospel this morning.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is true.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8, remember Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, my question is, why in the world does Paul need to tell this to Timothy?
SPEAKER_00: Remember Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Because as I think about Timothy, this leader in the church of Ephesus, a disciple of Paul, out of all the people you could be discipled by, he got a pretty good one in Paul.
SPEAKER_00: I just think of someone that's probably not forgetting the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: I would hope as a leader in the church, he doesn't forget the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: When Paul says, remember Jesus Christ, what he's not saying is, Timothy, you've forgotten this.
SPEAKER_00: You probably haven't thought on it.
SPEAKER_00: What he's saying is this keep Jesus Christ ever before you.
SPEAKER_00: Day after day, really moment after moment after moment, keep Jesus Christ right in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: Because the reality is, you and I, I hope, don't literally forget Jesus Christ, but I would imagine we can live some days of our lives without Him being the sole priority, the thing that we set our eyes upon, that the thing that is really the overarching center of our lives, that everything else comes under that authority.
SPEAKER_00: Remember Jesus Christ, Timothy, and then this he's risen from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: I I love how Paul states this: that Jesus is risen from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Reminding that Jesus has raised from the dead, but but doing it very in the uh the present tense.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is risen.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever thought about that?
SPEAKER_00: Why on Easter morning we do the same thing?
SPEAKER_00: We always say this, that Christ is risen.
SPEAKER_00: Notice on Easter morning when we come together, we don't say uh way back then Christ rose or Christ had risen from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: All that is true, by the way, and praise God it is.
SPEAKER_00: But on Easter morning we say Christ is risen.
SPEAKER_00: Because it is a past event that has forever, eternity shaping uh effects of it, that Christ is still risen.
SPEAKER_00: For someone in Scripture like Lazarus, who Jesus raised from the dead, I might say something like Lazarus had risen from the dead, but we know Lazarus one day went back to the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: But Christ Jesus is risen.
SPEAKER_00: It is an ongoing idea.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to see now the resurrection is central to our gospel.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you know that.
SPEAKER_00: Now we talk about the cross a lot, and we should.
SPEAKER_00: We talk about the place where Christ died on Friday afternoon where our sins were placed upon Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But but if we just talk about the cross and don't move to the resurrection, to the empty tomb, we we've missed it.
SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite stories was of a uh a young pastor uh in in the uh African American tradition, and he was being discipled by a senior pastor and this young pastor, and it was his day to preach his first sermon to the congregation.
SPEAKER_00: And and by the way, he was just knocking it out of the park.
SPEAKER_00: He was just preaching a great message, and uh within the African-American context, as he reached towards the end of the sermon, the the excitement was building, and the congregation was was almost just joining in with him and and kind of shouting back to him and call and response.
SPEAKER_00: And it was this beautiful moment, and he was describing uh the the the cross and what Christ has done for us, and he died for us, and and the congregation was excited, and he got excited about the cross, and then at that moment he ended his message and he went and sat down, and and and they they said the congregation it was very awkward in the room.
SPEAKER_00: It just got very quiet, and there was this tension in the room that this young pastor couldn't understand because in his mind uh I just knocked this out of the park.
SPEAKER_00: In his mind, we were all just so excited.
SPEAKER_00: Why are things so awkward?
SPEAKER_00: Then the senior pastor walked over to his young disciple on the front row and whispered to him these words You better go get him out of the grave.
SPEAKER_00: And he walked back up and he got Jesus out of the grave, and once again the congregation in full excitement preached right alongside of him.
SPEAKER_00: The cross alone is not enough.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus died for me, but here's the important part as well: he rose again.
SPEAKER_00: If he just died and stayed in the tomb, 1 Corinthians 15, we saw a few months ago, uh, we are the people most to be pitied.
SPEAKER_00: But he did not stay in the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: He defeated sin and death, he's risen again.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we say Christ is risen.
SPEAKER_00: So remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And I love this, the offspring of David.
SPEAKER_00: We just saw that he's risen from the dead, which speaks to Jesus' divinity, that he is God himself, but now uh Paul speaks to his humanity as well, that he is fully God and fully man.
SPEAKER_00: He is a descendant of David.
SPEAKER_00: Just this morning and the last couple weeks, we've been talking a lot about David in our life group time.
SPEAKER_00: I would love nothing more than to say, I am smart enough and wise enough that many, many months ago, I said, won't it be great when the life group literature and this phrase, offspring of David, align on the perfect day.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm not smart enough for that.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is, though.
SPEAKER_00: As we see that Jesus is the offspring of David, that means that uh God's promise to David that from his line an eternal king will sit on the throne.
SPEAKER_00: That came true in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, full divinity, offspring of David, full uh humanity, fully human, as preached in my gospel.
SPEAKER_00: I love how Paul takes that gospel and says, This is my gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Not that it's only Paul's gospel, not that it's a message that he created.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: It's the gospel of Jesus Christ, yet for Paul it has become so personal.
SPEAKER_00: This is true for me.
SPEAKER_00: This is not just something I preach, this is something that has radically shaped and reshaped my life.
SPEAKER_00: So this is my gospel.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you know and can say in your own heart that this gospel of Jesus Christ is my gospel.
SPEAKER_00: For you, this is your gospel, this is your hope.
SPEAKER_00: And so, first we see this the gospel is true.
SPEAKER_00: And secondly, I want to see this the word is alive.
SPEAKER_00: The word is alive, and by the word, I'm meaning the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me at verse nine.
SPEAKER_00: He's following again as preached by my gospel, and here it is, verse nine.
SPEAKER_00: For which I am suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Now we saw that last week.
SPEAKER_00: Paul brings up this idea of suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Paul does it time and time again.
SPEAKER_00: We saw last week that all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, will suffer.
SPEAKER_00: We see Paul's love of the gospel, but then does remind us it is for this gospel I am suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And so a reminder to all of us who love this gospel, if you love and follow and proclaim this gospel, there will come with it suffering.
SPEAKER_00: We we've we have signed up for that.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Jesus says, again, like we talked about last week, if you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow.
SPEAKER_00: But I love what Paul says for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Paul is sitting in a prison cell.
SPEAKER_00: Quite literally, he is bound with chains.
SPEAKER_00: But look how he follows this up.
SPEAKER_00: But the word of God is not bound.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss the beautiful wordplay that Paul is up to here.
SPEAKER_00: Again, I am bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what is Paul saying?
SPEAKER_00: That even while I sit here in prison, that means nothing for the word, that means nothing for the gospel, that means nothing for the expansion of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: It can go on while Paul sits in prison.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is so self-aware, and I love it, that he realizes that this Christian message in no way centers on Paul.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he he would say Paul has very little, actually, he'd say Paul has nothing to do with it.
SPEAKER_00: You can put me behind bars, and the word will just keep going forward.
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean that our word is alive and active?
SPEAKER_00: Think of uh 2 Timothy 3.16 that that all scripture is God breathed, breathed out by God, inspired by God, that this is God's word written to us.
SPEAKER_00: It's alive and well.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 4.12, it's alive and active, sharper than a two-edged sword.
SPEAKER_00: It it kind of penetrates our soul.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 48, the grass withers, the flower fades.
SPEAKER_00: But the word of God stands forever.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 55, 11, that when the word of God goes out, it does not return void.
SPEAKER_00: When we read this word, God's word, we we are dealing with a living, active, almost breathing, we could say, word.
SPEAKER_00: That God has breathed this out.
SPEAKER_00: And what Paul wants us to see, that even under Paul's circumstances, he's sitting in a prison cell, that his circumstances don't mean that the ministry of the gospel has to end.
SPEAKER_00: But while his circumstances might have changed, the ministry has not.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel goes forth.
SPEAKER_00: His circumstances don't define gospel ministry.
SPEAKER_00: I think of this exactly in Philippians chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: Another letter Paul is writing to the church at Philippi while Paul is sitting in a prison cell.
SPEAKER_00: And in chapter one, if we remember what Paul says there, he says it's it's actually to our benefit that this has happened.
SPEAKER_00: What in the world does that mean, Paul?
SPEAKER_00: That this is a good thing that you're sitting behind bars?
SPEAKER_00: And he says this, it's to our benefit that this has happened, because while I've been sitting behind bars, he says this, the whole imperial guard has come to know the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Or at least has heard about the Lord, I should say.
SPEAKER_00: I've I've preached to the whole imperial guard.
SPEAKER_00: Paul knew that even in his circumstances, he'd been put behind prison, that God had placed him in a location that he can now preach the gospel to people he could not have preached to otherwise.
SPEAKER_00: And every person that walks into this jail cell, this guard that comes around me, the imperial guard, they are going to hear about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Paul does not let his circumstances define the ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to talk to everyone this morning that you may be tempted to say, are my current circumstances, are they something that's going to keep me from fulfilling the ministry God has called me to?
SPEAKER_00: I don't mean ministry like vocational ministry, I could mean that, but but just the ministry of your life.
SPEAKER_00: Are my circumstances too much for God to use?
SPEAKER_00: I wonder this morning, we have an unbelievable, I'm so thankful for it, uh, radio ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Um for a couple months uh when I got to this church, I had no idea we had a radio ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And I was out in front of my house one day, and my my neighbor, Judge Landers, uh came over to me and was talking with me.
SPEAKER_00: And and he said, and I was so flattered by this, but he said, you know, every day I I get out of church and I turn on the radio and listen to you.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, You do what now?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what those words mean.
SPEAKER_00: And then I found out I'm on the radio and I'm honored.
SPEAKER_00: I'm honored, I'm honored.
SPEAKER_00: But we have a radio ministry, and there are many people, okay, uh across our town, sweet homebound saints, and there are many people at Courtyard right now, and maybe Hudson that that turn their radio dial on and they listen one to a Sunday school class in the nine o'clock hour, and then they listen to our worship here and listen to this sermon, they are listening right now.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you're listening to this program and you're wondering can can God use my current ministry?
SPEAKER_00: Can God use me where I'm at?
SPEAKER_00: Uh as I just listen to this radio broadcast.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_00: No, what we need, what this church needs more than anything, and and I want to commission this role, I want to send this person out.
SPEAKER_00: We are in desperate need at First Baptist uh El Dorado to send out a missionary to Courtyard and a missionary to Hudson.
SPEAKER_00: And I got a feeling that someone listening to this right now, you just got the job.
SPEAKER_00: If you're under the sound of my voice and you're there, you have the job.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're a sweet homebound saint, and I want to say this to all of you listening: you are as much a part of this church from right where you're sitting as the people in this room.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're a homebound saint right now, and you just say my circumstances that they keep me from a lot, and I would argue that's not the case because what you can do is be so involved in the mission of this church, and you may do more for the sake of this ministry from your rocking chair in your living room as you commune with the Father in prayer over what's going on here than some people that step into this room every week because you are connected to the Father in prayer and you are lifting up this ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Your circumstances don't define your ministry.
SPEAKER_00: I I think of the young person in the room, and you say, uh, what can I do?
SPEAKER_00: How can I serve?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I gotta tell you, we need missionaries uh to Courtyard and Hudson.
SPEAKER_00: We also need missionaries to uh Northwest Elementary and uh Hugh Goodwin and Yocam and we need missionaries to these places, and and y'all are the ones to go.
SPEAKER_00: Because you have friends in your classroom that the adults in the room will never have the chance to share the gospel with, and yet you're with them every single day during the school year.
SPEAKER_00: You have great potential for great gospel work, and circumstances don't define the ministry that you're called to.
SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the day, you have this right here that this word of God is living, is active, sharper than any two-edged sword that can pierce the heart.
SPEAKER_00: And this word goes with you.
SPEAKER_00: I love the fact that wherever we are, you may have a physical copy, but I know this, I know you've got a cell phone with you.
SPEAKER_00: Wherever you are, you've got the word of God with you.
SPEAKER_00: What a blessing it is.
SPEAKER_00: We've got the word of God on our phones now.
SPEAKER_00: There is nowhere we go that we don't take the word of God with us.
SPEAKER_00: So the gospel is true, the word is alive, but then I want to say this the mission is clear.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: With all this in mind, therefore, I endure everything.
SPEAKER_00: I endure everything.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, this everything here refers to, for Paul right now, being in prison.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, this is not his first time being in prison.
SPEAKER_00: It's probably not his second or third time being in prison.
SPEAKER_00: I endure everything for the sake of the elect, those who will be saved, who will come unto Christ, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's Paul's answer.
SPEAKER_00: Why do I live this way?
SPEAKER_00: Why do I have this uh what the world might call strange, otherworldly idea about life?
SPEAKER_00: Why do I say strange things like what a benefit that I've been putting behind bars?
SPEAKER_00: That that the Imperial Guard might come to know.
SPEAKER_00: Why do I do the things I do?
SPEAKER_00: Paul gives us the answer.
SPEAKER_00: And it's simply this that more might come to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That he says, for the sake of the elect, I do what I do.
SPEAKER_00: That Christ could use me to preach the gospel so that we would find success in ministry, that some might obtain the salvation in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
SPEAKER_00: Why do we do what we do so that more might come?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you do the things that you do in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you live the way you live?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you serve the way you serve?
SPEAKER_00: And it gets very practical in this moment.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to tell you the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Followers of Jesus, all of us in the room, followers of Jesus, we do things, and and I hope you know this.
SPEAKER_00: I know this, we do things that are really strange in the eyes of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that?
SPEAKER_00: We do things that are are really, really odd in the eyes of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Well walk into some uh just worldly financial advisor and you tell them, here's what I want you to do to help me.
SPEAKER_00: But first of all, first my first 10% of everything is gonna go to the church.
SPEAKER_00: They'll look at you and say, Well, now wait a second, we can do a lot with that.
SPEAKER_00: I might not advise you to do that.
SPEAKER_00: We live differently than a lot of people do, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: We give differently.
SPEAKER_00: Why do we give the way we do?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we give of our tithes and offerings?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: So that more might be saved, so that missionaries can go out.
SPEAKER_00: So that the Southern Baptist Convention, which we give to the cooperative program, even now, can send out more and more missionaries and families so that the kingdom of darkness might be lessened and the kingdom of light might go forward.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we give.
SPEAKER_00: Why do we give?
SPEAKER_00: So that we can have weeks like VBS and we can have weeks like super summer where we saw salvation, so that this week we can send a team out to joy works and praise works, so that uh as we return in the summer, we from the summer we can have great Wednesday night activities, not just for the sake of having fun, which we will do that on Wednesday night, but for the sake that uh children and adults might come to know the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Why do we do these things so that more might come to know the gospel?
SPEAKER_00: We do things that seem strange in the world's eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Why in the world might someone uh turn in, you know, no, five days of time off to their employer and And actually pay money so that they can use their vacation days to go down to Nicaragua and you know sweat a lot and get really exhausted and tell people about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's why.
SPEAKER_00: So that people might know and the gospel might come forward.
SPEAKER_00: And you ask someone else how they're using their vacation times, they'll tell you something different, and they won't understand why we do what we do.
SPEAKER_00: And yet here we are.
SPEAKER_00: Because the gospel compels us.
SPEAKER_00: Why do we face ridicule or people telling us that what a what a strange way to live?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever thought about does all that make sense in the world's eyes?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: In the gospel's eyes, in God's eyes, of course it makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: The mission is clear.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Paul says, this is why I endure.
SPEAKER_00: That more would be saved.
SPEAKER_00: This is why I live differently.
SPEAKER_00: This is why I don't see the world the same way our culture sees the world.
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm looking at something deeper and stronger and more eternally focused than the things of this world.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is true, the word is alive, the mission is clear.
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, this the promise is sure.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: The saying is trustworthy.
SPEAKER_00: Now we don't quite know what this saying, well, we know what the saying is, but but where this came from?
SPEAKER_00: Did Paul uh make make this, create this saying?
SPEAKER_00: Is this something from a from a hymn of the day?
SPEAKER_00: Is this something from uh, you know, I guess there were uh contemporary worship songs in the first century.
SPEAKER_00: Was this something from a song of the day?
SPEAKER_00: We don't know exactly, but but it is beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says this this saying is trustworthy.
SPEAKER_00: If we have died with him, we will also live with him.
SPEAKER_00: That sounds a lot like Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Philippians 1.21, we we see Paul talking about for to live as Christ, to die is gain, that even in death I know the promise is sure, that I will reign with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If I die with him, I will also live with him.
SPEAKER_00: This also reminds me of Jesus' words in John 14 that uh let not your heart be troubled.
SPEAKER_00: I go to prepare a place for you.
SPEAKER_00: This beautiful idea that life does not end at death.
SPEAKER_00: In a very real sense, uh in a very real way, life begins at death.
SPEAKER_00: If we died with him, we will live with him.
SPEAKER_00: That's point one here in this saying.
SPEAKER_00: But next we see this if we endure, we will also reign with him.
SPEAKER_00: This endurance of this life.
SPEAKER_00: Again, we know that the Christian life, we saw last week, we see again today, is not always easy.
SPEAKER_00: That suffering and trials are promised.
SPEAKER_00: If we endure with him, we will also reign with him.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you, don't be afraid of that phrase.
SPEAKER_00: The the one who knows Jesus will endure with him.
SPEAKER_00: Will we always be perfect every step of the way?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we'll will we maybe let ourselves and let the Lord down a few times along the way?
SPEAKER_00: I I I have, I know that.
SPEAKER_00: But if we endure even through the hardship, we will reign with him.
SPEAKER_00: But then it takes a turn right here.
SPEAKER_00: If we deny him, he also will deny us.
SPEAKER_00: If we deny him, he will deny us.
SPEAKER_00: Now, these sound like harsh words.
SPEAKER_00: And I guess in one very real sense, they could be called harsh words, but they're true words.
SPEAKER_00: Notice here, what we have to realize is this denial here is really talking about the person who outright rejects the Lord, who wants nothing to do with the salvation of the Lord, who is a rebel to the Lord and doesn't want to come unto him, and so denies any relationship with him and will not follow.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the person who is outside of Christ and desires to be outside of Christ and rejects Christ, of course, they will be denied by the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Not because the Father is cruel, but because the Father upholds his law, upholds his sovereignty over salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And so those who deny him, who fully reject him, they will be denied.
SPEAKER_00: They will not come into the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, verse 13, if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.
SPEAKER_00: If we are faithless, he remains faithful.
SPEAKER_00: There's two ways to look at this, and uh I want to talk about each very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: If we are faithless, he remains faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Some argue that this terms kind of come back to the believer, that even when the believer has moments, not not full outright denial, but moments of faithlessness, that even in those moments, God is faithful to him or her.
SPEAKER_00: And they are obviously, because that's what the Christian life is, still within the kingdom of God and still children of God.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because God won't deny himself and his love and his grace.
SPEAKER_00: So even in our moments of faithlessness, God is still faithful to us.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be clear.
SPEAKER_00: That's a true statement.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's a that's a factual statement.
SPEAKER_00: You've seen it in your own life, in your own moments, even as a Christian, own moments of faithlessness, of sinfulness, of rebellion.
SPEAKER_00: You've seen just how faithful God still is to you in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: But what I actually think Paul is doing here, as I've read this week, is really putting statements one and two together and putting statements three and four together.
SPEAKER_00: And so you read them together.
SPEAKER_00: If we died, we'll live with him.
SPEAKER_00: If we endure, we will reign with him.
SPEAKER_00: The positive statements, but then he goes to the negative end.
SPEAKER_00: If we deny him, he will deny us.
SPEAKER_00: If we are faithless, that potentially this is referring to the same kind of faith or lack of faith as the denial, an outright denial.
SPEAKER_00: If we lack faith and rebel against God and want nothing to do with faith, he remains faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning this, that doesn't change anything about God's sovereignty and makeup and who he is, for he cannot deny himself.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning, as many say, that what God is really getting at is even with those who deny and are faithless, that doesn't uh change God's view of salvation and his view of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: That those who deny him and who are faithless as in a full outright faithlessness and denial, God remains faithful to his promises that those who reject him will not come into the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we read that and we say, That sounds so harsh.
SPEAKER_00: And we, like many, might be tempted to say, Why does the gospel have to sound so restrictive?
SPEAKER_00: Why does it sound so narrow?
SPEAKER_00: Why, why does it sound like like only you can only get in if you do it this certain way?
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Our our culture asks that all the time, and maybe you and I ask it.
SPEAKER_00: Why why does Jesus seem the gospel seems so narrow and restrictive?
SPEAKER_00: I I think about something.
SPEAKER_00: Every once in a while, you and me will see on the news a news story.
SPEAKER_00: Um this is not a pastoral endorsement of this, this is just stating fact.
SPEAKER_00: You'll see a news story that someone in the middle of nowhere uh hit the lottery and hit it big.
SPEAKER_00: And and you'll see the news story, and it'll say, so and so from such and such place won$500 million in the lottery.
SPEAKER_00: You know, every once in a while, one of those big numbers, they'll put it on national news.
SPEAKER_00: They won$500 million in the lottery.
SPEAKER_00: And you watch, and you already know this, and you may be the person.
SPEAKER_00: But every time that news story comes, I promise you this someone in the room that you're sitting in, someone in the room will speak up and say this, this phrase every time.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, after you take out taxes, they're really only getting$250 million.
SPEAKER_00: That statement happens every time as if somehow that person has been wronged by only receiving$250 million.
SPEAKER_00: As in, it's probably not worth their time to even get off the couch to go claim it, because after taxes, it's only$250 million.
SPEAKER_00: I'm convinced we've got it all wrong.
SPEAKER_00: We don't celebrate the way we ought to celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: Again, not a pastoral uh endorsement.
SPEAKER_00: We don't celebrate the way we ought to celebrate about these things.
SPEAKER_00: I come to the gospel, and it's so fascinating to me what our culture says about how restrictive the gospel seems and how narrow the gospel seems.
SPEAKER_00: That there is a God in heaven that that looks down on his people and has the audacity to say there's only one way to the Father, that Jesus has the audacity to say, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and here's the audacity of this, and no one comes to the Father except through me.
SPEAKER_00: We've got it all backwards.
SPEAKER_00: The grace of God and the reality of the beauty of salvation is simply this: not the fact that there's only one way to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: The beauty is there is a way to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: There is a way.
SPEAKER_00: That there is one way, a narrow way to the Father, is more grace than you and I have ever, could ever, will ever deserve.
SPEAKER_00: We should be shouting, not that this seems so narrow, but shouting and celebrating that a way has been opened.
SPEAKER_00: And so we read this, the second half, and we say that these seem like harsh words, and they are.
SPEAKER_00: That if we deny him and are faithless and want nothing to do with the Father, uh, obviously uh we will be outside the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: But praise God, there is a way.
SPEAKER_00: That those who can come unto Christ, we can die to him and live for him, live in him, we can endure with him, and we can reign with him.
SPEAKER_00: That's the joy of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: There is a way unto salvation, and that way can be ours in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I think about all this.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel's true, the word's alive, the mission's clear, the promise is sure.
SPEAKER_00: I hope everything that we've read today and seen today just frees you up as a believer to just live every part of your life for Him.
SPEAKER_00: And here's why I say that.
SPEAKER_00: Because success is promised.
SPEAKER_00: Your success and victory is guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00: And so, as you live these 80, 90, 100 years on this earth, when you breathe your final breath, you don't have to worry with what's next.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to wonder what's on the horizon for you, but you know the victory and the crown is yours in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so, by the way, when when uh you know in the summer, I've talked about this before, when the the summer, when, you know, there's not a lot going on in the sports world for the SEC, SEC network, they they put on these replays of games that happened in the years, and and you know, uh they'll they'll put on the one football game, Arkansas won, and and I'll watch it.
SPEAKER_00: And he and and I'm not joking.
SPEAKER_00: Uh that uh I'll watch these games, and we've talked about this before, but it it's so fascinating when you you're watching one of these games and yet you know who wins in the end.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing if I'm watching a game and and and I know the end, I know who wins, well, when the other team gets up 14 to nothing in the first quarter, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: I I I'm not that stressed.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not that worried.
SPEAKER_00: When things seem insurmountable at halftime, I I'm I I just kind of go get a snack and hang out and come back to watch the rest of the game.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I know who wins in the end.
SPEAKER_00: So I just hope the Christian in this room knows this that this is your story.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know what's ahead in these years that you live on this earth, but you know who wins in the end.
SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, that's Christ Jesus, who has won on your behalf.
SPEAKER_00: But in a very real sense, under him, you you win in the end, you will live with him for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that frees you up to give everything on this earth your time here for the sake of the gospel in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Not to live for ourselves in some selfish way, but for the sake of the gospel, to endure suffering, as Paul talks to us about, for the sake of saving some, even when our persecutions land us in difficult circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: Like Paul says, a prison cell, we know God's word is alive and the gospel doesn't stop.
SPEAKER_00: When we know the end, who wins in the end, that the promise is secure, that the gospel is true, the word is alive, the mission is clear, when we know those things, it changes everything about our lives.
SPEAKER_00: As individuals and as a church, do we live like people that know the victory is ours?
SPEAKER_00: That success, maybe not in the world's eyes, but in God's eyes, is guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00: And that if we die with him, we'll live with him, and if we endure, we will reign with him.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you know that.
SPEAKER_00: And not just I hope you know that, I hope you live like it.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, thank you for the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: What a gift, what a gift it is.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for giving us uh a way.
SPEAKER_00: The fact that there is a way to the Father is more generous and grace-filled than people like us could ever imagine and certainly could ever deserve.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, thank you that you are our foundation, that you hold us in your hand, that we who are in Christ cannot be taken away from the Father's care.
SPEAKER_00: What a gift.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, let us be a people that live like we are saved, that live like the victory is sure.
SPEAKER_00: Let us be these kind of people.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, if there's one this morning that for the first time needs to come into that relationship, needs to proclaim that Jesus has died for him or her, uh, that they want Jesus to be Lord of their lives, Lord, would they not hesitate to come this morning and receive Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, if there's one that wants to join this church family, or maybe just have a pastor pray over them or talk about baptism and what it means for them, whatever it may be, Lord, would they come now as we respond?
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand?
SPEAKER_00: I'll be down front if you'd like to respond in any way, but let's all worship together.