WEBVTT 00:00:02.383 --> 00:00:09.115 Imagine if you were living in a time when declaring your faith in Jesus Christ could cost you your life. 00:00:09.115 --> 00:00:18.574 During the time of Emperor Nero, from 54 to 68 AD, christians faced severe persecution. 00:00:18.574 --> 00:00:24.371 Nero, in one instance, blamed Christians for the great fire that consumed much of Rome. 00:00:24.371 --> 00:00:26.083 Nero, in one instance, blamed Christians for the great fire that consumed much of Rome. 00:00:26.083 --> 00:00:48.554 And those accusations began to catch like wildfire around the rest of the city and Christians, who were already looked upon with suspicion because of their rejection of the Roman gods and their refusal to worship Nero as emperor, they began to find their faith tested in ways that would bring them to the limits of human endurance. 00:00:48.554 --> 00:00:52.167 Christians were subjected to horrible punishments. 00:00:52.167 --> 00:01:01.631 Some of them were burned alive, some of them were crucified, some of them were thrown to the wild beast to be torn in public spectacle. 00:01:01.631 --> 00:01:07.489 Several prominent Christians at that time were killed. 00:01:07.489 --> 00:01:18.108 The church was under persecution, under fire, but despite those atrocities, their faith remained steadfast. 00:01:18.108 --> 00:01:26.262 In fact, during those times they discovered that their hope in Christ was stronger than the claws of the beast and the flames of the fire. 00:01:26.262 --> 00:01:37.653 And when others witnessed their perseverance amidst those things, their endurance during their suffering, many too came to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. 00:01:39.141 --> 00:01:54.424 This morning, we're going to explore how the resurrection of Jesus Christ gave them hope and strength in that difficult time, and we're going to do so by listening to the very words of one man who lost his life during that time of persecution. 00:01:54.424 --> 00:01:58.531 He lived and died in the Neronian reign of terror. 00:01:58.531 --> 00:02:00.801 His name, the Apostle Paul. 00:02:00.801 --> 00:02:03.385 We're going to read some of his final words. 00:02:03.385 --> 00:02:06.974 So let's take our Bible and go to 2 Timothy, chapter 1. 00:02:06.974 --> 00:02:08.747 2 Timothy, chapter 1. 00:02:14.182 --> 00:02:22.210 It was during this time of severe suffering and persecution that the Apostle Paul stood as a beacon of hope and wrote a word of encouragement to his protege, timothy. 00:02:22.210 --> 00:02:29.006 We'll look at 2 Timothy, chapter 1, and we'll begin in verse 8 and work our way down to verse 12. 00:02:29.006 --> 00:02:34.800 Shortly before he lost his life, this is what Paul said to Timothy. 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:40.072 So don't be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his prisoner. 00:02:40.072 --> 00:02:46.108 Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power, power of God. 00:02:46.108 --> 00:02:56.409 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which he has given to us in Christ Jesus, before the world began. 00:02:56.409 --> 00:03:06.993 This has now been made evident through the appearing of our savior, christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 00:03:06.993 --> 00:03:26.572 For this gospel I was appointed a herald apostle and teacher, and that is why I suffer these things, but I am not ashamed, because I know whom I believed and am persuaded that he is able to guard what he has entrusted to me until that day. 00:03:26.572 --> 00:03:43.233 So here the apostle Paul is telling Timothy not to shy away from the gospel, not to shy away from speaking about Christ, but to do so with a full reliance upon God and to welcome whatever sufferings might come for the sake of the good news of Jesus Christ. 00:03:43.233 --> 00:03:56.248 Now, those words were written during that Neronian reign of terror, and his words still resonate today, and they provide for us some timeless lessons about life and enduring troubles. 00:03:57.219 --> 00:04:13.572 And so this morning, I'd like for us to look at this section of scripture and uncover four timeless anchors that will keep us steadfast despite whatever turbulent waters we might find our life in, and the first one I want to bring up is that salvation is secured. 00:04:13.572 --> 00:04:18.047 Salvation is secured, and you can find that in verse 9. 00:04:18.047 --> 00:04:28.511 This is the first anchor that Paul gives to Timothy about why he shouldn't be ashamed of Jesus Christ and why he shouldn't be ashamed of Paul, who is a prisoner for the gospel. 00:04:28.511 --> 00:04:39.531 And he puts it this way he has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace. 00:04:39.531 --> 00:04:48.713 What Paul is reminding Timothy of is that the gospel that he's being called to suffer for is a gospel that has saved him. 00:04:48.713 --> 00:04:50.464 That has saved him. 00:04:50.464 --> 00:04:52.122 Now. 00:04:52.122 --> 00:04:54.168 Read this verse carefully with me. 00:04:54.168 --> 00:05:10.322 Timothy's not being called to endure suffering in the hope that he might find God's favor and mercy, but that he would suffer rather, because he's already received God's favor and mercy. 00:05:10.322 --> 00:05:12.985 Let me read verse nine again. 00:05:12.985 --> 00:05:27.011 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace. 00:05:27.011 --> 00:05:31.326 Now notice the completion of those words. 00:05:32.850 --> 00:05:39.165 Here the apostle is using the perfect tense, which means a completed action that has present effect. 00:05:39.165 --> 00:05:45.115 He has already, we could say, saved us. 00:05:45.115 --> 00:05:50.951 He has already brought us into the realm of deliverance. 00:05:50.951 --> 00:06:11.783 And so Paul is saying to Timothy, and he's telling us, whenever we're in times of difficulty as a believer, not to look at ourselves as a person who may be perhaps hopeful, perhaps hopeful, but still in a tenuous state, that the possibility might be that one day we could ultimately be saved. 00:06:11.783 --> 00:06:13.526 He's not telling us that at all. 00:06:13.526 --> 00:06:33.572 He's saying, timothy, you can suffer for the gospel because you're already delivered, already saved, already brought into the realm of God's purposes that are here and yours because of his mercy and grace. 00:06:36.182 --> 00:06:37.086 Now, what does that tell us? 00:06:37.086 --> 00:06:45.267 That tells us that people are either in one of two places we're either saved or lost. 00:06:45.267 --> 00:06:57.543 The categories of humanity we can split in a lot of different ways, but when it comes to our spiritual life in eternity, there's only one You're either saved or not saved. 00:06:57.543 --> 00:07:01.069 You're either delivered or not delivered. 00:07:01.069 --> 00:07:05.153 You're not in some measure of finding deliverance. 00:07:05.153 --> 00:07:07.521 You either have it or you don't. 00:07:07.521 --> 00:07:17.742 And salvation is not a blessedness that is reserved for us on our deathbed that we awaken into at our final breath. 00:07:17.742 --> 00:07:23.870 No, it's not a gift to be sought in some distant heavenly future. 00:07:23.870 --> 00:07:29.076 It is here something to be embraced, cherished, experienced in the present. 00:07:29.076 --> 00:07:34.591 And so Paul is telling Timothy remember what you've received already. 00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:39.951 Now, why could he take such confidence in these things? 00:07:39.951 --> 00:07:45.387 Paul gives the reason because salvation is holy of God. 00:07:45.387 --> 00:08:03.607 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. 00:08:03.607 --> 00:08:13.293 I don't know if he could put it any stronger than that, but what he's telling us here is that salvation is all of God, that we cannot save ourselves. 00:08:14.557 --> 00:08:19.148 Now the scriptures say that believers are built up as a holy temple in the Lord. 00:08:19.148 --> 00:08:27.831 Now are we to think that somehow that holy temple built itself if it was derived by our own works and actions? 00:08:27.831 --> 00:08:29.613 No, of course not. 00:08:29.613 --> 00:08:39.230 Now, this building that we're in, would we think that the bricks somehow shaped themselves and built themselves into this building that we're now housed in? 00:08:39.230 --> 00:08:42.698 If somebody asserted that, we'd probably think they were kind of crazy. 00:08:42.698 --> 00:08:48.080 If somebody asserted that, we'd probably think they were kind of crazy. 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:54.188 We would think that somebody would be more than just kind of crazy if they would think that somehow, by our own efforts, we're building ourselves up into that holy temple. 00:08:54.188 --> 00:09:04.659 You see, god is the architect, god is the supplier of all the building needs, god is the builder and God is the completer of this building. 00:09:04.659 --> 00:09:08.784 He is the one who has started the work and he's the one that's going to finish the work. 00:09:12.211 --> 00:09:26.293 And that is a wonderful comfort, because when we're in times of difficulty, self-doubt and questions arise, the problems come into us and often we wonder why is this happening to me? 00:09:26.293 --> 00:09:30.650 And then introspection leads us down some dangerous pathways. 00:09:30.650 --> 00:09:37.312 You know, maybe this is punishment, or maybe I need to do something different or something better, or whatever. 00:09:37.312 --> 00:09:45.091 We start to ask all kinds of questions and Paul wants to say to Timothy here you don't need to go down that road. 00:09:45.091 --> 00:09:45.581 Why? 00:09:45.581 --> 00:09:48.730 Because God has already saved you. 00:09:48.730 --> 00:09:58.273 You can suffer with confidence, because your salvation is without any regard to your own worthiness. 00:09:58.379 --> 00:10:05.624 It's about God's eternal purposes and plan that he wants to demonstrate his grace and mercy in, and plan that he wants to demonstrate his grace and mercy in. 00:10:05.624 --> 00:10:21.311 And this gives us a distinctiveness about Christianity from every other religion which say, basically, if you're a moral person or religiously devout person, you might have hope of deliverance. 00:10:21.311 --> 00:10:33.092 But here the scriptures tell us that God doesn't owe us anything and if he were to repay us, he would repay us with judgment, because that's what we rightly deserve. 00:10:33.092 --> 00:10:36.126 But he tells us that our only hope is grace. 00:10:36.126 --> 00:10:49.288 We cannot make ourselves alive in Christ, we cannot atone for our sins, we cannot cleanse ourselves of our impurities, we cannot rid ourselves of this nature that is ours, that is in opposition to God. 00:10:49.288 --> 00:10:51.232 We cannot make ourselves his friend. 00:10:51.232 --> 00:10:57.730 We cannot do it, but we can rely upon the one who did it. 00:10:57.730 --> 00:10:59.933 And that's what Paul is saying here. 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:10.048 And because we are saved by God's divine initiative, which he has brought from his eternal purposes and plans in Christ in order to bring the glory to his grace. 00:11:10.048 --> 00:11:12.105 What does that mean for us? 00:11:12.105 --> 00:11:20.754 That we're liberated from the grinding uncertainty of doubt that comes from self-effort. 00:11:20.754 --> 00:11:24.788 What if I'm not quite there? 00:11:24.788 --> 00:11:26.846 What if I haven't done quite enough? 00:11:26.846 --> 00:11:29.160 What if I need to do more? 00:11:29.160 --> 00:11:32.827 Is there some prayer I need to say? 00:11:32.827 --> 00:11:35.533 Is there some sin I've forgotten to confess? 00:11:35.533 --> 00:11:49.708 We don't need to go there Because we were chosen in grace and we're kept grace and we're going to be received in the presence of God by grace, for the glory of God's grace. 00:11:52.561 --> 00:11:55.711 We sing a song here only a sinner saved by grace. 00:11:55.711 --> 00:11:58.427 And that's exactly what it is. 00:11:58.427 --> 00:12:01.568 We have no reason to boast whatsoever. 00:12:01.568 --> 00:12:15.760 And if you come into this church thinking that perhaps we're just a trophy case of glorious humanity, I just want to sort of tell you there's something completely different about us. 00:12:15.760 --> 00:12:21.649 We are people brought into the wondrous grace of God undeservedly. 00:12:21.649 --> 00:12:22.770 It's. 00:12:22.770 --> 00:12:31.927 Not a single one of us could ever stand up and say we have a right to be in God's family, and I hope that brings you some hope. 00:12:31.927 --> 00:12:33.986 If you're here this morning, you don't know Christ. 00:12:33.986 --> 00:12:36.284 We're the same people. 00:12:36.284 --> 00:12:37.448 We're all sinners. 00:12:37.448 --> 00:12:38.745 The scriptures tell us that. 00:12:39.801 --> 00:12:57.490 But here is this promise, a promise that Paul, in a time of deep suffering, at the very end of his life, about to be executed, says to Timothy don't be ashamed of the gospel, because you are already saved, because God's good purposes are already enacted on your behalf. 00:12:57.490 --> 00:13:01.235 That's the first anchor this is going to build. 00:13:01.235 --> 00:13:02.240 This is a tight argument. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:07.673 We're not going to spend hours on it, but it is a tight sort of nuanced argument. 00:13:07.673 --> 00:13:17.951 So he talks about him being saved and called according to God's purposes, not according to our works, and then he tells us the second anchor that the Savior has been sent already. 00:13:17.951 --> 00:13:25.024 Timothy, why can you stay strong in the midst of this troubling time, this neuronian reign of terror? 00:13:25.024 --> 00:13:31.966 Well, because you are saved, because a savior has been sent, the second anchor. 00:13:33.429 --> 00:13:45.451 Now let's read on from verse nine he saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before time began. 00:13:45.451 --> 00:13:56.426 This has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior, christ Jesus, in the previous anchor. 00:13:56.426 --> 00:14:06.317 In the first anchor, paul points us back to eternity, past and God's purposes and counsels before time began, in God's purposes and counsels before time began. 00:14:06.317 --> 00:14:14.394 And now Paul is bringing us into the present, in which God has launched his eternal plan into time and space. 00:14:14.394 --> 00:14:28.413 We've come to the fulfillment of it all in the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it tells us exactly how God has activated his purposes and plans. 00:14:28.413 --> 00:14:50.342 In Christ Jesus, in the Savior appearing, there's only one place that the salvation happens, there's only one location that God's plan is being fulfilled in, and it is in Christ Jesus. 00:14:51.785 --> 00:14:59.950 Now, I know that runs counter to our pluralistic age in which we are sort of pressurized by society to say well, you've got your faith, I've got my faith. 00:14:59.950 --> 00:15:03.205 Faith is all the same essentially, anyway, isn't it? 00:15:03.205 --> 00:15:05.071 We can all sort of just get along. 00:15:05.071 --> 00:15:11.826 Well, we're not talking about civil peace here, we're talking about eternal life, and there's a difference here. 00:15:11.826 --> 00:15:18.052 And I'm not talking about Christianity as just one among many religions in this world. 00:15:18.052 --> 00:15:24.552 And I'm not even talking about Christianity as maybe perhaps the best religion among many others in this world. 00:15:24.552 --> 00:15:31.219 I'm not even talking about that and I'm not even getting into the whole thing about denominations and which ones you might want to talk about. 00:15:31.219 --> 00:15:33.889 I'm not even talking about Christianity at all. 00:15:33.889 --> 00:15:38.150 I'm talking about Jesus, the person. 00:15:38.150 --> 00:15:44.347 Where is God's plan and purposes for his grace and mercy? 00:15:44.347 --> 00:15:49.215 In one person, jesus Christ. 00:15:49.215 --> 00:16:01.443 Jesus said that he was the way, the truth and the life and that no one would come to the Father except by him. 00:16:03.388 --> 00:16:18.945 In the early apostolic preaching in Jerusalem, the same place where Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected, the apostle said there is no other name given in among men under heaven by which we must be saved. 00:16:18.945 --> 00:16:22.552 There's only one place that this deliverance happens. 00:16:22.552 --> 00:16:27.743 And in the first letter to Timothy that Paul wrote, he told him. 00:16:27.743 --> 00:16:35.589 He said there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man, christ Jesus. 00:16:35.589 --> 00:16:47.609 You see, in more ways than one, god's eternal plan literally hangs in Christ crucified. 00:16:47.609 --> 00:17:04.172 This is why Paul said everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself by Christ Jesus and has given us the ministry of reconciliation that is Christ in Christ. 00:17:04.232 --> 00:17:08.782 God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. 00:17:08.782 --> 00:17:12.329 And he's committed to us the message of reconciliation. 00:17:12.329 --> 00:17:17.544 How are we brought into a reconciled relationship with God? 00:17:17.544 --> 00:17:24.153 How are we come to the place where our sins and our trespasses are not counted against us in the day of judgment? 00:17:24.153 --> 00:17:28.692 In Christ? 00:17:28.692 --> 00:17:41.088 In him, not in Christianity, not in religion, not in a denomination, not in a Baptist church, not in any denominational marker, but in one person alone, jesus Christ. 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:58.928 And this reconciliation is not just a concept, it is an act of God's divine love by which he has reconciled people who are not reconciled with him, that is, sinful people, and he has done so by not counting those sins against them. 00:17:58.928 --> 00:18:01.032 Where did he put them then? 00:18:01.032 --> 00:18:14.673 Well, the scriptures say this he made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:18:14.673 --> 00:18:29.371 And this wondrous transfer where the righteous one receives the judgment of our sin, so that we, who ought to be judged for our sins, might receive the righteousness of Christ himself. 00:18:29.371 --> 00:18:36.444 What a remarkable thing that is. 00:18:36.444 --> 00:18:40.955 Peter wrote it this way. 00:18:40.955 --> 00:18:49.538 He said Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God. 00:18:49.538 --> 00:18:58.384 You see, the only way to be brought to God is to be counted as righteous. 00:18:58.384 --> 00:19:03.138 And the scriptures tell us that we can't make ourselves righteous. 00:19:03.138 --> 00:19:15.567 And the scriptures tell us that we can't make ourselves righteous, but God can declare us righteous because Christ can stand in our place. 00:19:15.567 --> 00:19:16.069 Now, how does this work? 00:19:16.069 --> 00:19:26.077 Well, the scriptures tell us that this gift, in which we are now no longer condemned, tears down this barrier of separation that we have and we're in a restored relationship with him. 00:19:26.077 --> 00:19:32.759 And he talks how this relationship of reconciliation moves us through seasons of suffering. 00:19:33.390 --> 00:19:54.049 I'm going to quote a passage in Romans, chapter 8, that gives us the connecting point between the suffering that Paul and Timothy were going through in this Neronian reign of terror, and how salvation brings us to an overarching position of victory and hope and security. 00:19:54.049 --> 00:19:56.554 Paul said this in Romans 8. 00:19:56.554 --> 00:19:59.780 You did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back to fear. 00:19:59.780 --> 00:20:21.016 Instead, you've received the spirit of adoption by which we cry out Abba, father, the Spirit himself testifies, together with our spirit, that we are God's children, and if children, then also heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him. 00:20:21.016 --> 00:20:32.579 And then he said in a summating word I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us. 00:20:34.531 --> 00:20:35.596 What is Paul saying here? 00:20:35.596 --> 00:20:51.375 Because we are saved and because the Savior has been sent to reconcile us, we don't have to fear any longer, and during challenging times, that's exactly what creeps into our minds and hearts and weighs heavily upon us. 00:20:51.375 --> 00:20:56.481 However, romans says that we're no longer enslaved to that fear. 00:20:56.481 --> 00:20:59.298 Rather, we've been given a spirit of adoption. 00:20:59.298 --> 00:21:03.349 We've already been received by God into his family. 00:21:03.349 --> 00:21:07.433 We can already cry out with intimacy to him Abba, father. 00:21:07.433 --> 00:21:16.733 We can look to God with trust and love, because he's a God who is present and attentive to his children. 00:21:16.733 --> 00:21:17.796 He's with us. 00:21:17.796 --> 00:21:29.579 It tells us that our identity is different, that we are now the children of God rather than children of wrath, and that is a truth that can transcend any of our difficulties. 00:21:29.579 --> 00:21:42.932 It includes an inheritance that is one of eternal glory that promises us a restoration and a delight far beyond the difficulties that we might struggle with now, that we might struggle with now. 00:21:42.952 --> 00:21:50.183 And then he tells us, in this perspective about it, that, in light of our sufferings, we have an incomparable glory. 00:21:50.183 --> 00:21:55.549 Now, let's take that word incomparable for just a minute, because Paul uses it. 00:21:55.549 --> 00:22:03.622 He said I think that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that's within us. 00:22:03.622 --> 00:22:14.963 And Audrey and I were talking just a couple days ago about this and I said you know, I can compare a drop of water out of an eyedropper with an ocean. 00:22:14.963 --> 00:22:25.673 I mean, it does take your mind quite an expanse to walk off to the edges of the Pacific and think a drop of water compared to that, that's huge. 00:22:25.673 --> 00:22:34.998 But Paul says the sufferings of our present time are not even worthy of being compared to the glory that will be revealed within us. 00:22:34.998 --> 00:22:36.942 What are you even thinking? 00:22:36.942 --> 00:22:41.096 You can't even begin to measure the difference here. 00:22:41.096 --> 00:22:43.559 It's incomparable. 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:46.845 The glory that awaits God's children. 00:22:46.845 --> 00:22:49.773 So listen to this. 00:22:50.857 --> 00:22:51.820 What is Paul telling us? 00:22:51.820 --> 00:22:53.666 He said our fear doesn't define us. 00:22:53.666 --> 00:22:59.076 Our identity as children of God secures us and the promise of future of glory strengthens us. 00:22:59.076 --> 00:23:01.840 This is what we have. 00:23:01.840 --> 00:23:13.282 We have it because God's eternal purposes and plans were to demonstrate his mercy and his grace to undeserving people apart from any of their own effort. 00:23:13.282 --> 00:23:19.457 And he secured it because he sent Jesus Christ into this world. 00:23:19.457 --> 00:23:30.115 And Jesus fulfilled the plan of God, and that is why one of the things that he said on the cross was it is finished. 00:23:30.115 --> 00:23:36.645 God's plan has been completed, the scriptures have been fulfilled. 00:23:36.645 --> 00:23:41.295 That leads us to some implications of this. 00:23:41.295 --> 00:23:45.862 The third anchor First anchor our salvation is secured. 00:23:45.862 --> 00:23:47.825 Second, the Savior has been sent. 00:23:47.825 --> 00:23:59.567 And the third anchor sins cursed has been abolished. 00:23:59.567 --> 00:24:00.449 Let me read the verses again. 00:24:00.449 --> 00:24:06.643 He saved us and called us with the holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which has given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. 00:24:06.643 --> 00:24:18.021 This has now been made evident through the appearing of our savior, christ Jesus Notice the next phrase who has abolished death. 00:24:18.021 --> 00:24:37.759 So Paul, from God's eternal plan to the present time of Christ's ministry and his life, his death and his resurrection, is now talking about what's been accomplished by all of that that Christ has abolished death. 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:48.105 Now the term that he's using there, about abolishing, means to render inoperative, to take the power out of it. 00:24:49.971 --> 00:24:53.300 Now, some of you are going to thank less of me for this, but it's something I did when I was a boy. 00:24:53.300 --> 00:25:01.078 I used to go out in the fields and I'd lightly step on honeybees, and now we don't do it because we need our honeybees. 00:25:01.078 --> 00:25:12.301 But I would take a popsicle stick and I would pull the stinger out of the honeybee and then I would let it crawl around on my arm and walk up to my sister and go look at what I got. 00:25:12.301 --> 00:25:18.795 And you know, I was looking to creep my sister out and it did and I thought that was a great thing. 00:25:18.795 --> 00:25:22.420 Well, when you're 10 years old you do all kinds of silly things. 00:25:22.420 --> 00:25:30.171 What was that? 00:25:30.171 --> 00:25:31.775 The stinger of the bee was gone and that bee wasn't going to hurt me at all. 00:25:31.775 --> 00:25:36.703 The power of the sting of the bee was it rendered inoperative by the silly 10 year old doug? 00:25:36.703 --> 00:25:46.744 Let's take that a lot higher and a lot a important comparison Jesus Christ is rendered inoperative. 00:25:46.970 --> 00:25:49.476 The power of death for a believer. 00:25:49.476 --> 00:25:55.371 He has made death nothing but a doorway into the very presence of God. 00:25:55.371 --> 00:26:03.280 Death is no longer a threat to us. 00:26:03.280 --> 00:26:15.670 Yes, it still seeks to stand against us as an enemy, but it is no longer powering over us. 00:26:15.670 --> 00:26:19.800 Until Christ came, all humanity stood under the power of this reality that no one of us could escape. 00:26:22.392 --> 00:26:26.930 I was reading about Chris Hoy, who was a British cyclist that I used to follow. 00:26:26.930 --> 00:26:29.375 Several years ago won several medals in the Olympics. 00:26:29.375 --> 00:26:37.843 He had a great sort of personality found out he has cancer, inoperable cancer, and he's going to die in the next year or two probably. 00:26:37.843 --> 00:26:45.962 And he talked about death just simply being a natural process and he needed to come to terms with the reality of it being there. 00:26:45.962 --> 00:26:49.897 No, that's not correct, chris. 00:26:49.897 --> 00:26:51.756 It's not correct for any of us. 00:26:53.269 --> 00:27:01.019 Death is an unnatural process that has been invaded humanity because of our disobedience. 00:27:01.019 --> 00:27:04.137 Death is a result of iniquity. 00:27:04.137 --> 00:27:09.701 Death is not some happy friend that just completes the circle of life. 00:27:09.701 --> 00:27:16.019 It's hostile, it disrupts our life and we'd be foolish to think it doesn't. 00:27:16.019 --> 00:27:24.902 Death is a great foe of our human race, the result or part of the curse and condemnation of our sin. 00:27:24.902 --> 00:27:40.059 It's arrived here with massive, unforgiving jaws and it swallows us up or someone we love and we live in, the thrashed out part of our family that's just been destroyed by its clutch. 00:27:42.311 --> 00:27:51.099 It is, as Isaiah said, the covering cast over all people, the veil that spread over all nations, no matter who we are. 00:27:51.099 --> 00:27:55.334 There's not enough money to make us pay away to escape it. 00:27:55.334 --> 00:28:00.973 There's not enough that we can do to say we're worthy of not receiving its power. 00:28:00.973 --> 00:28:04.883 We can't educate ourselves outside of its grasp. 00:28:04.883 --> 00:28:11.777 We can't get a good enough doctor to keep us away from it forever. 00:28:11.777 --> 00:28:24.417 But someone has come to rescue us from it and his name is Jesus, and the scriptures tell us that he's abolished death. 00:28:24.417 --> 00:28:32.656 He's rendered it inoperable, he has taken its power away, he's removed its sting. 00:28:35.961 --> 00:28:38.326 So we sing a song it's not death to die. 00:28:38.326 --> 00:28:47.438 It's not death to die to leave this weary road and join the saints who dwell on high, who found their home in God. 00:28:47.438 --> 00:28:55.237 It's not death to close the eyes long dimmed by tears and walk in joy before your throne, delivered from our fears. 00:28:55.237 --> 00:29:06.871 Oh Jesus, conquering the grave, your precious blood has power to save those who trust in you will find in your mercy that it is not death to die. 00:29:06.871 --> 00:29:14.592 It is not death to fling aside this earthly dust and rise with strong and noble wing to live among the just. 00:29:14.592 --> 00:29:18.635 It is not death to hear the key. 00:29:18.635 --> 00:29:19.616 Unlock the door. 00:29:19.616 --> 00:29:20.337 Unlock the door. 00:29:23.381 --> 00:29:39.471 John Stott said that on a Christian's epitaph it should never say RIP, rest in peace. 00:29:39.471 --> 00:29:39.852 It should say CAD. 00:29:39.852 --> 00:29:40.594 Christ abolishes death. 00:29:40.594 --> 00:29:40.973 I like that. 00:29:40.973 --> 00:29:45.462 So if I happen to die and you're still alive, put C-A-D on my gravestone. 00:29:45.462 --> 00:29:47.598 Would you and they go? 00:29:47.598 --> 00:29:49.650 What their pastor was, a cad what? 00:29:49.650 --> 00:29:56.943 And that takes us to our last anchor. 00:29:56.943 --> 00:30:00.068 Our first anchor salvation is secure. 00:30:00.068 --> 00:30:02.838 Our second anchor a savior has been sent. 00:30:02.838 --> 00:30:03.814 Our third anchor sin's curse has been sent. 00:30:03.814 --> 00:30:06.125 Our third anchor sin's curse has been abolished. 00:30:06.125 --> 00:30:11.934 And the fourth anchor a shining light has dawned. 00:30:14.748 --> 00:30:26.096 One Sunday morning, just outside the wall of Jerusalem, the world was still cloaked with the quiet of dawn, and Mary Magdalene walked to a tomb with her heart heavy with grief. 00:30:26.096 --> 00:30:32.276 The events of the past few days have been a whirlwind for her, full of sorrow and despair. 00:30:32.276 --> 00:30:42.499 The man that she had followed, the one that she believed to be the Messiah, had been taken and crucified and laid to rest in the tomb that she was approaching. 00:30:42.499 --> 00:30:57.102 But as she arrived to give her respects to this teacher that she had followed, she was astonished to see something she didn't expect A stone rolled away in an empty tomb. 00:30:57.102 --> 00:31:03.520 I'm sure confusion and fear must have struck her heart as she wondered what happened. 00:31:03.520 --> 00:31:05.336 Someone taken away the body? 00:31:05.336 --> 00:31:13.861 Well, she didn't need to fear that, because the people who put Christ into that tomb were more concerned about where that body was than anybody actually. 00:31:13.861 --> 00:31:19.142 She ran and told Peter and John that something had happened. 00:31:19.142 --> 00:31:27.951 Peter and John ran too, and came to the tomb astonished to see it empty, seeing the grave clothes lying there. 00:31:29.714 --> 00:31:43.442 Slowly, through the demonstration of that moment and the revelation given to them by the angels, they realized Jesus had risen, that death didn't hold him any longer. 00:31:43.442 --> 00:32:00.549 But even in that astonishing truth, little did they really understand, little did they know the monumental epical transformation of humanity on that moment. 00:32:00.549 --> 00:32:10.563 You see, that was the day that, in this world of humanity in which death reigns and darkness holds us all, that there was a breaking in of light and immortality and life. 00:32:10.563 --> 00:32:14.558 This is what Paul is saying here. 00:32:14.558 --> 00:32:27.003 It has been made evident through the appearing of our Savior, christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 00:32:27.003 --> 00:32:30.915 What does this mean? 00:32:30.915 --> 00:32:53.083 This means that there's a whole new focus, a whole new epical age for humanity that is overlying the one that we presently understand, and it is a kingdom of light, of life and immortality in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:32:53.083 --> 00:33:05.984 And these thoughts about living forever and these thoughts about being in a place full of beauty and rest and peace are not just long, distant hopes and achings of our troubled heart. 00:33:05.984 --> 00:33:10.760 They're realities that have been brought into life because of Jesus Christ. 00:33:10.760 --> 00:33:17.083 There is now an era in which life triumphs through the resurrection. 00:33:17.083 --> 00:33:32.342 What we have seen in all of us is decay and despair are now replaced in the kingdom of life Eternal light, flourishing life, eternal life. 00:33:32.342 --> 00:33:39.262 And this is not just some distant future, some hope we long for. 00:33:39.262 --> 00:33:44.342 It is something that empowers us as believers now. 00:33:44.342 --> 00:33:52.156 That's what Paul, what I prayed a moment ago in Ephesians, that we might have the ability to understand. 00:33:52.156 --> 00:33:54.762 What is that hope that we have? 00:33:54.762 --> 00:33:59.762 Because what's operative in us now is the power of the resurrection. 00:34:02.471 --> 00:34:06.000 I was talking to a dear brother this morning who came to church alone. 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:15.090 His wife wanted to be here, but her physical troubles have kept her home and have kept her home a lot. 00:34:15.090 --> 00:34:19.958 But he said he's not in despair. 00:34:19.958 --> 00:34:21.539 Why isn't he in despair? 00:34:21.539 --> 00:34:34.653 Why is he now living years of retirement taking care of her instead of being on a cruise ship with her and going places with her as they had hoped and dreamed and talked about? 00:34:34.653 --> 00:34:38.632 And why is he able to wake up every day wondering what the day will bring? 00:34:38.632 --> 00:34:53.496 Because in his heart lies the resurrection power to bring him encouragement and hope and help and endurance and peace, whatever the day might have. 00:34:53.496 --> 00:35:00.043 You see, this new age is already dawned and it's already operative. 00:35:00.043 --> 00:35:02.518 It's already working in his children. 00:35:06.909 --> 00:35:09.494 The resurrection gives us the courage to face life's trials. 00:35:09.494 --> 00:35:12.239 It gives us a hope that secures us in our problems. 00:35:12.239 --> 00:35:30.458 It reminds us that, no matter how dark the night might be, the dawn of eternal life has already come into us because of Jesus Christ, and that the life we live now is just the beginning of what we will have as an everyday in eternity. 00:35:30.458 --> 00:35:40.333 And this is why the scriptures talk about love and joy and peace and patience and gentleness and meekness and kindness and self-control as the fruit of the Spirit. 00:35:40.333 --> 00:35:42.478 What are these things? 00:35:42.478 --> 00:35:48.858 The Spirit is given to us as an earnest or a deposit or a foretaste to the future glory. 00:35:48.858 --> 00:36:04.081 And every time you wake up with the love of God in your heart and the peace of God reigning in your heart, whenever you find yourself with persevering endurance, with joyfulness in your heart, those are breaking ends of the eternal age into your heart and life. 00:36:04.081 --> 00:36:16.780 And just think the punctuations of those things will be the full demonstration of your eternal self in the presence of God, without condemnation. 00:36:16.780 --> 00:36:21.894 Let's bring this to a close. 00:36:28.014 --> 00:36:52.815 The Apostle Paul's writing these words in prison, sitting on the dirt of a Roman jailhouse, maybe eating his rations out of some rough-hewn clay cup, waiting for the day the judgment comes down that says this is the day of your execution. 00:36:52.815 --> 00:37:01.498 He's not writing these things from some air conditioned, comfortable, theological ivory tower. 00:37:01.498 --> 00:37:07.217 He's in jail, he's about to be executed. 00:37:07.217 --> 00:37:08.942 What does he say in verse 12 about himself? 00:37:08.942 --> 00:37:17.268 I'm not ashamed, I'm not ashamed, I'm not ashamed. 00:37:17.268 --> 00:37:24.577 Now we might think of those words as simply saying well, I'm not embarrassed to be in prison. 00:37:24.577 --> 00:37:27.596 That's not what he's saying. 00:37:27.596 --> 00:37:31.739 He's talking about a wholly different kind of shame. 00:37:31.798 --> 00:37:45.978 Here you see, the Roman and the Greek world were shame-honored societies, and the public regard is what determined whether something was honorable or shameful. 00:37:45.978 --> 00:37:59.563 And whenever, according to the Roman or Greco sense, something was pure or good or true, it was counted worthy of honor and esteemed among society. 00:37:59.563 --> 00:38:14.297 But on the other side, certain things would be deemed vile and deceitful and evil and were worthy of shame and so shameful not perhaps even to be discussed. 00:38:14.297 --> 00:38:21.922 Paul is not here talking about his personal lack of embarrassment I'm not ashamed. 00:38:21.922 --> 00:38:34.041 What Paul is talking about is the final verdict of his life and the estimation of it, not from society but from God. 00:38:34.041 --> 00:38:38.458 And when he says I'm not ashamed. 00:38:38.458 --> 00:38:53.159 What he's saying is, when all is said and done and time is over and eternity is brought into bearing and the judgment of God has been executed, then I will not be ashamed. 00:38:56.251 --> 00:38:59.121 What he's saying is here, in the shadows of this present day. 00:38:59.121 --> 00:39:15.340 They have judged me to be shameful, to not be worthy of honor, because crucifixion was one of those things that was considered shameful. 00:39:15.340 --> 00:39:21.978 To claim a crucified person as your God was to be considered shameful. 00:39:21.978 --> 00:39:35.643 To deny your citizenship and roam in order to claim the citizenship of heaven would have been a shameful thing In every way. 00:39:35.643 --> 00:39:40.338 Paul's life was considered not worthy of honor. 00:39:40.338 --> 00:40:08.715 But what he's saying here is, when the full light of dawn comes, that he will be seen for what he truly is a recipient of God's salvation, not based upon his own works, but based upon God's ultimate purposes before the world was begun, to demonstrate his grace and his mercy. 00:40:08.715 --> 00:40:39.248 And that when that day comes, when everything is revealed, when the bright streaks of light that we see glimpses of in our days becomes the full noon of eternal light, becomes the full noon of eternal light, in that day when light and immortality have been brought fully to light, he says I will not be put to shame, nor will anyone who trusts in him. 00:40:39.248 --> 00:40:44.250 You see, no one ever appeared more shameful than Jesus did on the cross. 00:40:44.250 --> 00:40:55.309 But there was no greater honor than when Jesus looked behind him and saw the tomb empty as he resurrected. 00:40:55.309 --> 00:41:02.262 And so God's people will never be brought to shame, and I love what one slave said. 00:41:02.262 --> 00:41:13.847 He said nobody knows who I am until the day of judgment. 00:41:16.809 --> 00:41:21.782 The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the ultimate assurance that God's redemptive plan has triumphed over darkness, over death and over despair. 00:41:21.782 --> 00:41:38.253 It is the anchor for us, the salvation that is secure, this Savior who has been sent this sin's curse that has been rendered inoperative, and this shining light that's broken into our very day. 00:41:38.253 --> 00:41:47.155 This is why Paul reflects so much upon the resurrection in the middle of his prison and before his imminent execution. 00:41:47.155 --> 00:41:53.572 It isn't an abstract concept and it's not just some past reality. 00:41:53.572 --> 00:41:56.961 It is a present reality for all of us who believe on Christ. 00:41:56.961 --> 00:42:09.103 And just as Mary Magdalene and the apostles encountered the risen Savior outside the tomb, we're invited to experience the reality of that kingdom of light now by faith in Jesus Christ. 00:42:11.610 --> 00:42:24.655 Paul's words I am not ashamed, I will not be put to shame Are the very words that you could say as a believer in Jesus Christ are the very words that you could say as a believer in Jesus Christ. 00:42:24.655 --> 00:42:38.170 Even from the shadows of that Roman prison, Paul could see eternity, and he knew that his shame and his suffering would be swallowed up and would not prevail over the glory that's found in Christ. 00:42:38.170 --> 00:42:44.603 The resurrection reminds us, no matter how dark our circumstances are, the dawn has come. 00:42:44.603 --> 00:43:03.697 No matter how marked by shame our lives might be in this world, there is a victory in Jesus Christ, that we can have unshakable confidence, that we can walk in this light, that we can enjoy the glorious morning that was brought to dawn outside of Jerusalem. 00:43:03.697 --> 00:43:04.900 Why? 00:43:04.900 --> 00:43:07.657 Because the resurrection changes everything. 00:43:07.657 --> 00:43:12.413 It literally changes everything and it can change you. 00:43:14.657 --> 00:43:17.423 Let's pray, father. 00:43:17.423 --> 00:43:38.702 What a wonder it is for us this day to be able to speak about that day and to speak about the coming day in which Christ will unveil the fullness of his glory and that day in which all things will be put under his feet and the last enemy that will be destroyed is death. 00:43:38.702 --> 00:44:01.711 And the entrance of this kingdom, which already exists in the bringing of your children into it, will be unveiled as the eternal kingdom and all the things of this present one death, crying tears, loss, separation and the sins that have caused it will be no more Father. 00:44:01.711 --> 00:44:18.402 In the light of that day, in the light of the resurrection of Christ, in the light of your glorious eternal purposes in him, may we live today and tomorrow and the next, and we pray this in Christ's name Amen.