WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:02.240 I want to welcome you this morning. 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:03.359 My name is Justin. 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:05.440 I'm one of the pastors here at Sacred Mission. 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:10.400 For those of you who don't know me, it's my joy to be able to bring God's word to you today. 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:32.000 We are in 2 Timothy, and we are working over the next several weeks, verse by verse, through this epistle, to see how it calls us to faithfulness, how it calls us to make disciples, carry on the mission, and see the glory of the name of Christ of fill creation. 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:35.840 And so I'm excited for today's text as we dive in. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:37.840 If you have a Bible, open it up. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.960 2 Timothy chapter 1, verses 8 through 18. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:42.320 If you have an app, open that up. 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:45.119 We're going to be breaking this down verse by verse together. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:49.200 But as we dive into the text this morning, I want to ask you something. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:57.280 Think about something that you treasure most in your possession. 00:00:57.520 --> 00:00:57.840 Right? 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:04.959 We all have these things that we place great value in, that we treasure in our hearts these possessions. 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:08.799 Katie and I, we have fireboxes in our basement. 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:19.200 And we have one for each of our family members to deposit personal treasures into and to keep them safe from destruction and loss. 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:27.120 Love letters, pictures, personal notes, awards, all go into these boxes for safekeeping. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:38.159 And in the event of a fire, they would be one of the first things that we would grab, even being willing to endanger ourselves to preserve their contents. 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:51.040 What possession do you have that would be worth suffering for to ensure that it was safe kept? 00:01:52.239 --> 00:02:10.639 In this passage of 2 Timothy, Paul helps us to see that we have all been entrusted with the treasured possession of the gospel, that it has been deposited into us, and there is a calling we are to embrace of guarding it with our very life. 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:23.280 That it is worth suffering for, to guard it and to keep it, fighting to see that nothing ever endangers it to lose its eternal value. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:37.280 Verse 8 of this chapter says, Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:59.520 Paul has opened his letter to his beloved child Timothy, encouraging him to look outside of himself, to the people who had labored for him and with him to become the man of God that he was, and to look inward to the gift and grace of God that has equipped Timothy for the mission ahead. 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:15.039 Since God's sovereign hand had been forming and preparing Timothy for this moment, Paul charges him to not be ashamed of either the message of the gospel nor the messenger of the gospel. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:29.199 You see, the message of the gospel, which is the testimony of the saving work of Jesus for his people, is the power of God, which we should not be ashamed of, no matter what we might suffer for it. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:40.719 Jesus warned his disciples that being ashamed of the gospel was the same as being ashamed of him, because he is the gospel. 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:45.680 It is about his finished work and the testimony of it. 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:58.960 And in Mark 8, we see the consequence of being ashamed of the gospel is far greater than any consequence we might suffer for the gospel. 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:00.960 Let me say that again. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:17.199 What we see in Mark 8 from the words of Jesus is that the consequence of being ashamed of the gospel is greater than any consequence we might face suffering for the gospel. 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:18.879 Mark 8 38. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:34.240 For whoever is ashamed of me, Jesus says, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:45.279 Being ashamed of the gospel is a greater consequence than any suffering we might face for the gospel. 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:57.759 But Paul charges Timothy to not be ashamed of him either, the messenger of the gospel, who was bearing chains on his wrists in this moment for the message of which he carried. 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:04.160 You see, this was the temptation many of Paul's co-laborers and converts had succumbed to. 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:22.000 They were ashamed of what had become of the messenger, and out of fear and out of a desire for self-preservation, had become ashamed of the message itself because they saw it as the root cause of such shameful suffering. 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:43.040 Paul wanted to charge Timothy to contend against such temptation by understanding that the very heart of the message, the gospel itself, is about a suffering Savior, and its messengers are called to be suffering servants for it. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:58.959 You see, if we have a hope in sharing in the blessing and favor of the gospel, we must joyfully share in the suffering of it also. 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:06.639 Because if the gospel shows us anything, it is that there is no crown without a cross. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:14.160 So if we desire the goodness of his promises, then we ought to joyfully suffer with him. 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:25.120 Verses 9 through 11 in this passage give us this kind of articulated outline of what the substance of the gospel message is. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:30.160 And in verse 12, we actually see Paul's calling to be a messenger of it. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:46.000 But before we unpack these crucial verses in the text, let's look a little further down at verses 13 to 14 to see Paul's charge to Timothy in response to his admonishment to not be ashamed of the message. 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:47.920 Verses 13 through 14. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:58.959 Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:02.639 Guard the good deposit entrusted to you. 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:08.800 The first thing that we see in Paul's charge to Timothy is for him to follow the pattern. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:18.319 This literally means to hold fast to the prototype, the original pure gospel of which Paul had given to Timothy. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:24.480 He wants him to hold fast to this prototype, this first gospel of which he had received. 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:28.879 Because the gospel had already suffered being altered. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:53.199 You see, the gospel was delivered and entrusted to the apostles. 00:07:53.439 --> 00:08:00.560 Their calling was not just to preach and proclaim the gospel, but their calling was to protect and to preserve it also. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:05.519 The church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:15.199 It was entrusted to them, and they were preaching and proclaiming it throughout the world, but they had to fight and contend to preserve it and to protect it also. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:23.680 Because from the moment the gospel came to man, there was this propensity and the wickedness and perversion of man's heart to alter it. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:31.120 And if we alter the gospel, we ultimately abandon it in all of its power to save men's souls. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:37.840 You see, the gospel message is sound words, Paul says. 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:24.000 These are the sound words. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:29.679 These are the words of the uncorruptible gospel. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:44.559 Paul's charging Timothy to not alter this message, to hold fast to the pure, original, uncorrupted gospel which had been received and have been passed down to him by Paul himself. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:10:01.679 And then later in this text, Paul charges Timothy to depend on the Holy Spirit's presence and power in his life, which dwells within him, to guard the gospel that has now been entrusted to young Timothy. 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:14.399 The gospel is a priceless treasure that Timothy has become a watchman and a custodian over since the moment that he had received it by faith. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:37.440 If the pure and uncorrupted gospel is the power of God to make sin-diseased men complete and whole in Christ, then it is a priceless gem entrusted to men to be its custodian and to guard it with our very life by the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:42.159 You see, there was a present risk that the gospel was facing. 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:46.720 The risk was that it would be altered and abandoned. 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:57.120 If the apostolic pattern was not followed, then the gospel would lose its very power and men would be left hopeless in their sin-corrupted state. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:10.879 And so, like Timothy, we as the church, even today, as receivers of the gospel of Christ, are charged to guard what has been entrusted to us. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:14.879 We are called to guard the gospel. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:30.080 If we go back to verses 9 through 10, we actually see Paul work to lay out the pattern that he talked about the pure gospel, the uncorrupted message of incorruptible life in Christ. 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:36.399 It's important to remember that what came at the end of verse 8, right? 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:40.879 But share in the suffering for the gospel by the power of God. 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:43.919 And then he continues the sentence in verse 9. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:48.879 Who saved us and called us to a holy calling. 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:54.799 One of the things that we see here clearly in the text is that the gospel starts with God. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:12:00.480 This is his gospel for the glory of his name and the goodness of his people. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:03.200 The gospel starts with God. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:07.600 It does not start with man. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:17.200 It starts with God who desires out of his good pleasure and his perfect will to make a holy people for his own possession. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:25.919 And he effectually calls them to the salvation that he has accomplished for them through the finished work of his son. 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:38.559 He goes on, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:43.440 This saving work of God has nothing to do with us. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:49.840 It has nothing to do with the works of men, lest we would be able to boast in our own salvation. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:52.320 But yeah, we have nothing to boast in. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:13:03.519 Because the only thing that we are able to present before God is our need for salvation because our sin has so corrupted us as his people. 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:09.840 God has chosen to save us in spite of us. 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:16.000 Because of the purpose of His grace. 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:35.360 You see, God has completely eliminated human effort out of the process of salvation and has established it solely on his predetermined plan to have the glory of his unmerited favor be the sole agent for our redemption and restoration. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:40.240 Not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:48.080 To see and understand the eternal riches of the glory of his grace. 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:57.039 That he chose to save us through the finished work of his son. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:02.159 He goes on, which he gave us in Christ Jesus. 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:05.600 We got the fullness of his purpose. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:14.080 We were lavished with the riches of his grace in Christ Jesus before the ages began. 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:28.320 Here the theological pattern tells us that the plan to save through the work of Christ was made and in God's mind both established and worked out before creation. 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:32.720 Think about the grandeur of the glory of God. 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:43.519 That before the foundations were ever laid, he had already purposed and planned to save a people for his own possession through the finished work of his son. 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:45.919 We're not in plan B. 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:47.360 We're not a response. 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:56.080 We're not in this situation where God had to somehow figure out another way to respond to our shortcomings and failures and sinful rebellion. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:57.440 We're in plan A. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:14:59.919 It was always about the glory of Christ. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:01.679 It was always about his kingdom. 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:04.320 It was always about a people of his own possession. 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:05.519 This is it. 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:10.960 We're in it for him and for our ultimate good. 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:24.960 Before a word came out of God to establish the heavens and the earth, he had established that he would receive glory through this purpose and work of Jesus. 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:38.480 In this way, the gospel emphasizes God's sovereignty both in calling his people and in bringing their salvation to pass through Christ's redemptive work. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:40.799 Verse 10. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:46.960 And which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:48.240 I love this. 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:55.039 Jesus is the unveiling of the riches of God's grace. 00:15:56.879 --> 00:15:59.759 Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:06.559 I came to manifest to you, to show you, to reveal to you what God is like and what his kingdom is like. 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:12.559 He's the radiance of light that has broken into our darkness that we might see clearly. 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:16.080 Our blinded eyes be open, that we might behold him. 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:17.519 Right? 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:24.879 Jesus is the unveiling of the eternal purposes of God to save his people by the riches of his grace. 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:34.720 His people who have been entrapped in darkness have gazed upon the beauty of God in the revealed glory of our Savior. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:38.799 The verb of revelation here, manifested. 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:50.080 It's a word used for expressing the inauguration of the age of salvation from before the ages began itself in Jesus the Son, right? 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:52.799 It's the inauguration of the kingdom. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:17:03.679 It's the pronouncement that Christ is king and his kingdom is being established on this earth, that his rule and reign will have no end, that the scepter will not depart from his hand. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:05.839 This is the inauguration of that. 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:10.640 Christ, the revealing, made manifest to us. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:12.799 Who what did he do? 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:13.920 What did he accomplish? 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:15.519 The second part of verse 10. 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:17.440 Who abolished death. 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:23.599 Who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:29.599 You see, Jesus rendered the enemy of death powerless. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:38.720 And he has presented the beauty and treasure of incorruptible light in the radiant light of the gospel. 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:49.519 You see, the focus here is on Christ's triumph over death and the shining forth of eternal life. 00:17:50.480 --> 00:18:00.160 This proclamation of victory is made to death-ridden men through the pure and priceless gospel message. 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:10.720 This is the confidence and assurance that we have if we are in him, that he has triumphed over death. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:17.279 Christ Himself said that if they believe in me, if they are in me, I am the resurrection in the life. 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:19.279 Though they die, they live. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:24.480 They won't see the corruption of death because I've overcome it. 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:28.160 He is life and life eternal. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:35.599 This gospel, this good deposit and entrusted treasure, it must be guarded, church. 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:41.440 Because only through it will men ever hope to live. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:46.160 You see, Paul finds great honor in suffering for this cause. 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:55.920 Verse 11, for which I, the gospel, was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:08.559 You see, Paul's been appointed to proclaim, to guard, and to instruct the gospel by God Himself. 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:13.680 The gospel which is the power of God to save them. 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:19.119 And he knows that the propensity of man is to alter the message. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:28.160 And he also understands that if the message is altered, mankind's only true hope is ultimately abandoned. 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:31.119 So what's he willing to do? 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:43.039 He's willing to be a suffering servant for the message of the suffering Savior who has saved a people by the riches of his grace. 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:48.960 In essence, Paul suffers so that the gospel doesn't. 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:54.240 Paul suffers so that the gospel doesn't. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:20:04.960 He joyfully faces the risk of abandonment, betrayal, imprisonment, and even death for the sake of guarding the precious gospel of Jesus. 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:14.960 But as I said before, from the beginning of which we received this message, man's heart and propensity has been to work to alter it. 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:23.119 When we alter it, it loses its power to save, and the hope of mankind becomes abandoned. 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:27.359 That's the story we can trace throughout history. 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:30.720 We alter and abandon the gospel. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:37.440 From the very moment this has been entrusted to man, it has been at risk. 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:45.039 False teachers put forth false gospels to draw people away from Jesus and to themselves. 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:57.200 And the church has had to perpetually stand watch as custodians of this eternal treasure because the propensity of man is to alter and abandon the gospel. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:10.000 Throughout time, we've seen numerous different gospels put forward, but each of them have been divorced or discovered as powerless alterations of the original message. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:26.799 If we go back to Paul himself in his letter to the church at Galatia, he combated against Judaizers and legalists who taught that if you were a Gentile Christian, you must follow the Mosaic law, especially circumcision, in order to be saved. 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:38.079 And so Paul writes an entire letter to the Church of Galatia to combat these men who were declaring that it wasn't just Christ alone by which we are saved, but it's Jesus plus circumcision. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:39.200 That's how you're saved. 00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:44.640 And you see the fury and anger of Paul, his guardianship over the gospel come forth. 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:51.440 And he says, if you think that circumcision saves you, why aren't you going a little bit further and just cutting the entire thing off? 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:53.200 I like Paul. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:57.359 You think you're saved by that? 00:21:58.640 --> 00:21:59.759 It is Christ alone that. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.279 Who saves us? 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:14.559 But in the early church, it just wasn't the Judaizers, it was also the Gnostics and the rise of Gnosticism, which claimed that they had secret knowledge, gnosis was needed. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:20.400 If you had this secret knowledge, then it would be available to you to receive salvation. 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:27.920 And they rejected Jesus' bodily incarnation, teaching that this material world in itself was evil. 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:40.240 And so you see the apostle John he writes to his children dispersed throughout the area that if you deny Christ has come in the flesh, then you are an antichrist. 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:43.279 He's combating these very people here. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:48.640 Then in the fourth century, we see the rise of Arianism through Arius of Alexandria. 00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:56.240 He denied the full divinity of Christ, claiming that he was a created being, not coequal with the Father. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:00.160 The fifth century, we see Pelagianism through Pelagius. 00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:06.720 He denied original sin and taught that humans could achieve salvation through moral effort. 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:19.039 Fast forward to our common day, within the last hundred years, we have the rise of the prosperity gospel, teaching that faith guarantees health, wealth, and success, and it reduces the gospel to simple material gain. 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:28.319 We turn God into a cosmic claw machine that if we just pump enough prayers and good works into, he'll reach down and give us the stuff we really want in this life. 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:30.480 What about the New Age gospel? 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:34.160 It mixes Christianity with Eastern mysticism. 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:46.960 And it promotes universalism that all of us will be with God in heaven no matter our conviction, our belief, or the way that we choose to walk out our obedience and faithfulness to Him. 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:49.599 What about the social gospel? 00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:54.960 Prioritizes social justice over sin, repentance, and salvation through Christ. 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:59.519 Church, this is just a few to name some of the major ones throughout history. 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:05.440 Maybe one that's even rising in this moment is the therapeutic gospel. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:08.799 Jesus plus therapy equals salvation. 00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:11.759 No, it's Christ alone. 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:24.400 You see, the fact of the matter is this that left to ourselves, apart from the presence and power of the Spirit, we're gonna fail to guard the gospel. 00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:28.640 And ultimately instead, we endanger it. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:36.480 Paul was reminding Timothy that this reality has even been experienced in his own life and ministry. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:39.519 Verse 15, Timothy, you you're aware. 00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:46.640 You're aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:50.319 Think about the gravity of what Paul's saying. 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:53.839 He brought the gospel to a continent. 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:58.559 And it radically transformed people groups. 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:07.920 And he's sitting here rotting in a prison, looking down the face of an executioner, and he says, all of Asia turned away from me. 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:15.920 They were ashamed of the message and of the messenger, and now an entire continent has turned away from Paul. 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:17.759 And then he just names a couple of them, right? 00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:25.200 Here's a couple of the main ones who probably worked to alter the gospel to carry away people to themselves. 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:30.000 Paul contended against this throughout his entire ministry. 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:34.319 In his letter to the church in Galatia, he writes this, Galatians 1, 6 through 7. 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:46.000 I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting, abandoning him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, altered. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:52.079 Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort, alter the gospel of Christ. 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:58.799 Look how Paul connects altering the gospel with ultimately abandoning the gospel. 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:02.160 There's no separation in that outcome. 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:14.000 If we are not going to guard the gospel to preserve it and protect it in the way that we are called to, we will ultimately alter it and cause people to abandon it and they will have no hope in this world. 00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:24.960 The most destructive thing about our failure to guard the gospel as we have been called to is that in altering it, we rob it. 00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:30.480 We rob it of all its power to save men's souls. 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:35.279 And in that we abandon all hope of eternal life. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:38.000 Church, there is no other gospel. 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:45.119 Just as though there is no other name in heaven or on earth by which men are saved. 00:26:46.319 --> 00:26:50.880 So if we're going to be faithful disciple makers of Jesus, right? 00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:54.799 That's our focus this year, to be disciples and to be disciple makers. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:27:01.359 If we're going to be faithful to that end, then we must hold fast to the prototype, as Paul said. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:06.559 We must cling to the pure, original gospel. 00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:11.920 We must stand watch and guard the eternal treasure of his grace. 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:17.119 We must contend to preserve what has been entrusted to us. 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:21.839 Because, church, the very fate of men depend on it. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:31.119 Yet for this purpose, for this endeavor, we have a greater confidence than our own strength and striving. 00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:37.920 We have a greater confidence than our own dedication to remain dependent upon the spirit dwelling within us. 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:41.519 I love what Paul does here next in the text. 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:54.000 He's called Timothy to use his perseverance to protect the gospel, to depend on the spirit in him to protect the gospel. 00:27:54.160 --> 00:27:59.200 And here he looks right past young Timothy, who is strong and capable. 00:27:59.359 --> 00:28:06.880 He looks right past young Timothy, who has the deposit of the Holy Spirit in his life, and he looks to Jesus. 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:10.160 You see, church, we have Jesus. 00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:16.079 Jesus, whose gospel it is, and whose gospel he stands guard over. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:21.279 Because our ultimate hope is that Jesus guards the gospel. 00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:24.880 Let's look at the second half of verse 12 together. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:39.119 But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:47.680 The very core of Paul's confidence is in Jesus Himself. 00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:55.759 It's not in how faithful he was to his ministry, it's not in how well he will finish the race. 00:28:55.839 --> 00:29:00.640 It is not in how much he has built up young Timothy and poured his life into him. 00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:11.680 It's not in the youth and vigor and strength of young Timothy trying to lead the church in Ephesus as Paul works to hand the baton of mission off to this man. 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:17.039 No, Paul's confidence is ultimately rooted in Christ. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:24.960 He's not ashamed of the gospel because Paul has come to truly know and treasure Jesus. 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:26.799 Jesus is the gospel. 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:28.160 This is his gospel. 00:29:28.319 --> 00:29:32.160 He is the glory of the gospel, he is the riches of the gospel. 00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:44.880 He understands that the very true treasure of the gospel is having Jesus, being saved to Jesus, being saved by Jesus, being saved through Jesus. 00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:50.880 And he's unwilling to allow anything to keep him from knowing and being known by Christ. 00:29:52.400 --> 00:30:02.079 And in knowing Jesus, Paul has been so utterly persuaded that Jesus is able to guard until that day. 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:05.119 Man, pay attention to what he's saying. 00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:29.680 The purpose and grace of God, which has been before creation, to save a people for his own possession by the finished work of his son, is able to be guarded by the Son until the fullness of it has been accomplished at the day of his second coming. 00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:34.319 Man, that is good news for the church. 00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:37.759 That is good news for the church. 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:46.079 Christ is not only able to save, but church, Christ is sovereign to save. 00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:54.319 Sovereign to save every one of the fullness of whom the Father has called to a holy calling. 00:30:55.680 --> 00:31:04.240 You see, the sovereignty of God and salvation throughout Scripture is always put forward as a very practical purpose. 00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:10.240 It's not to confound us simply in theological wonder. 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:19.119 It's not some mic drop in Scripture to allow us to just sit there frustrated with who God is and how he intervenes in our life. 00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:24.880 No, the sovereignty of God in salvation is for the comfort of his people's hearts. 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:27.839 It's not up to you. 00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:30.960 Ultimately, this isn't up to you. 00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:33.759 Ultimately, this is up to him. 00:31:34.079 --> 00:31:44.880 This is his church of which before the foundations of the world he established by the name of his son, whose finished work will fully accomplish all that he has determined for the glory of his name. 00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:46.799 That's comfort to us. 00:31:47.759 --> 00:31:49.680 I can't mess this up. 00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:53.359 And I am a royal mess up. 00:31:55.119 --> 00:32:05.359 You see, one of the purposes we see throughout Scripture of the sovereignty of God in salvation is to provoke us to deep humility and gratitude. 00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:10.559 This isn't based on your works, this is based in spite of your failures. 00:32:12.640 --> 00:32:18.640 Because in light of God's sovereignty, man is provoked to humility. 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:24.319 Because no man can boast in his own self-righteousness before God. 00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:33.839 But another purpose is that it brings peace, comfort, and assurance to the heart of the believer. 00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:36.640 Think about this for a moment. 00:32:38.480 --> 00:33:00.559 At night, in the stillness of the dark, when your heart is most susceptible to ponder the anxiousness and worry and fear of this life, nothing quiets and comforts those moments. 00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:14.640 Like the knowledge that our security and our safety depends ultimately not on ourselves, but on God's own purpose of his grace. 00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:27.359 This life is terrifying without the confidence that God is in control. 00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:41.440 That he is with you, that he sees you, that he knows you, that everything that is happening throughout your life is up for your ultimate good. 00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:54.720 You see, we're able to have joy, comfort, and peace because Jesus is able to guard the hope of our salvation. 00:33:55.920 --> 00:34:02.559 And he will do it faithfully until he comes for the fullness of his ransomed church. 00:34:04.319 --> 00:34:06.319 So what are we called to do in this? 00:34:07.839 --> 00:34:13.119 We're called, we're man, I was so close to not messing up this whole time. 00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:14.159 No, I'm joking. 00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:17.599 We're called to guard the gospel entrusted to us. 00:34:18.239 --> 00:34:21.360 We are called to guard the gospel that's been entrusted to us. 00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:31.599 If we're going to be sent on mission to make disciples of Jesus, then we must follow the pattern of the sound words. 00:34:31.760 --> 00:34:37.360 We must stay faithful to the pure and uncorrupted gospel of Jesus. 00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:46.719 Because it is the pure, unaltered gospel that both starts and sustains a disciple through their life of following after him. 00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:57.199 You see, we have this whole notion within the church that somehow Christianity just starts with the gospel and then we move on beyond it as we mature and gain knowledge and insight and wisdom. 00:34:57.280 --> 00:35:07.760 But we don't just start with the gospel, we are carried along by the gospel, we are saved through the gospel, and we enter glory by the power of the gospel. 00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:19.039 Every person in this room, whether you don't believe in Jesus or you've been believing on him for 65 years, you need the gospel this morning. 00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:35.119 And so if we're going to make disciples, then we're gonna have to stand guard to protect and preserve the pure, uncorrupted message of hope of eternal life in Jesus. 00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:40.719 You see, we've been entrusted with the eternal treasure of the gospel. 00:35:41.920 --> 00:35:51.039 We've been called to bring it forward to send corrupted men, to declare to them the incorruptible life of Jesus. 00:35:51.920 --> 00:35:53.679 So may we guard it. 00:35:54.639 --> 00:36:04.800 May we not be ashamed to suffer for it as its messengers, because it alone is the power of God's grace to save. 00:36:08.159 --> 00:36:15.280 There are so many people outside of these church walls who need to hear the good news declared to them. 00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:26.559 The good news that Christ Jesus has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 00:36:26.880 --> 00:36:35.039 May we find joy in being suffering servants for the message of Jesus.